Umami, Udadi!

Umami Burger, located in Costa Mesa in The Camp on Bristol street takes a new look at the classic burger joint. Opening just recently in Orange County, Umami Burger is very popular in L.A.  When we arrived at 5:30 on a Monday, the place was chaos. Our waiter told us that there would be a 20 minute wait to get seated. I felt cold, so we decided on take out.

We ordered an Umami Burger, the original, and a Manly Burger plus some sweet potato fries and a ginger beer. The Umami Burger contained parmesan crisp, tomatoes, caramelized onions, mushroom, and umami ketchup. My dad thought the mushroom added a contrasting texture. The Manly burger  came with bacon, onion crisps, melted cheese, and umami ketchup. I thought it was smokier and a touch more balanced than my dad's.

Of course, by the time we got home to eat it, nothing was hot - and the buns, while fresher than at most burger places, started to look a little soggy. They had also mislabeled our burgers. But the waiting would have been something to complain about as well. Even a to-go order at a new place has its issues: as we watched the kitchen process, we saw things packed and then unpacked, orders rejected by the waiters, and our order came about 10 minutes later than the almost identical order placed by the person after us.

Is it worth the wait? You decide. Is it worth the money? Umami Burger is pricey for what you get. Will you go for it?

Gatten Sushi

"Customer coming"! Every day you enter, or leave Gatten Sushi,  you are energetically welcome and dismissed. The waiters cheerfully greet every new thing that presents its self, including new sushi! Gatten Sushi is a sushi train that in its unique way, raises it above other sushi trains. It is a rather small place in the Albertsons lot near Happy nails and Stricklands. Gatten Sushi's train winds its way through the whole room at a steady pace that allows you to decide what dish to get, but prevents a long wait if you missed a dish. Unfortunately, it does not have its own website, so Yelp, my close competitor will have to do for getting more info on Gatten Sushi. If you get tired of fancy fish and have a craving for something less classy, but just as good, try Gatten Sushi. My personal favorites are the crispy shrimp rolls, the unagi, and the eel. They provide you with strawberry drinks coming around, but if that isn't right for you, you can always order something else. If you desire something not on the train, it is a very simple task to order it from one of the waiters. After eating your fill of the sushi, you can either enjoy their desserts, almond tofu, mango pudding, fresh fruit in jello, or plain fresh fruit. If you are into the almond tofu, make sure to grab it early because it disappears in a jiffy. Make sure not to get rid of your empty dishes (or you can if you want to "save" some money) because that is what your final check is based on. The waiters tally up how many yellow dishes you have on your table, each costing two dollars. Yellow dishes are usually sushi or one of the desserts. The they count up the red dishes, which are three dollars each. Red dishes are the drinks that they serve or the fancier desserts. Then they count how many things you ordered straight form the kitchen, and they create your check. If you don't have a taste for chinese desserts, step into Stricklands to have some great ice cream if you are still determined to have a sweet. All in all Gatten Sushi has a great attitude, a great atmosphere (but don't get freaked out by the energetic greetings), and a really great sushi train with all the sushi you could dream of and more.

La Rocco's and Phan 55

La Rocco's Pizzeria is the only place in Orange County that satisfied my mom's craving for New York style thin crust pizza. It has a variety of different pizzas, vegetarian and VERY meaty. Last time we were there we had the classic white pizza that is really great! We were very hungry when we arrived at La Roccos (and they had very slow service), so to satisfy our hunger, we ordered these things called garlic knots. They were a combination of bread, garlic, olive oil, and cheese. They were great with the tomato sauce they served. It was very cheap and had some outdoor seating! A small T.V provides entertainment to people in line, and to kids alike. It is a great place to support! The pizza is out of this world.

       Speaking of great places to support, Phan 55 is a small place out of the way near Jamboree and Campus It is a Vietnamese place that has a huge bar and great pho. Their food is healthy, fresh, and tasty. For Pho lovers who want to find the real thing near UCI, this is the place to come for a healthy and delicious lunch. Their waiters are very nice, asking for help to spread the word of their restaurant.

taco asylum

Taco Asylum is a great little restaurant in Costa Mesa. They serve (great) non-traditional tacos from 11 am to 11pm. The link shows what is in each taco if you scroll down. They have 9 tacos and a flight of 8. The Ghost Chili Pork is the one not in the flight. They have Grilled Octopus, Pork Belly, Short Rib, Curried Paneer, Wild Mushroom, Lamb, Duck, Corazon (beef heart confit), and Ghost Chili Pork. They have 3 hot sauces, one of them the hottest chili in the world (Ghost Chili), one second hottest chili in the world, and the last one a mild chili. My dad rated the tacos in this order: 1-Duck and Lamb, 2-Beef Heart and Short Rib, 3-Pork Belly and Ghost Chili Pork, 4-Wild Mushroom and Curried Paneer, 5-Grilled Octopus. I Rated them like this: 1-Lamb, 2-Ghost Chili Pork, 3-Beef Heart and Curried Paneer and Duck, 4-Pork Belly, 5-Short Rib, 6-Grilled Octopus and Wild Mushroom (didn't have either). My mom liked the Beef Heart the best. I think the lamb was the best mostly because of the olive tapenade. It had the perfect texture and oomph to balance out the lamb and ratatouille. The Ghost Chili Pork had strands of ghost chili and the waitress said that it was going to be hot but I didn't mind the chili strands that much. The small spice was excellent in combo with the pork. My mom says the hot sauce that had ghost chili in it was much hotter. They had many beers and non-alcohalic drinks and sodas, in particular, tea and soda. It is in The Camp and has nice outdoor seating and a heat lamp and a counter/bar with only a few seating options. A nice atmosphere and waiting, with a screen that shows live tweets that mention @tacoasylum, this place is a great new place that you should help support as it is only 4 months old.

Happy Family

Happy Family does make families happy, everybody that goes to them and knows them that is. Happy Family is a very new restaurant located in what was once known as May Garden at 1400 Bristol St. Costa Mesa (telephone 714-668-9288). They serve a Buddhist, vegetarian, taiwanese fusion version of Chinese food. My dad said after going for the first time "it was almost good enough to make me vegetarian." The first time we went we avoided the fake tofu substitute meats like mock duck and mock chicken, but the second time we had to give in and we were pleasantly surprised. If you have been to Taipei, you know about Buddhist vegetarian Chinese cuisine, but if you haven't, this style of Chinese cooking is very delicious, based on Northern Chinese cuisine, with its hearty mantou or or steamed breads. Mantou are called Fried Bread on the menu is a a Northern Chinese classic and it is very good. Home style tofu was my personal favorite. My mom liked the deep fried oyster mushrooms and chicken with mushrooms. If you like Kung Pao Chicken, you'll enjoy the veggie version. The two greens we had were very good. Snow pea tops are our favorite, but they ran out the second time we were there so we had stir fried chinese romaine lettuce. It's called "A-cai" AY TSAI. if you want to order it. In other reviews that aren't as good as this one, they claim that the lotus flowers are great, but me and my parents did not like them. However, if you are a newcomer to this restaurant, they are a must try. The food is well spiced, light and balanced. According to Buddhist cuisine, garlic and onions make people quick to anger, so they are not used. You wouldn't know it though, because the dishes are so varied and savory. We ordered hot and sour soup on our first visit and tofu and glass noodle soup on our second visit. If you want to eat like the Chinese, never skip soup with your meal. You won't be disappointed by Happy Family's selection. This restaurant is also a GREAT deal. Everything is very reasonably priced. The two problems that we encountered were -- very slow service and not very special atmosphere. They are renovating the restaurant, so we hope for improvements soon. They don't serve alcohol, but my mom asked if we could bring our own, and the owners said that wouldn't be a problem. Excellent dumplings! Please give them your business. They are close to Irvine and really serve a very distinctive and authentic not to mention healthy Chinese food.

Hot! Peruvian

Today we went to DX Peruvian Restaurant (what is that name for?). It opened just this January. I'm also proud to say that someone at my dad's work asked me to review this restaurant! It is in this block of weird shopping malls near South Coast Plaza (see the link for more info). It was dark when we first entered but turned out to have a nice and quiet atmosphere. It was also nice to see just the right amount of people there. Our two guests were from Puerto Rico and knew a lot about authentic Peruvian dishes and spoke Spanish so the waiters (who also spoke Spanish) immediately accepted us.
         For appetizers the four of us shared the Papa a la Huancaina, potatoes with a spicy cheese sauce that tasted good but to me had a better after-taste; and the Cebiche Mixto, seafood with a fresh lime juice mariniation. That was good, cold but a bit too sour and limey.
          I had the Picante de Camarones as my main course, spicy shrimp soup. It came in a kind of shallow plate with not too much broth. Everything was spicy in my dish and hot, so I had to wait a little before it cooled down. The potatoes were great, the shrimp a little hard for my taste. The broth was nice but spicy and smooth. The rice was surprisingly soft but was still better than normal because of its texture. My dad had the Seco de Cordero, lamb stew which he said was a little bony but very flavorful. To me it tasted like very authentic lamb (though I still can't get into the taste) but quite good. Our two guests had Lomo Saltado - steak and potatoes - and Parihuela, a vegetable and seafood soup; we learned that it is influenced by European recipes. The steak was nice and crisp and tender at the same time. It also came with potatoes that were like french fries but less crisp. The potatoes were way too hot for way too long and were kind of too floppy. It was the least spicy dish of the meal but still pretty hot. The Parihuela was good in a way I have never tasted before; seafoody and normal broth combined. The seafood was kind of the same mix as in the appetizer but warm. All dishes including the appetizers were hot, spicy, and good!
        Their desserts were special. We had the Alfajores and Arroz Con Leche: Peruvian cookies with dulce de leche and Peruvian rice pudding. The cookies were very light, the dulce de leche very good. Those cookies were the best dessert I have blogged yet. The Arroz Con Leche is normal rice pudding with cinnamon and raisins, light and fluffy. This is a great new place to give some support to, with great atmosphere and food but a non idyllic and forgettable location.

chow or eat

Eat Chow is a small, slow, but very good American place. It opened recently in Costa Mesa. Their menu is online; I recommend the fried green tomatoes and truffle parmesan fries. My mom's cuban sandwich was excellent, along with my dad's Reuben (if there's one on the menu anywhere, he has to have it...). I had the fish tacos. They were very spicy but good; I couldn't finish the black beans that came with them. However, there were some fish pieces that were not cooked enough for my taste. Their desserts are made fresh daily and are different each day. They also have T-shirts and hoodie if you want a souvenir; and they have gift cards. You can add some things to your salad. They have soups of the day and a turkey chilli soup. My parents each enjoyed a nice beer (Peroni, Chimay). We went for a really early dinner, but even at that time they had slow service (my dad says everything came out nice and hot though). They have a different big menu for breakfast. The space is small, and connected to a clothing shop on a street corner, with more parking behind the building.

Good for Groups: No
Parking: Street, Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Good for Kids, Outdoor Seating, No Reservations
Delivery: No, Take-out: Yes, Waiter Service: Yes
Kid friendly☺*4
Quality ψ*4

A PLANTATION OF SOUP?

Souplantation is very kid friendly for one. The first thing I should mention is that it is self serve. What's weird is that you pay before you get a meal. It has a standard price, per child, $5.00 and adult $9.00. They have homemade hot muffins and other fresh baked items like molten chocolate cake. They are good. The soup varies per day, but they usually have chili and chicken noodle. They have a stand for each thing except for the appetizers. The ice cream cones are tiny. To make up for that the big bowls are huge. Don't get any of the appetizers except for the salads. They are cold and not good. However the warm soups and bread are "delish."There are some pastas on the appetizer station, but those are cold and tasteless. The pastas on the pasta stand are much better. There is a patio. They are very bad at seating people though.

Kid friendly☺*5

quality ψ*2