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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. JOHNSON - STAFF better and better over the past TACO MARIA • Chilaquiles from the brunch menu, which also couple of years. The dry-aged, includes buttermilk pancakes and huevos pescador. bone-in New York strip is as good as it gets, and it gets even better with a stiff Manhattan. For dessert: coconut cream pie. fired pizzas are better than ever, Water Grill • 3333 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA especially the carne, which is 714-432-1140, THECAPITALGRILLE.COM This Los Angeles-based crafted with four different house- seafood palace across the made pork sausages. Pratt is a street from South Coast master of whole-hog cookery, so 6Plaza has settled into a smooth, when you see porchetta on the luxurious groove. The indoor/ menu, don’t think twice — just get outdoor ambience is as stunning as it. The Caesar salad is still the best some of the fish being served. The you’ll find. And the Italian wines whole, wild-caught Dover sole is are not just great but remarkably Taco María simply perfection, bathed in butter affordable. Much to everyone’s and filleted tableside. Whatever you dismay, the chef recently removed Chef Carlos Salgado’s do, start with the uni toast, and from the menu his famous chitarra reinvention of Mexican maybe a round of stone crab claws. spaghetti carbonara, but it is 10 cuisine is one of the most The seafood selection is beyond still sometimes (but not always) important things to happen to the vast. available off-menu if you just ask. California food scene this decade. • 3300 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA • 216 N. EL CAMINO REAL, SAN No one else is doing what Salgado 949-208-7060, WATERGRILL.COM CLEMENTE, 949-429-1199, does with tortillas and beans, or BRICKPIZZERIA.COM for that matter with wood-fired arrachera or tongue-searing scallop aguachile. Chorizo, mole, carnitas … the menu (prix fixe most nights) might sound familiar, but the flavors and presentations will have you second-guessing everything you Brick thought you knew about Mexican The Ranch food. At lunchtime, and on Tuesday Chef David Pratt recently Restaurant nights, Taco María goes à la carte upgraded his Italian kitchen and actually serves tacos, albeit not 7 with the installation of a Cowboy hospitality thrives your typical idea of tacos. wood-fired grill to complement at The Ranch, and it’s not • 3313 HYLAND AVE., COSTA MESA his already legendary wood-fired merely schtick. This Western- 714-538-8444, TACOMARIA.COM oven. The lamb chops from that 8themed restaurant and country grill are spectacular. The wood- music dance hall is a serious
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A. BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT TO EAT •7 7 Irenia Chef Ryan Garlitos continues to reinvent and elevate Filipino cuisine better than 11anyone else in this genre. Don’t believe me? Order the chicken sa Gata. The chicken is cooked like duck confit and served in an adobo of lemongrass, coconut milk and chili oil. Still not convinced? Then you’re just nuts. The pork belly adobo is brilliant, as is the seafood sinigang. At lunchtime it’s mostly rice bowls topped with those same incredible flavors. Terrific cocktails and desserts, too. • 400 N. BROADWAY, SANTA ANA, 657- 245-3466, IRENIARESTAURANT.COM
370 Common If you like fried chicken — which of course you do — you’ll want to mark your STAFF FILE PHOTO 12 370 COMMON • A variety of sides complement the fried chicken, calendar for the last Sunday of the month. That’s when you gather a including garlic mashed potatoes, smoky braised greens and spice cake. group of friends for family-style fried chicken night at this Laguna Beach gastropub. Chef Ryan of seafood towers everywhere. Fair • CRYSTAL COVE PROMENADE, 7832 E. Adams has a way of turning the warning: Bathroom attendants PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY mundane into the extraordinary. assist you in the john, even though NEWPORT BEACH, 949-494-1239 On normal nights, a grilled cheese nobody needs or wants that. JAVIERS-CANTINA.COM sandwich becomes an unlikely star, • 633 ANTON BLVD., COSTA MESA served one bite at a time. Poutine 714-546-7405 becomes not merely a heap of fries MASTROSRESTAURANTS.COM smothered in a glop of short rib chili, but also a strangely refined 16 culinary masterpiece. Meatloaf encased in a crisp layer of bacon Vine awakens as an individual work of The original of Russ art. Bendel’s restaurant • 370 GLENNEYRE ST., LAGUNA BEACH trifecta is still his best, 949-494-8686, 370COMMON.COM Javier’s 15 even though it might appear The very first question from a distance to be the least servers always ask after polished. The bar scene sometimes 14 saying hello is, “Can I gets rambunctious (because the bring you a margarita?” The proper bartenders are so good, and the answer is “Yes, please. And make lights are dimmed so low), but the it a Cadillac.” From the moment adjoining dining room is always you step across the threshold, you low-key and comfortable. Chef Mastro’s feel like you’ve arrived at a luxury Jared Cook makes an unusually Steakhouse resort in Cabo or Punta Mita. The delicious salad using citrus and carnitas are exquisite, a mound endive accented with celery leaves, Great steaks are expensive. of tender, fat-laden meat topped pistachios and goat cheese. The Period. There’s no way with a single, hulking pork rib. schnitzel is fantastic. So is the bone around it. If you want a Crab enchiladas are as luxurious marrow. So is the burger. So is the 13 as they are soulful. The cheese braised pork shoulder tossed with truly special steak, you’re going to have to pay dearly for it. The chef’s- enchilada, the crispy beef taco, ribbons of freshly made pasta. So cut 30-ounce ribeye is as hedonistic shrimp quesadilla, octopus ceviche is … should I keep going? as it gets, but this is also the finest and Acapulco-style shrimp cocktail • 211 N. EL CAMINO REAL USDA Prime beef available. The … all excellent. Plus the best SAN CLEMENTE, 949-361-2079 chilled seafood towers are the envy margaritas, period. VINESANCLEMENTE.COM
8 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES 75 TO EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 … there’s even a tofu taco. Chef Deborah Schneider is a master of Baja-style Mexican food. It’s the mesquite-fired grill that sets this kitchen apart from Schneider’s other O.C. hotspot, Sol. The margaritas are superb, too. • 7631 EDINGER AVE., HUNTINGTON BEACH, 714-894-2792 SOLITATACOS.COM
Manpuku In the world of Japanese (and Korean) barbecue, 19 Manpuku is in a league of its own. The dining room is intimate; you might even say romantic. The tabletop grills are fueled completely by Japanese charcoal, over which you cook your own beef tongue, marinated skirt steak and shrimp. Don’t even think about showing up on the weekend without a reservation. And don’t worry: You won’t smell like smoke at the end. • 891 BAKER ST., COSTA MESA STAFF FILE PHOTO 714-708-3290, MANPUKU.CO/EN/ BROADWAY • Chef Amar Santana at his Laguna Beach restaurant, which is inspired by the theaters of New York City.
Broadway EnoSteak Chef Amar Santana’s EnoSteak is one of the best- Broadway is a festive kept secrets in O.C. With A Restaurant 16 restaurant that walks a fine 17 fewer than 40 seats tucked Steaks are served on line between proper upscale dining into what used to be the wine cellar cast-iron skillets, and the and a casual, boisterous gastropub. at the Ritz-Carlton, Eno defies martinis are ice cold at The kitchen is on display in the the classic steakhouse stereotype. 20 this old-school steakhouse across center of the restaurant, and some The experience is intimate and the road from the harbor. The red of the best seats in the house are romantic, especially if you nab that leatherette booths, polished wood the six stools at the chef’s counter, coveted table next to the fireplace. paneling and series of black-and- directly in front of the action where Nobody comes here to see and be white photographs pay homage flames lick up from the grill, steam seen but for precisely the opposite. to the 1920s, when this place first billows from stockpots and pans Most importantly, the beef and the opened. People-watching in the bar clank against the stove. Wine lovers wine are consistently superb. is priceless. alert: This place has one of the best • 1 RITZ-CARLTON DRIVE, DANA POINT • 3334 W. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY pinot noir selections in the country. 949-240-2000, ENOSTEAK.COM NEWPORT BEACH, 949-650-6505 • 328 GLENNEYRE ST. ARESTAURANTNB.COM LAGUNA BEACH, 949-715-8234 BROADWAYBYAMARSANTANA.COM
Solita The sign above the door says “tacos,” and the 18 options for those are extensive: carne asada, shredded beef braised in red chilies, classic carnitas, ancho-braised chicken
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A. BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT TO EAT •9 9 Juliette Three things to keep in mind about this rustic 21 American bistro. One: The burger is perfect, as are the housemade potato chips that come with it. Two: If it’s on the menu at dinner, you seriously must order the braised pork shank. It’s as big as your head, and you won’t be able to finish it, but you’ll be glad you tried. Three: This is a great place to drink. The wine list is smartly curated, and the bar program is almost legendary. Beyond that, save plenty of room for dessert, like beignets or the salted caramel pudding. • 1000 BRISTOL ST., NEWPORT BEACH 949-752-5854, JULIETTENB.COM
COURTESY OF MONTAGE LAGUNA BEACH North Italia THE LOFT • Mary’s Farm Chicken is on the dinner menu, along with North Italia is Maple Farms Duck Breast, Skuna Bay Salmon and filet mignon. relentlessly one of the busiest restaurants in 22 HUNTINGTON BEACH, 714-374-0038 Orange County. Even at 9:30 on pay attention to the rotisserie. a weeknight it’s wise to make Chef Michael Campbell cranks DINEBLUEGOLD.COM/LSXO a reservation. And that’s not up the rotisserie only for dinner, surprising. North occupies a not lunch, so keep that in mind. beautiful glass box with high Sometimes there’s a rack of lamb ceilings, hardwood floors and a on the spit. Sometimes it’s loaded wraparound bar that opens onto with chickens, or even a suckling the patio, creating a relaxing pig. Whatever it is, get it. And save The Cannery indoor/outdoor vibe. The pizzas room for apple pie. The owners of The 26 are very good. The pastas are even • 30801 S. COAST HIGHWAY better, especially the strozzapreti, LAGUNA BEACH, 949-715-6420 Cannery have been slowly a sort of loosely twisted macaroni MONTAGEHOTELS.COM 25 remodeling this upscale tossed with grilled chicken and seafood house that occupies one of mushrooms. the oldest buildings on the harbor. They’ve added a bar in the middle • 2957 MICHELSON DRIVE, IRVINE 949-629-7060, of the dining room and opened NORTHITALIARESTAURANT.COM the place up, giving it a lighter, fresher aura that seems to have had an invigorating influence on LSXO the staff, both inside the kitchen and out. The oysters are always To find LSXO at Pacific a great bet here. Or if you like City, first locate Bluegold. spicy things, start with the grilled LSXO is hidden inside, 24 Hawaiian shrimp, which will be far behind the wine room. With only The Loft spicier than you imagined for such 28 seats, this “secret” parlor is a an old-fashioned fish restaurant. Is it silly that I get more throwback to colonial Saigon, with And there’s nothing old-fashioned excited about the bread mismatched rattan and leather about the octopus, either, served basket than I do that chairs, area rugs and vintage 23 with a very Filipino-esque aji- spectacular ocean view from this photographs. The menu pulls amarillo coconut sauce, pickled dining room overlooking the Pacific together flavors from throughout green papaya and pears. Although from atop Montage Laguna Beach? Southeast Asia, like a Thai-style most diners are here for fish, don’t Similarly, if you like cheese, you’ll green papaya salad with beef jerky underestimate the wood-grilled be so giddy over the cheese board and chilies, or veal sweetbreads in steaks. that you’ll completely miss the a broth meant to evoke the flavors whales swimming past the rocks of Vietnam’s bun bo Hue. • 3010 LAFAYETTE AVE, below. Most importantly, though, NEWPORT BEACH, 949-566-0060 • 21016 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY CANNERYNEWPORT.COM
10 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO75 EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 on the stove. The roasted sea bass with raisins, capers and market vegetables is the best thing on the menu. Scratch that. Best thing on the menu: the hand-cut fries. • 2001 WESTCLIFF DRIVE NEWPORT BEACH, 949-287-6807 OLEANEWPORTBEACH.COM
Bangkok Avenue This is the fanciest Thai restaurant in the region, 29 and word has gotten out, so it’s best to call ahead and reserve a table. The kitchen doesn’t follow the usual script. Most notably, they make three different types of Thai sausage. Get all three, but watch out for the green chilies in the Isan-style pork sausage. If you bite into one, it’ll blow your tongue off. The green papaya salad is great, but what’s even better is the green STAFF FILE PHOTO mango salad. • PIZZERIA MOZZA Pizza alla Benno with speck, pineapple, • 17221 BEACH BLVD., HUNTINGTON jalapeños, mozzarella and tomato is pulled from a wood-burning oven. BEACH, 714-841-9567 BANGKOKAVENUE.COM
borrowing its crunchy character Shunka Sushi and pungent flavor from the Forget salmon and tuna. sourdough that celebrity And don’t trouble the chef/owner Nancy Silverton made chefs for a hand roll. famous at La Brea Bakery. The 26 caprese salad is extraordinary, Those things are great here, of course, but you can get those made with roasted tomatoes on Din Tai Fung anywhere. Look for the chalkboard the vine, although the more menu at the edge of the bar. It’ll be famous of her salads is the chef’s Taiwan’s most prestigious scribbled with names like ishi dai, chopped salad. The Italian wine dumpling chain has kin mei, ho-bo, umeiro, tachiuo, list is deliciously affordable. 30 several California locations but none swankier than akamutsu, tobiuo, mejina, higesori. • 800 W. COAST HIGHWAY … Order the omakase (i.e., let the NEWPORT BEACH, 949-945-1126 the South Coast Plaza branch. chefs decide). Then sit back and NEWPORTBEACH Everyone is here for its famous enjoy a highly nuanced procession PIZZERIAMOZZA.COM Shanghai-style xiao long bao, also of fish with names you can’t known as soup dumplings. But the pronounce. You won’t find a more menu goes so much deeper than extensive selection of fish at any that. The deeper you dig, the more other sushi bar in California. you will be rewarded. The wait can stretch upward of two hours, so put • 369 E. 17TH ST., COSTA MESA your name down and go shopping. 949-631-9854 They’ll text you when your table is Olea almost ready. Like its sister restaurants • 3333 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA Vine in San Clemente and 714-549-3388, DINTAIFUNGUSA.COM 28 Ironwood in Laguna Hills, Olea is inspired by the California Pizzeria Mozza wine country. Just inside the entrance is a bustling bar, and just The pizzas are superb, behind that an open kitchen, from but if you’ve never eaten which you’ll smell the intoxicating here, you should know aromas of steaks sizzling on the 27that the crust is unlike any other, grill and chicken schnitzel frying
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A. BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT TO EAT •11 11 Studio When the Montage opened 15 years ago on 31 a seaside cliff in Laguna Beach, the resort’s restaurants raised the culinary bar to heights previously unseen in Orange County and forever changed the trajectory of fine dining in the region. Studio remains the poshest, most luxurious dining room on the coast. Every waiter on staff (clad in beautifully tailored suits) has passed at least the Level 1 sommelier exam. You’ll be offered three types of butter with your bread. And the wine list grows mind-bogglingly deeper every year. Fittingly for a special occasion restaurant such as this, desserts are always spectacular. • 30801 S. COAST HIGHWAY LAGUNA BEACH, 949-715-6420 MONTAGEHOTELS.COM BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF OOTORO SUSHI • The 28-course nigiri omakase (a sushi selection chosen by the chef) sometimes includes seared halibut fin with yuzukosho.
TJ’s Woodfire deck. The basic premise here is steak: simple, uncomplicated, Pizza grass-fed, wood-grilled steak. That Jimmy’s Famous Everything you need wood-burning grill also produces to know about TJ’s is an incredible burger. American what comes from the • 1915 S. COAST HIGHWAY Tavern 33humongous wood-fired pizza oven LAGUNA BEACH, 949-793-4044 or any of the 16 beer taps, which MAROWOODGRILL.COM Jimmy is fictitious, and are mostly local. The pizza lineup this tavern has been includes authentic Neapolitan, 32 calling itself famous New York, Sicilian and cracker- before it really was. But it worked, thin styles. Each is good in its own and this still-young American way, but you’ll want to focus on grill feels like it’s been around the Margherita, which is one of the forever. The dining room unfolds best Neapolitan-style pies you’ll Ootoro Sushi in a series of unique vignettes and find outside of Naples — and it’s Gone are the days when seating arrangements that offer even better when you add a few you can just walk into a surprising amount of privacy slices of prosciutto. Ootoro and nab a table. for a restaurant with 200-plus 641 CAMINO DE LOS MARES Reservations35 are now essential. • seats. Burgers are epic, and the SAN CLEMENTE, 949-243-6433 You’re here, of course, for the beer-battered onion rings are cut TJWOODFIREPIZZA.COM omakase. I prefer the traditional decadently thick. Don’t let your nigiri omakase, which offers about mom order the fried chicken; it’ll 28 pieces of sushi plus dessert for just make her mad because it’s way $160. Twenty-eight pieces sounds better than hers. like a lot of sushi, but it is not • 25001 DANA POINT HARBOR DRIVE an overwhelming amount when DANA POINT, 949-388-8900, J-FAT.COM properly cut, as it is here. Each piece is a small, civilized bite. Maro Wood Grill Depending on the season, the menu might include live abalone, This is an Argentine live scallop and Santa Barbara uni, steakhouse done in or maybe fresh octopus, seared miniature. The menu is 34 halibut fin and bluefin tuna cheek. extremely limited, which makes The quality of fish is strictly first- sense for a restaurant so tiny it rate. can accommodate only about eight people inside, at stools surrounding • 2222 MICHELSON DRIVE, IRVINE the kitchen counter. They squeeze 949-222-0688, OOTOROSUSHI.COM another 20 seats onto an outside
12 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES 75TO EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 pork ragu with housemade pasta or deconstructed chicken pot pie. The fish is always fresh off the boat. And if you like whiskey, see the bartender ASAP. • 34094 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY DANA POINT, 949-481-7734 EATATCRAFTHOUSE.COM
Meizhou Dongpo The menu at this beautiful Sichuan restaurant in 39 Irvine looks almost like a children’s book. A dozen oversized pages are filled with big, beautiful photos. Nearly every dish on the menu is illustrated — and the good news is that the food actually comes out looking exactly like the pictures. If you like playing with radioactive materials, order the royal hot pot — a boiling cauldron of shrimp, beef, mushrooms, quail eggs, lotus root and Spam. Otherwise, consider the dan dan STAFF FILE PHOTO noodles, the best example of MEIZHOU DONGPO • A royal hot pot bubbles at this Sichuan Sichuan street-style noodles you’ll restaurant in Irvine that has locations in China, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. find in O.C. • 15363 CULVER DRIVE, IRVINE 949-433-5686 it’s more than that. It is hands- Farmhouse at down the best restaurant in the Roger’s Gardens hills. But don’t worry. It’s an everyman’s restaurant serving a Chef Rich Mead made gamut of comfort foods, including a triumphant return to great burgers, but also Southern- the local scene with this fried chicken, meatloaf and prime 36 rib, even a few 1980s fern bar upscale outdoor cafe set within the Bandera lush grounds of Roger’s Gardens, throwbacks like spinach dip and Consistency is the holy a sprawling luxury plant nursery potato skins. The Bloody Mary grail of restaurant near Fashion Island. The kitchen is monstrous. And the hot finger kitchens, and I don’t serves farm-fresh salads, house- towels provide an elegant touch. 40 know of another that is more cured salmon and steak frites. 5775 E. SANTA ANA CANYON ROAD • consistent than this branch of Bank on a difficult reservation ANAHEIM HILLS, 714-283-1062 Hillstone’s Bandera. The best- when the weather is nice, especially REUNIONKITCHEN.NET kept secret here is the off-menu at lunchtime. prime rib, but just know that • 2301 SAN JOAQUIN HILLS ROAD they often sell out early on. CORONA DEL MAR, 949-640-1415 Alternatively, consider the spice- FARMHOUSERG.COM rubbed ribeye. The little cucumber salad is unnervingly brilliant. And the skillet cornbread is always Craft House comforting. Service is super attentive and the martinis always Did someone say extra cold. breakfast tacos?! I can’t Reunion Kitchen think of a better way to • 3201 E. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY 38start the week than with Sunday CORONA DEL MAR, 949-673-3524 There aren’t many non- brunch at Craft House. Every BANDERARESTAURANTS.COM chain options in this neighborhood needs a great chef- 37 area, so Reunion is an driven gastropub like this, where especially refreshing choice. But chef Blake Mellgren serves terrific
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A.BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACESTO EAT TO EAT •13 13 Ramos House Cafe No matter the day or season, it’s always 41 brunchtime at this charming outdoor cafe next to the train tracks. A historical landmark, The Ramos House is a wooden prairie-style cabin that dates to 1881. The kitchen is indoors. The entire dining room exists outside. They serve brunch every day of the week, things like house-cured salmon, scrambled eggs with crab hash and huevos rancheros. They don’t take reservations, and there’s always a long line. • 31752 LOS RIOS ST., SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, 949-443-1342 RAMOSHOUSE.COM
Hendrix Chef Rainer Schwarz borrows ideas from 42 around the world, pulling equally from Europe, America and Asia. The theme that ties everything together is a lust for big flavors. And the rotisserie. STAFF FILE PHOTO Everything that comes from that HENDRIX • Chef Rainer Schwarz brushes up his rotisserie skills at the contraption is superb, especially Laguna Niguel restaurant. the chicken and the porchetta. Rotisserie lamb makes a very impressive sandwich. it the pork pibil enchiladas. Hanna’s • 32431 STREET OF THE GOLDEN • 3737 W. CHAPMAN AVE., ORANGE LANTERN, LAGUNA NIGUEL 714-456-9642, ANEPALCO.COM Think of Hanna’s as 949-248-1912, HENDRIXOC.COM a suburban fern bar crossed with a big-city 45steakhouse. They serve comfort and familiarity. The deviled eggs are just like your aunt Betty’s. The fries are real. And the steaks are Sushi Roku excellent, especially the 14-ounce bone-in filet. The also serve one Anepalco on You say you don’t like heck of a burger. Chapman tofu, but that’s only • 22195 EL PASEO, RANCHO SANTA 44 because you’ve never MARGARITA, 949-709-2300 Chef Daniel Godinez tried the tofu sampler here. It’ll HANNASPRIMESTEAK.COM completely revamped blow your mind. And for American- his restaurant inside style sushi rolls, it doesn’t get any 43 better than the tuna-jalapeño roll the ALO Hotel in Orange last year, and it’s exactly what this here. If straight-up raw fish is more place needed. The kitchen artfully your thing, you’ll love the new-style bridges the divide between sashimi. They also do a supremely Mexico City’s swanky Polanco elegant twist on ramen noodles. neighborhood and the barrios of • 327 NEWPORT CENTER DRIVE Southern California. The barbacoa NEWPORT BEACH (FASHION ISLAND), short rib tacos are sublime. The 949-706-3622 chilaquiles, justifiably legendary. INNOVATIVEDINING.COM But if you get only one dish, make
14 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO75 EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 American gastropub. And how do you feel about beef that smells like blue cheese? Storts serves a ribeye that he’s dry-aged for four months — and it is absolutely exhilarating. • 136 W. COMMONWEALTH AVE. FULLERTON, 714-519-3179 WRECKLESS.US
Kang Ho-Dong Baekjeong Two things make this Korean barbecue house 49 the best in O.C. First: It’s the quality of the meat, which is exponentially better than what most Korean barbecue joints serve. Second: It’s the charcoal. Most Korean grills rely strictly on gas, but this place boosts its tabletop cookers with binchotan charcoal, giving the barbecue a distinctly smokier edge. Rarely are two restaurants with the same name exactly alike, and it’s important to note that service at the Buena Park location is far superior to that of the Irvine branch. • 5171 BEACH BLVD., BUENA PARK LEONARD ORTIZ - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 714-739-9678; 14160 CULVER DRIVE WRECKLESS • Proscuitto-wrapped filet mignon is one of the steak- IRVINE, 949-559-9678, 678USA.COM and-potatoes options at this Fullerton gastropub.
Del Frisco’s Mr. G’s Grille The always affable and impeccably dressed There are four things Giuseppe Accardi everyone should taste 47operates this Italian-inspired The Blind Pig at this casual Texas 46 bistro, the fanciest place to eat on The sexiest gastropub in steakhouse, which by the way Newport’s Balboa Island. Most south county often hires is hands-down the best overall customers are regulars who live restaurant at the Irvine Spectrum. a live band to play in the within walking distance. Pay 50corner, unnecessarily amplified, The steaks, particularly the attention to the pastas, as that’s which sounds great but makes New York strip, are outstanding. where this kitchen truly excels. The bone-in prime rib (Friday conversation at the dinner table • 305 MARINE AVE., NEWPORT BEACH impossible. But, if you’ve ordered and Saturday only) is one of the 949-675-6193, MRGSBISTRO.COM best in the county. The double the duck risotto or the steamed cheeseburger is a monster. And mussels with soy broth, you might if you’ve made it through any of be too busy stuffing your face to those, you probably won’t have talk. So just order another cocktail room for coconut cream pie, which and deal with it. The Bloody would be a shame. Marys are the best you’ll find for miles. • 772 SPECTRUM CENTER DRIVE Wreckless IRVINE, 949-341-0376 • 31431 SANTA MARGARITA PARKWAY DELFRISCOSGRILLE.COM How do you feel about RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA snails? If you’ve eaten 949-888-0072, THEBLINDPIGOC.COM 48 the escargot here, there’s really only one acceptable answer. They’re amazing. Chef Cody Storts leads the kitchen at this boisterous
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A.BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACESTO EAT TO EAT •15 15 Fleming’s The original location of the now-nationwide Fleming’s 51 steakhouse chain was looking a bit long in the tooth for a few too many years, which had begun to overshadow the quality of food coming from the kitchen. But not any more. Recently emerged from a beautiful makeover, this Fashion Island restaurant is back with a vengeance. The steaks, the hand-cut fries, the burgers, the Martinis … all as good as ever. Plus, they’re still pouring 100 wines by the glass. • 455 NEWPORT CENTER DRIVE NEWPORT BEACH, 949-720-9633 FLEMINGSSTEAKHOUSE.COM
Watermarc Most afternoons and weekend nights, every 52 seat in the dining room is filled. While it’s ground zero for chaotic tourist traffic in downtown Laguna, Watermarc always seems to be packed with locals. Chef Marc Cohen does a modern riff on salade Nicoise that’s not a salad at all but rather a beautiful entree of grilled salmon with haricots verts and fingerling potatoes. Anything seafood is good here, especially the STAFF FILE PHOTO watermelon and tuna skewers. For SELANNE STEAK TAVERN • The Laguna Beach restaurant offers dessert: Ding Dongs! steaks and chops, seafood and chicken in an inviting space. • 448 S. COAST HIGHWAY LAGUNA BEACH, 949-376-6272 WATERMARCRESTAURANT.COM • 1080 BAYSIDE DRIVE, NEWPORT BEACH, 949-644-4220, SAPORINB.COM Selanne Steak Tavern To best enjoy this steakhouse, sit anywhere but the wildly energetic Harvest 55bar. You’ll find the quietest tables Sapori Ristorante and best service upstairs. Or if the The true measure of any weather is warm, the patio can Chef Sal Maniaci’s golf course restaurant is be lovely. I just wish the chairs Sapori is two Italian 54 its Cobb salad. And the outside were more comfortable. 53 restaurants in one — Cobb at Harvest is insanely good The steaks are always great, but with one of the prettiest patios these days. The dining room at it’s extremely important to ask for in Newport beach. On the left The Ranch resort got off to a rough sauce on the side, as the kitchen is an authentic Neapolitan-style start but now that new head chef here can get rather heavy handed pizzeria with a massive, wood- Kyle St. John has settled in, it’s with sauces on steaks that don’t fired oven built by craftsmen time everyone finally took notice. need sauce in the first place. Funny from Naples. On the right is the The whole branzino is superb, thing about this steakhouse, more formal dining room, where as are the mussels. The secluded though: Best thing on the menu you can order the secret off-menu canyon locale is magical, so you’ll might actually be the scallops. veal chop. The two spaces are want to ask for a table by the window. • 1464 S. COAST HIGHWAY connected by a central bar, and • 31106 S. COAST HIGHWAY LAGUNA BEACH, 949-715-9881 they also share the same core LAGUNA BEACH, 800-223-3309 SELANNESTEAKTAVERN.COM kitchen. THERANCHLB.COM
16 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES 75TO EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 and go in short order, but the one constant is chef Jimmy Martinez’s charming taqueria. The flavors tend toward froufrou, but I’ve never found a single taco here that I didn’t genuinely love, including the vanilla-scented short rib and even the odd-sounding burger taco. • 185 W. CENTER ST. PROMENADE ANAHEIM, 657-208-3889 POURVIDALATINFLAVOR.COM
Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge The glam pre-theater restaurant inside the Segerstrom Concert Hall 59has been retooled as an intimate steakhouse. The steaks are excellent but not particularly large because most people who eat here don’t want to have to carry a doggy bag into the theater after dinner, which makes sense. Great wines. Terrific foie gras torchon. • 615 TOWN CENTER DRIVE TODD PORTER COSTA MESA, 714-429-7640 LEATHERBY’S CAFE ROUGE • The pre-theater menu of this PATINAGROUP.COM restaurant, located inside the Segerstrom Concert Hall, includes ribeye.
2145 Pizza Tupelo Junction The building that houses Santa Barbara’s popular this wood-fire pizza joint Southern-inspired Tupelo used to be an auto repair Junction Cafe — fried HiroNori 56garage. The bay doors are rolled up 57green tomatoes, chicken and The dining room most days to create a cozy indoor/ waffles, biscuits and jam — accommodates only outdoor ambience with tons of recently relocated to Newport’s about 35 people at a time, natural light and a comfortable Balboa Peninsula, setting up 60 crammed in like sardines. The breeze. Most of the dining room is shop in the drafty old house that menu is short and simple with actually outside in the backyard. formerly operated as The Porch a tight focus on ramen. The The marinara pizza is perfection. and Aubergine. You’ll want to come tonkotsu broth is ultra-fatty and So, too, the pizza topped with blue for breakfast, and you’ll need to delicious, filled with slow-roasted cheese and honey. You’re just going order the pumpkin oatmeal waffles pork belly that’s heavily charred to have to trust me on that one. with caramelized bananas. Or around the edges, as if it had • 2145 PLACENTIA AVE., COSTA MESA come for dinner and get the trout. caught fire and smoldered for a 949-873-5853, 2145EAT.COM Santa Barbara must be reeling. few minutes before coming out of • 508 29TH ST., NEWPORT BEACH the oven. This is the best ramen in 949-877-0280, TUPELOJUNCTION.COM Orange County. • 2222 MICHELSON DRIVE IRVINE, 949-536-5800 HIRONORICRAFTRAMEN.COM
Pour Vida Anaheim’s Center Street Promenade has seen a 58 lot of businesses come BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A.BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT TO EAT •17 17 Chada Thai Nobody makes a better Thai fishcake than Chada Thai. Also great is the 61crispy rice salad with fermented sausage. Look up at the TV screen and watch the slideshow of the menu. You’ll find yourself drooling over familiar classics like spicy beef salad, crab fried rice, papaya salad, pad Thai and rad nah … all of which are excellent. • 9872 WESTMINSTER AVE. (BACKSIDE OF MALL OF FORTUNE), GARDEN GROVE 714-858-1693, CHADATHAIGG.COM
Ironwood One of life’s toughest decisions is whether to 62 order the Snozzberry or the Flaming Buffalo. The cocktails here are serious. This is the middle child of Russ Bendel and chef Jared Cook’s restaurant family, which also includes Vine and Olea. Order the duck wings, which are fried and tossed with a glaze of honey and Meyer lemon. STAFF FILE PHOTO The chicken schnitzel is easily one HUE OI • Banh beo chen (rice cakes with dried shrimp, chilies and pork of the best things on the menu. rind) is offered at this Little Saigon fixture. • 25250 LA PAZ ROAD, LAGUNA HILLS, 949-446-8772 IRONWOODLAGUNAHILLS.COM Los Sanchez Hue Oi People write me all Year after year, this the time to lament the is consistently one of 64 closing of the legendary the best all-around Los Sanchez, and I write back 65restaurants in Little Saigon. The explaining, “They didn’t close. kitchen here is the standard bearer They just moved. And almost for Hue-style banh beo chen, those Garlic & Chives nothing has changed.” The carne poker chip-sized pancakes made asada quesadilla is the size of of rice flour topped with a relish You can smell the garlic a large pizza. The nachos are of dried shrimp, green onion, fried cooking for miles. The insanely simple – and perfect. shallot, crispy pork skin and bird’s 63 house specialty at this Barbacoa, carnitas, flautas, eye chili. For dessert: a tall glass of Little Saigon favorite is wok-fried enchiladas, tacos, burritos, che Thai with jelly cubes. crab with handfuls of garlic, fresh chile rellenos … the choices are • 16537 BROOKHURST ST. jalapeños and dried chilies. And overwhelming. FOUNTAIN VALLEY, 714-531-1305 while you’re getting your hands • 11906 GARDEN GROVE BLVD. HUEOIRESTAURANT.COM dirty, go ahead and get the sloppy, GARDEN GROVE, 714-590-9300 messy, spicy, amazing chicken LOSSANCHEZ.COM wings. Also stellar: the pomelo salad with pork belly, shrimp and bird’s eye chilies. Expect nothing short of chaos. • 9892 WESTMINSTER AVE. GARDEN GROVE, 714-591-5196 GARLICANDCHIVES.COM
18 • BRADBRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO75 EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 El Farolito When the craving hits for an old-fashioned combination plate with 68refried beans, an enchilada and yellow cheese, make a beeline for El Farolito. For more than 40 years, they’ve been serving the same crispy ground-beef tacos with those almost-crispy corn tortillas cooked halfway between fried and steamed. The frozen margaritas aren’t really frozen but rather somewhat wet and slushy because they come from a worn-out blender, which is exactly as it should be. • 201 S. BRADFORD AVE., PLACENTIA 714-993-7880, ELFAROLITOMEX.COM
J Zhou Oriental Cuisine Yelpers hate this place because it’s not cheap, 69 but this is easily the best dim sum in O.C. All the usual stuff is here: shrimp siu mai, barbecue pork bao, chicken feet, sticky rice in lotus leaves … the beef cheung fun (steamed rice paper roll) is superb. This is also the nicest place to enjoy whole Peking duck. You might want to wear sunglasses; the LEONARD ORTIZ - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER decor is dizzyingly splashy. THE QUIET WOMAN • Keeping it simple with wood-fired steaks for • 2601 PARK AVE., TUSTIN, 714-258- more than half a century, this place still feels like a secret hideaway. 8833, JZHOUORIENTALCUISINE.COM
Adya Peking This fast-casual food Restaurant stall inside the Anaheim The Quiet 66 Packing House is easily Owner Lili Shen will greet the best Indian restaurant in O.C. you at the door with a Woman Order at the counter, then find curt, “Chopstick or fork?” 67 I don’t know what the someplace to sit if you can. How is Expect the service to be bossy but it possible that the chicken tikka sweet, like when Shen changes owners are doing with masala is this soulful and rich your order because she knows the money they’ve been 70making at this upscale pub for without being heavy? And how can better than you. The Beijing- chicken kebabs be this remarkably inspired food comes out fast and the past 53 years, but it doesn’t tender and luscious? The best thing hot. Co-owner/chef Jerry Chen appear that they have ever invested of all might be the keema pav, makes the best beef-and-scallion a single dime into refreshing the which is sort of like a sloppy Joe pancake for miles. Also worth decor. Still, it’s hard to resist the made with lamb, tomato gravy and ordering: pan-fried dumplings, stir- allure of a great USDA Prime steak handfuls of spice. fried eggplant with basil, and the grilled over a raging wood fire. The salad on the Lazy Susan is as • 440 S. ANAHEIM BLVD., ANAHEIM green beans with minced pork — 714-533-2392, ADYAOC.COM or whatever the owners think you classic as the cougars at the bar can handle. drinking dirty martinis. • 8566 WESTMINSTER BLVD. • 3224 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY WESTMINSTER, 714-893-3020 CORONA DEL MAR, 949-640-7440 QUIETWOMAN.COM
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A.BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACESTO EAT TO EAT •19 19 Cha Cha’s Latin Kitchen One entire outer wall of this contemporary Mexican restaurant slides out of the 71way to create an indoor/outdoor ambience that turns the entire dining room into a year-round patio. This is the best place for miles to get a great margarita. The tequila selection is superb. And the open-face short-rib enchiladas are the mother of all enchiladas. • 13126 JAMBOREE ROAD, IRVINE, 714- 408-7819, CHACHASLATINKITCHEN.COM
The Cellar Few, if any, restaurants do live music as well 72 as The Cellar in San Clemente. The volume is always nicely calibrated at this dark and moody wine bar where the kitchen cranks out delicious curried clams and steak au poivre paired with flights of wine. Breakfast/brunch is great, too, with housemade pastries and strong coffee. LEONARD ORTIZ, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER • 156 AVENIDA DEL MAR, SAN CLEMENTE THE CELLAR • A hummus board with grilled vegetables and Arabic 949-492-3663, THECELLARSITE.COM bread is on the share menu at this San Clemente wine bar.
Kabob Republic Haidilao Hot Pot Chef Ekrem Ozturk’s If you’re not familiar with tri-tip beef döner is Chinese hot pot, here’s all 74 easily the best kabob 75 you need to know: Pick American you’ll eat this year. Nothing else a broth, pick a meat, pick some comes close. Kabob Republic is vegetables. You’ll be hard-pressed Dream the first place I’ve found that to screw it up, especially if you Burgers and beer. At actually reminds me of the flavors choose the spicy red chili broth the beach. What more I originally fell in love with in and the Wagyu beef belly. Hand- 73 could you want? OK, how Athens and Istanbul. This place pulled and stretched at your table, about the perfect french fries, is tiny but very pretty, a blue and the “dancing noodles” are also a too? Bartenders pour more than white jewel box straight out of the must. 50 beers on tap. The french fries Aegean islands. • 2710 ALTON PARKWAY, IRVINE are made from scratch. And the • 1781 NEWPORT BLVD., COSTA MESA 949-566-1766, HAIDILAO.US burgers are all excellent, but none 949-764-1778, KABOBREPUBLIC.COM more so than the one that’s topped with fried pastrami (think extra- wide bacon). • 21058 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY HUNTINGTON BEACH, 714-374-1330 THEAMERICANDREAMHB.COM
20 • BRAD BRAD A. JOHNSON’S A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO75 EAT BEST PLACES TO EAT MAY 2018 VOTE FOR WHO’S WHO’S IN • ZZA2145 PI THEBESTIN • AMERICAN DREAM • ANEPALCO ON CHAPMAN ORANGE COUNTY! • BOURBON STEAK • CHA CHA’S LATIN KITCHEN &YOUCOULDWIN$100! • THE CELLAR • DEL FRISCO’S GRILLE • FLEMING’S • HAIDILAO HOT POT • HARVEST • HENDRIX • HIRONORI • THE LOFT • J ZHOU ORIENTAL CUISINE • KABOB REPUBLIC • LEATHERBY’S CAFE ROUGE • MARCHÉ MODERNE • MEIZHOU DONGPO • OLEA • THE QUIET WOMAN • SELANNE STEAK TAVERN • TUPELO JUNCTION • WRECKLESS
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BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 21 Top ramen UPDATE: Since this article was original chefs from Silverlake 3. Kopan Ramen originally published in December Ramen in Los Angeles, this place You’ll need to prepare yourself has rocked the local ramen scene. mentally for this one. The 16-hour 2016, the ramen landscape in The dining room is small, with tonkotsu broth is the thickest, Orange County has grown even seating for only about 35 people fattiest, most collagen-rich soup more fiercely competitive — and crammed in like sardines. The you will ever find. You don’t need a wait for a table can sometimes bunch of fillings in your soup when there’s now a new name atop the be untenable, but if you stick it the broth is this good. That said, leaderboard. Here’s out your patience will be the chashu is also among the best. how the Top 10 rewarded. You can slurp • 141 E. COMMONWEALTH AVE. stack up in a pork-bone tonkotsu FULLERTON, 714-447-9926 or a soy-based shoyu KOPANRAMEN.COM 2018: broth here (or even Orange a vegan version), 4. Ramen Yamadaya County but the true star Yamadaya (a Torrance-based is ramen is the former. chain) still dominates Costa Mesa’s paradise. This is an fiercely competitive ramen belt. Its We have it ultra-fatty broth signature soup is a tonkotsu shoyu good here. infused with (pork-bone broth, soy seasoned) Really, really so much pork cooked for more than 20 hours. good. knuckle collagen This is easily the most complex, No two that the soup is intricately layered base of any bowls of ramen almost white, like Japanese soup in O.C. The chashu noodle soup cream. And the is very good, but not quite the are alike. Even chashu (slow- best. What’s better is the when two competing roasted pork kakuni, an inch-thick restaurants claim lineage belly) is incredible. slab of bacon braised to the exact same Japanese The pork is heavily in soy, mirin and a village known for a specific type charred around little bit of sugar. of tonkotsu or shoyu or shio or the edges, as if it • 1175 BAKER ST., COSTA whatever, each kitchen ultimately had caught fire and MESA, 714-556-0091 prides itself on its own unique smoldered for a RAMEN-YAMADAYA.COM marriage of broth, noodles and few minutes before fillings (namely pork). coming out of the 5. Hokkaido While one restaurant’s pork- oven. Ramen Santouka bone soup is as light and clear as a • 2222 MICHELSON DRIVE Santouka is a prolific French consommé, another’s will IRVINE, 949-536-5800 chain based in Asahikawa, be thick, creamy and viscous. One HIRONORICRAFTRAMEN.COM on Japan’s northern island of restaurant’s noodles might be thin Hokkaido. It’s got dozens of units and straight while others’ are thick 2. Yoshiharu Ramen around the world, with eight and squiggly. The possibilities are Since I originally fell in love California branches partnered genuinely infinite. with this fantastic noodle shop with Mitsuwa Markets. My favorite To be clear, this article is in Orange, it has multiplied like bowl here is the spicy miso ramen, not meant to serve as a rabbits. There are now several which is a white (aka clear) primer to the wide locations throughout tonkotsu shio (salt-based) broth variety of regional Southern California. They blended with miso paste and three vernaculars of make an ultra-creamy types of dried chilies. ramen. It is simply tonkotsu (pork-bone) The chashu is fantastic. The an opinionated broth that is boiled noodles are semi-thick, semi-soft guide to the best for 10 hours. My and heavily crimped. Don’t wear bowls of Japanese favorite selection is the white when you slurp these; the soup that I’ve tonkotsu black, which exaggerated crimp causes juice to found while eating gets its color and intense fly all over the place. dozens of variations flavor from a heavy glug • 665 PAULARINO AVE., COSTA MESA, across the county. of black garlic oil. The 714-434-1101; 14230 CULVER DRIVE, You won’t go wrong chashu (braised pork belly) is IRVINE, 949-733-1101 with any one of these places, superb, so you might want to order SANTOUKA.CO.JP/EN but you will have to wait in line extra meat. at all of them. No soup costs more • 1891 N. TUSTIN ST., ORANGE 6. Kitakata Ramen Ban Nai than $15 (most are less than $10). 714-998-1940; 6970 BEACH BLVD., The original Ban Nai opened in BUENA PARK (THE SOURCE), 714-670- Kitakata, Japan, in 1958. There 1. HiroNori 5657; 8426 LAUREL AVE., WHITTIER are now about 60 locations, Opened last year by one of the 562-632-1477; YOSHIHARURAMEN.COM including two in O.C. The Costa
22 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT 22 Mesa branch has the longest lines, thick and rich, a classic tonkotsu yuzu koshu infuses it with a spicy, day or night, of any noodle shop base that’s been thickened with citrusy zing. The chashu here is in the county. The highly refined finely shredded chashu (slow- admirable, too. pork broth is uniquely light and roasted pork belly) and corn, which • 1525 MESA VERDE DRIVE, COSTA refreshing. It also serves a green creates a texture almost like chili. MESA, 714-545-0600 chili shio version that gets a boost • 18583 BEACH BLVD., HUNTINGTON from fresh green peppers, giving BEACH, 657-329-1189, RAMAIN39.COM 10. Shin-Sen-Gumi Hakata it a wonderfully floral yet tongue- Ramen searing kick. The noodles are extra 8. Butaton Founded in Los Angeles, this thick, hand-crimped and slightly The owners of a nearby shabu chain has two ramen shops in O.C. softer than usual. restaurant opened this ramen shop The gritty Fountain Valley branch • 891 BAKER ST., COSTA MESA in March. Their tonkotsu broth is feels more like vintage back-alley 714-557-2947; 7550 ORANGETHORPE straightforward and simple, but Japan, while the sparkling new AVE., BUENA PARK, 714-752-6878 when mixed with their spicy miso Irvine branch comes across as RAMENBANNAI.COM paste, it becomes special. The rather sterile. The soup is delicious real reason you’re here, though, either way. The Hakata-style 7. Ramain39 is for the chashu, which is tonkotsu is made from Berkshire The ace up the cut thicker than anyone pork cooked for more than 15 hours. sleeve at this izakaya else’s. They sear it with a They let you control the firmness of (Japanese small blowtorch right before the noodles as well as the thickness plates) is its serving. The noodles of the soup. The chashu is fine but inventive take on are extra thin and upstaged every time by uniquely tsukemen, a sort perfectly toothsome. thin noodles. Consider adding a of “dipping ramen” • 10130 GARDEN GROVE Thai chili butter bomb. where the noodles BLVD., GARDEN GROVE • 18315 BROOKHURST ST., FOUNTAIN and toppings are 714-537-7098 VALLEY, 714-962-8971; 6404 IRVINE served alongside — BLVD., IRVINE, 949-596-7036 not already soaking 9. Aoki No Chuuka SHINSENGUMIGROUP.COM in — the broth. The idea is This quirky cafe serves more to give the diner more control than a dozen ramen (some a bit THE BOWLS • At left, over how the soup is assembled and wacky), plus all sorts of Japanese clockwise from top: shoyu eaten. You can dump everything ramen with chashu at Aoki in comfort food. The ramen that Costa Mesa; spicy miso ramen into the bowl or you can attack it really stands out is the yuzu koshu at Butaton in Garden Grove; more you would like shabu, dipping shio. It’s a salt-based broth made spicy miso ramen at Hokkaido only a mouthful of noodles at a with a mix of pork and chicken Ramen Santouka in Costa Mesa. time into the broth, which is served bones. Poultry gives it a lighter, This page: Spicy miso ramen at over a tabletop stove. The broth is softer profile than normal, and the Yamadaya in Costa Mesa.
23 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT
STAFF FILE PHOTOS RAMAIN39 • The Huntington Beach restaurant serves tsukemen, also known as dipping ramen.
BRAD A. JOHNSON’SBRAD 75 A.BEST JOHNSON’S PLACES 75 BEST PLACESTO EAT TO EAT 23• 23 STAFF FILE PHOTOS DEL FRISCO'S GRILLE • The Build-Your-Own Bloody Mary has house-made mix, Tito's vodka and a plate of "fixin's." Amazing Marys These are the Top 5 Bloody Marys in Orange County
1. Arc The first thing you’ll notice ARC • This about the Bloody Mary at Arc is the Bloody Mary, homemade tomato juice. It doesn’t with its have that sweet, tomato-paste homemade essence of commercially processed tomato juice or mix. It’s thinner and more juice, has an savory than most, with just a hint herbaceous of smoke. The next thing you’ll kick. notice is the size. It’s kind of small, which allows the vodka to shine through. • 3321 HYLAND AVE., COSTA MESA 949-500-5561, ARCRESTAURANT.COM
2. Tupelo Junction Here’s another mix that’s made completely from scratch. It’s a light, pale tomato concoction that involves a hint of chipotle. They garnish it with a crab claw and a slice of cucumber. This is brunch in a glass, and it is incredible. • 508 29TH ST., NEWPORT BEACH 949-877-0280, TUPELOJUNCTION.COM
24 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT 24 3. Reunion 4. Del Frisco’s Grille 5. The Beachcomber This Bloody Mary comes with At weekend brunch, Del Frisco’s at Crystal Cove a Slim Jim protruding from the offers Bloody Marys by the You have two options here: glass, along with a bacon-wrapped carafe. The pitcher holds enough regular or Big Bad Bloody Mary. Go jalapeño. Take a bite of Slim Jim. to fill about six glasses. Or two, with the latter. It is huge, served Take a sip. Mmm, spicy. Take a bite depending on how you like to pour. in a large Mason jar with a floral of the jalapeño. Take another sip. It comes with a tray of garnishes arrangement sprouting from the Mmm, Ketel One. Repeat. to ensure that no two drinks are top: a crab claw, a large grilled • 5775 E. SANTA ANA CANYON created exactly the same: bacon, shrimp, plus a garden’s worth of ROAD, ANAHEIM, 714-283-1062 pickled okra, limes, beans, pickled vegetables and pickles. The juice is REUNIONKITCHEN.NET peppers and celery, plus Tabasco, thick and spicy with a discernible salt and pepper. whiff of Tito’s vodka. This is not a • 620 SPECTRUM CENTER DRIVE drink for amateurs. IRVINE, 949-341-0376 • 15 CRYSTAL COVE, NEWPORT DELFRISCOSGRILLE.COM/IRVINE COAST, 949-376-6900 THEBEACHCOMBERCAFE.COM
TUPELO JUNCTION • With a mix made from scratch, this Bloody Mary has a hint of chipotle.
BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 25 RUSTIC BRICK OVEN CUISINE INSPIRED BY SEASONAL LOCAL HARVEST! SAN CLEMENTE
When was the last time you had a truly farm-to-table meal where the ingredients are personally hand-picked by Chef David Pratt, DAILY? Re-imagined menu features steaks, seafood, and a whole lot more, all fired up on the brand new Santa Maria grill especially built for Brick. What are you waiting for? Call 949-429-1199 to make a reservation! HOURS Monday CLOSED Tuesday thru Friday 11:30 AM til 10 PM Saturday 11 AM til 10 PM Sunday 11 AM til 9 PM LOCATION 216 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente, CA 92672 (949) 429-1199 www.brickrestaurantgroup.com -David Pratt
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26 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 27 eatpuesto.com @eatpuesto Irvine • San Diego • La Jolla • Santa Clara