game meat in orange county

For foodservice, try Broadleaf Game in Vernon. Newport Meats in Irvine might be another source.

Don't know about fresh instead of frozen. Is that because you don't have freezer space? You might have a hard time meeting minimum orders w/o a freezer at your commissary.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Visiting Laguna Beach for a week - need recommendations

I've been to Nick's a couple times. Once for a weekend brunch when Nick was working the front of house. Food was terrific, service was spot-on and really sharp. Second time was a weekday dinner. Nick wasn't there. Food was meh, service was meh.

If you've been more than I have , do you find the same sort of inconsistency at Nick's?

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Pho-Licious - Delicious Pho in Arcadia

I tried the one in Irvine. No idea if it's related or not, but the one time I tried it, it was terrible. Horrific. Pho-riffic. Amateurish service up front, amateurish cooking in the back.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Bao like you'd find with Peking Duck

They're made at the supermarket? Or is there a brand that's sold there?

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Bao like you'd find with Peking Duck

I'm looking for restaurants that make the bun-like white bao that you'd find at Peking Duck specialists. Like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bom_mot/6657304567/

I'm not looking for the duck, actually, just a place that makes a really good version of this type of bao. Any recommendations?

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

quick question- vegetarian trays?

Haven't tried a tray at Dakao, so not entirely sure what you're looking for. I'm assuming you're talking about the Dakao Food to Go location behind Pho Thanh Lich?

Well, there's a new vegetarian takeout place that opened recently in the same strip mall as Vien Dong. I noticed it this week, and just because it's a similar food-to-go type of place, they might have something you're looking for. I can't vouch for it cuz I haven't tried it yet.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Randolph's Smoke House

Yee. The LA Weekly pictures look better than what you got? I have not been to this place, but I gotta say that the pictures on the LA Weekly story says plenty. Those ribs looked charred. There's a difference between bark and burned, and those are flat-out burned. Not appealing in the least.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Oil Drum BBQ Grate for Pig Roast

I don't know how big a piece you need, but you can go to Lowe's and ask for piece of expanded metal. That's the diamond-shaped metal most of those grills come with. They sell different sizes of pre-cut pieces that might work for you. Lowe's should also be able to trim it to size.

Not all Lowe's are the same - if you go to one geared more for contractors than homeowners (like the one in Torrance), they'll have a better selection of sheet metal.

Worst case, go to an industrial metal supply shop (google one near you) and ask for a full 4' x 8' sheet of expanded metal, and ask them to shear it to the size you need. Sure you'll have a lot of excess material, but then, you'll have enough for a lifetime of replacement grills

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

where to buy soft shell crabs in orange county?

99 Ranch sells them in their frozen seafood section. There's two locations in Irvine, one in Fountain Valley.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Breakfast in Arcadia

How did you like the guava cheese pastries and potato balls?

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Breakfast in Arcadia

Thanks for that ipse. The two potato ball / croqueta things did look good in the hotbox. Under different circumstances, I would have gotten a sampling of the things from there.

The guava and cheese tarts looked alot like the ones from Porto's, in shape and style. I wouldn't be surprised if Merengue buys those frozen from Porto's wholesale business and finish-bakes them on-site. I asked the counter girl if they "baked them there," and she said yes. I didn't press her on the purchased-from-Porto's part because she didn't seem to know.

Maybe Will can take one for the team and see what other goodness lurks at Merengue this week?

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Breakfast in Arcadia

We drove down to Peach Cafe at 7:30 am on Saturday, and they weren't open for business yet. So we ended up at the LeRoy's. I loved the OG diner feel of the place - it could be a movie set cast with customers and wait staff that have probably been there for decades. I love this type of place for the atmosphere. Food-wise, it's no-surprises breakfast fare of pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausage, and bacon. Unless I missed something shockingly good on the menu, it's standard diner food. Makes me wish we caught Peaches Cafe when they were open, because the menu at Peaches looked more interesting.

Anyhow, just a block down from Peaches is a Cuban bakery called Merengue Bakery and Cafe. They look like a Porto's wannabe, but smaller-scale. We stopped in and bought a guava and cheese pastry, but I didn't get around to eating it because we were stuffing our faces all day long, and I ended up sending it home with someone else. Has anyone tried Merengue, and what's good here?

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Breakfast in Arcadia

Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone.

I was considering Twohey's in Alhambra, but the menu at Peach is looking more interesting to me. Also, Twohey's is kind of far from the track, and I'd prefer to stay a little closer.

I'll head into the weekend with Peach and Leroy's as my two options, and we'll see what happens.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Breakfast in Arcadia

What are some great breakfast options in Arcadia, near Santa Anita racetrack? I'm headed there this weekend, and I'm looking for places that are open by 8am or so.

Ethnicity doesn't matter: being Arcadia, I'm open to an Asian breakfast, American, Mexican, or whatever. Just hoping to avoid the Norm's and Denny's type of places.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Thai in Orange County

The Lao sausage appetizer. Not as sour / lemongrassy as the Isaan sausages I've had, but still really good.

I really enjoyed the pan-fried glass noodle dish called Pad Voonsin. It's more like pancit in flavor profile and technique than any Thai dish I've had. But all the elements are really well done: the noodles have a lightly charred wok hey to them, as do the various meats you can put in it. It's a very simple dish, but all the basic techniques are done very well so I think it's terrific.

I've liked most of the curries I've tried, although the proteins they came with have been iffy. For example, the crispy catfish dish has a great curry, but the fish pieces aren't filets, but rather skin-on, bone-in steak-cuts from small catfish. I don't mind whole fish cooked on the bone, but because these chunks were small and fried hard, it was unpleasant to eat around the bones and fins and whatnot.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Thai in Orange County

Try Vientiane Thai & Laos on Westminster Blvd. in GG. I've been there three times, and so far, I've had at least one really good dish per meal. The tip from a friend who's a regular is that the Lao-sounding dishes are the way to go.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Okonomiyaki for SF hound

I've been to Doya Doya, Gaja and Gottsui multiple times each. Gottsui in West LA is absolutely the one to hit.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Where to buy cockles (and seafood in general) in Los Angeles?

I have seen cockles at H-Mart (Korean supermarket) in Irvine, but in varying states of quality. Some of the seafood in great, other times, they're still on display way past their prime.

Amazingly, there is no H Mart in L.A. Koreatown, but I have to imagine some of the other markets in K-town will have cockles. Maybe call Seafood City on Vermont?

And I'd second Baron rec for Quality Seafood. They are probably the best retailer for bivalves (2 dozen varieties of oysters at any given time, many different varieties of clams) in their live tanks.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Convenience store onigiri - rice balls

Nijiya Markets and Marukai will also have them. Both have Little Tokyo locations, probably the closest to you.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Speculoos in L.A. other than TJ's

Do you know for a fact that the TJ's brand is made by Lotus? Not doubting you, just would like to know if that's a bankable fact or not.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Need to send a really nice food gift--what's the Russ and Daughters of LA?

There's no appetizing store in L.A. remotely close to Russ & Daughters. If that's the level of quality you're looking for, I'd just mail order from Russ & Daughters.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Bacon Milkshake

It tasted lightly of liquified Baco-s (those fake bacon bits, not the Josef Centeno bäco) in the vanilla shake, with the salty tears of having fallen prey to clever marketing. I sucked the whole thing down and enjoyed it.

I liked it as a one-time kinky exploration, but probably wouldn't do it again. If you're bacon-curious, by all means try it so you can say you did it once when you were young and crazy.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Bacon Milkshake

I tried one at the unit one across from UC Irvine campus. It's not on their menu. You just have to ask for it, and they'll mix bacon-flavored syrup into a vanilla shake. I suspect every JIB will have it as a special.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Mexican in or near Newport Beach

For estone's requirements, I think Avila's fits the bill, food-wise. I'd vote no on Javier's: food's overpriced for the mediocrity you'd get, and given that it's a funeral rather than an after-work social scene, Javier's wouldn't be my first choice.

Drinks-wise, I think a better choice is El Matador in Costa Mesa. Since the redecorating a few years ago, they really gussied up the bar with hundreds of kinds of tequila, and I'd personally steer toward some quality boozing, rather than nondescript margaritas at Avila's given the reason to gather the clan. It's still hole-in the wall-looking from the outside, but they cleaned up the inside rather nicely - much nicer than either of the Avila's in Costa Mesa or Corona del Mar.

The food is still very standard yellow-melted-cheese-covered-red-enchilada-sauce-drowned #2 combo plate type gabacho-Mex, so no worries for those less-adventurous on that front.

http://www.elmatadorcostamesa.com/about.html

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Rotisserie Chicken joint that shows up at the Farmer's Market at the Verteran's Admin on Thursdays???

It's the same people. They say so on their in-store visuals, and the drippy potatoes are there too.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

ISO Duck Legs or Game Meats in OC

99 Ranch Market stocks duck parts every day (legs, wings, whole). There's two in Irvine, and the one at the Jeffrey exit of the 5 might be most convenient for your drive home.

Any particular kind of game meat? The ones I've seen in the markets here are usually vacuum sealed & frozen. You will marvel at the international behemoth of a supermarket that is Wholesome Choice (Irvine and Anaheim Hills). WC has venison parts in a freezer case next to the butcher's area. So does the Vietnamese market called Green Farm Market in Fountain Valley.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Spekuloos in LA?

Are you saying you saw the TJ's brand "Cookie Butter" recently? They've been sold out for months, and the Irvine store says they're expecting re-stock some time in February.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

Any ideas for high end OC, Irvine or Foothills Ranch restaurants?

The Winery Restaurant in Tustin.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area

suggestions for a small group of HS students visiting?

Thanks for the followup - it's nice to hear how your experience went based on our picks.

Professor Salt in Los Angeles Area