http://blog.greggman.com Entries from Greggman.com About restaurants_o.c. en-us 2008-04-14T03:00:39+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-41.htm This is a really cool pet store that's near Ebisu Ramen and Genghis Kahn Mongolian BBQ. They specialize in reptiles but my favorite thing there is to feed the Man Eating Catfish. At least that's what I like to call them. Near the entrance to the store they have a small indoor pond with several kinds of fish including catfish big enough to swallow your arm. For a few bucks you can feed them live night crawlers (large worms). Cool! This is definitely a must see place. Check it out! Directions: Follow the directions for Ebisu Ramen but after making a u-turn, instead of turning into the 1st shopping center on the right (the one with the McDonald's) turn right in the next strip mall. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-40.htm If you've never had Mongolian BBQ this is not a bad place to try it. Basically they have a salad bar type arrangement. They give you an empty bowl and you fill it as full as you can with stuff from the bar. They have different shaved meats (i.e. thinly sliced) like turkey, beef, pork etc. Then they have some veggies like sprouts and cabbage and water chestnuts. Then they have sauces. There are instructions for how to mix the sauces above the bar. You need to put like 5 ladles full plus some BBQ oil. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-39.htm Why this place has done was well has it has it beyond me. The place sucks! There are like 50 of them too. I don't get it. I've tried it like 5 times at like 3 different locations and every time I've hated it. Bland tasteless dry food. Complete crap. Blech! Avoid this place and maybe it will go away. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-38.htm This is a small Vietnamese restaurant in Costa Mesa. It's definitely not bad. I've only been for lunch. They don't have the catfish that the other place has but their soups are great as is their Charbroiled Pork with Rice and their Vietnamese eggrolls. Directions: Take Bristol south. It's on the right just past Paularino in the same shopping center as Video Tokyo 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-37.htm Todai is an all you can eat Japanese buffet. Lunch is something like $10. Not a bad price for all you can eat including sushi. It's not bad for an all you can eat place. Directions: There is more than one of these too. The one I've been to is here. Take Beach Blvd south from the 405 about 6 lights. Todai is on the right just past Warner. I'm not sure there is a sign but there is a Fitness Center and Edward's Charter Center Theaters. Also Todai is right next to the tallest building within miles. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-36.htm Claim Jumper's claim to fame is their huge portions. I seriously doubt most people could finish a meal there or even just dessert. The food's usually not bad though it's definitely not great either. There is almost always a wait for dinner though. Directions: There are quite a few of these around. Here's one. Take Culver north from the 405 to Alton. Turn left at Alton then right into the Lucky's shopping center. Claim Jumper is in that shopping center back toward Culver. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-35.htm Hof's Hut is a small chain of umm, Coffee shops? It's actually pretty good and they have really good dessert selections courtesy of their bakery. My friend Willis loves this place. He always gets the Rotisserie Chicken. Directions:The one in Irvine is in the same shopping center as Sagami. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-34.htm This place used to be more cool. It used to be located in the X backstage of the Fox Theater in Fullerton. The Fox theater used to be a stage theater. At some point it was converted into a movie theater and so the backstage was no longer needed. A few years ago they moved to a new building next door. It still has a lot of character inside but the food is really not that good. Still it's worth going just to see the place once. Directions: Take Harbor north of the 91 about 3 blocks past Commonwealth. It's on the right. (see directions for Rutorbegors) 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-33.htm Harbor House is also open 24 hours. There is one in Dana Point and one in Huntington Harbor both on PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). They specialize in omelets which are actually not bad. They have a wide range of other foods too. They're pretty good especially for a 24 hour place. Directions: Simplest Directions. Take Warner west from the 405 until you get to PCH. Like 5 or 6 miles. Turn right at PCH. Harbor House is on the left about 1 mile down PCH. If you see a tall water tower like structure (it's actually a house) you've gone about 100 feet too far. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-32.htm 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-31.htm Rutabegors is the original health food place. At least it was my first exposure when my parents started going there in the 70's They've opened a couple more since then but the original is the best because it's in downtown Fullerton in a neat old Mexican building. I'm not sure it's really considered health food by today's standards but it's similar. Directions: Take the 91 west from the 57 to Harbor. Take Harbor about 2 or 3 miles to the first street past Commonwealth and turn right. Turn right at the next street and Rutabegors is on the right. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-30.htm I'm not sure if this is true but I've been told the Little Saigon has the most Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. It's a great place to visit. Especially check it out on Tet day one of the major celebrations. Directions: A good place to start is the area near the Dragon Phoenix Palace Chinese Seafood Restaurant. Little Saigon runs from Beach Blvd to Euclid along Garden Grove Blvd, Westminster Blvd and Bolsa Ave. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-28.htm Yaohan is a Japanese super market. They have stores all over the world. Most of the Yaohan's have other stores inside in addition to the main super market. For example the one in Costa Mesa has 4 fast food counters, a bakery, an small appliance shop, a travel agency, a gift shop, a Shiseido counter, a Auto accessories store, a toy store, a Japanese dinnerware store, a book store, a hair salon and a few other things. It's a great place to visit. The food's not great but it's usually passable. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-27.htm Ebisu Ramen is a Japanese restaurant in Fountain Valley. I don't know why this place is popular with many Japanese natives because the food is NOT that great. In fact I've been disappointed several times. Now that I'm living in Japan I can say that it doesn't taste like real Japanese food or at least not like Tokyo food. The one thing they do have I guess is variety. For example they may be the only place in Orange County where you can get Okonomiyaki which for lack of a better description many people call Japanese pizza. On the other hand I've had Okonomiyaki several times in Japan now and Ebisu Ramen's isn't nearly as good as it is in Japan. If fact it outright sucks here. Also the service is generally poor. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-26.htm This place used to be really hidden. It was at the corner of Main and PCH in Huntington Beach INSIDE the surf shop on the corner. If you didn't know it was there you probably would never notice. But, a few years ago they moved down the street to the 500 block on Main (5 blocks back from the beach) There's alot less foot traffic there but they say they get more business because there's accessible parking. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-25.htm This is a small chain and originally from LA. There are about 7 of them so far. They are Armenian and they make some super delicious chicken (and other stuff). My favorite item there is the Chicken Shawarma (sp?). If you've ever been to a Greek fast food place and seen the big cone of lamb or beef rotating on a machine and cooking slowly from which they cut off the edges to make gyro sandwiches out of, well Chicken Shawarma is made on the same kind of machine. Stacks and stacks of chicken are piled on the machine along with some stuff at the top that melts and drips all over it as it cooks. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-24.htm This is a great place for cheap Italian food. I've never had pizza there. I usually have Lasagna or Cannelloni or Manicotti. It's all good and pretty cheap. This is really a local type of place and there is often a wait to get in. Directions: Take the 405 south to Adams. Turn right and then right into the parking lot for the large Edward's Theater. It's in that shopping center. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-23.htm Some of my Japanese friends claim they don't like Mexican food. I have to assume they've only tried Taco Bell and Del Taco. I suppose they could actually not like it but if I had to eat only one type of food for the rest of my life I wouldn't be at all unhappy if it was Mexican food. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-22.htm Sagami is a good place for quick Japanese food. They've got various types of rice bowls and sushi. It's only takeout but there are tables outside if it's a nice day. It gets pretty crowed at lunch. There's also about 6 other takeout places there if you've got a hunger for Japanese food and your friends don't Directions: Take the 405 south to Culver. Turn left from the exit on to Culver. Left at Barranca. Then left at the next light into the shopping center with a Target and a Mervin's. It's in the middle. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://blog.greggman.com/restaurants/oc/1999-03-09resto-21.htm Rubio's is actually a fairly large chain in So.Cal. It's specialty is fish tacos. Yes you read correctly, Fish Tacos. When I first heard about fish tacos it sounded kind of gross. I don't know why when you think about it. Tuna sandwiches are one of my favorites as were Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches at McDonalds when I was a kid. My mom told me I had to give them a try so I did. They are awesome. The one to order is the Fish Taco Especial. 1999-03-09T19:00:00+09:00 http://greggman.com/pageparts/rss_banners/banner-012.jpg http://',blog.greggman.com,'