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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

CONTEST-Zinfandel Grand Tasting Event April 18th 2010

Griffin Eats OC has teamed up with the great folks over at Great Taste Magazine to run a contest. We will be giving away one pair of tickets to the upcoming Zinfandel Grand Tasting at The Palm Garden at The Island Hotel in Newport Beach. The event will take place on Sunday April 18th from 4-7PM. Tickets are also available for purchase by clicking here. Pre-sale tickets are available for $49 ($39 for ZAP members) and you can also buy tickets at the door for $60.

To win, put the answer to the following trivia question in an email and send it to me at griffineatsoc@gmail.com A winner will be randomly chosen from all the correct entries. The deadline to submit an entry is 11:59 PM on 4/7/2010.

TRIVIA QUESTION: WHO DISTRIBUTES THE OFFICIAL ZAP GLASS?
Hint: The answer can be found on the ZAP Website.

ZINFANDEL ADVOCATES & PRODUCERS ON THE ROAD
Orange County April 18 and 19, Denver, & Hawaii to follow.


Rough & Ready, California, winter 2010--Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) is traveling to Newport Beach April 18 and 19 as part of its annual road show. A group of approximately 40 wineries who specialize in Zinfandel will be staging tastings to meet the public and the trade. Tickets for the events are now on sale, through www.zinfandel.org (link above) or by calling 530/274-4900. Members of the trade (restaurateurs, retailers, wholesalers) can also register for their event tickets online: more details at www.zinfandel.org.

ZAP and The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes of California - Orange County are partnering to create a culinary competition featuring the top chefs of tomorrow who will be preparing tasty samples for all attendees on Sunday to share. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Art Institute program—check at www.zinfandel.org for more details.

Taste spectacular Zinfandel wines from approximately 40 premier ZAP member wineries, mingle with top winemakers and principals in an intimate setting, learn about the remarkable richness and versatility of Zinfandel and discover why Zinfandel is "America's Heritage Grape!"

April 18: public tasting takes place 4-7:00 p.m. at The Palm Garden at The Island Hotel, 660 Newport Center Drive (Newport Beach 92660, www.theislandhotel.com). Tickets are $49 for the public and $39 for ZAP members; some tickets may be available at the door.

April 19: trade tasting takes place 2-5:00 p.m. also at The Palm Garden at The Island Hotel. Trade tickets and registration is available on the web. www.zinfandel.org.

Participating wineries include:
585 Wine Partners
Alexander Valley Vineyards
Ancient Peaks
Artezin Wines
Barefoot Cellars
Cakebread Cellars
Carol Shelton Wines
Cline Cellars
Dancing Bull
D-Cubed Cellars
Dogwood Cellars
Edmeades Winery
Four Vines Winery
Gamba Vineyards and Winery
J. Rickards Winery & Vineyards
Kenwood Vineyards/Heck Estates
Leonhardt Vineyards
McNab Ridge Winery
Meeker Vineyard
Michael-David Winery
Murphy-Goode - Artisans & Estates
Opolo Vineyards
Peachy Canyon Winery
Pech Merle Winery
Pedroncelli Winery
Pezzi King Vineyards
Rancho Zabaco Winery
Ravenswood
Renwood Winery
Rockwall Wine Company, Inc.
Rosenblum Cellars
Seghesio Family Vineyards
Selby Winery
Sextant Wines
Starry Night Winery
Tres Sabores
Valley of the Moon Winery/Heck Estates

ZAP is traveling to Denver on April 15 and to Hawaii May 21-24. Details about the events will be updated regularly at www.zinfandel.org.

Last year ZAP traveled to Michigan, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland and Dallas. “Tasters will be exposed to a rainbow of Zinfandels, from various growing regions,” explains ZAP‟s Executive Director, Rebecca Robinson. “Attendees will meet winemakers and winery owners who are eager to introduce their Zinfandels to these enthusiastic consumers,” she adds.

In other ZAP news, The 19th Annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Festival welcomed almost 8,000 people at four events in San Francisco January 28-30, headlining Chef Beverly Gannon, one of the founders of „HAWAI`I regional cuisine‟ and the proprietor of Maui‟s world famous Hali`imaile General Store and author of several cookbooks. 211 Zinfandel wineries poured current releases for an appreciative audience, making this the largest all-Zinfandel event in the world. The 20th Annual Zinfandel Advocates & Producers Festival will take place January 27-29, 2011 in San Francisco.
Recipes and video interviews with Chef Gannon can be found at www.zinfandel.org.

Visit www.zinfandel.org, www.zinworld.org to join in the enormous online world of Zinfandel lore and socializing or join that conversation at Twitter (http://twitter.com/ZinfandelOrg), Facebook or MySpace. The Association of Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) is a non-profit, educational 501(c)(3) organization. ZAP is dedicated to advancing public knowledge of and appreciation for American Zinfandel and its unique place in our culture and history. Winegrowers, winemakers and
wine enthusiasts combine to form the membership. The common focus is the preservation and recognition of Zinfandel as America‟s heritage wine. ZAP‟s membership includes approximately 250 winery-members, over 4,000 advocate-members and more than 100 associate members.
Posted by Griffin at 4:51 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

New KFC Fiery Grilled Wings


www.kfc.com

After seeing the commercials all the time for KFC's Fiery Grilled Wings, I finally decided I had to try them. I went down to KFC the other day for lunch. An order of 5 grilled wings was $3.99. I wasn't sure that 5 little wings would be enough for lunch so I also ordered their special 6 piece chicken (drums and thighs)for $5.00.

I got home and popped open the box. Inside were 5 small darkly colored wings. I picked one up and took a bite. The flavor was pretty good and the wings were actually a little spicier than their regular hot wings. I still didn't find them to be that spicy though. For someone that doesn't like a huge amount of spice, these would probably be perfect. Since these wings are grilled instead of fried, I thought they wouldn't be that good, but I actually liked these wings more than I thought I was going to.

The only problem I have with these wings are the price. I find it hard to pay $3.99 for 5 tiny wings when I can get 6 full pieces of fried chicken for $5.00. I would get these again, but only if they cut the price in half.

Nutritional Info for one (1) grilled wing:

Calories 70
Calories from fat 35
Fat Grams 4
Saturated Fat Grams 1
Sodium 200mg

KFC on Urbanspoon
Posted by Griffin at 8:31 PM 4 comments
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Thursday, March 4, 2010

Lazy Dog Cafe in Irvine Opens Tonight 3/4/2010


13290 Jamboree Rd
Irvine CA 92602
Ph. (714) 731-9700

Alternate OC locations:
1623 West Katella Ave.
Orange CA 92867
Ph. (714) 769-7020

16310 Beach Blvd
Westminster CA 92683
Ph. (714) 500-1140

www.lazydogcafe.com

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY OTHER REVIEWS OF LAZY DOG CAFE


The new Lazy Dog Cafe in the Irvine Marketplace will open at 5:00 PM tonight. They are taking over the spot that has been vacated by the failed restaurants French 75, Wilhelm's Chophouse and Martin Yan's restaurant that I can not recall the name of. Lazy Dog Cafe already operates restaurants in both Westminster and Orange. You can also find locations outside Orange County in Torrance, Valencia, Thousand Oaks and coming soon, in Temecula.

The Lazy Dog Cafe is a full service casual dining restaurant that was started by the founder of the Mimi's Cafe chain. It is often described as a cheaper version of Claim Jumper. The restaurant serves a large variety of comfort food, pizza, sandwiches, burgers, seafood, pasta and even Chinese food.

I was lucky enough to be invited down to a Pre-Grand Opening party this past Tuesday. The restaurant was generous enough to let me bring three guests. V, T and IG accompanied me to the party.

Here is an overview of what we ordered.


Boston Tea Party Fishbowl ($16.95*)


Hand Muddled Citrus Margarita


Trio of Hummus Dips ($7.95)


Wok-Fired Calamari ($9.95)


Angry Achiote Rocky Mountain Wings ($9.25)


Small Chicken Tortilla Soup ($3.75)


Small Caesar Salad ($5.95)


Bleu Cheese New York ($23.95)


BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs ($17.95)


Garlic-Butter Glazed Flatiron Steak ($17.45)


Fig and Prosciutto Pizza ($11.95)


Cinnamon and Sugar Pizza ($4.95)


Sweet Tooth Sundae ($2.95)


With the exception of a few tough ribs (some were tough, some were not) everything was really good. V really likes Keri's Mediterranean veggie pizza from this restaurant and used to think it was the best pizza she had ever had. She now thinks that the Fig and Prosciutto pizza is better. The Tortilla Soup is an item that Lazy Dog is known for. They do an incredible job with it. The Cinnamon Sugar pizza is a perfect dessert to share when you are dining with a group.

The portions here are generous and the prices are very reasonable. I have always enjoyed going to Lazy Dog Cafe in the past, but hated driving to Orange or Westminster. Now that they are open in Irvine, I can see myself going there any time I want a quick, casual, delicious meal. The service here is also top notch. Whenever I have dined at a Lazy Dog, the service has rivaled some of the finest restaurants I have been to. I highly recommend The Lazy Dog Cafe to anyone looking for a delicious upscale dining experience, without the upscale price.

*Prices are for reference only. My meal was comped.
Lazy Dog Cafe - Irvine on Urbanspoon
Posted by Griffin at 10:26 AM 2 comments
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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Orange County Restaurant Week Is Here Again!


It's time for the twice yearly, Orange County Restaurant Week. From February 28th-March 6th, restaurants all over Orange County will be offering special price fixed meals for both lunch at dinner. In addition, every diner that eats at a participating restaurant during restaurant week will receive a "Golden Foodies" card that will get you special dining discounts, and they never expire! The selection of restaurants this time looks amazing. Tell me, where are you thinking of going? (Click on restaurant names below to see the special OC Restaurant Week menus.)

Posted by Griffin at 2:18 PM 2 comments

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Do Not Go To Johnnie's New York Pizzeria In Irvine!



3939 Portola Parkway
Irvine, CA 92602

714-505-3355

www.johnniesnypizza.com

RESTAURANT ADDED TO BLACKLIST DUE TO POOR SERVICE

If you must go to Johnnie's though, I suggest you get takeout. The food is good, but I had horrible service there last night. I went down to Johnnie's for dinner with a party of eight. After we were seated, the waiter informed us that we were there during happy hour so all appetizers were half off and wine and beer were a dollar off. We weren't initially planning on getting appetizers, but since they were on special we decided to get an order of calamari and an order of bruschetta. We also ordered two bottles of wine.

A while later the waiter returned to take our order. We all ordered our entrees. V ordered the gnocchi with the blue cheese parmesan cream sauce.

After about 45 minutes to an hour, the waiter started bringing our entrees out. He brought out everyone's entree except for V's. About 5-10 minutes after he brought all the other entrees out he came back and said to V, "I just found out that we don't have any gnocchi." Then he just stared at her. After a few moments I broke the silence and said, "Why didn't you let us know earlier?" He said that he had just found out. Again, silence. "Well.....can she order something else?" I said. "I guess so" he replied. "Can we see the menu again?" I replied. "Oh yeah" he said and left to go get a menu.

We were all in shock that the waiter had waited 5-10 minutes after delivering the entrees to tell V that the item she ordered was unavailable. The waiter returned with the menu and told V that he would comp whatever entree she wanted. V looked over the menu and ordered a carne asada pizza. The waiter came back a few minutes later to tell us, "The kitchen says it's going to take a long time."

V sat and patiently waited while the rest of us ate our entrees. She picked on the bread basket and ate some of C's pizza. The waiter came by again after we had all finished eating and said to V, "Should I just pack up your pizza to go, since you guys are all ready to leave?" V just said, "That's fine...."

The waiter came back with V's pizza and our check. We handed him a 15% off coupon that we had. A few moments later the waiter came back and said "I can't take your 15% off coupon. You ordered appetizers and since they are half off for happy hour, we can't take your coupon." I asked to speak with the manager. The manager came by our table and repeated, "You can't use this coupon because you ordered happy hour specials." I told the manager that we had only ordered appetizers because the waiter had told us they were half off when we sat down. We had no idea that ordering them would invalidate our coupon. The manager then snapped back, "I already gave you a free carne asada pizza!" I told him that that was because of a completely different issue. He responded, "Fine, I'll give you 15% off your bill but I am going to charge you full price for your appetizers." I told him that was fine and that we would just not return to the restaurant again. "Whatever," he muttered and walked away.

The food at Johnnie's is actually very good. I'm very disappointed with the service here though. D&C had been to this restaurant previously and also had problems with receiving the correct order and the kitchen being out of items that they ordered. If this restaurant had better service and made sure that their kitchen was stocked with the items on their menu, I would be highly recommending this place. Since this is not the case though, I think you are better off visiting one of the hundreds of other Italian restaurants in the area.

Johnnie's New York Pizzeria on Urbanspoon
Posted by Griffin at 1:32 PM 35 comments
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Sunday, December 27, 2009

Domino's New Pizza Recipe - Does it Deliver?


In case you haven't heard yet, Domino's pizza is making a risky business move to celebrate their 50th year in business. Domino's decided to completely scrap their old pizza recipe and release a new and improved pizza recipe in all of their stores. They apparently did a lot of focus groups and found that people thought that their old pizza tasted like cardboard. Therefore, they spent millions coming up with a new pizza recipe. They have changed every component, the crust, the cheese, and the sauce. They documented the whole thing and launched a website to promote the event (pizzaturnaround.com).

I have never been a big fan of Domino's. Whenever I get quick takeout pizza, I usually opt for Pizza Hut. I decided to try Domino's tonight though to see if their new and improved pizza was really as good as they say it is.

I logged on to their website and saw that they were selling their new pizzas for $5.99 each when you purchase at least two medium, two-topping pizzas. The website let's you build your own virtual pizza on the screen while you order it. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot more variety than Pizza Hut. First of all, you could pick between three different sauces; classic tomato, white sauce or barbecue sauce. To make a fair comparison, I decided to order my pizza close to my standard pizza at Pizza Hut. This means I got pepperoni and extra tomato sauce. Domino's offers regular size pepperoni and jumbo pepperoni. I had them add both since I usually get double pepperoni at Pizza Hut. V decided to get a slightly different pizza than her usual. At Pizza Hut V gets ham and jalapeno pizza. Since Domino's offered white sauce and a larger variety of toppings, she decided to get white sauce, prosciutto and feta cheese.

I arrived at Domino's 15 minutes later to pick up my pizza. I opened the boxes to check the accuracy of my order. I opened V's pizza and saw what looked like a plain cheese pizza. I told the cashier that my order was incorrect. I told him the the prosciutto was missing. He showed me my order on his computer and it did not say anything about prosciutto. He called the manager over and the manager informed me that she had never heard of prosciutto as a topping. She kept telling me that maybe I was seeing things because she didn't think they even had that topping on their website. I kept insisting that I wasn't seeing things. I pulled out my iPhone and showed her the Domino's website with prosciutto listed as a topping. She apologized but said she still didn't have the topping. I asked her to remake the pizza with ham instead of the prosciutto which she agreed to. I was annoyed to say the least. How can a large corporate website let me order something that their stores know nothing about? It especially annoys me that this topping mysteriously disappeared from my order when it was transmitted to the store. It is as if they knew that the store didn't have the topping but they let me order it anyway and then just took it off before sending my order to the store.

After my second pizza was made, I headed home to try the pizzas. The pizzas smelled fantastic on the car ride home. I opened the pizza boxes at home and saw two nice looking pizzas.


(Ham, feta cheese and white sauce)

(Jumbo pepperoni, regular pepperoni, extra tomato sauce)


One of the new features of Domino's pizza is a garlic butter crust. It was very tasty and I even heard V use the word "gourmet" when she was eating it. It was nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. This was nothing like their old cardboard crust.

Overall the pizzas were very tasty. The sauce was nice and tangy, slightly sweet and had the tiniest kick to it from crushed red pepper. The crust was nice and slightly buttery and the cheese is now a blend of mozzarella and provolone. V really enjoyed her pizza. She was very happy with the fact that Domino's has white sauce since she doesn't really like tomato sauce. I thought that the pizza was as good or a little better than Pizza Hut. It was also a lot better than a lot of pizzas that I have gotten in full service sit-down restaurants. I will most likely be getting this pizza again in the future, especially if they keep the $5.99 price tag. They just really need to work on making sure their website is accurate.....

Domino's Pizza on Urbanspoon
Posted by Griffin at 10:00 AM 9 comments
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Citrus Cafe - Tustin-BLACKLISTED


1481 Edinger Ave.
Tustin, CA 92780
714-258-2404

www.citruscafe.com

RESTAURANT ADDED TO BLACKLIST FOR FAILURE TO HONOR THEIR OWN RESTAURANT.COM CERTIFICATES!

Did I stumble across one of the best dinner deals in Orange County? I think I just may have. I went down to the Citrus Cafe last Friday night with a party of 5. I hadn't been to Citrus Cafe in years but was reminded of them because of their presence on Restaurant.com (See right hand column for latest promo code).

As I entered the restaurant, there was a sign on the wall to my right with the nightly dinner specials. It appears that their specials never change and they are available every night. The dinner specials give you a choice of Fish & Chips, Sirloin Steak, Garlic Chicken, Roasted Pork Loin and I think one other thing that I can't remember. The dinners come with your choice of soup or salad and ice cream for dessert. The cost, $12.00.

I looked over the regular menu and saw that most of their entrees were $12-$16. If you wanted soup or salad, it was an extra $2.75. Ice cream was $5.00. This made the dinner special sound like an excellent deal that I couldn't pass up. Apparently almost everyone else felt this way too because 4 out of 5 of us ordered one of these specials.

I decided to order the sirloin steak with chicken tortilla soup. R and V both ordered the pork loin with a salad and S opted for the garlic chicken with a salad as well. J decided to get a nightly special that wasn't on the "$12 board," Pecan Trout ($15.00).

Since the price of these dinner specials is pretty low, I fully expected to receive small portions of so-so food. Boy was I wrong. My soup and the salads arrived. Instead of a small cup of soup, a big bowl was placed in front of me. Instead of a small dinner salad of iceberg lettuce, V, S and R received a plate of mixed greens that was big enough to be a dinner salad if you added some chicken or something to the top of it. The chicken tortilla soup was very good. It was thick with the flavor of smoky chiles and topped with cheese and crunchy tortilla strips.




When the dinners arrived, I again expected to receive a tiny steak. I was surprised to see a big fat steak on my plate with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables. The steak was surprisingly tender and tasty. The potatoes and vegetables were pretty good as well. The portion was so large, especially after eating that bowl of soup, that I only ate half of my meal.

The pork loin that V and R ordered was sliced into small medallions and was served on a bed of mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. V and R were both surprised and how tender, juicy and flavorful the pork was. V expected it to be a little dry, like pork roast often is, but it wasn't at all. V absolutely loved her dish and has already talked about returning to get it again.

S's garlic chicken was also served with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. She liked the garlic chicken, but would have liked it more if it was dark meat. She thought it was pretty juicy for white meat though. She also thought that her vegetables were perfectly done.

J thought that her pecan trout was ok, but wasn't a huge fan of it. She thought that it was a little dry and said that she couldn't taste the pecans at all. She enjoyed her vegetables but thought it was a little odd that the meal was served with sweet potato fries, especially because she doesn't like sweet potato fries very much. V really enjoyed her sweet potato fries though.

For dessert we had a choice of vanilla ice cream or mango sorbet. We all decided to go for the ice cream. We had the choice of chocolate syrup and I had mine with. We were served a generous portion of ice cream that was the perfect end to a yummy meal.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Citrus Cafe. Everyone else I was with seemed to enjoy their food as well. I will definitely be returning soon to get their dinner special again. I sure hope they keep it as a permanent part of their menu.

Citrus Cafe on Urbanspoon
Posted by Griffin at 4:22 PM 44 comments
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