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!

BBQ NOISE

On the weekend when my mom is gone me and my dad had some fun. We went to Lucille's BBQ.
 When we went in there was an entering/sales/waiting room with couches and a counter. We went to the front desk and asked get a table. The first thing they asked us was what my dads phone number was and type it was.The noise level at that time was so loud already, and why do you have to tell them your phone number and company(it was already hard enough to hear them) ? We went to the waiting room and in 5 minutes they texted us that our table was ready. A few minutes after we were seated the noise level went up to the shouting way of communication. The waiter had a strange way of accented soft way of talking so there were many time when it was really hard to hear her. The food was good. We ordered a full rack of baby back ribs for us to share. The sauce was good. The meat was easy to eat, not to wet or dry. There was about a paragraph of different sides. We ordered the beans and cole slaw, and a fried okra appetizer. The cole slaw was the best I have ever had. The beans were good but weren't that bbq like. They had a different sauce and were too wet. The noise was way to high and the service was kind of awkward but the food was really good.

wahoo! wahoo's fish tacos

This resturant has been a favorite for a long time. Just recently we realized we hadn't blogged it.

At first when we started eating at it from a recommendation i would have the normal cheese quesadillas. They were the normal kids wonder dish and I enjoyed it. My dad had been ordering different things since the start but when he tried the wet fish burrito he stuck with it. I started to try it and I slowly got into its rhythm. I would have the wet burrito w/ green sauce and chicken and he would have the same with fish. That was definitely the best food we could have for that amount of money. They also have fresh chips and good salsa.

Crab Cooker Update!

My family and my friends recently went to crab cooker. Thanks to a great recommendation from one of my comments we ordered the salmon wings. Boy were those things good. Its a lucky thing that my friends didn't have as safisticated taste buds as mine because their mom ordered the clam chowder for them. I might not dare to say but that i think that was even better. My dad ordered the soft shell crab to try out something. I'm now beginning to think that our 4th trip was better than the other three. Soft shell crab is what I'm going to order next! My friends dad ordered the dungness crab. A tiny bit to cold but pretty good. The female parents ordered the combo plate. I didn't see all of it because they were sitting on the other side of the 7 people but i heard it was good, just good i bet because they say it to much enthusiasm. I was unfortunate in our stroke of luck and ordered the same (the scallop and shrimp on a skewer with potatoes and slaw) but its always good to stay with something good. In all try to hit all the things i mentioned in the next trip to The Crab Cooker. I'm telling you, you wont regret it!

Italy delay

Sorry for the delay. I was in italy with my uncles family and my parents. My uncles hired a chef so we had fresh italian every day. Pasta, gnocchi, and rabbit -yum!-. We would have a light lunch and a four course dinner. I will try to get back on reviewing soon! See you soon!

World famous pastrami

Today i just came home from a burger-sandwich place called The Hat. My dad told me that it's like an old style fast food place. I had already heard from my dad's friend that it was pretty good so that didn't worry me to much. When we got there i recognized a sort of deli. It was pretty empty so there wasn't a line. I hoped they would have a corned beef sandwhich-my favorite.They didn't. So i did the natural thing any American would do. Get a cheese burger. My dad got a pastrami sandwich. It came pretty pretty quickly. We also ordered a small fry serving and a onion ring serving. When our food came the first thing we noticed was that there were three bags. I thought that it was normal each meal getting it own bag and the sides sharing the other. But after we opened them up i realized it was the other way around! The sides were huge. The small fries took up half a bag and the onion rings a whole one! That was the only problem though. Everything else was really good adding the fact that it was fast food. My dads pastrami had just enough spice and flavor combined to make it really good. The burger was nice and juicy to with a whole lot of greens. The atmosphere was nice and talkative to. Oh yeah and by the way don't tell this to anyone who you know who ate at The Hat: my dad says (because of the huge sides) he felt like the skinniest person there! So in the end if yo are looking for a fast good place on the go, come to The Hat!

other stops

Well, my dad is giving me a hard time for not keeping up with all restaurants where I ate. So, I should mention Versailles, a Cuban place in Los Angeles; Korea House in Irvine; and the Mexican place La Sirena in Laguna Beach.

Of these three, my favorite is La Sirena, a great hole-in-the-wall place with fresh food and a great atmosphere, although you have to sit outside. There are only two tables.

Korea House is a traditional place. You grill your own food at the table, including meats and vegetables, and they give you lots of spicy side dishes. It was okay but expensive! Versailles is large and loud and does well with traditional pork dishes. We loved the plantains! They serve nice shakes, too.