Costa Mesa has recently generated a lot of buzz from the media and award contests for its superb restaurants, easily making it the culinary capital of Orange County. It has been cited as among the finest midsize cities in the United States for food by the Orange County Register.
It’s not surprising then that the top five restaurants in Orange County are in Costa Mesa, according to the Orange County Register.
Taco Maria — No. 1
Vaca — No. 2
Marché Moderne — No. 3
Shunka — No. 4
Arc — No. 5
In fact, Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times says three of the top 101 restaurants in Southern California are all in Costa Mesa.
Taco Maria — No. 2
Marché Moderne — No. 50
Din Tai Fung — No. 65
To top it off, Carlos Salgado, the executive chef of Taco Maria, recently was named a semifinalist for a 2016 James Beard Award, widely considered one of the most prestigious accolades in the culinary arts.
And Chef Amar Santana of Vaca, a Spanish eatery, made runner-up in this season’s “Top Chef” series on Bravo TV, which isn’t an easy feat to accomplish.
With all these distinctions, take a trip to Costa Mesa, and savor some of the finest restaurants in Southern California from a wide variety of tastes, everything from Vaca, an eatery whose ingredients are sourced mostly directly from Spain, to Din Tai Fung, a dumpling house straight from Taiwan which has been honored by the Michelin Guide. You can’t go wrong with more than 150 restaurants to choose from in Costa Mesa.
