gregls

PJ’s Abbey is built in an old Baptist Church in Orange, CA’s Old Town. The area is a charming collection of stores and restaurants just right for the casual tourist. The restaurant is pleasant, upscale casual, and reasonably priced. Good wine list and lots of wine by the glass.
We had the short ribs and the fettucine with filet and gorgonzola. The main entrees come with a choice of two sides which include various potatoes, seasonal veggies, creamed corn, etc.
Overall, good value for the money, good service, good food.

This is your basic neighborhood cafe. With all the standard menu items and clientele. BUT it has specials that it does very well (like the skirt steak and skirt steak sandwich, BBQ Ranch Chicken salad, etc.). Their Huevos Rancheros over sliced potatoes is also good. Very nice staff, fast service, clean and bright place. Parking can be a little tough at lunch. When I want comfort food – this is the place.

Remember that the 5 stars is for the food. The ambiance is strictly hole-in-the wall and the service varies depending on how busy they are. Go early for lunch and they are fast and friendly. The portions are enormous and the quality good. Menu is essentially limited to 10 combination plates and I can highly recommend the SKB Special, the Kalbi, the Chicken Kalbi, the Bulgogi, and the Bibimap. All, except the Bibimap, are served on hot, cast iron platters piled with food with a plate of rice and side veg to eat from. For a normal appetite, two people could split one order (and they’re all less than $8).

Yes, I’ve been to Langer’s among other purveyors of fine pastrami. And I continue to maintain that The Hat’s pastrami can’t be beat – just fatty enough with plenty of flavor. Their fries aren’t the best, but their onion rings are great! And the roast beef almost outshines the pastrami. And they serve it on fresh french rolls.

Cafe Midi is tucked into a corner of American Rag on La Brea and I’ve been there a number of times. When it first opened, everything was made fresh and they served fresh,. toasted french baguette slices with breakfast. There cafe au laits were heavenly. But I guess they ran into money problems or just thought no one would notice. Last few times I was there – no bread with breakfast. Burnt, bitter coffee. And less high quality, fresh ingredients in the food. Really disappointing – especially for the prices they charge.

We love Sofi’s. A bit hard to find the first time, but the little corridor opening into a garden dining spot is romantic and really impresses a first date. Food is high end Greek and is fantastic.

We’ve been twice and both times were home runs. Portions are tasting size, but portioned to share. Everything is fantastic, but its best to experiment. Things which sound exotic are sooooo good. Nice bar area with its own twist on specialty drinks. Love the sake based cocktails. Can get pricey as you find yourself wanting to try something else, but the individual dishes are reasonably priced for a fancy place. Nice decor and pleasant wait staff.

Our regular sushi place was closed for renovation, so we were wandering around looking for a substitute close-to-home and found ITA CHO on Beverly. Discovered the sushi bar was only added earlier this year and that its famous for its other Japanese menu items.
I’m sure we’ll try them next time, but we were in the mood for sushi and were excited by the extensive list of specials on the big black board. Very high quality fish. Preparation and presentation were superior. Introduced to a Japanese citrus pepper on my Kampachi – WOW!
Most innovative touch was their emphasis on ordering only 1 piece of sushi, so one could try more. Even the pricing structure favored a single piece rather than the normal pair. Great concept – allowed me to try a LOT of sushi without being a pig.
Friendly, fast service. And my favorite canned oolong iced tea.