OC Food History - Taco Bell
Taco Bell is a long time Orange County standard, from it’s first incarnation in neighboring Downey to it’s headquarters in Irvine Taco Bell is Southern California. When I was growing up we didn’t really get food from there much, but then came high school, and there wasn’t a single weekend out with my friends that didn’t include dinner at Taco Bell. Here is a blast from the past Taco Bell commercial from 1981.
What’s even cooler about the commerical is that the first split second has a “Family Film Festival” title. Many people from Southern Califoria that grew up in the 60s, 70s, and 80s should recognize as a show that used to be on KTLA on the weekends and hosted by Tom Hatten (you might remember him as the Popeye guy)!
Karl Strauss Brewing Company - Costa Mesa
After having my iPhone replaced at the Apple store in South Coast Plaza we decided to head over to Karl Strauss Brewing Company in Costa Mesa for a bite to eat. This isn’t my first experience with Mr. Karl Strauss, I’ve drank his beer on occasion, and I’ve even had his fries at the ball game, but I’d never ate his meals. First thing you notice as you enter the restaurant is that it pretty much looks like most Brewery/Bar/Restaurant places, which isn’t a bad thing; it’s dark, filled with HDTVs playing sports, and has the required beer making area. Once again, this isn’t a bad thing; I like my Oggi’s and BJs so Karl just adds to the mix. Beer is a big focus at Karl Strauss, they even have a Cask Night on the first Thursday of every month at 5:00 PM that I’m planning to hit some time soon.
Since beer is the focus and I usually like beer, I got myself beer. Not just one beer, not just two, but SIX BEERS!
Karl Strauss Beer Tasters
Ok actually I just got the Taster 6 ($6.95) which is a 2oz. tasting of 6 of their beers, but it’s still six beers (and they even gave me two more because of the food I bought!).
Karl Strauss Beer Tasters
To go along with my beer I got the Big Beer Burger ($11.95) which I can only describe as their menu does
Karl Strauss - Big Beer Burger
“Basted with Karl Strauss Amber Lager, topped with Red Trolley Ale onions, I.P.A. mushrooms, Woodie Gold brined seasoned bacon, gruyere, tomato, lettuce, and fries. Served with I.P.A. steak sauce.” The burger was good, nothing really stood out, and the patty was huge (1/2 lb. I think), I think it would stand up better as a 1/3 lb.
Karl Strauss - Big Beer Burger
I couldn’t really taste the steak sauce which meant the burger was a little on the dry side, but all the toppings mostly made up for that. Sticking to tonight’s burger theme (oh you thought the theme was beer?) Mrs. DanGarion got the BBQ Cheeseburger ($10.50) that comes with, Red Trolley BBQ sauce, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, crispy onions, and fries.
Karl Strauss - BBQ Cheeseburger
She liked it and was enjoying it till she got close to the center and realized that her medium well burger was actually medium rare, so she tossed out more then half the patty and ended up just eating the toppings and bun. We both enjoyed the fries, they were thin and crunchy, just the way I like them.
Service was good, the waitress explained what the numbers meant on the beer tasting sheet and explained that I should drink from light to dark (which I already knew), it’s nice to know they at least are acting like the know what they are serving. Overall it was a good meal, except for the fail on the one burger patty, unsure how it didn’t get as cooked as mine since they were ordered together, but I’ll give them a pass since this was our first visit.
Visit on 10/28/08 @7 PM
Karl Strauss - DanGarion drinking a taster
Pros : Beer, Beer Tasters, Burgers made with Beer
Cons : Undercooked Burgers, Not Enough Sauce
Rating: 
Karl Strauss Brewing Company
901A South Coast Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 546-2739
Wednesday Food Funny
Pretty ingenious way for a restaurant to try and hide there not to great health rating…
Sneaky Restaurant Fail
Bangkok Taste (Review #2) - Santa Ana
This review has been sitting in my queue for awhile to where I can’t even remember much about the exacts. I do know that both myself and the Mrs. enjoyed our meal. Mrs. DanGarion isn’t normally a big fan of Asian food so I always jump at the chance to expand her tastes when she lets me! I have previously reviewed Bangkok Taste a couple months back, this most recent experience was just as good.
Here are the pictures I took.
Bangkok Taste Egg Rolls
Bangkok Taste Egg Rolls
Bangkok Taste Pad Pik King
Bangkok Taste Sweet and Sour Chicken
Bangkok Taste Sweet and Sour Chicken
Rating:
Bangkok Taste Restaurant
2737 N Grand Ave
Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 532-2216
KyoChon Chicken - Stanton
The first time I heard of KyoChon Chicken in Stanton was during their grand opening, my mom is very involved in all things Stanton and she met the owner. Next I was able to try out the wings when they were at the annual Taste of Stanton charity event earlier this year. With my day job, I’m usually in Anaheim, Garden Grove, or Ontario, but I only usually go out to lunch once a week, so it took me awhile to finally have an actual meal from KyoChon. I’d already tasted the chicken in the past and read previous reviews including the one by Edwin at Monster Munching, so I pretty much knew what to expect. KyoChon Chicken is located inside the food court are of the Freshia Market in Stanton
KyoChon Chicken
; there are 4 or 5 other fast food places as well as an opening soon Mr. Pizza. Unfortunately for me, most of their menu doesn’t make a lot of sense since I don’t read Korean; by they have pictures which also include some English! I placed my order and was handed a pager, I was worried that the wait was going to be long, but it didn’t seem too busy. As I waited a woman approached me and offered me tasting of a new product they were working on, a wrap! “Hah, they recognized me from my website and know I’m a food connoisseur, I’m an Internet celebrity!” I thought. But in actuality I probably just looked bored and she was being nice. I tried the wrap, which consisted of a spicy chicken strip, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese, and a little bit of white sauce, it wasn’t anything amazingly special, but it was good.
KyoChon Chicken - Wrap
I took a picture of it for prosperity, so I can be the first to inform you of their possible new item!
After about 15 minutes my pager went off and I picked up my food and I went back to the office. I ordered the #4 Bento, which consisted of; chicken fried rice, chicken bulgogi, salad, french fries, and hot sweet sauce chicken (2 wings and 2 sticks, although the menu says 4 wings OR 2 sticks) ($8.50).
KyoChon Chicken - #4 Bento
It was a HUGE lunch, but I didn’t end up eating it all anyway. I pretty much skipped the fries, I’m not a big french fry fan and there was too much other good looking food. The chicken fried rice was rather bland; I only had a little bit of it.
KyoChon Chicken - Fried Rice
The chicken bulgogi was good,
KyoChon Chicken - Bulugogi
had a nice mixture of chicken, peppers, carrots, and lettuce, it reminded me of the spicy chicken or pork that you can get from Busy Bee. The salad consisted of thin shredded cabbage salad topped with some white and red sauce; it was ok for what it was. The chicken wings and sticks were really good, they weren’t that warm by the time I got them home,
KyoChon Chicken - Bento Box
but that’s my own fault; the hot sweet sauce more then made up for the cooling down of the food, as my mouth has still not forgiven me, my lips are still burning a little!
Service was good, but it’s pretty much like fast food so there isn’t much to say most the time when it comes to service. It was cool to get to try a possible new product.
KyoChon Chicken - Salad
With my order I received a advertisement for their new lunch series, all are served with white rice and salad.
Chicken & Seafood $7.99
LyoChon Chicken Steak $8.99
Chicken Curry $6.99
Rating:
Kyochon Chicken (inside Freshia Market)
(714)891-2449
12840 Beach Blvd.
Stanton, CA 90680
Mimi’s Cafe - Costa Mesa
This is really just a mini review of Mimi’s Cafe in Costa Mesa. We went there last night for dinner. First off what happened to their menu? It appears that a number of items are no longer present. I asked the waitress and she said that that are more items on the lunch menu as well (most of the sandwiches) and I could order of it as well, I declined and decided to order something off the dinner menu.
I’m a big fan of Mimi’s Cafe, but for some reason I wasn’t really feeling most of the items on the menu. I went with the Full Rack Spice Rubbed Baby Back Ribs ($15.29), which comes with fries and cole slaw. Unfortunately these ribs were not anything to talk about. They were bathing in a sea of BBQ Sauce and fell off the bone as I picked them up; the ribs were sopping wet. Their BBQ sauce just doesn’t really work with ribs, it’s great to dip fries in though. The cole slaw was blah as well. I ended up only eating half of my rack and when the waitress came over she asked if I’d like to box the rest up, I explained to her that I just didn’t really care for the ribs, she gave me a concerned look and walked off. A couple minutes later the manager walks up and asks me about the ribs, and I tell her that they just weren’t really that good, and that they were sopping wet in sauce, she apologized for the meal and charged me only for a half rack! I was really impressed that the waitress was attentive to my displeasure and that she did something about it.
So although my meal was less then fantastic, the service was exceptional! Plus it’s really nice being able to sit down outside by the Harbor/Newport intersection and enjoy some fresh air.
Visit on Thursday, 10/16/08 around 5:30 PM
Rating:
Rating:
Mimi’s Cafe
1835 Newport Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
(949) 722-6722
The Olde Ship - Santa Ana
Not only was it an adventure for us to arrive to The Olde Ship in Santa Ana it was also our 1st and then 5th choice of meals last night. Mrs. DanGarion and I invited my parents out to dinner but first we had to run an errand. When we first left EatinOC headquarters, I couldn’t remember the name of another restaurant in Downtown Santa Ana so we were determined to have dinner at The Olde Ship for our first time, but after we were done with our errand we had changed our minds and decided to head to Original Mike’s in Santa Ana for the first time. Unfortunately when we arrived at Original Mike’s there was a sign on the door that said they were “Closed for Cleaning”… We have some questions in our minds as to what type of cleaning they could be doing, was it the type of cleaning you would normally do during your closed hours, or was it the type that is required by the county health inspector, I guess we will never know. After that failed attempt I remember the name of The Crosby and we headed down Broadway, unfortunately no one ever told me how to actually locate The Crosby. Where the heck is The Crosby?!!? We drove around in a circle a couple times and I even saw their address 400 N Broadway, but the business at that address didn’t appear to be open. Then we thought about going to Z Pizza, but that would have been a trip all the way to South Santa Ana and it was already starting to get late. This then led us back to our original plan of having dinner at
The Olde Ship placemat
The Olde Ship in Santa Ana, and what a delicious decision it was. This particular location of The Olde Ship has been in business for about 8 years, while their other location in Fullerton has been in business for 15. Inside is a nice older looking pub style look, that sort of is like a real English pub, although I think the bar was a little small. Overall it was real nice inside and I liked their current Halloween decorations throughout the establishment. I got a pint of Old Speckled Hen ($6.50)
The Olde Ship - Old Speckled Hen Ale
to start of the night, they have about 13 selections of beer on tap, along with about 10 bottled selections from the UK, I did not see Bud or Miller on the menu!
With four of us ordering you would think there would be four meals for me to share and review, but honestly, I only can share 2 meals, since everyone other then myself ordered basically Fish and Chips ($14.95)! The pieces of Icelandic Cod fish are large and from my understanding of those that ate them were really good, the chips were English cut chips that were nice and crunchy, also along for the ride was a cup of slightly bland cole slaw, and tartar sauce.
The Olde Ship - Fish and Chips
My dad ordered the Whitby Platter ($15.95) which is the cod along with 3 large prawns, English cut chips and cocktail sauce. I on the other hand got their Monday dinner special of Prime Rib of Pork
served with “bubble & squeak” ($19.95).
The Olde Ship - Pork Prime Rib
The “bubble & squeak” is basically a type of potato cake with some other veggies in it (onion, not sure what else) it was nice and crunchy on the outside while moist on the inside. In addition I got some fried chunks of potatoes that were perfectly cooked to crunchy perfection, some most likely boiled veggies (carrots and peas), a side of gravy, and a side of apple sauce! The pork was just amazing, I’m not sure what they cooked it in, but it had a sort of sweet taste on the outside, and it pulled off the bone to perfection.
The Olde Ship - Pork Prime Rib
Service was great, our waiter Dustin took care of us and was very nice. When I asked him if he had a preference on their ales and told him I usually get Smithwicks or Newcastle, he suggested the Old Speckled Hen, and it was a very solid selection. I’m really glad we ended up where we were going to go originally. The Olde Ship in Santa Ana is definitely a treat and a good place to check out if you can’t afford a trip to England. I already want to go back again to try more of their menu! Also wanted to note they are British owned and operated. And for those wanting more information on British things in the Orange County area check out The British Grocer as well as BritWeek.
Visit 10/13/08 for dinner
Rating:
The Olde Ship
1120 W 17th St.
Santa Ana, CA 92706
714.550.6700
Open daily 11am - 11pm
Sundays open 9am - 11pm
Live Entertainment on Fri & Sat
Weekly Soccer shown
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