#62 - Every Damn Thing at Mochi Cream

I ventured back over to Santouka Ramen earlier this week as I had been craving it for a few days and it once again delivered near perfection. But this time, after the meal, instead of a heavy, filled pastry of sorts that I found last time in the middle of an aisle being freshly cooked, I instead opted for Mochi Cream. According to OC Weekly's list, every damn thing there should be amazing, but holy hell are they pricey.

I briefly thought about opting for a 'mochido' - a mochi donut of sorts, but they were super tiny and priced at over $2 each. So instead I just went for a couple mochi ice cream desserts. I opted for the apple pie and chocolate banana flavors as they seemed like they would complement each other well.

There's really not too much to say about them. They were fine, still seemed a bit pricey at $1.80 - $2.00 a piece with no volume discount that I could see, but they just weren't anything special. I've had Mochilato a few times and, honestly, would prefer those mochi ice cream desserts to Mochi Cream. The ice cream at Mochi Cream just seemed like it was older, or had been sitting in the freezer at too low a temperature, while at Mochilato, they come straight from the case at the perfect temperature to eat right away and enjoy.

Next time I'll probably skip Mochi Cream, save my ice cream craving for Mochilato, and shop the Mitsuwa marketplace for some other dessert at a more reasonable price.

#9 - Pickled Egg at C4 Deli: Cure for the Common

Since errands took me over to downtown Santa Ana for lunch today, I checked my handy map and decided to visit C4 Deli: Cure for the Common. I thought I could knock out two items from my list, but looking back, I realized only the pickled eggs were on the top 100. The reason I thought there was another item was due to this recent review of the place by Register critic Brad A. Johnson. So, armed with that, I was ready to get some pickled eggs and a porchetta sandwich.

First off, this place's decor is downright awesome. I just love the whole feel of the place. There's a few tables up front which were occupied by businessmen and women on lunch and in the back is a long bar with two amply stocked tap stations. As for the beer, a great selection. A wide range of styles and many beers that I don't often see on tap at other restaurants around the area. I opted for a Boulevard Brewing Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale as I've had it from a bottle a few times but never on tap - the bartender assured me I'd like it more on tap than bottle (it tasted pretty much the same, but was still very good).

First up were the eggs. They have three types of pickled eggs - regular, smoked, and spicy. I just went with one smoked and one spicy as the smoked one was what the bartender recommended and I love spicy things. I started with the smoked and found it a bit harder than I would have expected it to be - very firm, but easy to cut through and eat. I've actually never had a pickled egg so I unfortunately don't have much to compare it to. It had a white exterior and looked like a normal hard boiled egg (I was half expecting it to be purple).

The smoked egg did have a slight hint of smoke and pickling to it, but nothing overpowering. It was tasty, but I was expecting just a bit more. The spicy egg also had about the same amount of pickling, but was devoid of any spiciness whatsoever. Work still needs to be done on that one. Next time I go, I'll get the regular egg, maybe the smoked, but probably not more than one. It's a nice little appetizer, but nothing to write home about.

Next up was the porchetta sandwich. With the rave reviews showered on it by Brad Johnson, I was expecting my mouth to be alive with flavor. While the bun for the sandwich was a good pick, it really didn't add anything to the sandwich. The porchetta was nicely cooked, still piping hot from the griddle (I'm guessing...maybe stove?), and the broccoli rabe was a nice addition. The aioli got lost a bit with the bitterness of the rabe, and the porchetta was also a bit muddled in the flavors.

While I'm definitely going back, I'll veer away from the porchetta to the reuben or the pork belly sandwich. Either way, they'll be accompanied by a good beer and a tasty chocolate chip cookie to finish the meal.

#69 - Chingaderas at Smoqued BBQ

I came in with such high hopes for these. I mean, they just sound down-right delicious - as they are described on the website, they are - cream cheese jalapenos, popper shrimp, and dates, wrapped with smoked bacon then flash fried and served with a spicy berry chipotle. But unfortunately, in practice, I just couldn't quite come to love them like I thought I would.

To start off, the flash frying of them is perfect. The breading is light and doesn't affect the taste of all the ingredients much. However, when you first bite in, you're greeted with a limp, seemingly raw bacon that is wrapped around the chili and shrimp. The description says the bacon is smoked, so in theory, it's cooked enough to serve, but the texture of the bacon just immediately turns you off and since it's so chewy, you can't easily bite through it so you end up pulling the chili and fillings out with the long strand of bacon.

If you can get past the bacon however, the rest of the jalapeno popper is pretty good. There's not too much cream cheese in there and you do get a bit of heat (a few more seeds left in the chili would have been nice). However, maybe because everything's all mushed together and the bacon kind of undoes the whole thing, I never even noticed the shrimp in there. Perhaps they were forgotten in my order? I don't know - either way, I didn't see or taste them at any point.

The highlight of the dish was the berry chipotle sauce. It complements the jalapeno popper nicely with a sweetness that really accentuates the whole dish nicely. I probably won't be having this dish again, but I may ask for the sauce on the side if I go for any other dishes at Smoqued in the future that merit it.

#94 - Coney Dog at LinX

When I started this list, I mentioned there were a few dishes I've already tried from the list, and while I didn't specifically rule out going back, I hadn't planned on trying them again unless I just happened to be there. On the way back from a recent shopping trip, my fiancee and I were trying to figure out where to eat and we briefly contemplated Haven, but eventually chose LinX. They always have great sausages and a good selection of beer (which is what I needed at that time).

So, here it is, the Coney Dog. While I'll usually omit raw onions or tomatoes when I purchase an item, I left the onions on here and they were a great addition. Combined with the snap of the dog and the chili, they add a welcome crunch to the dog. The bread (from OC Baking of course), was perfectly toasted and a great complement to the dog. There's really not much else to say. LinX just makes a great sausage.

Their frites are also quite spectacular. I did have one lackluster order, but every other time, they come out hot, crispy, and the diversity of the dipping sauces ensure a different experience each time. Sadly though, the buffalo wings they offered were a bit lackluster. They just didn't do anything to separate them from the crowd. Just get a dog, some frites, and a beer and you'll be in heaven.

#76 - Chicken Wings at Hashigo Korean Kitchen

On a cool, overcast day, I had the same debate with myself that I usually do - should I get a ramen or pho or go somewhere new and try something different? As I drove by Mitsuwa marketplace to Hashigo, every piece of me wanted that ramen. But I stayed the course, crossed a single street, and arrived at Hashigo. A Korean kitchen with mostly fusion dishes and a few traditional, this small gem is hidden away in a strip mall behind heavily tinted windows. Stepping in, the darkness persisted a bit, but I was warmly greeted, offered a seat in a booth or at the bar (I opted bar) and quickly helped. As I am still on my kick without soda or caffeine, I opted for water and perused the menu.

Even though I knew exactly what I was going to get (wings), I wanted to see what else they had. As I had looked them up on Yelp and Google Places earlier, I had a general idea of what was good (well, pretty much everything), so while browsing, the kalbi tacos caught my eye. I ordered those with the spicy wings (regular or spicy? the answer is always spicy).

While waiting for the food to arrive, I was handed banchan, consisting of potatoes in a sweet sauce, cucumber and daikon radish kimchi, and regular kimchi¹. The potatoes and radish kimchi really stood out and made a perfect pre-meal appetizer of sorts. In fact, I found myself constantly going back to the banchan throughout the meal.

The first item I received was the trio of kalbi tacos. On top of a corn tortilla there was cabbage, ciantro, kimchi, and radish with the kalbi meat of course. The meat itself was cooked fine, had a nice sauce to it, and, surprisingly enough, finished with a hint of heat. Nothing too strong, but a nice little bonus thrown in at the end there where you'd expect sweetness. I only ate one as I knew the wings were coming and didn't really know what to expect. The other two will make a nice snack or dinner tonight.

The wings though...the wings. Wow. As I mentioned before, I opted for the spicy version. They are presented atop a bed of cabbage with a spicy sauce drizzled atop and even more spice baked right into the batter. Instead of your usual wing, these are dredged in a tempura-style batter and then fried to perfection. Upon biting into one, you will get tons of heat as the tempura keeps them wrapped up nicely along with the natural juices of the chicken. Not grease or fat, but just a juicy, perfectly battered wing.

Served with the wings are two dipping sauces and a little tray of seasoned salt. The first sauce was the same slightly spicy, yet somewhat sweet sauce that they drizzled on the wings. The second is a buttery hot sauce (I know the sauce and it was killing me the whole lunch as I couldn't place exactly what it was - it's not tabasco, not frank's...WHAT IS IT?) which added just a bit of extra heat to the later bites once I had gotten through the tempura. My only minor complaint is the square dishes they serve the sauces in are hard to actually dip the wings in - the drumettes do fine, but the wings struggle to fit in and pick up sauce.

In the end, there's no doubt I'll be making this a regular lunch stop. I still need to try the curry fries, the korrito, and so much more that sounded great on the menu. Kudos to the Hashigo staff. Very tasty and reasonably priced for the amount of food you get (the wings were $9.95 and the tacos $7.95).

#3 - Pizza di Salsiccia e Friarielli at Fuoco Pizzeria Napoletana

Last Saturday, with nothing to do, I ventured out to the Bruery to try some of the newer beers they had on tap and while there, checked my map of OC Weekly's 100 Favorite Dishes and stumbled upon Fuoco Pizzeria Napoletana. Tucked away on Harbor, I missed it the first time by. I circled back around and, despite being a Saturday night, I was able to find parking in back. Entering through the lesser-used side entrance, I was greeted by a host stand in the middle of the restaurant (odd), a large brick oven, and a small bar where I sat down and was promptly greeted by the bartender / one of the owners (I think).

I knew what I was going to get, so we just got down to it when he came over to take my order. It was to be the Pizza di Salsiccia e Fiarielli. He asked if I've ever had rapini before (I have a few times) - in fact just the week prior I had made some to top a pulled pork sandwich - and then I asked which beer would pair well with the pizza. He recommended something darker (Arrogant Bastard), but after seeing they had about 5 different Italian beers stocked, I opted for the darkest they had - a Bock Chiara 5 Luppoli (a poor choice - the beer was bland and tasted old).

The pizza was delivered in a surprisingly quick manner after ordering - which I guess I should have expected from a neapolitan pizza joint. The pizza was delivered with the usual pepper flakes, but this time the bartender said that the pizza would greatly benefit from a liberal application of flakes. So I happily obliged. I will put them on any pizza if offered up, so when told to do so, I added quite a few shakes to each slice.

Regarding the "slice" - the pizza comes whole - not sliced at all. A week or two ago, my parents visited a neapolitan pizza place (can't recall which one), and there they were told to eat the pizza with a fork and knife - not by slicing it and picking it up. I didn't remember this piece of advice while I was at Fuoco, and the other patrons around me were going the "cut your slice and pick it up" route, so I followed suit.

Right off the bat, the pizza looked great. Little lumps of mozzarella, ample sausage (though oddly enough, it appears that they've changed their sausage since OC Weekly visited - mine were sausage crumbles while OC Weekly had sausage slices), and the rapini, oh, the rapini. It added a perfect bitterness to complement the heat of the pepper flakes and the absence of tomato sauce (olive oil is used as a "sauce"). The sausage was tasty, though tough to keep in place on the pizza itself.

Overall, the pizza was quite good. I'm eagerly anticipating a return visit to try something different, maybe a bit more traditional. I do like a good tomato sauce on my pizza (or BBQ when the stomach demands some chicken), so I might tend to choose a different pizza in the future. In all, I really enjoyed my visit. Prices weren't outrageous, and with the prodding of others, I did finish the whole pizza (it was tough, but doable). The owners were discussing possible expansion plans (I believe they will be one year old this weekend) and I do hope they expand closer to my work as they were discussing (Irvine area). If they do, I'll be visiting many more times. As it stands, next time I hit up Bootlegger's Brewery (just down the street a few blocks), my go-to pizza option will be Fuoco. Quick, attentive service and some awesome pizza add up to a winning recipe. (woo, restaurant review pun!)

P.S. They do have some good beer in bottles outside of the generic Italian beers. Racer 5 is always a good option and it seems they rotate through them.

#38 - Grilled Brie With Apples And Fig Jam

My apologies for the poor lighting, it was just such a beautiful day in Southern California, I had to eat outside, and facing towards the sun, I tried to shade the sandwich to the best of my ability, but it did come out a little dark. However, while the picture may disappoint, the sandwich did not.

What we have here is a grilled cheese from Boudin. Usually when I go to Boudin, it's for their iconic sourdough bread bowl filled with clam chowder. It's perfect for cold days and the sourdough they make there is always top-notch. But on a warmer day like this, you can opt for a cold sandwich (in which case I usually choose the turkey cranberry), or you can get a grilled cheese. And if you're trying to get through OC Weekly's list of 100 Favorites, it's the grilled cheese.

At first glance, I was impressed, there was a bit of cheese oozing out of each half and the bread wasn't just grilled, it was Parmesan grilled. Adding that extra bit of cheese and crispiness to the bread, it made a huge difference. Inside, in addition to the brie you have a perfect complement of fresh, tart, sweet green apples and the perfect amount of fig jam. The brie itself though proves to be the star with the apples. If you've never tried the combination at home, just do it. Brie and apples, maybe on top of a wheat thin, and you're in heaven.

In all, the flavors come together perfectly, a blend of two cheeses, lots of crispy apples and the crispy outer bread, all with a thin layer of the fig jam which adds just a bit of sweetness where the apples don't reach. The OC Weekly article says to go with the chips if you've gotten this far. I recommend the salad. It's minimalist, but crisp and tossed with the right amount of dressing. After a few bites of the sandwich, it's nice to have a little lightness to even it all out and the salad does it well.

#33 - No Soup Ramen at Santouka Ramen

As I explained in the Introduction, if an item is not on the regular menu or not available at the time of visit, I will opt for the most recommended item from a combination of Foursquare and Yelp. So after arriving at Santouka Ramen today and not seeing the No Soup ramen, I opted for the Special Pork in Spicy Miso Broth (OCWeekly #33, Foursquare, Yelp).

According to Santouka's website, the Toroniku Cha-shu is simmered pork cheek (jowl) meat. This ramen is served separately from the broth and noodles and can be added as you consume the ramen, or all at once. I opted for the all-at-once approach while my fiancee opted to add as she ate the bowl of ramen. Either way, it was damn tasty. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on ramen, in fact, I can't even remember the last time I ate ramen that wasn't from a bag that cost $0.30. (As I write this, I recall eating the ramen chronicles twice at Playground (#70 on the list)). Regardless, I'm still quite new to the world of ramen, and as such, don't have much to compare this to.

That being said, this ramen was quite exceptional. The pork was tender, melt in your mouth, and the spicy miso was perfection. Usually when I go for pho, I'll have some of the broth, then add the jalapenos and Sriracha to it for heat. With this spicy miso broth, there was little to no room for improvement. I see some people recommending adding more oil (most likely a chili based oil), but when drinking the broth alone, there was just the right amount of heat, and while eating the noodles and pork, the flavors burst through.

A quick word of advice - parking here sucks. Head straight for the underground parking. Every eatery here takes cash only. It does get busy at lunch, but people cycle through quickly and a table isn't hard to find. There's about five other eateries in the food court and they all looked quite interesting. I'll be going back here many times for ramen as it's close to my work, but I'll also be trying the other locales and sampling other fine Japanese cuisine.

#59 - The Burger at ARC

Unaware of the massive size of this burger, I strolled into ARC expecting something good, maybe regular sized, a nice lunch portion. Instead, I was greeted by a $20 behemoth of a burger with a 16oz. patty of pork, beef, and rendered duck fat. On top of the massive patty, there is a yellow tomato layered at least 4 or 5 times. There's a red chili and pickled red onion layer next and then lots of lettuce. All of this sandwiched between a perfect OC Baking Co. bun that holds it all together perfectly, despite the juiciness and heft of the toppings.

I took two bites with the tomato in place to try the burger as it was intended to be consumed by the chef, but I was just overwhelmed by tomato which I do not care for, so I removed them for the rest of the burger, which also had the pleasant effect of reducing the size of the burger considerably, allowing it to almost fit in my mouth at this point.

After getting a few more bites under my belt, I had to resort to building each bite back up by adding some peppers, lettuce, and onion back on as it all seemed to squirt out the backside, no matter how it was held. On the bright side, each bite was immensely flavorful and well balanced.

As I have had a couple days to fully digest the massive burger, as much as I enjoyed it while I was eating it, I did have to stop without finishing it and thinking back, it wasn't just due to the size, but mostly due to to the overwhelming amount of pork mixed into the patty. Now, I'm all for bacon lardons on burgers (see: Umami Burger) and I love me a bacon cheeseburger, however, the amount of pork, in such a chunky form, in the burger eventually gets to you. Combined with the fact that they cook every item in the restaurant in a massive wood fired oven, which already lends itself to a smoky flavor, the heaviness of the pork just weighs each bite down.

While I would probably recommend this to someone in the market for a gigantic, tasty burger, I'm not sure I'd go back to it. It's just too heavy and rich to be eaten in one setting. The pork overwhelms the patty and also helps hasten the patty's mission to fall apart in giant chunks as you get further into the burger. Impressive. Tasty. But there was just something...something that would steer me to order a different item the next time I go back, despite my immense love of burgers.

Introduction

Over the past 100 or so days, the OC Weekly paper has been publishing their 100 Favorite Dishes in Orange County. Some I've had, but most I've never heard of.

So, to start, I mapped them all so I could quickly pick out a place local to me that had something available from the list. On the page for the #1 favorite dish, Taco Maria, they list all the previous faves, so that's the best place to go for a comprehensive listing other than my map.

Of the favorite 100, I've had:

• #100 - Bean and Cheese Burrito at Del Taco
• #94 - Coney Dog at LinX
• #93 - White Board Specials at Taco Adobe
• #83 - Strawberry Basil Lemonade at Mick's Karma Bar
• #70 - The Continuous Ramen Chronicles at The Playground
• #40 - Tulsa Potatoes at Tulsa Rib Company
• #36 - Lamb Burger at Haven Gastropub
• #26 - Beer Brat at LinX
• #22 - Sausage Anything at Sabatino's

I think the only one that I'm really unwilling to try is:

• #52 - Free Happy Hour Food at Gulliver's

Considering it's FREE happy hour food, the fact that I'm unwilling to eat at Gulliver's should speak volumes about the quality of the food of late. I mistakenly chose to go there for my birthday in September, 2012, so, with a celebration ahead of us, our family of four ventured out to a restaurant of which I had fond memories. Unfortunately, my mother and I were both greeted with a very poor cut of prime rib, while my dad, wanting fish and chips, asked to get it from the lunch menu. We expected a mark-up of the lunch price, but they charged us almost double without getting any additional sides or quantity of fish. Ever since, I've basically vowed not to return.

So earlier this week, I set out to start trying some of the other items from the list. They won't be in order, and if an item isn't available, I'll try the most highly recommended item on the menu from a combination of Foursquare and Yelp.

Let the fun begin!