Manpuku a Restaurant
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2 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT Blue Hawaiian Royal Hawaiian Burger Navy Grog Pineapple Teriyaki ChickenChi B Bowll Tropical Libations! Island Inspired Food Aloha Hamachi Sashimi Filled FOLLOW US! Vibes @royalhawaiianlb 331 North Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, 92651 949.715.1470 RoyalHawaiianlb.com BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 3 OC’s Premier Spot for Great Food, Awesome Craft Cocktails, Live Music & Fun! Come Spend An Evening Enjoying the Lake On Our Patio. 31431 Santa Margarita Pkwy., Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 Coming soon to the new Yorba Linda Town Center (949) 888-0072 www.TheBlindPigOC.com 4 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT Bourbon Steak • Dana Point BRAD A. JOHNSON'S Ramos House Cafe • San Juan Vaca • Costa Mesa Capistrano Arc • Costa Mesa Hendrix • Laguna Niguel Marché Moderne • Newport Beach BEST Anepalco on Chapman • Orange Hana re • Costa Mesa Sushi Roku • Newport Beach PAGE 6 PLACES Hanna’s • Rancho Santa Margarita PAGE 14 Water Grill • Costa Mesa TO EAT Brick • San Clemente Del Frisco’s Grille • Irvine Mr. G’s • Newport Beach The Ranch Restaurant • Anaheim EVERY MEAL, every glass of wine, every The Capital Grille • Costa Mesa taco,75 every tasting menu, every extra mile Wreckless • Fullerton Taco María • Costa Mesa added to the odometer (always more than Kang Ho-Dong Baekjeong • Buena 10,000 for this pursuit) … everything I do all Park PAGE 7 year adds up to this. Through all the highs and lows of an The Blind Pig • Rancho Santa Irenia • Santa Ana incessant dining routine, my mission is Margarita 370 Common • Laguna Beach always clear: Provide a roadmap to the best PAGE 15 places to eat in Orange County. These are the Mastro’s Steakhouse • Costa Mesa pins on that map. Fleming’s • Newport Beach Javier’s • Newport Beach If you’ve been following along over the Vine • San Clemente years, you will notice a new name at the top. Watermarc • Laguna Beach Stonehill Tavern became Bourbon Steak, Sapori Ristorante • Newport Beach PAGE 8 and in that transformation the restaurant Harvest • Laguna Beach discovered its truer self. Selanne Steak Tavern Laguna Broadway • Laguna Beach Marché Moderne is back, of course. • EnoSteak • Dana Point Meanwhile, Il Barone has gone missing. Beach Solita • Huntington Beach The always high-ranking Italian restaurant PAGE 16 was set to close just as this story was going Manpuku • Costa Mesa to press, and its new location had not yet 2145 Pizza • Costa Mesa A Restaurant • Newport Beach opened. Others have moved up or down based on my most recent visits. Tupelo Junction • Newport Beach PAGE 9 You might notice a larger than usual Pour Vida • Anaheim number of steakhouses among the new Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge • Costa Juliette • Newport Beach rankings. This has less to do with my love Mesa North Italia • Irvine of great steak — and let’s be honest, there HiroNori • Irvine The Loft • Laguna Beach is nothing in life more grotesquely perfect than a 32-ounce ribeye still smoldering from PAGE 17 LSXO • Huntington Beach the grill — than the fact that truly great beef • Newport Beach The Cannery is more popular than ever but also more Chada Thai • Garden Grove expensive than it’s ever been, a trend with no PAGE 10 end in sight. And when a restaurant commits Ironwood • Laguna Hills to serving such an expensive product, it Garlic & Chives • Garden Grove Costa Mesa Shunka Sushi • makes sense that it would also then strive Los Sanchez • Garden Grove Newport Beach Pizzeria Mozza • for higher standards of quality in other Hue Oi • Fountain Valley Olea • Newport Beach areas as well (service, wine, atmosphere, PAGE 18 Bangkok Avenue Huntington Beach overall comfort) to help justify that splurge. • Certainly not every steakhouse made the list. Costa Mesa Din Tai Fung • Nor is everything on these pages expensive. Adya • Anaheim Some of the finest things I’ve eaten this PAGE 11 Peking Restaurant • Westminster year were ramen noodles and pizzas. But I’ve also come across extraordinary enchiladas, El Farolito • Placentia Laguna Beach Studio • pan-fried dumplings and green mango J Zhou Oriental Cuisine • Tustin Jimmy’s Famous American salads. The Quiet Woman • Corona del Mar Tavern • Dana Point So, from the quiet serenity of Studio in PAGE 19 TJ’s Woodfire Pizza • San Clemente Laguna Beach to the utter chaos and full sensory overload of Garlic & Chives in Maro Wood Grill • Laguna Beach Garden Grove, these are the 75 best places to Cha Cha’s Latin Kitchen • Irvine Ootoro Sushi • Irvine eat in Orange County in 2018. The Cellar • San Clemente PAGE 12 American Dream • Huntington Beach Kabob Republic • Costa Mesa Farmhouse at Roger’s STAFF Haidilao Hot Pot • Irvine Gardens • Corona del Mar Brad A. Johnson • RESTAURANT CRITIC PAGE 20 Reunion Kitchen Anaheim • Vanessa Franko • EDITOR Craft House • Dana Point Pam Marshak • PUBLICATIONS EDITOR Who's in, who's out • PAGE 21 Meizhou Dongpo • Irvine Trinity Powells • COVER DESIGN Top ramen • PAGE 22 Bandera • Corona del Mar Leonard Ortiz • COVER PHOTO PAGE 13 (Bourbon Steak, Dana Point) Amazing Marys • PAGE 24 BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A.BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT TO EAT •5 5 Bourbon Steak Celebrity chef Michael Mina recently flipped his one-of-a- 1kind Stonehill Tavern into yet another branch of his Bourbon Steak chain. The menu now includes a greater emphasis on steak — something Stonehill was already doing over the past couple of years — though many of the tavern’s hallmark dishes remain, such as the whole chicken fried in duck fat, the famous tuna tartare and the lobster pot pie. They’ve made a few minor tweaks to designer Tony Chi’s gorgeous interior decor, which has resulted in a bar that isn’t quite as sexy as it used to be, but in the process Mina has put his finger on something big. The result is not merely another Bourbon Steak or just another steakhouse. It is essentially the same Stonehill BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF Tavern we’ve always known, only VACA • The paella de carne is made with duck confit, chorizo, beef fresher, more alive, more current, cheek, pork belly and blood sausage. more important and more essential than ever. The service, the food, the elegance and, of course, that remains unchanged. The steak view of the sunset over the Pacific Arc au poivre, the moules frites, the — everything about this place is Chef Noah Blöm is largely stewed rabbit exemplify the finest stunning. responsible for kindling the of classic French cuisine, and the • 1 MONARCH BEACH RESORT wood-fire revolution that has desserts are always a special treat DANA POINT, 949-234-3900 3 here, especially the Friday and swept America, but unlike most BOURBONSTEAK.COM restaurants that have followed in Saturday night Napoleon. his footsteps, Blöm’s kitchen at • 7862 E. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY Arc is fueled exclusively by wood. NEWPORT BEACH, 714-434-7900, No gas. No electric appliances. MARCHEMODERNE.NET Everything cooked here is touched by wood fire and smoke: mushrooms with a free-range egg, chicken and broccoli casserole, Vaca crab cakes, meatballs, lobster and a Although huge American- burger like you’ve never seen. The style steaks really aren’t sirloin steak with duck-fat potatoes Hana re a thing in Spain, this is easily the best steak you will find 2 for $24, but if you dare to splurge, Chef Atsushi Yokoyama Spanish steakhouse from Amar welcomes merely 10 diners at Santana and Ahmed Labbate has there’s a whole other world of a time to his intimate sushi nonetheless become the undisputed fancier cuts. 5counter that’s hidden behind The king of Spanish cuisine in Southern • 3321 HYLAND AVE., COSTA MESA Lab in Costa Mesa. Inspired by California. The house specialty 949-500-5561, ARCRESTAURANT.COM Japanese kaiseki, the chef offers is the 50-day dry-aged ribeyes several different tasting menus, or that weigh upward of 2 pounds. omakase, with intricate creations The Spanish hams are superb, such as shima aji with grapefruit too, as are the paellas and tapas, and plum-wine foam; corn custard especially the bikini sandwich Marché with snow crab and baby okra; and the chicken canelon. What to seared foie over rice; steamed drink: The Vaca tonic is sublime, Moderne akamutsu with morel mushrooms; but you’ll also want to consider a hairy crab with fiddlehead fern; bottle of Spanish wine. Florent and Amelia Marneau Miyazaki A5 Wagyu on a sizzling • 695 TOWN CENTER DRIVE moved their glamorous hot lava stone … and, yes, sushi: COSTA MESA, 714-463-6060 French bistro to Crystal Cove grunt fish, wild sea bream, blue VACARESTAURANT.COM 4 last year, and in many ways it’s stripe snapper, cockle clams, goose even better than it was during its barnacles, flying houbou and more. 10-year run at South Coast Plaza. • 2930 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA The kitchen seems re-energized 714-545-2800, HANARESUSHI.COM even though much of the menu 6 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES 75 TO EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 chophouse led by chefs Michael and David Rossi. The massive bone- in ribeye is straight out of “The Flintstones.” That same hunk of the steer also makes a great prime rib, an off-menu secret. But don’t overdo it because you’ll need room for dessert, like the Milky Way chocolate bar or the deconstruction of peanut butter and jelly. The bar pours more than 60 wines by the glass. • 1025 E. BALL ROAD, ANAHEIM 714-817-4200, THERANCH.COM The Capital Grille Professional waiters wear white jackets and trade 9 business cards with high- powered customers at this old- school steakhouse at South Coast Plaza, which seems to have gotten BRAD A.