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.
Showing posts with label santa ana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label santa ana. Show all posts
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Reuben round-up
As I posted earlier, any time there is a Reuben on a menu my dad has to have it. Sometimes we share one. So I got to liking the taste of a good Reuben sandwich too.
But it is not so easy to find a good one in Orange County. We have been going to a few places, and here is my ranking of them. There is the Derby, a deli in a big building by the freeway where I sometimes go to play LaserQuest. The Derby is big, has grand pianos and entertainers. We went there with my friend Liam who lives in New York. They have other stuff my dad likes, including beef tongue! But for some reasons, none of us liked their sandwiches that much, we took more than half of each to go. I think it was the meat. The fries were a bit underdone, too. And they just gave me the children's menu which does not have the good food on it.
Then there is Champagne's which also calls itself a deli. They have a shop corner, you can get stuff to go from the kitchen, and there are two seating areas - inside or outside. We shared a Reuben and just to make sure we would have enough we ordered a tomato-basil soup. This Reuben was good, not too big, proportions of sauce and sauerkraut and meat and bread were good, but it was dripping dressing and the bread was a bit disappointing - toasted but a bit stale. The soup was definitely the best part of the meal, perhaps my favorite soup ever!
A few weekends ago we went to Benjies, a really old-fashioned place (the sign says since 1967). Their menu is huge. They have these old-fashioned booths to sit in, and the waitresses are kind of grumpy in a good way. (Like at one of my favorites, the Crab Cooker, by the way). Benjies is defiitely worth the drive to Santa Ana. They make amazing deserts, too. But we had no room for any! Because the Reuben and the Tongue sandwich we had there were great.
However, I think the best Reuben in the OC might be the one at the lunch counter at Bristol Farms near the Newport Beach public library. My dad says I should think twice about blogging this, because it is our best-kept secret. But I say people who read my blog should know. The meat is good, the sauce is right, the kraut is nice, the bread is good, you can sit outside or inside, and they have a lot of good other options. When we go to the library, we like to share a Reuben here. It's awesome. And the waitress is totally great, too.
My dad says we'll keep looking, he likes another place that I haven't been to yet. Please let me know in the comments if you know of a good Reuben somewhere!
But it is not so easy to find a good one in Orange County. We have been going to a few places, and here is my ranking of them. There is the Derby, a deli in a big building by the freeway where I sometimes go to play LaserQuest. The Derby is big, has grand pianos and entertainers. We went there with my friend Liam who lives in New York. They have other stuff my dad likes, including beef tongue! But for some reasons, none of us liked their sandwiches that much, we took more than half of each to go. I think it was the meat. The fries were a bit underdone, too. And they just gave me the children's menu which does not have the good food on it.
Then there is Champagne's which also calls itself a deli. They have a shop corner, you can get stuff to go from the kitchen, and there are two seating areas - inside or outside. We shared a Reuben and just to make sure we would have enough we ordered a tomato-basil soup. This Reuben was good, not too big, proportions of sauce and sauerkraut and meat and bread were good, but it was dripping dressing and the bread was a bit disappointing - toasted but a bit stale. The soup was definitely the best part of the meal, perhaps my favorite soup ever!
A few weekends ago we went to Benjies, a really old-fashioned place (the sign says since 1967). Their menu is huge. They have these old-fashioned booths to sit in, and the waitresses are kind of grumpy in a good way. (Like at one of my favorites, the Crab Cooker, by the way). Benjies is defiitely worth the drive to Santa Ana. They make amazing deserts, too. But we had no room for any! Because the Reuben and the Tongue sandwich we had there were great.
However, I think the best Reuben in the OC might be the one at the lunch counter at Bristol Farms near the Newport Beach public library. My dad says I should think twice about blogging this, because it is our best-kept secret. But I say people who read my blog should know. The meat is good, the sauce is right, the kraut is nice, the bread is good, you can sit outside or inside, and they have a lot of good other options. When we go to the library, we like to share a Reuben here. It's awesome. And the waitress is totally great, too.
My dad says we'll keep looking, he likes another place that I haven't been to yet. Please let me know in the comments if you know of a good Reuben somewhere!
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