Saturday Lunch-Huntington Beach / Long Beach area

North Shore Poke Co. - it's a new spot that's opened up near the Pier/Main St. in Huntington. As the name implies, they serve several different types of poke. Edwin wrote up a nice review:
http://www.ocweekly.com/2012-04-12/food/north-shore-poke-co-huntington-beach-shawn-gole/

Slapfish, formerly a great food truck serving all different kinds of sustainable seafood concoctions, has recently opened up a brick & mortar spot in Huntington:
http://www.slapfishsocal.com/

Slater's 50/50 - unusual burgers, including their signature 50/50 patty (half ground beef, half ground bacon), and a PB&J burger; great beer list as well.

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Meatball Subs

Nick's Pizza, Costa Mesa. Lunch only, closed Sundays. I add cheese to mine

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Sushi In OC: Found! Kasen.

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll have to plan ahead for the weekend, or try to swing by on a weeknight or maybe lunch

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Sushi In OC: Found! Kasen.

Porthos, have you gone to Kasen on a weekend? Just wondering if I need to make a reservation, if there would be a wait, or if I can walk right in for omakase on a Friday/Saturday night.

Edit: Just noticed that your original post was also on a weeknight. Anyone else know about weekends at Kasen?

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Orange County birthday dinner with kids

Cucina Alesa in Huntington is much, much larger than the Newport location; at least twice as big. Two stories, and the tables are much more spread out than they are at Newport

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Orange County birthday dinner with kids

There's many better Italian options than those that are family friendly:
Cucina Alesa - locations in Huntington, Newport,and Laguna Beach
Mangia Mangia in Huntington

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ISO Duck Legs or Game Meats in OC

There's also a 99 Ranch Market in Fountain Valley, Magnolia and Talbert

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Southern style, American southern style, BBQ in Orange/Tustin/Santa Ana/Costa Mesa

Burrell's BBQ in SantAna
Tulsa Rib Company in Orange (more of bbq-sauce type place)

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Reasonable places for dinner in Costa Mesa near Performing Arts Center

Obviously the OP couldn't do the OVC tasting menus at that price point. But they could order 2-3 small plates per person, depending on which items they choose

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Reasonable places for dinner in Costa Mesa near Performing Arts Center

Anjin for Yakiniku; you might be able to get out of there for $20/person for just food.
Memphis for southern/american in the LAB
Old Vine Cafe in the CAMP

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Anjin
3033 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Old Vine Cafe
2937 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

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Visiting Huntington Beach. Suggestions needed!

Sounds like you'll be staying around Main Street. You could check out Sandy's Beach Grill for small plates and beers; I really like their Crab Corn fritters. There's also 25 Degrees for burgers. If you are looking for vegan food, there is Bodhi Tree about a half mile up Main Street. Near Bodhi Tree is Cucina Alessa, which serves some of the best Italian food in the area.
For Thai, you can check out Silk Thai
For more burgers, and an emphasis on bacon, there is Slater's 50/50 which recently opened up off of Beach and Adams. Their signature patty is half ground beef, and half ground bacon. Not exactly vegan friendly.

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Bodhi Tree Cafe
501 Main St Ste E, Huntington Beach, CA 92648

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Little Saigon - Asian Garden Mall: Outdoor Night Market

I was driving down Bolsa this morning and saw a sign up in front of the Asian Garden Mall advertising a late night outdoor market in their parking lot on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights from 7pm to midnight. It says they have food vendors. Apparently this has been going on all summer, and this upcoming weekend is the last weekend they'll have it. I had not heard anything about this before today. Has anyone checked it out? I'm wondering if it's predominantly food vendors, or more like a swap meet, with just an occasional food stand. Their website is not too helpful

http://www.asiangardenmall.com/nightmarket.php

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Pee Wees Famous Hot Dogs & Hamburgers

I went after reading Das Ubergeek's posts in the OC Weekly about Pee Wee's Banh Mi Burger and Sweet Potato tater-tots. The tots are pretty addicting, and the burger is close to on par with whichever is your favorite Little Saigon banh mi-eria. I wouldn't go too far out of your way to try it, but if you happen to be in the area, it's definitely worth a shot.

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2011/05/pee_wees_huntington_beach.php

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Seal/Hunington Beach Visit- recomendations food and fun

In Seal Beach:
Pizza: Slice of New York Pizza
Breakfast: blackboard Bistro
BBQ: Beachwood BBQ
Sushi: Koi

In Huntington Beach:
Italian: Cucina Alessa
Burgers: 25 Degrees

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Beachwood BBQ
131 1/2 Main St, Seal Beach, CA 90740

Koi Restaurant
600 Pacific Coast Hwy Ste 100, Seal Beach, CA 90740

25 Degrees
412 Walnut Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92648

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NorCal Hound w/kids heading to Disneyland: critique my plan!

The closest bmcc to disneyland is on brookhurst and westminster, next to the 22, maybe 10 minutes away. There might be closer banh mi options that others can recommend

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NorCal Hound w/kids heading to Disneyland: critique my plan!

Looks like a good plan so far.
Rather than Lee's, I'd suggest going elsewhere for better banh mi, unless it's just the convenience/time factor you are favoring. Since you are from San Jose, I'm sure you have many banh mi choices up there. but there are also many great options here that open early or are 24 hours, such as banh mi Che Cali (3 for $5).
For Korean BBQ, I like light town house on garden grove blvd, near magnolia. But you may want a different type of Korean if you are going to do 7 courses of beef at pagolac, etc.
as previously mentioned, goofy's kitchen is good for the kids, serves a decent buffet meal, and serves alcohol. Reservations recommended.
It was a sad day when MPE closed. But I'm sure someone can give you a rec for a different mariscos spot.
Go bruins

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Business lunch in the vicinity of Irvine Spectrum?

Lucca Cafe for italian/med; they have a decent sized patio for your group

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Newport Beach Birthday Dinner?

Basilic is probably the most romantic spot on Balboa Island. It's a tiny Swiss/French place.
For brunch Taco Rosa has a pretty good buffet

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Basilic Restaurant
217 Marine Ave, Newport Beach, CA 92662

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Best Sandwhich in Orange County?

Any nominations for the best pastrami sandwich in Orange County? I can get a decent one at DeSimone's in Huntington or Lil' Pickle in Costa Mesa, but I'm sure you guys can lead me to a better one. Hopefully something a little lighter than the grease bomb that is the Hat (my requisite side order of onion rings there does not help the matter). It's been a few years since I've been, but does Benjie's make a good one?

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Banh Mi Che Cali - overrated! Buu Dien - underrated!

Agree with bsquared2 that the dac biet banh mi is great at Ba Le; I also like their ga.
But I'll also have to partially agree with adamclyde. I've found Ba Le's thit nuong off-putting for some reason.

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Huntington Beach, lunch recs

I don't know if Jon's will make you a sandwich of your choice; I always just grab some stuff to take it home to make my own. Guess that's not very practical for the OP. I know they do have the standard grocery store pre-made soggy bread tuna salad and other sandwiches and wraps right below a little take out counter at the deli. I'll find out if they do take orders for freshly made sandwiches next time I'm there.

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Huntington Beach, lunch recs

The crepes place Joani Macaroni mentions is called Rockin Crepes.

Rather than heading all the way to Costa Mesa for Moscow Deli (which I do like), you could go to the deli at Jon's Market on Goldenwest, technically in Westminster, but just across the street, and grab a spread of Russian and Eastern European meats and other items. When I ordered Vobla (a smoked fish), the lady behind the counter kept asking me if I was Russian, or if my wife was; I tried to explain that I saw it on TV on Bizarre Foods, but there was a bit of a language barrier. It's also partially a Mexican market, so you can walk out of there with some pretty funky combos; Ex: salmon bellies and caviar to put on top of jalapeno/cream cheese rolls.

For Vietnamese or Korean, you'll need to cross to the other side of the 405 and venture into Westminster and Garden Grove, as others have suggested.

If you are looking for a quiet place, you'll have to stay away from the restaurants near the pier; you could head to Bukhara, for Huntington's best Indian food in a cozy little strip mall setting.

In case you have to stay near the pier, there are a few interesting restaurants down there with a sometimes unusual clientele and scenery, but not much ethnic food. In that area there is 25 Degrees for gourmet burgers served with PBRs in a can and Guiness Milkshakes; Sandy's for small plates and pizzas and a good beer list; Cucina Alessa for italian. As far as ethnic near the pier, there is a new shabu-shabu place called Ka, I haven't been yet, but I've heard it's pretty good. Do keep in mind that Ka is trying to appeal to the Main St./surf crowd, so it does not ring with authenticity: ca phe sua da at a "Japanese" place?

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Rockin Crepes
8943 Atlanta Ave, Huntington Beach, CA 92646

Moscow Deli
3015 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

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Mothers day lunch in Huntington Beach

2nd Cucina Alessa. They have locations in both Huntington (about a half mile up Main St. from the pier) and Newport (on PCH, near Froghouse). No ocean views at either location; Huntington does not have outdoor seating, but Newport does, although you just get a view of PCH and the houses across the street

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Transplanted from LA looking for Best Cheap Eats in Irvine: aka save me from the irvine corp.

It's in this thread, about 20 spots up; in the Dec 2010/Jan2011 area. Looks like Professor Salt and Wonginator were talking about it, and then you asked a question too.

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Transplanted from LA looking for Best Cheap Eats in Irvine: aka save me from the irvine corp.

Franco's is the italian place in the office park on michelson. Last I heard, Franco was no longer there himself, but had someone else doing the cooking for him. See Wonginator's posts above

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Looking for a Family Style Italian restauarant in Coastal/Central OC for a dinner for 10-15?

Thanks for the suggestions. I failed to mention that this dinner is the beginning of the evening for a bachelorette party. So I got a good immature laugh at the thought of sending them to dinner at a sausage company. The sausage at sabatino's is great . . . Just found it amusing in this situation

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Looking for a Family Style Italian restauarant in Coastal/Central OC for a dinner for 10-15?

The wife is trying to set up a group dinner for her friends, and they want to do Italian food, family style servings. At least based on their menus, the Italian places I usually frequent (Cuccina Alessa, Francolis) don't have family style serving. They are looking for somewhere in the $20-30/person range (not including alcohol), preferably somewhere in the Seal Beach to Orange to Irvine to Newport Coast area, but they'll have a driver so a little outside that range isn't really a problem. Any ideas?

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Really good french macaroons at Au Couer De Paris in Westminster (OC)

I tried their banh mi after reading these posts. I ordered the equivalent of a dac biet sandwich on the baguette for $2.50. Overall, I thought it was good, but a bit different than your typical banh mi. It was a little smaller than usual, should have ordered 2 in hindsight. I thought the bread was good, but I'm no baguette-ophile. At first glance it appeared to have all the standard toppings: pickled carrots, very thinly sliced cucumbers, cilantro and jalapeno. As I was eating it, there was one sour flavor to the sandwich that I couldn't quite figure out; then about half way through I realized that the white chunks, which I originally thought were pickled daikon, were actually slivers of onion. I like onion, but I can't recall seeing it in a banh mi. If the onion slivers were a little thinner, the taste probably wouldn't have drowned everything else out quite as much. I also thought it could have used more jalapeno, because I like to feel a little burn to balance everything out in the sandwich. Again, it was a good sandwich that I'll try again when I go back to get more macaroons. I'll need to try the sandwich a few more times in order to accurately gauge it against the competition.

I'm not really a dessert guy, but those coffee macaroons were awesome. I'll have to give the croissants a try too.

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ORANGE COUNTY FOUR RESTAURANTS NEEDED

2nd Break of Dawn
Other options would be:
Fukada in Irvine for udon and soba;
Kappo Hana in Laguna Hills for a variety of seasonal japanese dishes
Lucca Cafe in Irvine for italian/mediterranean tapas plates

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Kappo Hana
25260 La Paz Rd A, Laguna Hills, CA 92653

Fukada Restaurant
8683 Irvine Center Dr, Irvine, CA 92618

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