Travel Costa Mesa Blog
Food Truck Fare Wednesdays at the OC Fair & Event Center
Calling all Costa Mesa foodies and food truck lovers! Every Wednesday from 5:30 to 9 PM the OC Fair & Event Center parking lots are filled with some of the best gourmet food trucks in Southern California. Celebrating the food truck craze that seems to have swept not only California, but the entire country, the OC Fair & Event Center is continuing their Food Truck Fare nights in 2012.
Instead of chasing trucks around your neighborhood, come to the “truck stop” that is Food Truck Fare Wednesdays and take your pick from a variety of gourmet options! Admission and parking are free for diners, and food prices will vary from truck to truck. The OC Fair & Event Center is located at 88 Fair Drive in Costa Mesa, CA. Click here for directions. Read More
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Seasons 52 Now Open in Costa Mesa!
Seasons 52, a wine bar and restaurant, has opened at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
The restaurant offers a “contemporary American menu, a fun, accessible list of wines and cocktails, a casually sophisticated ambiance and exceptional service,” according to a news release.
The South Coast Plaza location is the first in California and the first west of the Mississippi. The restaurant is owned by Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants, which also owns the Red Lobster and Olive Garden.
The menu stresses wood-fire grilling and brick-oven cooking over the use of fryers. No butter is used during cooking and each item on the menu contains less than 475 calories.
The wine list includes 100 wines, 60 by the glass, and a full bar.
“We are thrilled to launch our California expansion here at South Coast Plaza,” Stephen Judge, president of Seasons 52, said in a news release. “Seasons 52 offers a distinctive dining experience that truly complements the California lifestyle and one that can satisfy even the most sophisticated, culinary-savvy diners. We’re also very excited that our culinary team now has local access to California’s seasonal bounty, which is by far some of the country’s best ingredients to cook with.”
Seasons 52 is located on the south side of South Coast Plaza, near the main entrance on Bristol Street. The restaurant has seating for 300, including a 65-seat patio with two fire pits, and is decorated in a contemporary style featuring earth tones and abstract art.
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Savoy Restaurant and Lounge Opens at The Hotel Hanford in Costa Mesa, CA
New Restaurant to Feature Private Wine Salon and Tasting Room
Savoy Restaurant and Lounge opened its doors in Orange County today, adjacent to South Coast Plaza. Executive Chef Michael Carpenter’s menu features a variety of small plates that take the diner on a tour of Europe. The restaurant’s fare and namesake are inspired by the House of Savoy’s trans-European rule from the 11th to early 19th century.
The restaurant will also soon debut its private wine salon and tasting room that will feature an award-winning selection from Sodaro Estate Winery, as well as select wines from Napa Valley’s Coombsville region. Read More
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Ladies Who Lunch Dine at Scott’s Restaurant & Bar
Located directly across the street from South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California, Scott’s Restaurant & Bar is hard to miss. However, over the years I had never tried it, let alone stepped inside. Most everyone I know that frequented Scott’s raved about the seafood. Since I was never much one for fish, I always skipped over it in my mind as a dining destination. After becoming completely vegetarian, a friend once suggested Scott’s and after looking over a menu that was most definitely a meatatarian menu, I dismissed it once again.
Then last week, I went to Scott’s for a cocktail meeting. I didn’t think much about it, since we were only going for cocktails, not food. I somehow had it in my mind that Scott’s was an old and stodgy restaurant and I certainly hadn’t thought of it as a world class restaurant. Little did I know that I was in store for a wonderful evening that would dispel all of my preconceived notions of this restaurant. Read More
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Tapas and Wine at Hi-Time
Guest post written by Dave Lieberman of the OC Weekly
The problem with wine tasting is that the palate-cleansing oyster crackers they give out are short on flavor (which is probably the point). Wine lovers in Costa Mesa, however, have an option, at least Fridays in April.
The Barcelona on the Go tapas truck will be parked at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa every Friday in April from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Hi-Time will be offering wines in their tasting cellar (at the back of the store and down a ramp).
It isn’t quite the same as standing in a bar in the Barri Gòtic with a glass of excellent cava screwed into your hand and a plate of navalles (razor clams) on a tiny table in front of you while the room gripes about the latest foibles of the Generalitat, but it’s as close as you’re going to get in OC.
I haven’t been back to Barcelona on the Go since their opening, but you might want to order your food first, then ask to have it brought down into the wine cellar as you do your wine tasting. Their croquettes are very good, their tortilla española (a room-temperature potato omelet called a truita in Catalan) is nicely done, and their excellent orange flan is a steal at $3.
Hi-Time Wine Cellars, 250 Ogle St., Costa Mesa; (949) 650-8463. Barcelona on the Go will be there from 4:30-8:30 p.m. on April 9, 16, 23 and 30.
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