Orange County offers a mix of exquisite fusion cuisine and exceptional fine dining concentrated in the Performing Arts Center area.
Dining in Orange County is not about staving off hunger, but a matter of imbibing some rare culture. Meals in this paradise, as with its other offerings, are somehow at an elevated plane, and you would do the art of eating grave injustice if you were to deal with it in perfunctory manner. Orange County is liberal, so you can find mundane expressions of everyday ritual, such as burgers, sodas and the like. This homage however is restricted to a stratified sample of a few victual experiences that you will find hard to find away from this heaven on earth.
You need a time management strategy if you are unfortunate to land in Orange County with more on your plate than to eat, drink and make merry. Try the beaches for lunch and the Performing Arts Center area for dinner, with all the rest and exercise you can get in-between.
No matter how knowledgeable about Swedish cuisine you may be, an evening at Gustaf Anders will be an educative treat that appeals to all your senses. The ambience of elegance will stay with you from entrance to when it is regrettably time to leave, with an unremitting spectacle of sublime tastes and incredible visual appeal, all served with great finesse at your table.
The Studio on Laguna Beach is part of a Spa and offers healthy but tasteful dining. It will give you the moral strength to stay with a passion for food, as you discover how finger-licking taste can be segregated from calories you cannot use. You could always spend quality time before or after your meal to find the most enjoyable ways to stay fit. The blue expanse of the Ocean will inspire and be with you throughout your stay and for some time thereafter.
Continue your cuisine literacy and appreciation course with a foray in to the latest in the ethereal world of fusion. Find a reason to extend your stay, or another to return after a short interval, but contrive to dine at Avo's and Pinot Provence within a few days of each other. Tangible and subtly different expressions of a basically European epicurean art, will take root in your mind. You will delight at the gentle and mutually enriching influence of contemporary America on tradition and heritage of distant lands. Meals at each of these dining places could be important influences on your own work in the kitchen.
Back to the beach and it is Newport this time! 3 Thirty 3 Waterfront is popular with a young and trendy clientele. The menu is basically steaks and seafood with an interesting array of salads. Lunch here will help you keep your feet on the ground-dinner is extremely busy anyway and only an obliging regular can get you to even the head of the bar!
A surfeit of food art can be taxing, so an evening at the UCI campus is to be kept in mind. The Anthill Pub and Grille is run by Graduate students and the approach, décor and food carry the carefree stamp that so endears young scholars. This could be a nostalgic return to your own past if you were born before 1980.
Not everyone would care to make such a big deal of meals and it does not pay to refuse accommodation to other's views. Orange County has a rich palette of conventional dining with the most pleasurable touches. Antonello's is a good choice for a fine Italian meal. The restaurant has a setting like a grotto and the waiters in tuxedos add to the special atmosphere. The menu is extensive and the food exquisitely prepared to suit the most exacting of knowledgeable palates. Troquet has been refurbished and offers French Bistro fare with outstanding presentation will take your breath away.
The Bluewater Grill has every kind of fish and oyster that you could want and some that you may not have tasted before as well. There is chicken and meat for those who are not keen on sea food.
Furiwa in Garden Grove features food from Hong Kong. The décor is unusual and the food intriguing. Seafood is kept in tanks and alive until your order it. There are some 300 choices on the menu and it includes delicacies from Vietnam as well. The Royal Khyber serves Indian food with a wide vegetarian selection that characterizes such cuisine. Chakra in Irvine also serves Indian food from all over the sub-continent. There is a dance floor and music on weekends. Habana serves memorable Cuban fare with live music indoors and a nice patio seating as well. Darya serves Persian food in a manner fit for royalty. The dining area has trimmings of gold and the waiters are formally dressed. The kebabs are exceptional. Do not miss the koobideh made of ground meat of your choice, grilled and finished in warm butter.
The Green Parrot Café in Santa Ana has paintings on display and appealing Californian food. It is very pleasant to sit in the trellised courtyard on a nice day. Finally, Z'Tejas with its unusual name has Texan fare with some Mexican touches. Food is served in iron skillets with hot corn bread. These are safe option for those who relish basic American food, but who would like to go beyond the sandwiches that are visible everywhere in the set of family vacation destinations in and around the County.
