http://www.orangecoast.com/blogs/tasteoforangecounty/home.aspxfood blogen-usCopyright 2013, Orange_Coast_Magazine-NASun, 19 May 2013 22:15:34 GMTSat, 20 Apr 2013 00:24:19 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comAs I have written elsewhere, soup is my favorite food. Almost any kind, really, although if pressed I would have to admit I am partial to vegetable-based, or at least veg-intensive, preparations. Not that I eschew soups containing meat, I hasten to add. Or seafood or fish either, for that matter. All soups have a chance with me. And I make ‘em a lot, all sorts. Just turned an overage of New Year’s Day black-eyed peas into a wonderful soup, sautéing an onion and a couple cloves of garlic, adding a big pinch of chili flakes, judicious salt & pepper, and some water to get the resulting purée to my desired consistency. The chili flakes I used this time were a little souvenir from San Francisco’s Pizzeria Delfina—the restaurant dries its own chiles de árbol and offers the flakes as normal pizzerias offer the familiar red chilies. The árbol pack ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10187630http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10187630Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:24:19 GMTStanding around in Whole Foods Huntington Beach waiting for Eric Ripert to arrive is a singular situation already. But when the chef finally does walk in, right through the main door near the produce there, surreality takes over. That’s Eric Ripert and his beautiful, unmistakable hair, walking under the fluorescent lights in the Whole Foods produce section. And, even though planned, expected, not a surprise or chance sighting, the incongruity lingered a bit. Chef Ripert met me by the fish counter before his enthusiastically overbooked appearance at the store last week, wherein he showed a montage of eps from the second season of his “Avec Eric” PBS show, signed copies of the eponymous companion book, and answered audience questions. And I can attest, all that happened. However, the first item on the docket was which fish would Ripert, executive chef and part owner of New York’s seafood icon Le ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10172435http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10172435Sat, 20 Apr 2013 00:03:27 GMT A year ago in our March issue, Katsuya by Starck’s crispy rice with spicy tuna reigned supreme in a Smackdown. Maybe there’s something to be said for going to the source—Katsuya Uechi invented the dish at his ground-breaking San Fernando Valley restaurant, after all. Now, you’ll have to hurry if you want to try the progenitor here in O.C., because tomorrow is the last day of service for the Laguna Beach outpost. Fans might find small consolation in knowing this final night will still be locals’ special Monday, with all menu items half price. But what of the prime Coast Highway space? One rumor has a fine-dining mini-empire from another Asian tradition eyeing it for its second Orange County location...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10512141http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10512141Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:32:27 GMTRemember Nathaniel Nguyen? I did a post last month about his appearance on ‘The Taste’ cooking show. A self-taught chef with experience that ranges from fine dining to food truck, the Huntington Beach resident has taken over the kitchen for breakfast at Thasos Greek Island Grill in Costa Mesa from 8 a.m. to noon on weekends. I’ve meant to stop by since our chat, and finally got the chance last weekend. While the savory waffle and butter-poached shrimp he offered Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson on TV is, sadly, nowhere to be seen (and believe me, I looked), there’s plenty else to choose from on his succinct “Morning by Thasos” menu. While his future plans run from pop-up suppers to owning a full-on brick-and-mortar, for now you can see his work at this cheery, small space across the street from South Coast Plaza. His goal is to offer healthful foods ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10513645http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10513645Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:37:18 GMT2013 may be the Chinese Year of the Snake, but for me it’s shaping up to be the year of one of my favorite spring vegetables. It began with a delicious pea dish on the first day of January, the minted peas my friend Anita Lau, of the widely read Diary of a Mad Hungry Woman food blog, brought to a New Year’s Day gathering. Anita started with a Jamie Oliver recipe, boosted with additional butter, sea salt, and cracked pepper. Peas and mint go way back, culinarily speaking, but the dish had an air of newness—sweet, bright green peas, definitely smashed yet still full of interesting texture, with a surprisingly subtle upper-palate aroma given the amount of fresh mint she employed. A week or so later, English peas made an appearance at the farmers market, so I cooked peas with lettuce, something I look forward to all year, using ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10503553http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10503553Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:08:54 GMTHave you taken advantage of Orange County Restaurant Week yet? If not, you’ve got today and tomorrow to do so. (Take a look at the participating restaurants here.) At Cucina Enoteca, I was impressed by the generous choice on the special restaurant-week $25 and $30 menus—an especially good thing due to my enforcement of the informal-yet-ironclad agreement that my family orders a variety of dishes for everybody to taste. Even with my vigilance, I was lucky to get a microbite of my son’s roasted Jidori chicken and creamy polenta. (I loved the addition of what the menu calls a poached hen egg, really a cooked-in-shell oeuf mollet.)  Honey-roasted eggplant pizza with goat cheese, mere millimeters thin and extra-crisp as requested, was exactly what my husband wanted after his Bulleit rye Manhattan ($10.50), which bartender Chris Yee makes with Carpano Antica vermouth. My apéritif was the sparkling rosé wine director ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10511587http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10511587Fri, 01 Mar 2013 17:15:15 GMTOpen less than two weeks, and already busy at lunch when I was there, chef Noah Blom’s Arc, in The OC Mix, is a beguiling mix of guts and glam. It’s not surprising to find unremitting rusticity where the chef breaks down whole pigs and poultry, all the cooking’s done over a wood fire or in a wood-fired oven, and the napkins are Ikea cotton dishtowels. The happy surprise: finesse, even classicism. Charred Brussels sprouts appear, yes, but also tarte flambée, with béchamel and nuggets of house-cured and -smoked bacon, thanks to Blom’s haute cuisine background. After culinary school in San Francisco, he worked for Daniel Boulud at Daniel in New York—and, the Newport Beach native’s first restaurant job as a teenager was at the Ritz. Arc is Blom’s second restaurant in The Mix—he’s also chef-partner at Shuck oyster bar. The glamour continues in the craft cocktails created by ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10506771http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10506771Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:01:43 GMTAre you watching The Taste, the new Anthony Bourdain/Nigella Lawson cooking show? Nathaniel Nguyen of Huntington Beach probably is, though I’m sure he’d rather be on screen. The 24-year-old self-taught cook appeared on the first episode of the show, hoping to be one of 16 contestants picked for mentoring by Bourdain, Lawson, chef Ludo Lefebvre, or “Top Chef” alum Brian Malarkey. While online nattering continues about whether Bourdain has sold out to the very sort of show he’s made a career of mercilessly disparaging, the premise is interesting: The celebrities judge a single dish-in-a-spoon (the “taste” of the title), without finding out who prepared it until they’ve already given thumbs up or down, assembling a team of four from the cooks whose dishes pass muster. I thought Nguyen’s dish, inspired by classic Cantonese shrimp toast, looked and sounded fab. Maybe a lot to process in a single bite, though: In ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10500320http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10500320Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:52:27 GMTWith a whetstone, and frequent honing with a ceramic steel, I manage to keep my knives in pretty good shape. (My husband especially is very good with the whetstone.) From time to time, though, I really crave a professional sharpening—and wow is there a diff afterwards. Hardly anything is as heavenly as a really sharp knife. It’s been difficult for me to avail myself of the few sharpening options in O.C. for a single, deal-breaking reason: They require leaving my knives overnight. No way! I ask you: WHAT am I supposed to do without my beloveds for a whole night? However, last year, farmers market peregrinations took me to Yorba Linda’s compact Saturday market, which is worth a visit for a number of reasons, including produce so hyper-local some is grown right there in The Land of Gracious Living. (It takes me back to the early days of O.C. farmers ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10496067http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10496067Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:54:59 GMTThe world of competition chili has always been a mystery to me, and not a little intimidating—chiliheads have that strict admonition against beans, for instance. Out here in the land of casual chili consumption, we don’t mind a few beans, but the standards of the International Chili Society clearly state that competition chili includes only meat, spices, and vegetables. This is all getting way less mysterious, however. I’m happy to report that after passing its authorized training, the society has conferred upon me Certified Chili Judge status. Saturday, I’ll be putting my skillz to the test at the California state contest, part of the Sizzlin’ Summer Chili Fest & Car Show at Irvine Lake. There’ll be live entertainment during the 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. classic-car event, including an Elvis tribute, and chili for plain eatin’ will be sold from noon to 4 p.m., or until it’s gone. Based in ...http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10408151http://www.orangecoast.com//blogs/tasteoforangecounty/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10408151Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:08:44 GMT