Takeo Shibatani and his two partners want their Osakan octopus dumplings to take off like sushi did in the eighties. Cooked on a custom grill from their cute trailer cart, the seaweed powder-dusted, bonito flake-flecked orbs are not your average snack. The outsides are cooked until golden brown and puffy. The inside has a molten soft center that stays viscous and runny. The finished product is fragrant with ginger and green onion and drizzled with creamy, mayo-based sauce.

Takoyaki Tanota cart can be found roving between LA and OC outside Japanese Markets and at regular food truck events. Just look at their site for updated locations.

Takoyaki Tanota

Shibatani’s point about sushi is valid. Many of us who started on Cali rolls now put away eel, giant clam and uni on a regular basis. Could this wildly popular Osakan street food become the next food phenom? What do you think?

Takoyaki Tanota 310 497 2829. takoyakitanota.com

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Unless you are a contortionist, or stockholder in Murphy Bed-style ranges that can fold into the wall, one hundred square feet is barely enough room for a wine locker, let alone a restaurant. Le Cordon Bleu, Pasadena-trained chef Pete Stavros and his girlfriend Antoinette are neither, yet they have been thriving in their one hundred square foot restaurant, Peter’s Gourmade Grill for over a year now.

ABC Burger

Is it even legal? Do elbows get in the way? Do tempers flare like fryer grease? I don’t know. Because, like surly teens, it’s nearly impossible to get a hold of them on the phone to ask. But cut them some slack: they don’t have a land line, just a machine that spews out your text order. The other number on the site is Stavros’s cell, and he’s slaving over the grill just now. What I do know is the food and menu are steadily improving and the staff serves the line of customers quickly and efficiently.

Lunch Bunch

The pastrami is popular, but it lacked flavor. Better the ABC Burger with its lacy-edged hand formed Angus beef patty dripping with juices and topped with thick cut bacon, grated cheddar cheese and sweet, spicy pickles chips. It’s served on a  soft, malleable potato bun wrapped neatly in paper.

Gas station hummus.

 Hummus at a Valero station? Yes. Peter’s mom Maria makes the rustic, grainy textured garlic-infused version served with warm pita, little pools of olive oil and Kalamata olives. My other faves are sited in my first post on Peter’s Gourmade Grill categorized under ‘truckstop’. Why truckstop? Help! I’m not sure what else to call this little stand. Suggestions?

Peter’s Gourmade Grill 16851 McFadden Ave. Tustin. 92780 gourmadegrill.com text your order to: 714 273 7922.

Update: Peter’s Gourmade Grill has closed in the Valero gas station and is slated to reopen soon right down the street on the corner of  McFadden and Newport in Tustin. Will keep you posted!

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How was I lucky enough to find myself  at Florent and Amelia Marneau’s comely bistro Marché Moderne  in South Coast Plaza’s  penthouse suite during lunchtime on a Tuesday? We were celebrating M’s birthday on the cloistered patio with it’s black scrim filtering the light just so and gold tie back curtains separating tables with a cabana-like flair.

No Chills.

The gorgeous first course was greens and spinach dressed in smoky balsamic vinaigrette flecked with crispy shallots and cubes of tender bacon accompanied by little dollops of whipped goat cheese and roasted piquillo peppers. It was not so much a salad, as an Ode to Salad if Neruda had written one. There was also glossy boneless braised short rib on horseradish and dijon mashed potatoes served with caper tomato tartare and white fish with blistered tomatoes and creamy yuzu emulsion.  Dessert? Amelia is the pastry chef, so you don’t skip dessert here.  Profiteroles with silky ganache and vanilla mousseline.

Each dish is fastidiously composed, because Florent is in the small open kitchen, surrounded by a bustling staff,  insuring the integrity of each plate. So much has already been said about the food, which is near flawless on any given day. But beyond the food,  the Marneaus and their capable staff are all about the details. Too hot? The patio has a retractable awning that will instantly open to drink in the Costa Mesan sky. Too cold? Ever present GM Alyssa McDiarmid will bring you an impossibly soft, chocolaty shawl with the Marché Moderne logo embroidered in steely blue gray. I would have attempted to make it part of my fall wardrobe if I didn’t fear ending up in a South Coast Plaza holding cell under the hyper-vigilant eye of a mall cop.3333 Bristol St. Penthouse Suite Costa Mesa. 714 434 7900.

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When Kogi BBQ’s Naranja Truck rolled into OC in late 2009, I was a zealous early adopter scanning their twitter feed, ogling the glistening food photos on their website constantly and waiting in a long line before the truck even arrived to promised locations. 

Seabirds Beer Batter Fried Avocado Taco.

 When it did, I ordered everything on the menu times two and brought back-up to help me consume it all. Kogi delivered. There were ginger-laced short rib tacos, a quesadilla with caramelized onions, pork, jack and cheddar cheese with citrusy jalapeno salsa verde and something called the Pac Man: a burger mash-up of all three meats, both cheeses, salsa roja and verde, chicharonnes and sesame mayo in a bun with a small slice out of it resemble Pac Man’s insatiable maw, or, possibly, Paquiao’s mean sting. 

Seabirds Menu

 Kogi BBQ started the gourmet food truck wave in OC and soon, there were gridlocked griddles from Fullerton to San Clemente.Shortly after Kogi appeared, a convoy of GMC Workhorses, Mercedes Sprinters and Freightliners could be found criss-crossing the county with delicious, budget fare. 

Chomp Chomp Nation's Lamb Burger

 How many trucks could we take? A lot, it turns out. With OC’s sprawling tundra of Corporate Parks sans cafeterias and just one hour for lunch, opportunity is great. Besides the business of filling rumbling stomachs of cubicle-dwellers, the trucks have a natural place at The OC Fairgrounds, OC Certified Farmer’s Markets and events such as Wednesday’s at Irvine Lanes that celebrate nothing other than truck chasers filling their gullets with great food. 

With dozens of trucks to choose from and three new rigs debuting in OC every month, competition is tough and truck food is better than ever. But you only need to go on the used truck section of the Roadstoves website to see how fleeting a career in food trucking can be. 

There are a few trucks, some new, some established, that transcend the great divide between bricks and mortar and meals on wheels. They serve great food in spite of having gallies the size of elevators. Among the best dishes I’ve had this past month are Barcelona On The Go’s bacon wrapped dates, Seabird’s beer batter fried avocado tacos, Rancho a Go Go Barbecue’s pulled pork  Mac and Cheese and The Lime Truck’s fried gorgonzola and truffle oil risotto. 

 Still, one truck had me at French Toast. Chomp Chomp Nation serves what they call Singaporean-American fare.  Husband and wife team Robert Zuetell and Gina Galvan’s beautiful tiger-striped truck was destroyed in a fire in March leaving them with a homely rental in the interim. But don’t judge a truck by its cover. 

Start with their brioche French toast. The crust is caramelized crisp while the inside remains fluffy and moist. It’s stuffed with Kaya jam; a delicate coconut milk, egg and pandan leaf concoction. The toast is drizzled with sweetened condensed milk and coconut syrup, topped with coconut whipped cream and  lychee, mango and dragon fruit, it evokes sultry tropical climes with the first bite. 

Chomp Chomp Nation's Temporary Rig.

Another dish with enough tropical ingredients to fill a spice caddy is the lamb burger. The tender meat is infused with a mixure of  lemongrass, ginger, galangal and Thai chilies. It is served on a brioche bun with creamy raita and greens. Thirst-quenching hibiscus and rose petal iced tea with lychee gelatin cubes will cool you off. 949 637 1688 chompchompnation.com

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All my years as a critic have turned me into a serially monogamous restaurant goer with major commitment issues.  First, I’m smitten, then loyal, but ultimately I move on when the assignment ends. Few restaurants compel me to visit over and once a story has been turned in. 

Ravioli di Noah

One place I can’t get off my mind is a fledgling Argentinean-Italian restaurant in Tustin called del Tomate I came across on my search for empanadas for an Orange Coast piece. 

Lemon Tarts.

Far from the pampas-driven B.A.-style beef temples, del Tomate is a casual neighborhood cafe with handsome egg wash-burnished empanadas oozing eggplant and mozzarella, a generous version of miga that makes use of an entire Pullman loaf, malleable  pebete filled with savory prosciutto and buttery provolone and garlic-blasted choripan; a house made pork sausage sandwich served on foccaccia. While there is more variety on the salad bar at, say, Carls Jr., the small trolley of greens and dressings gives the owners more time and space to work on their labor intensive house-made pastas and pastries. 

The long, narrow dining corridor overlooks a brick courtyard with a lush garden. Its as if a Pacific Surfliner car that serves libidinous Malbec and ravioli pillows bathed in tomato cream sauce instead of chocolate flavored Yoo Hoo and stale Krispy Kremes jumped track and took up permanent residence in Tustin. The modest laminate tables and stackable chairs could have been lifted from a church fellowship hall. A modest account with a linen supply company and a few candles could do wonders for their date night potential in this suburb-adjacent location.

After attending  pastry school in Buenos Aires and running a bakery and sandwich shop in Argentina, the owners, Susana and Guillermo Giacobbe spent seven years in the kitchens of The Montage, Laguna and four at The Saint Regis, Dana Point respectively.  This expertise has brought crumbly alfajores, weightless, silky toasted meringue topped lemon curd tarts and  flaky mil hojas to Tustin. I may be ready for a long-term commitment.

137 West First Street, Tustin. 714 731 1738. del-tomate.com

  

   

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When I entered the code into the gated community key pad en route to the vineyard, I was a bit jealous. After all, I had lived in a homeowner association-governed condo, and we weren’t allowed to leave a towel hanging over the back fence, let alone open and operate a winery on premises and invite the public over for sips.    

Wino? Wine, Yes!

  But I wasn’t entering any ordinary gated community. This is ruggedly individualistic Trabuco Canyon, and the winery at the end of the road,  Hamilton Oaks, is close enough to Cook’s Corner that the aurally gifted may hear the distant purr of combusted exhaust through aftermarket pipes.    

Vino + views = Serenity Now!

According to their site, the winery represents owner and winemaker Ron Tamez’s dream of working out of his backyard, which seems underwhelming until you note that he produces 70 cases a year of award winning French oak-aged Cab out of his yard while the rest of us harvest the occasional mutant zucchini or perform pool water Ph tests after team parties.

A port in every girl.

 Although most of the grapes he uses are brought in from elsewhere, his 100 percent Estate Cab will be ready in limited quantities in August. The vines for that fruit can be seen through the tasting room skylight on the hill in back.  

Trabuco Terroir.

Tamez’s award-winning varietals can be found in such wine-centric haunts as  Tradition by Pascal and Trabuco Oaks Steak House.     

Robert Tamez in the tasting room.

The kitschy tasting room is manned by Tamez’s friendly brother Robert. The wines, mostly red, are surprising in their assertiveness. I tried a smoky Syrah, a peppery Zin, a chocolate-tinged Barbera and a smooth port with a toasted filbert finish. If this is juice cleansing, I’m in!  

Estate Department.

Hamilton Oaks Vineyard 31111 Hamilton Trail, Trabuco Canyon, 92679. (949)459-6913. Please call for an appointment.www.hamiltonoaksvineyard.com

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With the economy, everyone is putting a spin on their business, and chef celebs are no exception. There isn’t a toque in town who hasn’t pimped out his or her mad skillz to charity events, Food Network reality shows or prix fixe menus for the Groupon set. One chef I know recently marketed himself by teaching  kiddie cooking classes after school in the teacher’s lounge at a local elementary where the only culinary implements on site were a few mis-matched Tupperware containers and five packages of Sweet N Low from 1971.

DG Burger

Another popular way to bring in bucks is by opening a more casual, separate dining concept based on your larger brand. Wolfgang Puck, CPK, Cat Cora and Marcus Samuelsson have all gone this route. The latest is Charlie Palmer, who opened DG Burger, a hamburger stand located inside  the existing restaurant adjacent to but separate from the main dining room floor.

Potential DG Devotees.

It’s the same-premises/dual concept that doesn’t seem to work here. Anqi by Crustacean, right across the hall has its casual noodle bar concept 0n premises, but it was part of the plan from the beginning, and its cool. Over at CP, nothing has been visibly done to the washed out looking former private banquet  room except replacing linen table cloths with paper and stemware with condiment caddies.

Glass walls and doors make it possible for DG Burger patrons to see CP guests perusing the eWinebook for a bottle of Grüner Veltliner while nibbling on the last of Amar Santana’s charcuterie while they sit in what resembles the donor recovery room at your local Red Cross.  

Damn Average.

The burger itself is a bulky, rotund orb of juicy Angus beef. The default cooking temp is medium well, ill advised for a Costco patty, let alone Angus.  I added cheese and avocado, at the advice of a counter person, and they were two dollars each. The semolina bun is alright, but the bun to meat ratio is like a catcher’s mitt to a baseball. Fries, too, were just decent. Dipping sauces can be had for 75 cents a piece after the first one, and fries are plentiful, making it worth while to try them all. Garlicky sour cream gives them a baked potato edge. Bacon mayo? Good enough to slather  liberally on everything you order.

Chef Kim's Kobe-style sliders.

 My DG Burger with cheese and avocado was 12 dollars. The next day I went to the bar in Charlie Palmer and ordered executive sous chef  Seakyeong Kim’s three generously-sized  juicy,  flavorful Kobe-style sliders for a mere ten dollars. The patties were cooked a judicious medium. The sesame-flecked buns were spread with rich, savory black truffle mayo and garnished with crunchy house-made pickles.  I added a trough of rough hewn, crispy fries with a soft molten core. They were served with both ketchup and chipotle aioli: no extra charge. I ordered the sliders to contrast with the DG Burger, but the rest of the bar menu beckoned with a well-curated list of yummy sounding noshes.

CP’s former executive chef Chef Amar Santana has gone to open his own restaurant in Laguna’s Five Feet spot, and he hasn’t been replaced yet. Meanwhile, eating at DG Burger is like being at the kid’s card table on Thanksgiving.  Looks like Chef Kim and his nicely-executed bar menu are holding down the fort for now.

Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdales/DG Burger 3333 South Bristol Street Costa Mesa, CA 92626. 714.352.2525.

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The latest food truck to hit OC isn’t a truck at all. It’s a Mercedes Sprinter that serves sushi.  With its rear bubble windows and boxy body, it’s the unlikely love child of an eighties Chevy van conversion and The Mystery Machine loaded with high quality tuna instead of captain’s chairs and The Gang.

Spicy tuna hand roll; Rolling Balls.

 I caught up with it most recently backed up to a chain link fence separating it from a 57 freeway onramp in the clammy shadow of The Bruery, a small, passionate brewery of artisans who craft batches of unfiltered, unpasteurized beer out of an dilapidated industrial space in Placentia.

Sashimi Salad.

This union, it turns out, is a match made in heaven. The Bruery doesn’t have food unless you count hops and barley. And Rolling Sushi doesn’t have booze. What they do have are spicy tuna chips: won ton skins fried to a wispy crackle and topped with a dollop of glittering ruby red chopped spicy tuna, sesame seeds, green onion and a drizzle of creamy sauce. This costs three dollars. I’ve paid more for a side of edamame.

Spicy Tuna Chips.

 The sushi vendor makes both traditional staples such as nigiri fresh water eel and other  more esoteric finds such as the bite-sized Rolling Balls: a dollop of tuna and  rice rolled in crispy tempura crumbs and centered on delicate ’kerchiefs of sesame-flecked  soy paper. The yummy citrus vinaigrette-doused sashimi salad was fresh,  but the sashimi seemed like cutting board scraps. Miso was also an afterthought. Better the spicy tuna hand roll and all of its picture perfect, generous cut roll cousins. Who’s behind all this superlative sushi? Young Choi, the GM, will take your order and Chris Kim is the sushi chef who makes it to order. What’s next: izakaya from a Smart Car? Sake bombs from a Segway? Anything is possible.

Rolling Sushi on the Go http://rollingsushivan.com 909.275.0039

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As carefully-conceived as a test tube baby, Tustin’s immaculate new vegan restaurant, Free Soul Caffé is a warm, sunlit room with brightly embroidered barstools and a huge window overlooking the Old Town street scene. Multiple built in niches feature French presses and tea brewing apparatuses. Counter tops are full of  pretty German tea tins and ceremonial grade matcha. There is a fireplace, cool music and a sweet counter person named Paul who is always helpful with suggestions.

Blackberry Red Velvet Cake.

I would show you a picture of the interior, but after We Like to Eat Vegan ’s October 17, 2010 account of being asked not only to stop taking photos, but to delete the photos they had already taken for their blog, I didn’t want to risk it.  I was torn. This is the first vegan restaurant in OC that seemed to have it all: atmosphere, friendly staff and food that would appeal to most of us, regardless of culinary creed. But I needed photos.

The Earth Salad

 Most vegan or vegetarian restaurants in OC are either massive corporate ventures or directionless vitamin shop/cafes with seventies macrame and graphic pamphlets touting the benefits of high colonics. Free Soul Caffé is neither. They are, rather, a fastidiously-wrought neighborhood café with super fresh offerings that vegans, flexitarians and carnivores will all love.

I prefer to photograph food anonymously and in its natural habitat, but I knew my 20 D would never make it past the hyper-vigilant staff described in We Like To Eat Vegan’s post. Rather than risk the embarassment of a botched shoot with the hidden Galley Girl brassiere-cam,  I opted for take-out and styled the food in the Galley Girl test kitchen, away from the prying eyes of potential spoil sports.

Pumpkin Pecan Cake with Chocolate Ganache

We ask alot of vegan and vegetarian restaurateurs. Namely, for the rest of us to be able to eat in their establishments without feeling something is missing. This sentiment has spawned dozens of meat substitutes faster than you can say Tofurkey. Since I get my share of the real thing, I prefer those items that don’t try too hard to mimic meat.

I loved the earthy roasted portobello mushroom sandwich pressed on warm, rustic sourdough with fresh spinach and  aromatic pesto. A greek salad with avocado, spinach, red onion, and cucumber was super fresh, but the vegan ‘feta’, a spongy crumbled substance, I could have done without. The Earth Salad, a vinaigrette-doused spinach-based salad rife with roasted artichokes, radishes, shaved fennel, red onions, grape tomatoes and candied pecans is abundant and flawlessly fresh.

 Desserts at Free Soul Caffé are miraculous by any standards. A pumpkin pecan cake enrobed in dark chocolate ganache is rich, but not cloying with a moist, dense crumb. We Like to Eat Vegan’s account says that Free Soul Caffé’s owners are worried about recipe theft. I have no interest in breaking down the DNA building blocks of Freesoul’s creations via surrepticiously-taken photos. The only thing I want to do with their fare is wash it down the Galley Girl gullet with a latte, soy of course.

Free Soul Caffé 191 East Main St. 1B Tustin, CA 92780 714.371-0976

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If there’s anything more aggravating than not winning a dime in the Superbowl pool, it’s losing to punks whose parents had bought them the squares. But I had my moment. I won the salsa contest. First I was presented with some faux bling-on-a-rope that had all the caché of a Chuck E. Cheese’s Birthday Star medallion. But then the hostess whipped out a gift card: fifty dollars for Karl Strauss Brewery! And I would’ve been happy with the leftover seven layer dip.

Cloning around.

I got my salsa recipe from  Chow magazine, and I’ve been basking in accolades ever since. The writer, Helena Echlin and her husband reverse engineered the salsa from SF’s Papalote Mexican Grill when the restaurant refused to give them the recipe. The result packs a mouthwatering vinegar tang  and smoky-sweet full bodied pasilla punch with a subtle creaminess from the roasted pumpkin seeds.

I’m giving you the recipe provided you steer clear of the salsa contest at a certain Superbowl XLVI Party.

Perfect Salsa (courtesy of Chow Magazine)

(Galley Girl notes: I always double it and always let it chill overnight.)

5 roma tomatoes

10 dried chiles de arbol, stemmed, halved and seeded

2 teaspoons ground dried pasilla peppers

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons shelled pumpkin seeds

3 tablespoons white vinegar

1/4 c. minced green onions

1/4 c chopped cilantro

1. Preheat broiler. Place the tomatoes skin side up on a baking sheet. When the broiler is hot, char the tomatoes until the skins are slightly burned.

2. Remove the tomatoes from oven and place them in a stainless steel pot. Add the chiles de arbol, pasilla, salt, sugar and 1 1/2 water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.

3. While the tomato mixture is cooking, turn oven to 350 and toast the pumpkin seeds until just browned. Remove the seeds from tray and cool.

4. After 20 minutes, add the white vinegar to the tomato mixture and cook for 1 minute. Add the toasted pumpkin seeds. Place the mixture in a blender and blend til smooth.

5. Pour salsa into a container and stir in the green onions and cilantro. Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

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