Terrace by Mix Mix 3333 Bear Street #316 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 I can not remember the last time I had been to a mall. Shopping is not really my thing. When I need something, I ask Katie for it, and she goes on Amazon, and I usually have it the very next day. If online shopping was an Olympic sport, Katie would easily win the gold medal. It's her superpower, and all the packages on our porch daily are the proof. I only visit a mall when I eat at a restaurant. That was the case on a rare weekday off that Katie and I had together. I decided to check off a spot that has languished on my re ..read more

 Fat Fish Sushi 20761 Lake Forest Dr.  Lake Forest, CA 92630 I have a complicated relationship with sushi. I like it, but I don't really seek it out. I've had some really expensive sushi, and while I appreciate it, I don't like it enough to justify paying a lot for it. An all-you-can-eat sushi option is a better option for me. I know some AYCE sushi places can be a little dicey, with inferior seafood, but I have not had any issues with subpar fish. My favorite AYCE sushi place is Sushi Damu in Tustin, but maybe Fat Fish Sushi would replace it. Read on to see.  My aunt Hiroko ..read more

 Craft Burger Co.  1450 North Kramer Blvd.  Placentia, CA 92870 I miss the days when burgers were king. When I started this blog fifteen years ago, burgers were all the rage, and new burger spots were opening everywhere. Around ten years ago, the restaurant landscape shifted from burgers to chicken sandwiches. My top three burger spots in OC from back then have all closed; Burger Parlor, G Burger, and Fuddrucker's. I'll post my top three as of today at the end of this review. Will Craft Burger Company be on that list? Read on to find out.  Craft Burger opened its doors i ..read more

  Rooster and Rice  15354 Alton Parkway Irvine, CA 92618 The email arrived, and I almost deleted it. I saw the name Rooster and Rice and thought I could not write about another chicken sandwich. Then I paused because it said rooster instead of chicken, and I thought that was strange. Who's cooking up roosters in 2024? Just when I thought this chicken phenomenon couldn't get any more crazy. Luckily, I read a few lines down the page and realized it was just a restaurant named Rooster and Rice, and they were expanding to Southern California and wanted me to see what they were all abou ..read more

 Stagecoach Country Roadhouse 763 South Main Street Suite 200 A Orange, CA 92868 This has happened infrequently, but it has happened before during the run of this blog. I eat in a restaurant, write my review, and find out that the restaurant has closed for good. The few times this has happened, I had an inkling that things were amiss. That's how I felt when we left Stagecoach Country Roadhouse a few months ago.  Stagecoach might have done some research before opening here. This location appears to be cursed. Stagecoach would be the third restaurant to inhabit this space in just si ..read more

 Taqueria El Zamorano 925 West Warner Ave.  Santa Ana, Ca 92707 I miss the OC Weekly. From the time I started this blog until now, that free paper I'd pick up outside my local liquor store would give me plenty of tips about where I should be eating. OC Weekly had the best collection of food writers ever assembled in OC. While my other favorite source for OC restaurant news, Orange Coast Magazine, highlights more mainstream/well-known restaurants, the OC Weekly usually showcased out-of-the-way, hole-in-the-wall spots. These restaurants are ones I would never have heard about and pl ..read more

 Renata's Cafe Italiano 227 East Chapman Avenue  Orange, CA 92866 Downtown Orange is the hottest spot for restaurants in OC right now. In the last year or so, a bunch of popular restaurants from other parts of the county have opened up here: Bosscat Kitchen, Finney's Crafthouse, Pandor Bakery, Urth Caffe, and Snooze, an A.M. Eatery, to name a few. These join the old stalwarts like Haven Craft Kitchen, Citrus City Grill, Smoqued BBQ, and my favorite, Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen. With so many great spots in a condensed area, it's easy to overlook a couple restaurants like the one we woul ..read more

Carnitas Uruapan 2106 West 5th Street  Santa Ana, CA 92703 I always like it when we get new people at work. One reason is that I have been there for almost 36 years now, and any chance to change things is welcome at this point. Another reason is that there's a chance that this new person will become a friend, and we can bond over food. That happened when George showed up to replace our outgoing meat manager. We instantly connected with food; even better, he wanted to share one of his favorite places with me, Carnitas Uruapan in Santa Ana.  George and I met here at 9 a.m. on a Thurs ..read more

 Green Cheek Beer Co. 2957 Randolph Ave. Unit B Costa Mesa, CA 92626 It's that time again, the time of year when we pick our Ducks tickets. We split the 41 home games with my parents and our good friend Steve. Usually, the upcoming hockey season is a time for optimism, but our beloved Ducks have been in rebuilding mode for the last five years and have failed to make the playoffs all of those years. They have good young players, but it's still anyone's guess whether they will meld well together and transform into a Stanley Cup-caliber team. Time will tell, but I was less hopeful than I ..read more

 JD's Wingz 117 East Chapman Avenue Placentia, CA 92870 Except for pizza and burgers, I get asked most about where to find the best wings. I'm not the world's biggest chicken fan, but I like chicken wings, especially when watching sports. My competitive eating days are mostly behind me, but my last contest was with some punk from work about who could eat the most wings in one sitting. I quickly mopped the floor with the kid, and my finishing total was 71 wings in less than an hour.   Okay, back to my point. When people ask me where to get wings, I recommend Santora's across f ..read more