Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

Orange County Restaurant Week will run March 2 – 9, 2019. It’s definitely one of the best times to dine out if/when in Orange County. Click HERE for a list of participating restaurants, prix fixe menus and prices. While this post is about Orange County Restaurant Week, the photo relates to an upcoming report comparing several meal kit companies… Blue Apron, Green Chef, Sun Basket, Gobble, Purple Carrot, Freshly, Dinnerly and Marley Spoon. We tried them ALL. That post is after OCRW. Until then, it’s time to enjoy a restaurant in OC.

See Orange County Restaurant Week’s List of Participating Restaurants — It’s HERE, with respective menus and price listings.  We’ll be dining in Historic Downtown Fullerton this year, as it’s near where we just moved and still part of Orange County.  Matador Cantina, The Cellar and/or Hopscotch shall be our choice for lunch and/or dinner(s) next week.

Happy Anniversary Orange County Restaurant Week — What restaurant will you be dining at?

Celebrate Leap Year during Orange County Restaurant Week, February 26th – March 3rd.

Participating restaurants may be seen from a participating restaurant — Orange Hill.

Orange County Restaurant Week will be starting again this Sunday, February 27th through Saturday, March 5th.  We always report that it’s the best time to dine out in the OC — The FOOD deals are bigger.  The pictured Cauliflower is from Sage, a participating restaurant.

As Orange County Food Examiner, I just posted details and links regarding Orange County Restaurant Week, which starts (again) this Sunday, September 26th.  It’s always the best time to dine out in the OC.  You get more food for less money.

* The pictured Sizzlin Blue Crab Cakes are from Ruth’s Chris Steak House, an Orange County Restaurant Week participant.

Orange County Restaurant Week starts this Sunday, February 28th and runs through March 6th, 2010.  This link will provide ALL the details — Prices, participating restaurants, lunch and dinner menus and more.  It’s the best time to dine out in Orange County.

* Photo is from a previous meal at Orange Hill Restaurant, a participant in this upcoming OC Restaurant Week.

Update 03/07/10:  This event has been extended an additional week.

Access information about Orange County Restaurant Week through the OC Food Examiner online.  And to see reviews and photos of previous Orange County Restaurant Week meals and cooking classes click HERE.  It’s a great week to dine out, now through September 19, 2009.

The First Annual Orange County Restaurant Week officially starts today and continues through February 28th — More details about it are linked below.  As previously reported on Nibbles of Tidbits, participating Chefs are giving cooking demonstrations at Bloomingdale’s Home Store at South Coast Plaza.

Here Chef Paul French of The Californian at The Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach makes their Wild Mushroom Ravioli with sauteed Jewel Box Mushrooms, Farmer’s Market Vegetables and Brown Truffle Butter Sauce.  WOW, it’s the best we’ve sampled (thus far) during these demonstrations.  And it’s fortunately one of the dishes being offered during OC Restaurant Week.

Related Links:

http://www.ineedtext.com/FoodBlog/?p=2623

http://www.ineedtext.com/FoodBlog/?p=2489

http://www.orangecountyrestaurantweek.com/

http://huntingtonbeach.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/entertainment/index.jsp

Today at the Bloomingdale’s Cooking Demonstration, Executive Chef Owner Cathy Pavlos of Lucca Cafe announced that Orange County Restaurant Week has been extended for another week.  That’s great news!  There’s more time to enjoy the prix-fixe meals being offered at several OC Restaurants.  Pictured here is the Braciole al Forno we had for dinner at Il Farro Caffe Trattoria.  More about our visit will be reported in an upcoming post.

MORE INFO: http://www.orangecountyrestaurantweek.com/

It’s happening right now — Orange County Restaurant Week.  Go out to eat.  The prix-fixe meal deals keep getting better.  Over 100 restaurants are participating.  Don’t know where to go?  You can search by city, meal price, lunch or dinner menu, or restaurant on OC Restaurant Week’s website.  Lunches range from $10-$20 and dinners from $20-$50.  Complete menus and prices can be viewed on their site.  Decide where to go, what to eat and get there this week only.

Orange County Restaurant Week is over for now, but it’ll be back — I’m not sure when, but you can check here.  Next time, we’ll opt for the Wahoo’s Fish Taco deal more than once.

For $20 it included… (2) Drinks (Beer and/or Wine), an Appetizer (Baja Rolls) to share, (2) Entrees (Two Tacos and/or Two Enchiladas), and Dessert (Churro Chips) to share.

It was the best deal that week — Though it has past, OC Restaurant Week will be back again.

Until then, OC Cocktail Week starts TODAY — Here’s a link to more information about it.

Though full from our Wahoo’s meal, we couldn’t stop eating the Churro Chips, which are similar to those in photo above — We were so busy inhaling them, I forgot to take a photo.

Cinnamon Chips (pictured above) — Photo Credit and Recipe

For Orange County Restaurant Week, we chose Matador Cantina in Fullerton — Mostly because we’re based here now and it’s the best deal offered by 3 participating restaurants nearby.

There’s ample parking and an entrance in the back — It’s dark, but don’t be intimidated.

Enlarge Menu (above) for a better view — We had one of each, pictured herein.

A Ceviche Tostada (above) and/or Banh Mi Tostada (below) were offered for the First Course.

Second Course included Grilled Fish Tacos…

…and/or Chicken Mole Enchiladas.

I especially liked the Cilantro Lime Rice served with the meals.

All was fantastic and I see why Matador Cantina has been voted Orange County’s Best Mexican Restaurant by some.  Third of this Three-Course Dinner for $20 includes a Chipotle Apple Empanada (above) and/or Cro-Churros (below).  We couldn’t taste the Chipotle as much as we wanted to, but all was good and a great pick for OC Restaurant Week.

The X O (above) goes out to my new husband and dining partner for life, Matt (below).  Hi. 🙂

After this week passes, Matador Cantina will continue to offer Weekly Specials.

Orange County Restaurant Week starts today — It’s the best time to dine out in the OC.

Its Launch Party at Newport Lexus was the perfect kick-off — Tasty bites at every turn.

Wine and song to entertain.

The Chocolate Raspberry Martini almost made me want a Lexus.

Pulled Pork Sliders from the House of Blues — Love it as a concert venue.

The Cupcakes were gone by the time we finished savory — Should’ve reserved one.

A special shout out goes to RA Sushi — We couldn’t get enough of their Shishito Peppers.

The Lobster Bisque offered by Scott’s Restaurant & Bar was one of our favorites.

And the Lobster Mac & Cheese from House of Big Fish may be the best I’ve ever had.

 The only thing to make for dinner this week are reservations, they say.  I think so too.

May need to go to Sundried Tomato to have this Chopped Salad (below) again.

I’ve appreciated Melissa’s Produce for years and have a story for another time.

Where are you dining this week?  Polenta with Pulled Pork (top) was from Cucina Enoteca.

Starfish and a couple others ran out of food early — Wasn’t fond of that, but went elsewhere.

An honorable mention goes to Slater’s 50/50 for their Vampire Dip — It’s Gar-Lick-Key, but oh so darn good, and what nice servers they had.  All was a good time.  Thanks!

Have you visited Local Cuisine?  It’s an excellent resource to find the best restaurants in Orange County.  Search by restaurant name, cuisine type, city, zip code, or browse its specially selected list — Featured restaurants are voted on and off the Local Cuisine list by Local Experts, and I’m humbled to be one of them.  Our first meeting took place at The Playground.  Be sure to keep an eye on Local Cuisine for the latest and greatest restaurant additions and list of local food-related events, and create a profile and write a review, if you so choose.

Photo: Paté from Pescadou Bistro during Newport Beach Restaurant Week — More here.

It’s happening NOW folks… OC Wine Week.  It means several of the best restaurants in Orange County are offering prix fixe menus with course wine pairings — That’s FOOD and WINE for one fair price.  It’s a great time to dine out.  And for FOOD and BEER pairings OC Beer Week starts October 2nd, the day after OC Wine Week ends.  Get out there and toast!

Be sure to make dinner and/or lunch reservations this week in Orange County.  Restaurant Week is happening now through Saturday.  You can learn more about it here.  In celebration, we attended its Kick Off Party at Prego Ristorante in Irvine.

We enjoyed seemingly endless appetizer platters, Coppola Wine, Agave Tequila and Sobieski Wodka (Polish Vodka).  I had not been to Prego in years.  The service and food was as good as I remember.  We didn’t fall in love with the Kick Off Party appetizers, but our subsequent Three Course Meal for $30 was fantastic.

All were on stand by ready to serve food and drinks — Love that!

I enjoyed the Coppola Wine, while my guest had the Wodka.

As soon as one appetizer platter ran out, Prego staff brought out another.

Jill-FM Radio (92.7) DJ was playing great tunes for the crowd. 

Important people were being interviewed — I don’t know who.  It was a Sunday and I don’t get paid to know, hahaha.  The dining room is beautiful at Prego and the bar is larger than it used to be.  The dessert cart is also pictured below.

After the party, we took pleasure in Prego’s Three Course Meal, which includes a Glass of Wine.  It’s an amazing deal for $30.  And I was thrilled to see Carpaccio Cipriani as an option for the First Course.  I was sold on that alone. 

For the Second Course I had Risotto Mare with Arborio Rice, Shrimp, Scallops, Manila Clams and Black Mussels, and my friend had Costata Di Bue, a Mesquite Grilled Rib Eye Steak with Potatoes and Sauteed Vegetables.  Both meals were excellent, especially the Rib Eye and the Sauce that tops it.  Unfortunately the photo didn’t do it justice, thus it’s not posted.

And dessert includes a choice between Tiramisu and Torta Di Limone.  We got one of each.

We love Orange County Restaurant Week FOOD and prices — As previously mentioned, it’s the best time to dine out in the OC.  Eat now before it ends.

Join OC Foodies to stay on top of the latest Orange County food and restaurant news.

Have you been to South Coast Winery & Tasting Room in Orange County?  It’s the sister restaurant to the Vinyard Rose restaurant in Temecula at South Coast Winery Resort & Spa. 

This was our first visit to South Coast Winery Restaurant & Tasting Room in Orange County.  We had a Happy Hour consultant meeting on their patio, a better location than our last meeting and more for Nibbles of Tidbits.  We didn’t get to explore the tasting room this time, but we’ll surely go back for that, especially since the pictured Happy Hour appetizers were impressive in quality and taste.  The service was good too.

The Sliders were juicy, the Parmesan French Fries and Wings were crispy, the Cheese & Fruit Platter couldn’t have been better, since all was fresh, chilled and large, and the Bruschetta flavors were perfect with the extra thin Toastettes.  All on the patio made for a nice meeting — Hope it’s here next time.

The pictured meal is from the Bluewater Grill Seafood Restaurant in Newport Beach.  We love their menu.  It’s always hard to narrow down a selection.  This evening we decided on the Blackened Swordfish (above) and Pacific Sand Dabs with Beurre Blanc Sauce (below).  Both were excellent, although a larger cut of Swordfish would have been nice and perhaps some greenery on the plate would have looked better.  Other than that all was fresh and flavorful.

Bluewater Grill is also gearing up for Orange County Restaurant Week, which starts February 28th and runs through March 6th, 2010.  During that period, they’ll be offering this prix fixe menu.  It’s the best time to dine out, because you get more for your money at participating Orange County restaurants.  View the details here.

And we thoroughly enjoyed our bottle of Pinot Gris from King Estate.  We polished it off with our last bite of Sourdough and Butter, then went home and popped open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate the rain.

Nibbles of Tidbits is an I Need Text Company Blog that provides helpful cooking tips, meal preparation photos, recipes, restaurant reviews, travel reviews, food television commentary, informative links, food event and product reports, and good, bad and funny stories about all things food related.  We’re working hard to provide the best information in the cleanest format.  As we continue to test for optimum functionality this weekend, we’ve posted the above photo as a preview of our Tastemaker report on Nature’s Pride Bread.  It’ll be interesting.

So far we’ve determined that Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach has the Best Happy Hour in Orange County.  Their Tapas Menu is fabulous.  This visit we had the Crab Cake with Herb Cabbage Slaw and Chipotle Aioli (above) and  Fusilli Carbonara with Bacon and Parmesan (below).

And the Sliced Beef Sirloin with Roquefort Blue Cheese Leek Fondue (below) is divine.  As like our last visit, the Tapas were top quality and excellent tasting.  The Bayside Tapas Menu is served daily from 5 to 9PM in the Lounge and on the Terrace.  Each item is only $5.95 and unique Martinis and select glasses of Wine are available for $6.

Most Happy Hours end at 7PM — We appreciate that Bayside’s Tapas Happy Hour lasts until 9PM.  We’re still searching for a restaurant that can top their selections, service, prices and hours.  If so, we’ll surely report about it.

For the locals, Orange County’s 1st Happy Hour Week is happening NOW until April 18, 2009.  After reading a few of the participant’s menus, we excitedly chose Bayside Restaurant.  The TAPAS they’re offering are fantastic.  It’s hard to decide what to get, because all 16 of them sound amazing.  I wish I had time to go back before the deal ends — Right now all Tapas are $5.95 (each).

From top to bottom, we shared the Smoked Scottish Salmon, with a Warm Blini, Lemon Aioli, Capers, Dill and Onion — Grilled Lamb Chops with Potato Puree and Mustard Sauce.

Bresaola (Air Dried Beef) Carpaccio with Arugula and Parmesan — And Medallion of Venison with D’Anjou (Pear) and Spiced Red Wine Sauce.  WOW, we highly recommend the Venison.  It’s so tender and flavorful.

As you can see, it’s high quality food for less than $6 — Carl’s $6 Burger PA-LEEZ give me a break.  Can someone out there PLEEEZ serve this through a Drive-Thru?

More about OC Happy Hour Week:
http://www.happyhourweek.com/

Bayside Restaurant: http://www.bistango.com/bayside.shtml