BRAD A. JOHNSON’S best75 PLACES TO EAT

May 2019

SUMMER IS CALLING

MARGARITAS AT SUNSET, FRESH SEAFOOD, BAJA TACOS TAKE A TRIP TO SOL TONIGHT.

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 3 Hana re • Costa Mesa BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 2145 • Costa Mesa Bourbon • Dana Point Chaak • Tustin Marché Moderne • Newport Mr. G’s • Newport Beach Beach PAGE 17 Taco Maria • Costa Mesa Arc • Costa Mesa Mayor’s TablevNewport Beach PAGE 6 Cdm • Corona del Mar Selanne Steak Tavern • Laguna Vaca • Costa Mesa Beach Brick • San Clemente Lido Bottle Works • Newport Mastro’s Steakhouse • Costa Beach Mesa 75 Meizhou Dongpo • Irvine Broadway • Laguna Beach PAGE 18 Water Grill • Costa Mesa PAGE 7 best Ocean at Main • Laguna Beach Chada Thai • Garden Grove Irenia • Santa Ana PLACES TO EAT Harvest • Laguna Beach The Ranch Restaurant • Javier’s at Crystal Cove • Anaheim THIS IS THE FIFTH EDITION of this guide — a Newport Beach A Restaurant • Newport Beach roadmap to Orange County’s wildly diverse dining Peking Restaurant • Solita • Huntington Beach scene. Narrowing this list to 75 recommendations Westminster Vine • San Clemente gets harder each year. PAGE 19 PAGE 8 How do I compare an intimate, 10-seat oasis like Hana re in Costa Mesa with, say, the chaotic, Tacos la Calle • Buena Park EnoSteak • Dana Point smoky, steamy, non-air-conditioned El Coyotito Garlic & Chives • Garden Grove The Capital Grille • Costa Mesa in San Juan Capistrano? When you call to make a Davio’s Northern Italian LSXO • Huntington Beach reservation at Hana re — reservations are essential Steakhouse • Irvine Pizzeria Mozza • Newport Beach and available only by phone — the soft voice on Tupelo Junction • Newport The Cannery • Newport Beach the other end will ask, “You are aware that we Beach PAGE 10 offer only a chef’s tasting menu, right?” Hana re Thai Avenue • Garden Grove takes you on an extraordinary journey through PAGE 20 Shunka Sushi • Costa Mesa the nuances of Japanese cuisine and hospitality. North Italia • Irvine If you’ve been here before, the chef/owner likely Del Frisco’s Grille • Irvine Kyung Bok Kung • Buena Park remembers exactly what you ate, even if it was two Brussels Bistro • San Clemente Craft House • Dana Point years ago. Sapori Ristorante • Newport Louie’s by the Bay • Newport At El Coyotito, you push through a squeaky Beach Beach screen door and seat yourself. The staff is too El Coyotito • San Juan Capistrano PAGE 12 busy pressing tortillas or flipping shrimp on the Manpuku • Costa Mesa grill to greet you at the door, but they see you and PAGE 21 101 • Westminster wave. The restaurants on this list represent every Olea • Newport Beach stratum of the dining spectrum, yet they all share Southern Spice • Irvine Maro Wood Grill • Laguna Beach the same goals: great food and service, on their Suski Roku • Newport Beach Din Tai Fung • Costa Mesa own terms. Zait & Zaatar • Anaheim TJ’s Woodfire Pizza • San The price of dinner is not what makes one more Eddie V’s Wildfish • Newport Clemente important than another, but when organizing this Beach PAGE 14 list it’s impossible not to consider the amount of The Dock • Newport Beach joy received for the price paid. That’s why Studio PAGE 22 Farmhouse at Roger’s fell off the list, and it’s why Pho 101 debuted so Gardens • Corona del Mar high. A luxury Korean feast at Kyung Bok Kung J Zhou Oriental Cuisine • Tustin Placentia Anepalco on Chapman • Orange might cost $200 while three blocks away at Tacos El Farolito • Brea HiroNori • Irvine la Calle a taco sells for $3. Both are places I adore. Kang Ho-Dong Baekjeong • East Borough Costa Mesa Ruth’s Chris Steak House • Yes, this list is highly personal and subjective • Ciao San Juan Capistrano Irvine but also methodical. Every year I sample hundreds • PAGE 23 Reunion Kitchen • Anaheim of restaurants in every corner of the county, PAGE 15 accumulating a wealth of dining experiences that I Who’s in, who’s out • PAGE 23 mentally compare with the countless memories of Omakase by Gino • Santa Ana meals past, both locally and around the world. Tacos • PAGE 24 Hendrix • Laguna Niguel I continue to find flashes of perfection all over Playa Mesa • Costa Mesa the place: the tom yum at Thai Avenue in Garden Oliver’s Osteria • Laguna Beach Grove, the sangrita at Solita in Huntington Beach, Juliette Kitchen + Bar • the at Oliver’s Osteria in Laguna STAFF Newport Beach Beach … Brad A. Johnson • PAGE 16 Here’s where, and what, to eat right now. RESTAURANT CRITIC Saline • Laguna Beach Vanessa Franko • EDITOR Hanna’s • Rancho Santa ON THE COVER • Hana re’s steamed tilefish Pam Marshak • DESIGNER Margarita with mochi rice, cherry leaf and cherry blossom. Mark Rightmire • COVER PHOTO

4 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT SPECIALTY TACOS. CRAFT MARGARITAS.

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 5 Hana re 2018 RANKING: 5 Atsushi Yokoyama welcomes 10 to 12 diners a night to a chef’s 1counter hidden behind The Lab in Costa Mesa in what appears at first glance to be an abandoned tool shed with corrugated siding and one small window. From the moment you walk through the door, the Japanese hospitality is warm and personal, verging on clairvoyant. Loosely based on the Japanese concept of kaiseki, each menu weaves a tale of textures, temperatures, techniques and flavors that usually starts with something cold and slippery — a chilled, viscous broth made from squash, for example, or a salad of translucent baby eels. This is MARK RIGHTMIRE - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER often followed with something even HANA RE • An assortment of delicacies from Atsushi Yokoyama’s more exotic and warm, like steamed Chef’s Omakase: baby squid, sea urchin, lobster, crab flan and salmon roe. baby conch and goose barnacles, fried hairy crab or poached cod milt. Each unique journey culminates with a Sit at the counter and watch how spectacular parade of sushi: snow Marché Modern the cooks obsess over something crab, grunt fish, wild sea bream, blue 2018 RANKING: 4 as simple as the enfrijolada. snapper, belt fish, barracuda, gizzard The best French restaurant Watch them roast fresh scallops shad … in California? This is it. Two in their shells. Feel the heat of the wood-fueled grill as the arrachera • MUST ORDER: Go for the top-tier years after moving their 3glamorous French bistro from practically catches fire. Beans are “Chef’s Omakase,” which starts never just beans. And tacos are around $180. South Coast Plaza to the Shops at Crystal Cove, Florent and Amelia never just tacos. • 2930 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA The smoked sturgeon 714-545-2800, HANARESUSHI.COM Marneau’s Marché Moderne is still • MUST ORDER: one of the toughest reservations in taco with salsa de chile morita is the county. The , the one of the greatest fish tacos ever moules frites, the stewed rabbit, conceived. the escargot… this is quintessential • 3313 HYLAND AVE., COSTA MESA French cuisine. And the desserts 714-538-8444, TACOMARIA.COM Bourbon Steak are always a special treat here. 2018 RANKING: 1 • MUST ORDER: Amelia’s Napoleon Last year, celebrity chef dessert, served on Fridays and Michael Mina flipped his Saturdays only. Also, the ever-changing 2 one-of-a-kind Stonehill house wines served by the carafe are Arc Tavern into yet another branch always an incredible bargain. 2018 RANKING: 3 of his Bourbon Steak chain, but • 7862 E. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, don’t for a second think of this as Across America right now, NEWPORT BEACH, 714-434-7900 wood-fire kitchens are all the a chain restaurant. This branch of MARCHEMODERNE.NET Bourbon Steak is still very much its rage. Chef Noah Blom’s Arc 5in Costa Mesa was ground zero for own thing. Yes, there’s an emphasis on steak now — including a truly that trend. Arc’s kitchen is fueled massive five-pound ribeye carved 100 percent by wood. No gas. No tableside — but regulars will electric appliances. Under the recognize the same whole duck-fat- Taco Maria dim glow of crystal chandeliers, fried chicken and lobster pot pie 2018 RANKING: 10 everything on the menu here is that were Stonehill staples from touched by fire and smoke: inch- Six years into Carlos Salgado’s thick-and-foot-long slabs of bacon, the beginning. This is probably rediscovery of Mexican the only place in the region with chicken and broccoli casserole cuisine, Taco María is (seriously, try it), crab cakes, a roving martini cart. Service is 4approaching culinary parity with meatballs and whole fish. Calamari superb. So, too, the sunset views. the likes of Pujol or Quintonil in When it comes to is cooked on red-hot cast-iron, •MUST ORDER: Mexico City. Forget everything you sending flames to the ceiling1 seafood platters in steakhouses, the think you know about Mexican The with cast iron-broiled crab legs and lobster food and come here for the four- • MUST ORDER: duck-fat potatoes is easily the best here are in a league of their own. course prix fixe dinner and splurge steak you will find for $25. • 1 MONARCH BEACH RESORT for the wine pairings. (Tuesday DANA POINT, 949-234-3900 nights and weekday lunches are à • 3321 HYLAND AVE., COSTA MESA BOURBONSTEAK.COM la carte.) They fret the details here. 49-500-5561, ARCRESTAURANT.COM

6 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT even the small ones. The martinis seem bigger than life. Wine prices are through the roof but you won’t lack for choices from the best cult cabernets or legendary Bordeaux. You might have to skip a mortgage payment or two to dine here, but there’s no denying the quality of that’s being served. • MUST ORDER: The chef’s cut ribeye is one of the best, thickest and juiciest you will ever eat. • 633 ANTON BLVD., COSTA MESA, 714- 546-7405, MASTROSRESTAURANTS.COM

Broadway 2018 RANKING: 16 This is the best restaurant in Laguna Beach. This is the original joint venture 9from the same team that operates Vaca: chef Amar Santana and BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF frontman Ahmed Labbate. If you’ve VACA • Dry-aged lamb chops are cooked over the wood-burning grill at followed Santana’s many television this tapas bar in Costa Mesa. appearances, you already know that this chef likes big flavors, whether of sourcing everything as locally it’s the tamarind glaze on seared Vaca as possible and making literally sweetbreads or the black olive 2018 RANKING: 2 everything from scratch. He yogurt and pickled peppers served with the grilled octopus. On the one hand, Amar breaks down whole hogs to make sausages and meatballs. He cures • MUST ORDER: The smoked pork Santana and Ahmed Labbate’s chop and a bottle of pinot noir. You’ll Vaca is the best Spanish tapas bacon in a smoker beneath the be hard-pressed to find a better, 6bar in Southern California. On wood-fired grill. are cooked the other hand, it’s also a great in a wood-fired hearth, just as they more comprehensive collection of steakhouse. That’s weird, right? would be in Naples. The menu is pinot noir than what Labbate has Those two things shouldn’t go hand kept fairly short and laser-focused. assembled here. in hand, but miraculously they do, If you see wood-grilled lamb chops • 328 GLENNEYRE ST., LAGUNA BEACH especially if you wash it all down 949-715-8234 on the menu, grab them — they BROADWAYBYAMARSANTANA.COM with a frozen gin and tonic. The might not be there tomorrow. The house specialty is the 50-day dry- list is so affordably aged rib-eyes that weigh upwards priced, you would be stupid to not of two pounds. The Spanish nab a full bottle. hams are superb, too. If you opt • MUST ORDER: Once you try the for paella, the best version is the pasta with house-cured Water Grill 2018 RANKING: 6 “carne” made with blood sausage, bacon, you’ll never eat it anywhere If you want lobster or crab, chorizo, pork belly and duck leg else again. confit. The Spanish wine list is check out the massive fish • 216 N. EL CAMINO REAL extraordinary. SAN CLEMENTE, 949-429-1199 tanks behind the raw bar MUST ORDER: The bikini sandwich 10at Water Grill. These are the best • BRICKPIZZERIA.COM (tapa of Iberico ham and black truffles) lobsters and crabs money can buy. delivers the most flavor per cubic inch If you like oysters, Water Grill offers of any dish in Orange County. a better selection than anywhere • 695 TOWN CENTER DRIVE, COSTA MESA else. This Los Angeles-based 714-463-6060, VACARESTAURANT.COM seafood palace across the street from South Coast Plaza is the best Mastro’s place in OC for seafood, period. The Steakhouse whole, wild-caught Dover sole is 2018 RANKING: 13 simply perfection, bathed in butter and filleted table-side. Brick There’s nothing meek about Giant appetite? 2018 RANKING: 7 • MUST ORDER: Mastro’s. This old-school Order a tower of seafood. Need just More than any other Italian steakhouse revels in gluttony a nibble? Start with the uni toast. restaurant chef in the region, 8and excess. Dining here isn’t just • 3300 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA 7 David Pratt strictly adheres a meal, it’s an occasion. It’s a 949-208-7060, WATERGRILL.COM to the Italian concept of slow food, statement. The steaks are massive,

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 7 Irenia 2018 RANKING: 11 Chef Ryan Garlitos put Filipino food in the spotlight when he opened his 11scrappy but ambitious fine-dining restaurant and bar a few years ago in downtown Santa Ana. He’s elevated the likes of pork adobo (using pork belly), sinigang (with black cod) and chicken sa Gata. The latter, traditionally served in the Philippines as a homestyle stew, is instead cooked here like duck confit (crisped in its own fat) and served in an ethereal sauce of lemongrass, coconut milk and chile oil. FYI, the restaurant no longer serves lunch. • MUST ORDER: Bigas mais, which is corn grits with coconut milk, black- eyed peas and bitter greens. • 400 N. BROADWAY, SANTA ANA, 657- 245-3466, IRENIARESTAURANT.COM

The Ranch BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF Restaurant SOLITA • Whole chickens are roasted on the wood-fire rotisserie at 2018 RANKING: 8 this Mexican restaurant in Huntington Beach. You don’t have to wear a cowboy hat and ropers to where you’ll find one of the best 12 dine here, but this is one burgers and fries in town. Vine place where you won’t stand out Block-cut Akaushi 2018 RANKING: 15 if that’s your chosen outfit. The • MUST ORDER: Ranch is part country music dance New York . Sit in the front bar area hall, part fine dining chophouse. • 3334 W. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY if you like it loud. Or Brothers Michael and David Rossi NEWPORT BEACH, 949-650-6505 ask for a table in the ARESTAURANTNB.COM 15dining room if you want to have head up the kitchen, turning out massive bone-on rib-eyes, secret a civilized conversation during off-menu prime rib and some of the dinner. The latter space is a fanciest desserts in north county. welcome throwback, complete with The bar pours more than 60 wines tablecloths and candles. Chef Jared by the glass. Solita Cook serves more or less the same wine country-inspired menu here Grilled lamb chops 2018 RANKING: 18 • MUST ORDER: as he does at sister concepts Olea with cannellini bean puree. Chef Deborah Schneider and Ironwood, but this is where it • 1025 E. BALL ROAD, ANAHEIM is a master of Baja-style all began and the kitchen here still 714-817-4200, THERANCH.COM Mexican food. It’s the feels like it is one step ahead of 14mesquite-fired grill and rotisserie the others. The housemade ravioli that set this kitchen apart from are always excellent, as is the the chef’s fancier restaurant in chicken schnitzel. The burger and Newport Beach. Those wood fries are superb, especially when fires produce incredible rotisserie paired with a bottle of Mollydooker A Restaurant chicken and grilled , 2018 RANKING: 20 Shiraz. The best thing, however, served with some of the best is often the chef’s ever-changing The red leatherette booths, charro beans outside of Mexico. daily meat selection, which could polished wood paneling The margaritas are superb, but be anything from pork shank to and series of black-and- true tequila aficionados drink their neck. 13white photographs pay homage añejos neat, with a sangrita chaser. • MUST ORDER: The bone-in ribeye to the 1920s, when this place first • MUST ORDER: Mexican-style street is hugely satisfying, but you might opened. Yes, this is one of the oldest corn comes hot off the wood-fire want to ask for the sauce on the restaurants in the region, and the grill and doesn’t get any better than menu respects that heritage with side. this. • 211 N. EL CAMINO REAL, no-fuss, ice-cold martinis and • 7631 EDINGER AVE., HUNTINGTON classic steaks served on cast-iron SAN CLEMENTE, 949-361-2079 BEACH, 714-894-2792 VINESANCLEMENTE.COM skillets. Ask for a bar menu; that’s SOLITATACOS.COM

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BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 9 EnoSteak 2018 RANKING: 17 Years after opening, EnoSteak still feels like the best-kept secret in OC.16 A mixture of romance and hedonism, Eno is a tiny steakhouse carved out of a closet-sized space that used to serve as the Ritz- Carlton’s wine cellar/bar. Pull some strings if you have to in order to reserve the coveted table next to the fireplace. Your date will thank you. The steaks and the wine are consistently superb. • MUST ORDER: Coffee-rubbed wagyu New York strip. • 1 RITZ-CARLTON DRIVE, DANA POINT 949-240-2000, ENOSTEAK.COM

The Capital Grille 2018 RANKING: 9 Of all the old-school steakhouse brands, The BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF Capital Grille is still one LSXO • Imperial rolls at this Vietnamese speakeasy hidden inside 17 Bluegold at Pacific City in Huntington Beach are better than anything of the poshest. Certainly no other you’ll find in OC’s Little Saigon. steakhouse can match the Grille’s over-the-top country-club aesthetic. Ascend the stairs into what looks • MUST ORDER: Imperial rolls and The Cannery like Ralph Lauren’s mansion, with lamb satay . 2018 RANKING: 25 oil paintings hanging heavily on • 21016 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, the walls. The steaks are big and HUNTINGTON BEACH, 714-374-0038 By day, The Cannery is always perfectly grilled. Save room DINEBLUEGOLD.COM/LSXO the ultimate power lunch for coconut cream pie. 20 for movers and shakers Steak au poivre. in the medical community. By • MUST ORDER: night, it’s a popular destination for • 3333 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA 714-432-1140, THECAPITALGRILLE.COM professional hockey players and multigenerational family suppers. Pizzeria Mozza Although this upscale seafood 2018 RANKING: 27 house occupies one of the oldest Maybe it’s because they’ve buildings on the harbor (an old scrubbed all references to tuna cannery), the interiors have 19 ousted co-founder Mario recently been thoroughly refreshed. LSXO Batali, or maybe the local crew Most diners are here for fish, but 2018 RANKING: 24 genuinely stepped it up. Either don’t underestimate the wood- way, Pizzeria Mozza feels fresh grilled steaks. LSXO is a speak-easy- and more inspired than ever. style restaurant-within- • MUST ORDER: The crispy rainbow Nancy Silverton’s pizzas, with her trout in tomato broth with a-restaurant hidden unique sourdough-inspired crusts, 18inside of Bluegold at Pacific City. gnocchetti sardi and cotechino are superb and truly unlike any sausage might be the best thing you This “secret” 28-seat parlor is a others. The fennel sausage pizza eat this year. throwback to colonial Saigon, with is rightfully legendary, as is the mismatched rattan and leather chopped salad. The are • 3010 LAFAYETTE AVE., NEWPORT BEACH, 949-566-0060 chairs, area rugs and vintage terrific, as are the Italian wines. photographs. The southeast Asian CANNERYNEWPORT.COM Roasted caprese salad menu from chef Tin Vuong includes • MUST ORDER: better Vietnamese Imperial rolls and cavatelli with pork neck ragu. than anything you’ll find in OC’s • 800 W. COAST HIGHWAY, NEWPORT Little Saigon. His Thai-style green BEACH, 949-945-1126 PIZZERIAMOZZA.COM papaya salad with beef and chilies is similarly pitch-perfect.

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BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 11 Shunka Sushi 2018 RANKING: 26 Sit at the bar. Order omakase (in other words, 21 let the chef choose). You’ll be treated to an education in Japanese fish: ishidai, kinmei, hobo, umeiro, tachiuo, akamutsu, tobiuo, mejina, higesori … No other sushi bar in Orange County offers such a vast selection of fish as what’s regularly available at Shunka. • MUST ORDER: Japanese medai topped with red chili sauce. • 369 E. 17TH ST., COSTA MESA 949-631-9854

North Italia 2018 RANKING: 22 This is consistently one of the toughest same- 22 day reservations in the county. And that’s not surprising. North is one of the best Italian restaurants around. The design is beautiful — a big glass box with high ceilings, hardwood floors and a wraparound bar that opens onto the patio. The pig pizza is loaded LEONARD ORTIZ - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER with crumbled fennel sausage, KYUNG BOK KUNG • The cold sashimi salad is one of the offerings soppressata and spicy pepperoni. at the Buena Park restaurant, the first U.S. location of a luxury South The and meatballs put Korean chain. the competition to shame. • MUST ORDER: Strozzapreti, a • MUST ORDER: Get the Signature sort of loosely twisted macaroni, Grill Course, an elaborate 12-course Louie’s by tossed with grilled chicken and extravaganza capped with extra- the Bay mushrooms. thick slices of Wagyu, starting at NEW FOR 2019 • 2957 MICHELSON DRIVE, IRVINE $149 per person. After closing his 949-629-7060 • 7801 BEACH BLVD., BUENA PARK legendary Valentino NORTHITALIARESTAURANT.COM 714-888-4948 restaurant in Santa KYUNGBOKKUNGUSA.COM 25Monica, restaurateur Piero Selvaggio brought his kitchen team to OC and joined forces with Ron Salisbury (El Cholo, The Cannery) to open this glamorous Italian Kyung Bok Kung Craft House steakhouse overlooking some of NEW FOR 2019 2018 RANKING: 38 the biggest yachts in Newport Korean barbecue just Here’s something for your Harbor. The food is quintessential went next-level. This is bucket list: meatloaf. California Italian with a nod to the the first U.S. outpost of Seriously, chef Blake famous steakhouses of Florence. 23a luxury South Korean chain, and 24 Consider the clams in white wine Mellgren makes the world’s best it is hands down the best (and meatloaf. He also makes terrific or the handkerchief pasta in swankiest) Korean restaurant in pork ragu with housemade pasta , either of which would be SoCal. The service is superb. The and an insanely delicious fried a great prelude to a grilled steak beef is extraordinary. And the chicken sandwich. Ask about the Fiorentina for two. tabletop grills are fueled by buckets daily toast, especially if it’s peach • MUST ORDER: A bottle of Italian of smokeless charcoal. Seriously, season. wine. Selvaggio is widely regarded there’s not a whiff of smoke in the as the foremost Italian wine expert • MUST ORDER: The meatloaf is grilled air, just the dizzying scent of A5 and served with hominy grits. Also, in the United States. Miyazaki Wagyu sizzling under the best fries for miles. • 2801 W. COAST HIGHWAY, NEWPORT your nose. Don’t miss the seafood BEACH, 949-720-1800 • 34094 PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY, DANA sashimi, which is surprisingly, POINT, 949-481-7734 LOUIESNEWPORT.COM astoundingly good. EATATCRAFTHOUSE.COM 12 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT Join us in honoring Orange County’s Top Athletes and Coaches!

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BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 13 Pho 101 NEW FOR 2019 This no-frills Vietnamese soup shop across the 26 street from Huntington Beach’s Bella Terra is even better than the legendary cafe from which it was spun, Pho 79 in Little Saigon. This is hands down the best Vietnamese soup in a county filled with great Vietnamese noodle soups. • MUST ORDER: pho, but it’s not on the menu, exactly. Here’s how it works. First, order a bowl of pho without meat. Next, order a side of oxtail. Voila, oxtail pho. • 8031 EDINGER AVE., WESTMINSTER 714-375-3330 TRANFAMILYKITCHEN.COM

Olea 2018 RANKING: 28 The biggest difference between sister restaurants 27 Olea and Vine is the noise level. Olea can get extremely loud, BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF as the bar tends to get rowdy. OLEA • Roasted sea bass with toasted almonds, green beans, fingerling Maybe the drinks are a little too potatoes and charred citrus vinaigrette. good? Ask for a table in the back of the dining room or, weather Grass-fed rib-eye cap, permitting, the patio. Much of chef • MUST ORDER: with a side of grilled okra. TJ’s Woodfire Jared Cook’s menu is lifted directly from Vine: the same sticky- • 1915 S. COAST HIGHWAY, Pizza delicious duck wings, the same LAGUNA BEACH, 949-793-4044 2018 RANKING: 33 MAROWOODGRILL.COM wonderful chicken schnitzel, the Wood-fired pizza and local same great burger and fries. craft beer. What’s not • MUST ORDER: A big hunk of sea to love? The Neapolitan bass is a sly update to classic fish 30 pizzas are as good as it gets. That amandine. said, the New York style pizza • 2001 WESTCLIFF DRIVE, Din Tai Fung holds its own. And who knew there NEWPORT BEACH, 949-287-6807 2018 RANKING: 30 was such a thing as cracker-thin OLEANEWPORTBEACH.COM Chicago style? It’s hard to go wrong Although many have with anything here. tried, no other Chinese Neapolitan-style restaurant has come • MUST ORDER: 29 Margherita pizza with prosciutto close to replicating Din Tai Fung’s famous xiao long bao, also known added. as -style soup dumplings. • 641 CAMINO DE LOS MARES, Maro Wood Grill The wait for tables can stretch SAN CLEMENTE, 949-243-6433 2018 RANKING: 34 upwards of two hours, so put your TJWOODFIREPIZZA.COM The dining room, if name down and go shopping. you can call it that, They’ll text you when your table is 28 of this tiny Argentine almost ready. steakhouse seats only about • MUST ORDER: Shrimp and Kurobuta eight people, max, with most of pork potstickers. those seats at the kitchen counter • SOUTH COAST PLAZA, 3333 BRISTOL overlooking the wood-fired grill ST., COSTA MESA, 714-549-3388 and rotisserie. A small outside deck DINTAIFUNGUSA.COM accommodates about 20 more. The basic premise here is steak: simple, uncomplicated, grass-fed, wood-grilled steak. The burger is incredible

14 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens 2018 RANKING: 36 The entire dining room is outdoors, so you’ll be at the mercy of Mother Nature 31when you dine here. They do provide blankets in winter, though, which is nice. The restaurant is hidden amid the lush grounds of Roger’s Gardens, a sprawling luxury plant nursery near Fashion Island. The kitchen serves farm- fresh salads, house-cured salmon and steak frites. • MUST ORDER: House-cured salmon and a bloody mary. • 2301 SAN JOAQUIN HILLS ROAD, CORONA DEL MAR, 949-640-1415 FARMHOUSERG.COM

Anepalco on Chapman 2018 RANKING: 43 Daniel Godinez is one of the region’s best 32 chefs of Mexican food. He channels Mexico City via the Southern California barrio. His modern riffs on pork al pastor, beef barbacoa and cochinita pibil break BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF all the rules. Fans drive for miles HIRONORI • This small Irvine restaurant serves up some of the best on weekends to eat chilaquiles here tonkotsu with chashu pork in the county. for brunch. • MUST ORDER: Chicken tinga enchiladas with mole coloradito and cotija cheese. Ruth’s Chris Reunion Kitchen • 3737 W. CHAPMAN AVE., ORANGE Steak House Anaheim 714-456-9642, ANEPALCO.COM NEW FOR 2019 2018 RANKING: 37 Ruth’s Chris in Irvine Day or night, this is the recently emerged from best restaurant in the 34 what must have been the hills. The burgers are longest, slowest remodel in the 35spectacularly messy, but you’ll be HiroNori history of restaurant remodels. given a warm finger towel so you 2018 RANKING: 60 It stayed open throughout the can take a much-needed sponge Good luck getting in. entire ordeal, but it’s finally done bath after your conquest. Saturday The wait for a table at and there’s no looking back. The and Sunday nights are particularly this 35-seat craft ramen restaurant is lighter and brighter popular thanks to terrific 33joint routinely runs beyond two yet still very quaint, dimly lit weekends-only prime rib. hours. But if you stick it out your and romantic. This feels like a • MUST ORDER: Rosemary’s chicken patience will be rewarded with completely new restaurant. The and biscuits is a Southern-style the best ramen in Orange County. steaks are better than ever, the triumph. The pork-bone tonkotsu broth is plates still sizzling with butter. • 5775 E. SANTA ANA CANYON ROAD, infused with so much pork knuckle • MUST ORDER: Bone-in cowboy rib- ANAHEIM HILLS, 714-283-1062 collagen that the soup is almost eye. REUNIONKITCHEN.NET white, like cream. And the chashu • 2961 MICHELSON DRIVE, IRVINE (slow-roasted pork belly) melts on 949-252-8848, RUTHSCHRIS.COM the tongue like marshmallows. • MUST ORDER: Tonkotsu ramen. Eat fast and get out of the way. • 2222 MICHELSON DRIVE, IRVINE, 949- 536-5800, HIRONORICRAFTRAMEN.COM

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 15 Omakase by Gino NEW FOR 2019 Chef/owner, Gino Choi runs this charming, 36 shoebox-sized sushi joint that seats only 10 people at a time. The menu is strictly omakase, with a set menu that features a couple of “appetizers” followed by a board of assorted sashimi, then a delirium-inducing succession of nigiri that culminates with a bite of something sweet, like . Expect about 20 dishes in all. And while the variety of fish is ordinary, the quality is pristine. • MUST ORDER: You are strictly at the whim of the chef. • 304 N. MAIN ST., SANTA ANA 657-231-6008 INSTAGRAM.COM/OMAKASEBYGINO

Hendrix 2018 RANKING: 42 BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF OLIVER’S OSTERIA • Pastas, like squid-ink cappellacci, are The first thing you’ll handmade daily at this Laguna Beach Italian restaurant. notice as you enter 37Hendrix is the massive rotisserie oven in the front window. is wet and creamy and sweet in all Chef Rainer Schwarz cooks all the right places. Juliette Kitchen manner of meat on those spits: • MUST ORDER: The torta whole chickens, legs of lamb, rolled + Bar is epic. 2018 RANKING: 21 pork roasts, pork chops, prime • 428 E. 17TH ST., COSTA MESA rib — all of it dripping onto a pile 949-287-5292, PLAYAMESA.COM Have you ever just wanted of fingerling potatoes roasting a plate of charcuterie and underneath. 40 a glass of wine? This little • MUST ORDER: Anything from the American bistro is a great place rotisserie, obviously. Perhaps less for that. But it’s also a good place obvious is the zucchini cornbread, to be a glutton. Stay away from which is incredible. the scales after eating the massive • 32431 STREET OF THE GOLDEN Oliver’s Osteria braised pork shank. Once you start LANTERN, LAGUNA NIGUEL NEW FOR 2019 eating it, there’s no way to stop. It 949-248-1912 HENDRIXOC.COM Quaint, casual and will surely add five pounds. Fair charming, few Italian warning: Meats here are heavily restaurants capture the sauced. Save room for salted 39 caramel pudding. true spirit of as effortlessly as this new cafe in Laguna Beach. • MUST ORDER: Grilled prawns with The well-edited menu offers only a lemon chili butter. handful of options, all of which are • 1000 BRISTOL ST., NEWPORT BEACH Playa Mesa 949-752-5854, JULIETTENB.COM NEW FOR 2019 good: blissfully simple spaghetti, braised octopus so tender you can This is one of the best cut it with a spoon, grilled lamb Mexican restaurants to chops dressed with little more open in years, with a than olive oil or heirloom tomatoes 38breezy indoor/outdoor vibe and a with burrata and burnt cucumber serious bar. The chef came from gazpacho. Taco María. He makes a salsa with • MUST ORDER: The cacio e pepe isn’t morita chilies that’s hotter than always on the menu but is usually the Earth’s core. Start with the available if you ask. totopos en mole (fried tortilla chips • 853 LAGUNA CANYON ROAD, LAGUNA drenched in mole poblano). The BEACH, 949-715-0261 menudo is fantastic. The tres leches OLIVERSOSTERIA.COM

16 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT style dough around. Most of the dining room is actually outside in the backyard. The oven is fueled by wood. The marinara pizza is perfection. So, too, the pizza topped with blue cheese and honey. The wine selection is limited, so you might consider BYOB. • MUST ORDER: Spicy salami pizza with ricotta, smoked mozzarella, green olives and pickled chilies. • 2145 PLACENTIA AVE., COSTA MESA 949-873-5853, 2145EAT.COM

Chaak NEW FOR 2019 The team behind Gabbi’s has opened one of the most original Mexican44 restaurants to come along in years. The ceiling slides away to let the stars shine in. The rustic kitchen draws inspiration from the Yucatán. The cochinita pibil (smoked, pulled pork) is luscious and aphrodisiacal. So is the almond-wood-roasted whole fish. The wine list offers several BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF excellent Mexican wines, too. SALINE • Oysters are served with absinthe jelly and mignonette at this • MUST ORDER: Whole branzino restaurant tucked inside the Hotel Joaquin. rubbed with achiote paste and roasted in the wood-fired hearth. • 215 EL CAMINO REAL, TUSTIN, 657- Saline Hanna’s 699-3019, CHAAKKITCHEN.COM. NEW FOR 2019 2018 RANKING: 45 In order to eat at Saline, Unequivocally the best you’ll first need to book restaurant in Rancho 41 a room. The restaurant Santa Margarita and is open only to overnight guests 42 surrounding communities, Hanna’s of the Hotel Joaquin. The dining Mr. G’S is one part serious steakhouse, one 2018 RANKING:47 room is confined to a narrow part neighborhood sports bar. The outdoor terrace with fewer than 30 bar here is always packed on game The G stands for seats overlooking a small courtyard days, and it’s always date night in Giuseppe Accardi, the with views of the ocean. Breakfast, the dining room. The steaks are dapper owner of this Italianesque45 bistro, which is easily lunch, dinner, you’ll want to take USDA Prime. The fries are real. advantage of every meal possible The wine list, deep. the most glamorous place to before checking out. Slurp oysters • MUST ORDER: Aside from the steaks, dine on Balboa Island. The vibe at sunset. Enjoy octopus carpaccio the only true requisite is the wedge is chic but casual. The kitchen and house-cured salmon for a salad, a towering beauty meant to excels at pasta. The cacio e pepe is candlelit supper. Wake up to be shared. everything a Roman would hope it to be. The rigatoni bolognese the perfect croque-monsieur at • 22195 EL PASEO, RANCHO SANTA breakfast. MARGARITA, 949-709-2300 will make you think there’s an • MUST ORDER: Seared scallops in HANNASPRIMESTEAK.COM Italian granny in the kitchen. coconut cream with forbidden rice. Great pastas might sound like • 985 N. COAST HIGHWAY., LAGUNA strange bedfellows for a big, fat BEACH, 949-494-5294 hamburger, but if you go the latter HOTELJOAQUIN.COM route you’ll be just as happy. 2145 Pizza • MUST ORDER: The pasta carbonara 2018 RANKING: 56 is surprisingly light and elegant. • 305 MARINE AVE., NEWPORT BEACH A vintage auto garage 949-675-6193, MRGSBISTRO.COM has been recycled into an indoor/outdoor pizzeria 43with some of the finest Neapolitan-

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 17 Mayor’s Table NEW FOR 2019 The paradigm-shifting cheeseburger that’s served at lunchtime (or 46on the bar menu at night) at this upscale diner inside the Lido House hotel forever settles the eternal lettuce vs. no lettuce burger debate. It’s a perfect mound of freshly , cheddar cheese and a sesame seed bun with very little else. Want something more elaborate? The beet salad and the charbroiled crab demand attention. Steaks are very good, too. • MUST ORDER: Clearly the burger, which is served with perfect hand-cut, twice-cooked fries. • 3300 NEWPORT BLVD., NEWPORT BEACH, 949-524-8500 LIDOHOUSEHOTEL.COM

CdM NEW FOR 2019 BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF MAYOR’S TABLE • A cheeseburger and fries are a study in simplicity Leather lounge chairs and at this Newport Beach restaurant in the Lido House hotel. plush velvet banquettes 47 create a comfy country club vibe for artisanal cocktails upstairs instead. The small upstairs • MUST ORDER: The Iberico pork and modern American tavern dining room is elegant and tranquil secreto is like a cross between steak food — raw oysters, fried ham, and the service is exponentially and bacon. mushrooms and peas, dry-aged better as well. Either way, the • 3408 VIA OPORTO, SUITE 103, steaks — from the same team steaks are always excellent. NEWPORT BEACH, 949-529-2784 behind A Restaurant. Start with • MUST ORDER: The Lord Stanley cut LIDOBOTTLEWORKS.COM the bread and butter. That might AA5 Wagyu tomahawk rib-eye is one sound obvious, but the bread isn’t of the best steaks money can buy. free. Listed among the appetizers, • 1464 S. COAST HIGHWAY, the Parker House rolls are baked to LAGUNA BEACH, 949-715-9881 order and served piping hot from SELANNESTEAKTAVERN.COM the oven with whipped beef tallow. Meizhou • MUST ORDER: Pork (two ways) and beans. Dongpo • 2325 E. COAST HIGHWAY, CORONA DEL 2018 RANKING: 39 MAR, 949-287-6600 As this upscale Chinese CDMRESTAURANT.COM Lido Bottle chain settles into a Works 50 groove, it has lost some of its original luster. Service has NEW FOR 2019 gotten a little sloppy but the (mostly Lido Bottle Works ) food is as good as ever: overlooks the boardwalk green chili-laden country style Selanne Steak 49 at Lido Marina Village pork, spicy , crispy Peking on Newport Harbor. The windows duck and the best Tavern are always pushed open to let the in OC. 2018 RANKING: 55 salty air blow through, so you’ll • MUST ORDER: Royal , a boiling The highly competitive want to bring a jacket. Lunch and cauldron of radioactive uranium filled singles scene in the brunch are relaxed and leisurely with shrimp, beef, mushrooms, quail bar of this steakhouse while dinner is romantic. Chef Amy eggs, lotus root and Spam. 48is always festive and the many Lebrun makes a masterful beet • 15363 CULVER DRIVE, IRVINE televisions there are always tuned salad and does incredible things 949-433-5686 to sports. That’s where the hostess with chorizo and eggs at brunch. will attempt to seat you, but pull The bar pours interesting wines whatever strings you can to sit and beers.

18 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT roasted branzino, braised . If you eat avocado toast only once this year, do it here. • MUST ORDER: The apple pie is better than your grandmother’s. • 1106 S. COAST HIGHWAY., LAGUNA BEACH, 800-223-3309 THERANCHLB.COM

Javier’s Crystal Cove 2019 RANKING: 14 Perched above the highway at the Crystal Cove Promenade, Javier’s 54conveys the breezy elegance and laid-back luxury of a five-star Mexican resort. Lunch is relaxing while dinner is a scene. The tequila selection is encyclopedic, and the margaritas always strong. You can’t go wrong with any of the enchiladas, the crispy beef taco, LEONARD ORTIZ - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER shrimp quesadilla, octopus ceviche OCEAN AT MAIN • Prawn and potato soup is assembled at the table or Acapulco-style shrimp cocktail. at this Laguna Beach restaurant. • MUST ORDER: Carnitas are exquisite, a mound of tender, fat-laden meat beef salad, crab fried rice, papaya topped with a single, hulking pork rib. Ocean at Main salad, , , rad • 7832 E. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY NEW FOR 2019 nah, nam salad… all of it excellent. NEWPORT BEACH, 949-494-1239 JAVIERS-CANTINA.COM Chef Craig Strong left his When they say spicy, they mean longtime post at the ultra- it. Everything here tastes just like posh Studio at the Montage it does in Thailand, and their tom 51Laguna Beach to open his own kha gai (hot sour coconut chicken place in the heart of downtown. soup) is the best of its genre locally. The indoor/outdoor vibe is laid- • MUST ORDER: The insanely Peking back yet glamorous. The chef delicious fishcakes are soft and has always excelled at fancy fish supple and fragrant of freshly Restaurant dishes, and now he’s learned to pounded red curry paste. 2018 RANKING: 67 make a pretty good pizza, too. • 9872 WESTMINSTER AVE. (BACKSIDE The Beijing-inspired The restaurant came with a pizza OF MALL OF FORTUNE), GARDEN GROVE, menu is vast at this oven, so why not? The Dungeness 714-858-1693, CHADATHAIGG.COM decades-old restaurant, crab cavatelli is ethereal. So, too, 55much of it scribbled only in the oxtail . And they’ve Chinese. Don’t stress when curated the perfect wine list for owner Lili Shen takes control millionaires. and changes your order because • MUST ORDER: The delicious beet she knows better than you. Do salad with an egg yolk playfully what she says. She’ll probably mimics beef tartare. Harvest recommend the beef-and-scallion • 222 OCEAN AVE., LAGUNA BEACH 2018 RANKING: 54 pancake, country-style chicken 949-715-3870, OCEANATMAIN.COM The Ranch resort is one and walnut shrimp. If you’re lucky of Laguna Beach’s best- she’ll slip in some mustard greens kept secrets, a charming with pork. 53boutique hotel and nine-hole MUST ORDER: Pan-fried dumplings. • golf course discreetly nestled in • 8566 WESTMINSTER BLVD., a picturesque canyon across the WESTMINSTER, 714-893-3020 Chada Thai street from the beach. The hilltop 2018 RANKING: 61 dining room is as beautiful as A television on the back it is comfortable, with a roaring wall plays a slideshow of fireplace, lots of leather and velvet 52 every dish on the menu. and a stunning view. If there’s a Watch it too long and you’ll end up theme to the menu, it’s familiarity: ordering one of everything: spicy , steamed mussels,

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 19 Tacos la Calle NEW FOR 2019 This is one of the best new taquerias to come along in years. The tacos 56are truly fantastic, especially the suadero. But so are the mulitas, which are like quesadillas made with corn tortillas. You’ll need extra napkins because the food here can be really greasy, but it’s the sort of grease that you’ll be happy to lick from your fingers. And as long as you’re getting your hands and face messy, the street corn on the cob is delicious, too. • MUST ORDER: Start with the suadero tacos. Everything else is just a bonus. • 8600 BEACH BLVD., BUENA PARK 714-236-5211, TACOSLACALLE.COM

Garlic & Chives 2018 RANKING: 63 A single order of garlic BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF crab contains at least two GARLIC & CHIVES • Pomelo salad with shrimp and garlic is a 57 large fistfuls of garlic, signature dish at this restaurant at Garden Grove’s Mall of Fortune. which will trail you everywhere for the next couple of days. This wildly popular pan-Asian-but-mostly- service rarely found anymore. The Vietnamese restaurant is always steaks are good, though, especially Thai Avenue packed. On weekends the wait for the simple steak frites. NEW FOR 2019 a table can stretch toward two • MUST ORDER: Maryland-style crab This kitchen focuses hours, and the dining room teeters cake (dinner only) formed with big on the regional seafood on the verge of riot. The garlic chunks of crab and barely breaded. of the Gulf of Thailand, noodles with prawns, the sticky • 18420 VON KARMAN AVE., IRVINE 60 and nowhere does that come into chili chicken wings, the crispy rice 949-477-4810, DAVIOS.COM/IRV sharper focus than when the chefs in stone pot, the Sichuan-inspired do something, anything, with cumin lamb, the Thai-style papaya freshwater prawns. Simply grilled, salad … it’s all worth the wait. the prawns are incredible. Served • MUST ORDER: Pomelo salad with atop citrusy pad thai, the prawns pork belly, shrimp and bird’s eye are a revelation. Bobbing in a chilies. Tupelo Junction cauldron of tom yum, they will • 9892 WESTMINSTER AVE., GARDEN 2018 RANKING: 57 blow your mind. Also great is the charred pork jowl (kor moo yang) GROVE, 714-591-5196 In a neighborhood where GARLICANDCHIVES.COM and grilled Thai sausages. brunch is a competitive Tom yum goong sport, Tupelo Junction • MUST ORDER: 59 with freshwater prawns. Seriously, scores a lot of points. A crab claw protrudes from the bloody you won’t be able to eat tom yum mary. The waffles are made from anywhere else after this. pumpkins and oatmeal and topped • 10130 GARDEN GROVE BLVD., GARDEN Davio’s Northern with caramelized bananas. Fresh- GROVE, 657-233-5859 Italian from-the-oven biscuits come with Steakhouse homemade jam. At dinnertime, it’s NEW FOR 2019 all about the trout. • MUST ORDER: Fried chicken and What sets this new cornbread salad. Italian steakhouse • 508 29TH ST., NEWPORT BEACH apart from all the other 49-877-0280, TUPELOJUNCTION.COM 58steakhouses and trattorias is not their steaks or their pastas but a level of old-fashioned customer

20 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT patio, and you’ll find yourself in a romantic Old World trattoria serving linguine and clams and veal Milanese. Inside, the two spaces are connected by a central bar. • MUST ORDER: Ask about the off- menu veal chop, always available but in limited supply. • 1080 BAYSIDE DRIVE, NEWPORT BEACH, 949-644-4220, SAPORINB.COM

El Coyotito NEW FOR 2019 With a squeaky screen door, scant air- 64 conditioning and only about 20 seats, this Mexican cafe has been flying under the radar for years. The menu is vast: tacos, sopes, gorditas, tostadas, huaraches, tortas, burritos, enchiladas, ceviches and five-pound stone molcajetes overflowing with all kinds of meat. • MUST ORDER: Langoustines a la plancha and a scratch Michelada. • 32141 ALIPAZ ST., SAN JUAN CINDY YAMANAKA - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER CAPISTRANO, 949-496-9439 DEL FRISCO’S GRILLE • Prime rib is served only on Friday and ELCOYOTITOMEXICANRESTAURANT.COM Saturday nights at Del Frisco’s Grille at the Irvine Spectrum.

the same as the original — fresh Del Frisco’s oysters, steamed mussels, hand-cut Grille pomme frites, beef tartare, three Manpuku 2018 RANKING: 46 dozen Belgium beers — the kitchen 2018 RANKING: 19 is clearly more aroused. The retro This restaurant serves The one thing above all design of the indoor/outdoor else that used to separate prime rib on Friday and atmosphere feels fresh and vibrant, Saturday nights only, so this Japanese barbecue 61 a new anchor for San Clemente’s 65house from all the others was its you’ll want to mark the calendar Avenida Del Mar. for that. The steaks are top-notch, use of charcoal instead of gas. MUST ORDER: Large pot of mussels too, and the double cheeseburger is • That changed last year. No more steamed with Hoegaarden beer and what an In-N-Out burger dreams of charcoal. The tabletop grills are being when it grows up. Save room cream, with a side of frites. now fueled exclusively by gas. The for coconut cream pie. • 218 AVENIDA DEL MAR, SAN meat quality here is still higher CLEMENTE, 949-218-8489 than most of the competition, • MUST ORDER: The prime New York BRUSSELSBISTRO.COM strip never disappoints. though. And the atmosphere still • 772 SPECTRUM CENTER the most romantic. DRIVE, IRVINE, 949-341-0376 • MUST ORDER: Prime outside skirt DELFRISCOSGRILLE.COM steak with spicy miso glaze. • 891 BAKER ST., COSTA MESA Sapori 714-708-3290, MANPUKUUS.COM Ristorante Brussels 2018 RANKING: 53 Sapori is actually two Bistro restaurants in one. Enter NEW FOR 2019 through the door on This new offshoot of 63the left, and you’ll find a modern the 15-year-old Brussels Neapolitan-style pizzeria and 62 Bistro in Laguna Beach one of the best marinara pizzas exudes the excitement of youth. outside of Naples. Enter to the While the menu reads more or less right, via the bougainvillea-covered

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 21 Southern Spice NEW FOR 2019 Maddeningly chaotic, this no-frills counter- service cafe captures the 66spirit and taste of India better than any other restaurant in Orange County. All the familiar classics — tandoori chicken, tikka masala, lamb vindaloo, butter chicken, etc. — are better here than what you’ve been eating elsewhere. And all those other dishes that you’ve never heard of, like gutti vankaya (stuffed eggplant) and Chettinad chicken pepper fry are even better than that. • MUST ORDER: Chettinad lamb curry. • 3850 BARRANCA PARKWAY, IRVINE 949-679-6914 SOUTHERNSPICEIRVINE.COM

Sushi Roku 2018 RANKING: 44 This is the sixth branch of a luxury sushi chain BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF ZAIT & ZAATAR • This Lebanese restaurant in Anaheim serves 67 that started in L.A. more outstanding sheesh tawook — garlicky chicken skewers. than a decade ago. For American- style sushi rolls, it doesn’t get any better than the tuna-jalapeño roll • MUST ORDER: Sheesh tawook, here. If straight-up raw fish is more grilled chicken skewers marinated The Dock your thing, you’ll love the new- in garlic and yogurt. NEW FOR 2019 style sashimi. Start with a round • 510 N. BROOKHURST ST., ANAHEIM The Dock has endured of miso-glazed shrimp tempura for 714-991-9996, ZAITANDZAATAR.COM ups and downs over the the table. years, and it is currently • MUST ORDER: Fluke sashimi with 70 riding another high. This charming kumquats and yuzu vinaigrette. outdoor restaurant overlooks a • FASHION ISLAND, 327 NEWPORT small channel on Newport Harbor. CENTER DRIVE, NEWPORT BEACH Regulars arrive by Duffy and enter 949-706-3622, INNOVATIVEDINING.COM Eddie V’s the dining room directly from the Wildfish dock. If you don’t have a boat, you NEW FOR 2019 can use the front door instead. Brunch is the best time to see and The name recently be seen here, which is when the changed from Wildfish kitchen excels at eggs Benedict and Zait & Zaatar 69 Grille to Eddie V’s brioche French toast. The wine list NEW FOR 2O19 Wildfish, but this is still the same is deep and worthy of exploration, steak and seafood house it’s always even at 11 a.m. The air inside Zait been, serving classic lobster bisque, • MUST ORDER: House-cured gravlax & Zaatar smells crab chowder, roasted branzino and with crispy latkes and chive cream. magnificent. It smells a terrific USDA Prime rib-eye. The 2816 LAFAYETTE AVE., NEWPORT of Lebanese flatbreads • 68 bar can get rowdy if there’s a game BEACH, 949-673-3625 baking in the old brick oven. on TV, so ask for a table in the back DINEATTHEDOCK.COM It smells of beef and chicken corner. shawarma slowly roasting on the • MUST ORDER: The Maryland-style vertical spits and of kafta kabobs crab cake is as good as it gets. sizzling on the circular griddle. It’s • 370 BISON AVE., NEWPORT BEACH always hard to find a seat inside 949-720-9925, EDDIEV.COM because the dining room holds no more than about 12 people at a time, but there’s usually an open spot on the patio.

22 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • MUST ORDER: Marinated boneless short rib and the premium pork jowl. • 5171 BEACH BLVD., BUENA PARK 714-739-9678

East Borough NEW FOR 2019 Believe it or not, you won’t find Orange 74 County’s best banh mi sandwich in Little Saigon. It’s in Costa Mesa at The Camp’s East Borough, an outdoor food shack with fewer than 20 seats tucked beneath what looks like an old shed BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF overtaken by wisteria. The tables EAST BOROUGH • You’ll find this restaurant, which serves the best are stocked with fresh bird’s eye Vietnames banh mi sandwiches in the county, tucked into The Camp in chilies. There’s no air-conditioning, Costa Mesa. but the beer is cold. If you like 40 years. Crispy tacos are stuffed sweet breakfasts, consider the kaya J Zhou Oriental with ground- beef. The enchiladas toast. are covered with yellow cheese. And • MUST ORDER: Banh mi with star Cuisine anise-braised pork belly. 2018 RANKING: 69 the frozen margaritas are always strong. Warning: If the waitress • 2937 BRISTOL ST., COSTA MESA This dizzyingly splashy says your plate is hot, don’t touch it. 714-641-5010, EAST-BOROUGH.COM Chinese restaurant puts the • MUST ORDER: : Enchiladas rancheras 71 glamor in dim sum. All the with carnitas. usual stuff is here: shrimp shumai, • 201 S. BRADFORD AVE., PLACENTIA barbecue pork bao, chicken feet, 714-993-7880, ELFAROLITOMEX.COM sticky rice in lotus leaves, etc. At dinnertime, the menu shifts into Ciao Pasta ultra-luxe banquet mode, offering NEW FOR 2019 whole barbecued pigs or whole A sleek, modern black chickens or Peking ducks, makeover has some of which must be ordered Kang Ho-Dong transformed this formerly days in advance. frumpy75 old trattoria into one of • MUST ORDER: The beef cheong fun Baekjeong the sexiest restaurants in South (steamed rice paper roll) is superb. 2018 RANKING:49 County. The diavola pizza is • 2601 PARK AVE., TUSTIN, 714-258- The parent company excellent. The roasted halibut is a 8833, JZHOUORIENTALCUISINE.COM that owns this Korean lesson in simplicity. But the real barbecue house is the stars are the pastas: bubbling-hot same73 company that supplies most lasagna, tagliatelle with lemon other Korean barbecue restaurants and artichokes, pappardelle with with their meat, so you can porcini mushrooms, baked rotelle imagine who gets first dibs on the stuffed with ham. El Farolito Squid ink tagliolini 2018 RANKING: 68 good stuff. And while there are • MUST ORDER: other branches of this chain, the with fresh clams and cherry El Farolito has been the Buena Park outpost is consistently tomatoes. reigning king of Cal-Mex the best. Although everyone’s here • 31661 CAMINO CAPISTRANO, SAN 72 combination plates — the for barbecue, shouldn’t overlook the JUAN CAPISTRANO, 949-496-5002 sloppier the better — for more than bibimbap. CIAOPASTA.NET

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT • Ruth’s Chris OUT • Hue Oi • Ramos House Café IN • El Coyotito Steak House • 370 Common • Ironwood • Studio • Brussels Bistro • Kyung Bok Kung • Saline • Adya • Jimmy’s Famous • The Blind Pig • CdM • Lido Bottle Works • Southern Spice • American Dream American Tavern • The Cellar • Chaak • Louie’s by the Bay • Tacos la Calle • Bandera • Kabob Republic • The Loft • Ciao Pasta • Ocean at Main • Thai Avenue • Bangkok Avenue • Leatherby’s Cafe • The Quiet Woman • Davio’s Northern • Oliver’s Osteria • The Dock • Cha Cha’s Latin Rouge • Watermarc Italian Steakhouse • Omakase by Gino • The Mayor’s Table Kitchen • Los Sanchez • Wreckless • East Borough • Pho 101 • Zait & Zaitar • Fleming’s • Ootoro Sushi • Eddie V’s Wildfish • Playa Mesa • Haidilao Hot Pot • Pour Vida

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 23 PHOTOS BY BRAD A. JOHNSON - STAFF CHAAK • Turkey salbute Tacos beyond Tuesday Craving a taco? Of course you Pork al pastor taco Beef al vapor taco are. Carnitas, barbacoa, al pastor, at Gloria’s Mexican at Tito’s La Especial birria, something crispy … no If you haven’t tried steamed tacos matter what kind of taco you crave, Food The pork is thickly sliced and before, they will be a revelation. there’s a solution for that. Here it heavily charred. The meat is The red chile-tinged beef is is: your new Taco To-Do List. infused with a red-chile marinade succulent and tender and deeply that seeps into its core and soulful and would be excellent Suadero taco explodes with every bite. It’s so served as a normal taco. But that’s fatty and tender that it could not why you’re here. You’re here at Tacos La Calle for al vapor, the steam. After the Wildly popular in Mexico City, almost be mistaken for pork belly. They top these tacos with shredded tacos are assembled, they’re folded, suadero comes from the upper put through a pressure steamer breast area of the cow, somewhere cabbage, and each one comes pre- loaded with a fairly intense arbol and magically transformed. They between the and the leg. emerge wet and gloriously greasy, It is more like fat than muscle, chile salsa, which is tempered with an almost indiscernible nub of stuffed at the last minute with although the flavor is indeed very shredded iceberg lettuce. They look meaty. pineapple. • 731 W. 19TH ST., COSTA MESA almost like enchiladas, and they • 8600 BEACH BLVD., BUENA PARK smell and taste like tamales. 714-236-5211, TACOSLACALLE.COM 949-646-9420 GLORIASMEXICANFOOD.COM • 503 W. 17TH ST., SANTA ANA 714-543-2900; 701 N. HARBOR BLVD. SANTA ANA, 714-554-9871

TACOS LA CALLE GLORIA’S MEXICAN FOOD TITO’S LA ESPECIAL • Suadero taco • Pork al pastor taco • Beef al vapor

24 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT EL DURANGO GRILL ROMAN’S TAQUERIA TACOS LOS REYES • Carne asada taco • Barbacoa de res taco • Carnitas taco

Carne asada taco to be called Carnitas Los Reyes. Papas dorados Expect to wait in line no matter the at El Durango Grill time of day. at Jugos Vallarta El Durango makes some of the These are some of the best best carne asada tacos in OC. The • 273 S. TUSTIN ST., ORANGE tacos dorados around. They fill 714-744-9337 meat is good enough to serve as the tortillas with semi-mashed a steak. Instead it’s chopped into potatoes, then dunk them into a thimble-sized pieces and grilled at Birria de res taco vat of hot oil, pulling them out high temperature until the outer at La Super Birria only when the tortillas have turned edges of the meat have turned black The birria de res, or stewed beef, golden and brittle, at which point and crispy yet the insides are still is tender and moderately spicy they are messily stuffed with miraculously tender. from an infusion of the dried red shredded lettuce, a slice of tomato • 730 E. IMPERIAL HIGHWAY, BREA chiles. Order these with a side of and avocado, the whole of which 714-255-5660, ELDURANGOGRILL.COM consommé, which has a texture gets sprinkled with crumbled and viscosity that closely resembles Mexican cheese. Barbacoa de res taco a very thin apple sauce, as if all • 1312 W. 1ST ST., SANTA ANA at Roman’s Taqueria the fatty, meaty and collagen 714-953-7462 When it comes to sultry, heady scraps have been salvaged and sent and intensely fragrant beef through a blender. Baja-style shrimp taco barbacoa, it doesn’t get any better • 1041 W. FIRST ST., SANTA ANA at Taqueria El than this. The meat is cooked for 657-245-3810 Zamorano hours in chile sauce and spices These are the best shrimp until it turns almost black, smoky Crispy chicken tacos tacos in OC. The shrimp are beer- and ethereally tender. at Taqueros battered and fried to a crisp and • 2400 NEWPORT BLVD., COSTA MESA The perfect crispy taco shell is paired with shredded cabbage and 949-548-5534 pulled from the oil at that precise a generous glug of salsa that tastes point when parts of the tortilla sort of like Thousand Island or Carnitas taco have begun to harden and crackle Russian dressing. at Tacos Los Reyes yet while other parts of the tortilla • 3011 HARBOR BLVD., COSTA MESA One of my favorite sounds in are still slightly soft and flexible. 657-247-5200 the world is the repetitive whack- That’s how they do it at Taqueros whack-whack-whack coming from before stuffing the shells with finely Smoked sturgeon taco the cutting board in the kitchen chopped chicken (still hot from the here, where one of the cooks is griddle), shredded lettuce, tomato at Taco Maria constantly chopping slow-roasted and grated cheese. The heirloom blue-corn tortilla pork with a giant cleaver, barely 31401 CAMINO CAPISTRANO, SAN is stuffed with smoked fish and keeping pace with a never-ending JUAN CAPISTRANO, 949-542-4052 heated slowly, left to sizzle so long order for tacos. This place used TAQUEROSMEXICANFOOD.COM that you might think the cook has

LA SUPER BIRRIA TAQUEROS JUGOS VALLARTA • Birria de res taco • Crispy chicken tacos • Papas dorados

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 25 TAQUERIA EL ZAMORAN0 TACO MARIA POUR VIDA • Baja-style shrimp taco • Smoked sturgeon taco • Cheeseburger taco forgotten about it. But when it’s Crispy beef taco Birria de chivo taco finally pulled from the griddle, the tortilla is almost crunchy while the at La Villa at Tacos el Patron The shredded beef crispy tacos Some people don’t like goat meat, fish is velvety and sultry. Beware at La Villa in Anaheim are some but even most goat haters will love the chile morita salsa. It’s hot as of the best Cal-Mex tacos around. the goat birria at the new Tacos hell. The beef is tender and fatty and el Patron in Anaheim. The stewed • 3313 HYLAND AVE., COSTA MESA fragrant. The tortillas are fried to goat meat is rich and fragrant and, 714-538-8444, TACOMARIA.COM order until stiff and slightly chewy frankly, it tastes just like beef. but not crunchy. While the tortillas There’s not even the slightest whiff Cheeseburger taco are still hot and slightly greasy, of goat’s usual gaminess here. The at Pour Vida they’re stuffed with shredded birria’s consomme is light and Although Pour Vida’s burger iceberg lettuce, chopped Roma refreshing, filled with tender scraps tacos were cheekily inspired by tomatoes and a mixture of finely of meat and fat. In-N-Out, these ground beef tacos shredded cheddar and jack cheeses. • 516 N. STATE COLLEGE BLVD., ANAHEIM — burger meat, yellow cheese, This is classic Cal-Mex, through 714-603-7446 Thousand Island dressing — and through. actually have deep roots along the • 1201 W. LINCOLN AVE., ANAHEIM Coahuila border in South Texas. 714-999-0088 The tortillas are handmade and beautifully toasted. Cochinita pibil taco • 185 W. CENTER ST. PROMENADE, ANAHEIM, 657-208-3889 at Gonzalez’s POURVIDALATINFLAVOR.COM Restaurant This is some of the best Turkey salbute cochinita pibil outside the Yucatàn. The pork at Chaak is slowly roasted with Salbutes are puffy tacos from orange juice and the Yucatàn, which are a lot like achiote until fork the little-known puffy Tex-Mex tender and served tacos from San Antonio. Chaak’s with pickled best salbute is the one topped with onions flecked achiote-braised turkey, cherry with habanero tomatoes and charred chile salsa. chiles. • 215 EL CAMINO REAL, TUSTIN, 657-699- • 1740 W. 3019, CHAAKKITCHEN.COM CHAPMAN AVE., ORANGE 714-602-9620

GONZALEZ’S RESTAURANT TACOS EL PATRON LA VILLA • Conchinita pibil taco • Birria de chivo taco • Crispy beef taco

26 • BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT Spring Fling at !

Shooby Dooby Down to Ruby’s for Breakfast, LunchLun oror Dinner!D nner!

RUBY’S DINER SOUTH COAST PLAZA 3333 BEAR STREET, SUITE 120, COSTA, MESA CA 92626 AND VISITRUBYS.COMTOFINDALOCATIONNEARYOU!

BRAD A. JOHNSON’S 75 BEST PLACES TO EAT • 27