foodies

This Saturday, February 20, 2010, Metrolink's hosting a Lunar New Year event at Irvine Station, with free entertainment, including a traditional Lion Dance. Plus, the first 100 guests will receive a complimentary Metrolink round-trip ticket.

For more information, visit www.OCTA.net/Lunar2010 . And, to keep updated on this event, as well as future Metrolink events, become a fan on Facebook/OCMetrolink. 

You can still take OCTA 86 to Irvine Station before OCTA cancels that route on weekends. That's pretty much your only weekend bus option. read more→

Mmm...what better way to end a day of studying than a large sandwich stuffed with meat?

A friend and I trotted over to the southern central end of The Block At Orange after a long day of studying, and we decided to take advantage of these hot sandwiches. The restaurant itself was pretty empty that night for such a crowded Saturday, so we had quite a bit of breathing room and our food was ready fast. You can see the employees prepare your food on the grill as well:

It's definitely not as good as Blue Frog Bakery — the sandwich, as you can see, is a little sloppily put-together with cheap iceberg lettuce and mayonnaise, which I specifically didn't request but they put on anyways to spite me — but it's not as expensive either. For about $5.50, I got a good sandwich 2 cups' worth of 1cm-thick savory fries. The sandwich itself was about 600 calories; and a similar 600 calories with the fries.

The Block At Orange is well-served by transit with OCTA lines 47, 54, 57, and a bit of walk from line 147, although unfortunately surrounded by a sea of parking spaces that takes about 3 minutes to cross. The great thing about The Block At Orange is the wealth of fast-casual dining choices in the $5-$9 price range, making it easy for you and a group of friends to hop off OCTA and choose the foods that you like.

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Oh, my gosh.

This is one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. Alice's Breakfast in the Park is a hidden gem tucked away near a beautiful lake in Huntington Central Park. The area is popular with dog owners, outdoor lovers, and families flying kites. It's also popular with ducks and swans.

This unassuming red shack has a charming inside, but my friends and I opted to eat outside under the cloudy weather. It took awhile for our food to arrive — the restaurant is extremely popular and they cook their food fresh — but out came our delicious lunches.

I indulged in a messy breakfast burrito topped with warm chili, melted cheeses, and fresh salsa. It was VERY filling and, for the portions, an excellent deal at around ~$9. I think I should go back for their omelettes next time. But their egg dishes weren't the biggest attraction, as tasty as they are:

Dani had a cinnamon roll (see left — actually bigger than this, since we already ate the outer layer!). I was still hungry and greedy after my breakfast burrito too, and ate one of my own (around ~$3-4). Their cinnamon roll... it's hard to describe, but theirs has a unique taste that I haven't been able to find anywhere else. Dani's wasn't topped with crumbled candied nuts, but mines was. My taste buds could taste nutmeg, spices, and generous layers of cinnamon. While Alice's cinnamon roll resembles a plump 99-cent Ikea cinnamon roll, trust me: this fluffy baked delight is worth the long trek from the OCTA 25 bus stop, and is a huge draw for Alice's Breakfast fans.

Jim had classic eggs, bacon, and home fries (on the right). You can see that their home fries aren't your standard potato fare: these thick potato slices look like chips but taste like fries. I liked them, but they were a bit plain for me.

Anyways, come for the view, and come with an empty stomach. The restaurant is a bit of a walk through the park from the nearest OCTA bus stop on Goldenwest St, but it's worth it for all the greenery you see. Hop on over on OCTA line 25 to Alice's Breakfast in the Park.

Alice's Breakfast in the Park
6622 Lakeview Drive
Huntington Beach, CA 92648-1133
(714) 848-0690

[website: www.breakfastinthepark.com ]

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Carolen and I found this restaurant on Yelp, and it was absolutely delicious! This gem of a restaurant sits in Old Towne Orange, a charming downtown area with a number of amazing bus and train connections.

At Blue Frog, we indulged in lunch. I had a turkey cranberry sandwich with a nice layer of cream cheese ('tis the season), while she enjoyed a sumptiously salty gooey philly cheesesteak. Our sandwiches came out piping hot and filled with flavor, and, unlike Subway or Quizno's, they didn't skimp on the fillings. Take this philly cheesesteak, for example. Yes, they did skimp a little on the fruit, but the additional cookie was hot and chewy and ....mmm...butterific:

What took my breath away was their bread. Most other independent sandwich shops and restaurants use pre-made bread with a chewy stale consistency, but at Blue Frog, the bread was soft, warm and fresh — or at least, they warmed it up so well that I couldn't tell if it were freshly-baked or not. I was disappointed, for example, when I walked over to N Glassell St and W Palm Ave, and tore into Rutabegorz Restaraunt's   tough-to-chew cranberry turkey sandwich. I much prefer Blue Frog's cranberry turkey sandwich (both restaurants sell theirs for ~$9): read more→

Ted Nguyen at OCTA and some others have organized a restaurant-hopping trip this Halloween eve — and you're invited! I won't be able to go b/c I'll be at Long Beach VA taking care of the vets, so I'll take a bite out of LBVA Canteen's pizza instead. From the invitation:

Join us for our 1st ever Trick or Tweet event on Friday, October 30th. There is a costume contest and tweetup starting at 5pm at the zpizza Crystal Cove. For more details check out our eflyer below: Invite friends, family, children, pets, neighbors, the mailman and anyone else you can think of. It’ll be an evening of food, drinks and laughter as we pick the best costume that night. All this and more overlooking an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean! zpizza will have 50% off all menu items. To RSVP to this event: http://twtvite.com/8la1s9

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As a Trader Joe's fan, I love being able to buy high-quality groceries at pretty reasonable prices without the confusing variety in larger chain supermarkets, like Safeway or Ralphs. Ever since I moved to near UCI Medical Center, I kinda missed having a store like that.

Enter Fresh and Easy. This "neighborhood-sized" grocery store is conveniently located along some pretty heavily-used bus routes (OCTA line 53-Main and 54-Chapman), making it a cinch to shop there. Nearby, a Ralph's with a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Starbucks, a Pho noodle restaurant, a Thai restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, Quizno's, and — oddly enough — T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T stores, all make Main/Chapman a very good bus stop to shop. You can also find plenty of other Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market stores throughout Orange County.

The grocery store is very clean and well-lit, and food is packaged in clean Ikea-like packaging. Although I felt the store was sterile at first, I really warmed up to it — the clear labeling helps me figure out what's in a bag or a box — and, I'll admit, the $5 off $20 coupons they send to my place is a very good financial incentive. Even without said coupon, though, Fresh and Easy's prices are very easy on the wallet. Fresh and Easy has a very good variety of pre-packaged ready-to-go foods, including refrigerated burritos ($3-4 each), salads ($4 each), chicken marsala (also in the $4 per package ballpark), Indian curries, soups, and sandwiches. If you're short on cash, Fresh and Easy places discounted items of their dishes for up to 50% daily, popular with frugal shoppers.

Their baked pastries rival that of high-end Whole Foods-esque grocery stores. read more→

After a crazy day at the women's urgent care clinic at UC Irvine Family Health Center in Santa Ana, our Ob/Gyn residents and we medical students chowed down at Pop's Café, a nearby sit-down eatery close to a cornucopia of regularly-running OCTA lines.

I had an omelette stuffed with cheddar cheese, avocado, tomatoes, topped with a cool dollop of cream cheese and fresh sprouts. Pop's Café comes with your choice of hash browns, irish potatoes (a lighter mix of potatoes with onions and morsels of green bell pepper), or watermelon.

Dr. Jordan (soon to become a gynecology-oncology fellow) ate hers with watermelon:

I ate mine with the Irish potatoes and two buttered pieces of raisin bread toast. It was delicious! read more→

They're calling this the "Safely Crossing to a New Beginning," and throwing in a kitchen sink of prizes, food, and music. This Thursday, August 27, 2009 from 4pm-7pm, OCTA's holding a celebration at Orange Station (194 N Atchison St, Orange, CA), and they'll have "free snow cones, popcorn, smoothies, ice tea and other goodies, plus kiddie train rides, face painting, balloons and info on rail safety. ... [and the] chance to win an iPod, Flip video camera, gift cards and train tickets." Read more about the event at OCTA's Mile by Mile blog, and their follow-up Youtube video.

The ribbon cutting is at 5pm, but the raffle is on the whole time. And, even cooler, Ruby's Diner is giving away 1000 free kobe beef sliders to promote a soon-to-be-opened new Ruby's Diner  at the train depot next year. The diner will replace the shuttered Cask 'n Cleaver, and will serve breakfast in the mornings to commuters. Read more about the opening of Ruby's Diner at the Fast Food Maven blog here.

Mmmm... beef sliders.

I dub this post worthy of the Foodies tag. This event's accessible by OCTA lines 54, 56, 59, and 454. read more→

Aislinn and I got hungry for studying for the USMLE Step 1 boards exam, and we thought, "Why not get some good food for once?" We had been living off of frozen TV dinners for several months. It's time we dined!

So we found a place near OCTA lines 55 and 57 in Costa Mesa in the CAMP complex. Native Foods, the fruit of Chef Tanya Petrovna, sits beneath an unusually large plexiglass dome, encircling centrally-placed glass cases containing tantalizing  vegan chocolate fudge desserts and baked goodness.

The dishes cost in the $8-$12 range, and for $1.50 extra, you get some delicious seasoned fries to boot. Aislinn got a veggie wrap with a side of sweet potato fries and downed a cold one. I got a Scorpion Burger, with blackened tempeh, chipotle sauce, lettuce, carrots, and onions. It was flavorful, delicious, not too salty, and had just the right crispness and freshness. The restaurant, overall, strongly reminded me of the Veggie Grill at the University Town Center in Irvine (near OCTA lines 59, 79, 175, and 178).

Unfortunately, I felt like the air inside the dome was a little stuffy, and, of course, I wouldn't come every day because of the price tag alone. Still, I'd gladly come back to try some of their other dishes. Vegetarian and vegan food, gourmet done right. read more→

To continue our explorations of Seal Beach, Carolen and I saundered around until we encountered a cute little bake shop: Sweet Jill's!

Cupcake shops are hugely popular in Orange County, and I can see why: their shop features rows and rows of eye-poppingly HUGE cupcakes in different varieties, all at a pretty good price ($3.50). Not only that, but they offered  freshly baked goodies out of the oven: muffins, croissants, and cinammon rolls. In fact, the latter seems to be a specialty at this shop: they serve piping hot cinammon rolls drenched in syrup.

I decided to try their red velvet cake with fudge frosting. It was as I expected — tasty, sweet, and generous portions. However, I felt like the cake wasn't as moist as I would like. I still would love to try that cinammon bun, though, and the mountains of other things they've got there, and 20 other Yelp! reviewers agree too (Sweet Jill's gets 4 stars on Yelp!): read more→