Destination With An Ocean View at Geoffrey's Malibu

Do people love the romantic scene with an awesome oceanside view?

I got one for you... it'll cost you an arm and a leg, but it's so worth it.

I was getting off from a hike at Solstice Canyon and visiting the popular Escondido Falls. After an exhausting, but exhilarating hike where it takes me about a hour each way.. I was literally famished. Honestly, you would think there would be a tons of restaurants or fast food places nearby in this narrow, but fast highway road along the scenic route.

Surprisingly no.

Shame on me for not taking better view from the cliff of the ocean

With the scenic road getting more clustered with every possible tourists wanting to visit the beach along the 1 Pacific Coast Highway, I was stuck and will need a possible 90 minutes to get to the nearest freeway to civilization. Took the biggest gamble of my life and went to the nearest restaurant on Goggle Map for a restaurant nearby.

Lo and behold, it was Geoffrey's Malibu. Don't laugh, but back then there were no pics of the place on the map or describing what dishes are being served. All I can ventured something was amiss was a valet wanting to park your car.  I can either go out and hit that the god-forsaken busy stretch of highway road or just bite that bullet to check this what it seemed very upscale restaurant with a view.

Rolling in by myself, I hit the motherlode!

Instantly, I can deduced it was a great fancy date place or the very least a venue you can impress your company you're are dining with. It seemed like it's either everyone is having a special occasion or a gathering to draw in the awe you can siphon in. To be straightforward, it was a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean and I just wish I had the foresight to take more photos of the view.

Pfft, I was really just there to wait out the traffic and grabbing the grub.

Lobster Bisque

The meal here was what you expected for a very classy place. Everything here was like you would be dining at a four star restaurant. You already read above I just chose the nearest place without really making any research and I was already in their mercy.

No choice, but to roll in and swim with the sharks at this moment.

Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass

Based on the menu, only a few things that fancied me and I took it upon myself to just ordered the most appetizing dishes on the menu. They were serving brunch when I barely made it for that cut off time, but chose the mains from their lunch menu. To my astonishment, I think I made some decent choices.

First, I got the lobster bisque, which probably a good start. Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world, but I was willing to eat anything because of hunger after a long hike. This was something I would love to order again if I was eating a light supper and take in the view.

The big moment came was the presentation of their pan seared Chilean Sea Bass. Boy, that did not disappoint. Love how this just melt right into your melt. It was riveting in that something this tender was worth the gold... literally it cost me a gold.

Creme Brulee

To end all this soiree, a creme brulee was a fitting end to my out of the way excursion that otherwise a beautiful day in the lovely coast town of Malibu. I'm sure there's a question that get asked: Was it worth it?

I didn't save time by waiting out as I still wound up fighting more than a hour of traffic after the meal. To bask in the sun, take in the breathtaking cliff view of the ocean and breath in the fresh ocean air of Malibu, I'm sure there was a cost somewhere.

It was not pretty when I got the bill. I do honestly have to say this is a "special occasion" place that everyone was alluding to. My visit here did gets a tons of kudo and I would raved it about til the end of time.

If there is a way I can cut out my DSL bill and monthly gym membership, I would be on my way here again. Bare in mind, this place is considered a destination place where you do need to get here as a determination to be here.

In my case, a good unintended post workout meal.

Geoffrey's Malibu
27400 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90265

Always A Great Catch at Fishing With Dynamite

Sometimes you get entertainment out of the blue for no reason.

This seriously just happened when I am dining here at Fishing With Dynamite.

It's a very small comfy, cute little oyster bar a few steps from the beautiful sandy beaches of ultra rich community of Manhattan Beach. This location is on a good stretch of trendy restaurants and boutique shops that only the rich dreamers can talked about. This is not like Santa Monica or South Beach of Miami. Try to think people who can afford to live in Malibu, but would prefer the less traffic of this community.

This seafood eccentric restaurant was the brainchild of the chef David LeFevre, who also operated the super popular Manhattan Beach Post (MBP), a more focused seasonal California fare located a few doors down from FWD.

The MBP is more buzzier with casual brunch crowd during the weekend while FWD tends to be more favorable with the eclectic crowd who just wants to dive in to experience their seafood fare. I wouldn't say it's more subdue at this quaint little cafe versus the bigger gastropub, but there is no subtlety about the difference.

Their famous fish tacos

Two things I was told to always ordered was a platter of the fresh oysters and a plate of their famous fish tacos. Those were indeed an excellent advice. I don't think anyone should skipped their fabulous deep fried battered yellowtail. If I had chance to come here every time, it's to get this excellent soft shell tacos.

Selections of Oysters

The oysters selections can changed, depending on the season and availability. As you can see from the photo of what was being ordered, I was able to get almost every one of them on the menu. Probably my favorite are the ones in Washington state and New Brunswick, Canada.

As in for my entertainment at this establishment. Every single time... really, I do mean.. every.. single.. time, there's always seemed to be coolest pick-ups at the bar. I think the Girls Brunch dates include a pack of gals sitting at the bar. In no time, I get to witness some of slickest come-ons, dopest openers, and maybe even a finalization concluded with phone numbers exchanged.

No lies, they even swapped Instagram names or add each other on Facebook. This never ceases to amaze me. So please, do sit at the tiny bar section of this awesome seafood bistro. You don't want to missed out.

True story, one of their ice breaker actually works on one of my dates!

Fishing With Dynamite

1148 Manhattan Ave

Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Meal Inspires You To Say Here's Looking At You

Don't you love it when an inspirational quote you just heard from a famous movie becomes the name of a restaurant?

The possibilities are endless: "Go Get'em Tiger", "Some Like It Hot", and "Here's Looking At You".

Some are just too corny and will never stand up to the test of time, but there are quite a bit that wound up sticking in the long run. Wouldn't you believe it the last choice actually is now the name of a popular restaurant in Los Angeles? Go figure, right?

Frog Legs

Years ago, I had an acquaintance that raves about this exact place when it first opened. I remembered vividly in which everything about coming here was an absolute must, but the reservation when it first opened was difficult because to score, just like any new place was at that time.

If you happen to like the restaurant Animal from Fairfax district, then you will definitely love the team behind this venture here. Interesting thing about this cozy restaurant was that when I first came in, I was coming in exclusively for their cocktails. I think that was my passion (every restaurant must have good drinks in order for me to enter the door). After trying all almost their entire cocktails menu, I was a repeat visitor just for these type of sessions for me to wind down after work.

However, as mentioned, it's the food that would get me to join the chorus in raving about the place.

Particularly it's the seafood and vegetables that entrances to me love coming here. I can't get enough of some of the starters. The one dish I am hoping everyone gets to try is their frog legs that is as big of chicken leg. I usually think something like this is grimy, but with the right amount of spices, it is better than a buttered chicken or Tikka.

Pork Belly

My other favorite dish was their pork belly dish as well. Those two originally had a test run, but I was pleased they kept both of them. The other interesting thing was a I didn't think I would like was their Shishito peppers. Somehow I was made into a believer and tested out their other vegetable starters in over time. Again I was glad they kept this dish in the rotation.

I'm thinking that they kept the popular sellers like the ones I mentioned above and swap out other dishes in the rotation. One of which was a sweetbread dish I liked in my earlier visits. That got taken out and another dish rotating in to replace the sweetbread. I guess it's always good to keep the diners on its toes with new favorites. Who knows it might be the superstar in its course.

The cocktail program here was what draws me to this fine restaurant in the first place. I believed that most people come here for the drinks early and leave once the dinner crowds arrive around 7pm. It's always the cue for me back then to leave before the elbow room is gone. Majority of the time, it's wise to get in at 5:30pm and go for a few quick libation. Or come back before it close when the dinner rush hour dies down.

There are so many dishes to try here and sometimes they do go for the jugular. I remembered a $25 Mai Tai was offered for a short time and a big dry aged Holstein steak was once offered for a big ticket amount. Not saying it's out of price range, but it does give you thrills that maybe a high roller would buy it just to say they got it. I'm still trying to latch on to one of those guys for a sip.

The desserts have come and gone through transitions as I have noticed, but they can be stellar at all times when you wanted something to end this awesome meal. One of the big reason I liked to sit at the bar at that time was to sample a slice of pie that was offered daily. Since the former pâtissier decides to move on, this was one thing I missed.

The team that runs the show here are the veterans from one of my favorite restaurant Animal are dynamic duo of Jonathan Whitener and Lien Ta (who I learned is the wife of my old past acquaintance). With all these fantastic dishes rolling out from a stellar service being displayed, you can imagine I'm here quite often.

Now my hope is someone will be bold enough to name their restaurant "May the Force be with You" or "Go Ahead, Make My Day". 

Here's Looking At You
3901 W. 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90020

Hawaiian Food Closer to Home at Coconut's Fish Cafe

Hawaiian food tends to stay with you even after your vacation is over.

Here's a thought, why aren't more transplants opening up more island influenced restaurants here in the southland? It would be a gold mine! ha

In front

I'm going to hear about there are few places in town and yet people will recite the same list over and over. Heck even a famous chain with the same two letters will get recited as well. Here comes the funny part: once you named it on one hand, it all becomes obvious that it's the same easy spam and eggs that get mentioned. Don't kill me, but I know people will quickly point to me about the massive headway that POKE has made in the mainland over the years.

Click on "play" to view the tables and interior

But when it's time to name a place that served seafood or moco loco, boy do we get a head scratcher because of specific this question.

By some luck, an establishment originated in Hawaii is coming over to LA to serve some of the best fish tacos and the ever popular coconut shrimps. Coconut's Fish Cafe that was started in mid 2000's in Maui quickly gain popularity with its island's signature ingredients of coconut, mango, pineapple, wasabi, and ginger that can be incorporated in part of their dishes.

With its local feel and vibe, the cute island decor with surfboard as a table top, this place has all the elements of inviting place.

The feast!

I was instructed not to eat these fish tacos with a fork, even though it was provided to me. The idea was to gobble this thing with your free hands and take it all in. I'll be straightforward honest, it took me about a good 20 minutes to finish one of these ginormous tacos. Yeah, it's hungryman sized tacos.

The famous Fish Taco

With this fish grilled to perfect and added in some of these tropical flavors like the mango, I can see how or why these fish tacos were a hit. The nicely battered coconut shrimps were a major winner as well. I especially love the tangy sauce that goes with the coconut shrimp, it was fantastic!

The Famous Coconut Shrimps

As in my question, was these well known cafe started by a transplant? Apparently, the founder was a northern California native who retired to the islands. Supposedly, I was given a story of this gent buying out a local restaurant when he found out his favorite Hawaiian restaurant was closing down, so he apparently he was learned from the closed establishment on how those ingredients worked and recreated them in his new restaurant in Maui he just bought.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Soon enough, he took it back and opened up new restaurants in Sacramento and Scottsdale, where it was also highly received as the ones in Maui. With hits on his hand, it obviously in no time get to downtown Los Angeles as well.

Fish Tacos and coconut shrimps doesn't always required a plane ticket.... it might comes to that if our urges for Hawaiian food stretch long after our return from vacation.

Coconut's Fish Cafe
809 S Hill Street
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Conscious Dining at Andrei's Conscious Cuisine and Cocktails

I have just found the longest name on earth for a restaurant.

At first I was trying to read it right and thought maybe the place wanted to remind people a few things about themselves. Can't leave out any important parts, right?

This interesting posh and elgant restaurant is next door to a luxury apartment and high end Mariott Hotel that are close to the Orange County's John Wayne Airport. The name of Conscious cuisine was a way to bring attention to their efforts to dedicate in bringing sustainable seafood and natural farm raised meat for their local California fare in their dishes.

The few times I had been here before was always as a quick get together for a drink as I can tell it tends to situate the out of towners who are staying at the Mariott or for people who are on their way to visit their kids at UC Irvine (which is also down the street as well).

Filet Mignon Carpaccio

For me, I really wanted to say I never get a full chance of dining here until last week when I didn't wanted to brave the parking situation in going to the Jamboree plaza a few miles away for a soiree of dinner with friends.

Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops

Stopping by here, I got a few cocktails and kicked back to watch a Lakers game on the tele. It seemed pleasant enough as I do always at this place. However, tonight I may just wanted to blow my friends off as I thought about why not just checked out their menu and give it a go.

Carrot Cake

I thought for the time being as described earlier, it seemed their menu bordered on the local farm to table fare for sustainable and natural raised proteins on their dishes. So naturally, I wanted to check out their seared scallops dishes and maybe tried my luck on their Filet Mignon Carpaccio.

Apricot Tea-Tini

Their piano bar lounge look tends to be a hit with the older crowd who are looking for a fine dining in a town that is being taken over by the millennials who are just invading what was once cool upper class crowds. This restaurant is pretty much of a throwback to the days when Gordon Gekko of the world can leisurely walked in and have a few lamb chops and a glass of cocktail.

Tart Toddy

Now it's all about the boba tea shop. This place is still kept some of remembrance and somewhat of a reverence. I do enjoyed the my meal here and the cocktails as well. Very chilled on a Saturday night (don't come on Sunday, they're closed) and would not hesitate to come here for a slow quiet conversations on a dinner.

As in for the name.... well, let's hope they don't add a coffee shop or bakery. That's another add on for their business card.

Andrei's Conscious Cuisine & Cocktails
2607 Main Street
Irvine, CA 92614

5x5 Chef Collaboration Dinner @ Providence (Los Angeles)

One of the interesting topic surrounds sports was that if you can form a great team consists of the greatest players of its generation, would that be an easy domination for that great team? That's why there was a concept of "Dream Team" for Olympic Basketball with mixed success. This is a good idea if there is a chemistry that works well together ('92 and '08 Olympics), but disastrous if it was an incoherent mess ('04 Olympics).

Hence, the question relating to the foodie world would be if the kitchen was filled with 5 of the best chefs in town, will you get the best meal of your life? The 5x5 concept was an idea that was put in a bold experiment that was being provided with a beautiful restaurant (such as the Providence on Melrose) served as the Colosseum venue to please the audience. In that sense, it was the diners.

The idea of five different main courses prepared by five different chefs put images of a relay race of an Olympic race instantaneously. In order to have a good start, the first dish need to set a good tone. Then the rest of the dishes need to carry on in a consistent progression and with the final dish end in a spectacular final dash to the finish line. Appetizers and desserts are not required in this 5x5 Olympiad, but all of the five dishes of that 5 (courses) by 5 (chefs) will have to maintain its consistency. Team work and chemistry are essential and keys to that goal of winning that race (in this case, satisfying the whims of the customers who paid $150 thinking it will be the meal of a lifetime).

If you ever watched Top Chef, you will always see contests that required team work in the team competitions where the contestants often were not having communications among each other to carry out the progressions. Each dishes were treated like a baton being handing off from one dish to another. One dish can come off savory, but the next one would come off sweet, you do not want to see a mishap like that in an expensive $150 five course meal. Which was the big intrigue to see if any of the top chefs in this town can worked well together to bring out the best meal for the diners who are paying $150 per head on that night.

To start off, Michael Cimarusti (head chef/owner of the Providence) was providing us with a quartet of Amuse Bouche before the main courses comes out. Chef Cimarusti was sitting this one out as he graciously provided the venue and opened up his kitchen to five different chefs that will showcase their work that night in the fable 5x5 meal.

I don't know if was a tradition, but I guessed the host of the venue would always provide an amuse bouche or a quick starter for the guests to munch on before the dishes arrives. I went back to Providence 6 weeks later and enjoyed a wonderful meal with a different arrangement of edible one-biters as well by Chef Cimarusti.

Quartet of Amuse Bouche (Hokkido Scallop, Sea urchi Roe on Tomato, Greyhound cocktail Spherification, and Tasmanian sea trout over salmon skin)

The first one on the left was the Hokkido Scallop surrounded with puffed rice over bed of Sriracha and mayonnaise. The center two pieces of the amuse bouche were the sea urchin roe on top of tomato and the Greyhound cocktail spherification.

To start off the night in the right tone, sometimes it only takes one bite to realize you will have be in a treat for a wonderful meal. I always have various different amuse bouche at other fine dining places as well. In many ways, I have many one biters that are similar to what chef Cimarusti's amuse, but has always been impressed with his interpretation and playful look on a liquid nitrogen drink. The greyhound cocktail was something I never had before, but love how it held together in the liquid form and dissolved once it reached your taste bud.

Sea urchi Roe on Tomato and Greyhound cocktail Spherification

The last of the starter was the Tasmanian sea trout over salmon skin, with soy sauce crème fraîche. My impression about the sea trout, Hokkido scallop, and the sea urchin roe were wonderfully presented and have a great taste. Nicely throughout in terms of what to add appropriately and each of the seafood specialty was something I can imagine eating as a whole dish at Providence.

Overall, I had a great impression of what Providence was going to offer in the menu. Eventually I would make a visit here in the short immediate future to get some of his offerings in his 9 course tasting menu.

Hamachi Sashimi - Ton buri, Asian pear, red radish and fennel (by David LeFevre of Water Grill)

The first dish of the night was by a talented young chef from Water Grill, David LeFevre who gave us his interpretation of a Hamachi Sashimi. It had a nice little tonburi, which was seeds of fireweed that has texture and taste closely resemble a caviar. Truth to be told, I honestly thought it was caviar until I took good close look of it. The hamachi was fresh and very delicate where it just melt in your mouth once you took a bite. Very delicious from the start where the tempura with slices of sweet Asian pear was paired on the dish as side for contrast against the hamachi.

The tempura had a mixture of Dungeness crab wrapped in shiso leaf with a tart cream on top to give it a crispy bold taste. Adding a sweet pear underneath was an act of counter reduction against a little bitterness of the shiso. It worked well enough as a compliment pair against the hamachi and complete the overall dish much to my surprise as I initially thought the tempura was unnecessary.

Unexpected, but much to my amazement, it was one of the dishes I really liked that night.

Shellfish "Printanière" - Santa Barbara prawns, abalone, Japanese sword squid, clams, lemongrass-shellfish emulsion (by Josiah Citrin of Mélisse)

My favorite dish of the night was from my favorite chef of the moment, Josiah Citrin of the restaurant Melisse. For this shellfish dish to include bits and pieces of albone, a Japanese sword squid, claims, and some Santa Barabara Prawns to go along in one harmonious way, the dish turns out to be a divine classic.

Truly, a remarkable dish that made me a believer and a big fan of chef Citrin. In fact, after the dish, I told chef Citrin I would be visiting him very soon. At this Spring discovery menu dinner that night one month after this 5x5 dinner, he came up to our table and indeed remembered our conversation of about my intended visit to Melisse.

If I have one dish to remember my evening, it would be this dish of chef Citrin's Shellfish Printanière.

Sautéed Wild Striped Bass - white carrot purée, nettles, fava beans, fennel pollen (by Neal Fraser of Grace)

Next dish was very highly anticipated by yours truly was from Grace's Neal Fraser. A beautiful wild striped bass that had a sidekick of a white carrot puree. The thing that bothers at first was the look of the carrot puree because I thought the color was not very pleasing to look at. However, I find it very refreshing to have a carrot puree to have this sweeter taste than the usual potato puree that usually accompanied a fish dish.

The nettles and fava beans that was sided with the striped bass offered an interesting contrast. Not necessary for the benefit of the fish because it didn't enhanced the flavor profile of the bass, but it does a contrast to counter reduce the savory rich complex taste of this bass. Helpful because it made the rich flavor of the fish stands out. Luckily the fish did not have any unnecessary tangy, fishy smell. One of the great ingredient to increase the enhancement was add a Lemon, it increases the smell, but masked the flavor. For us, the big favor the chef did for all of us was let the fish standout by itself with the bass being sauteed enough to give crisper outside and tender inside of the skin.

A competent contemporary dish that was aimed to please, was able to handle off the baton of progression to the next dish with comfortable room of lead.

Barley Timbale - peas, artichokes, foie gras, mushroom sauce (Gino Angelini of Angelini Osteria)

The fourth main course of the night was a favorite of a few of my dining mates. Essentially on how this dish is to come out was that it was a barley risotto layered inside of a wrapped spinach with a hint of foie gras and a tomato on top of the spinach.

The main component on this dish to me was the barley layered with the other vegetables. The barley was wonderfully cooked to almost perfection. The vegetables of spinach and tomato complimented the barely very well. The mushroom sauce also helped enhanced the flavor of the dish. The foie gras was the side addition rather the main component of this dish, actually is better off as the supporting cast as the barley was rightfully the highlight of this entire plate.

Roasted Duck "Apicius" - spiced pineapple, rhubarb and celery root (Alex Stratta of Alex)

The hammer of the night and the main guest chef in this 5x5 course was an out of town special guest, Alex Stratta who is the head chef of his namesake restaurant in Las Vegas called "Alex". The much acclaimed chef garnered the impressive Mobil Five Diamonds rating for his restaurant Alex and have won acclaims for Best Chef in Southwest from the James Beard Foundation.

Chef Stratta presented his dish of Roasted Duck "Apicius". The aforementioned word of Apicius was often attributed to classic European fusion cooking that dated all the way back to the Roman times. It was often suggested that Roman Emperor Marcus Apicius were credited for the collection of Greek recipes that would attributed to the fabulous feast that was hosted by the Roman foodie Emperor. Over the centuries, many of the classic cooking and recipes from the Apicius era were the influences of many different types of European fine cuisines.

The roasted duck on that night had some interesting spices and celery roots that gave an arousing aroma that heightened the intricate taste of this well rested roast duck. It was cut at the right time as it was able to maintain the juiciness without drying out the texture of the meat. The sauce with a hint of a few sweet ingredients in the sauce that can offer enhancement in the flavor profile while adding the richness to the juicy duck.

Excellent way to end the main course of this example of a great fine dining. I think it started it off in a fast and ferocious way, maintain in the middle , and ended in a full sprint. Relating to a sport race, it's a blowout race.

Un Café à Bordeaux - canelé ice cream, coffee parfait and toasted hazelnuts (Adrian Vasquez of Providence)

Inside of canelé ice cream

Mignardises

The deserts was an added treat for us later on after this meal. It was often cited that Adrian Vasquez, pastry chef of Providence serves the best deserts in Los Angeles. For many, deserts is often the closer to a fine meal where it could complete tone of any epic meal. On this was no exceptions.

The canele and ice cream parfait were well composed and these delicious sweet creamy deserts that were badly needed to end the parade of fine savory dishes. The mignardises candies were also very welcome as well.

In retrospect, to find out each of these fine dining establishments and asked them to provide you with one of their better dishes to help showcase their work was a great idea. For $150 that was the price tag, it was worth it. Part of the proceeds of the $150 tab goes to the Southern Chapter of the Special Olympics makes it much more worth while.

Even though this meal happened back in April 28, I have very fond memories of each of those dishes. Thanks to kevinEats for organizing this outing for us as Will & Brian from FoodDigger were able to join us, as well Kung Food Panda and Tangbro 1 from Only Eat What Feeds Your Soul!.

5 x 5 Restaurant participants

Providence (Host, amuse bouche, desert)
5955 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323) 460-4170

Water Grill
544 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 891-0900

Melisse
1104 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-0881

Grace Restaurant
7360 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2501
(323) 934-4400

Angelini Osteria
7313 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2534
(323) 297-0070

Alex
3131 Las Vegas Blvd S
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 248-3463

Lost, But Found Our Way @ Tan Cang Newport Seafood Restaurant (Santa Ana)

For about 25 excoriating minutes, I thought we were going to be lost and can't find this restaurant. My buddy was going to be the host of this dinner and somehow we got lost trying to find this restaurant.

My pal Greg and I were waiting for people to show up as we were getting lonely with me looking out for cars coming into the parking lot hoping each car was driven by a familiar friendly face. The place was like a fish market with large fish tanks showing crab fish and a very small limit of a menu. The menu was tacky with the floor and walls needing a few remodeling suggestions. It was dingy and getting depressing with minutes going by. It felt like you were setting up a huge birthday party and nobody came. It was getting bad.....

Then we found out we were at the wrong address.

OK, first some of you or many of you who don't know Santa Ana. Apparently there are two Newport Seafood restaurants. One was up north of 1st Street that mysterious turned into Bolsa Ave. The Bolsa Ave location is called Newport Seafood To Go. We should have picked up on that, but we didn't. The text messages from our companions made us realized we were at the wrong location.

When we finally came to the right place, it was a sigh of huge relief and little bit more cheerful. Obviously Greg and I were very embarrassed about the whole episode of waiting in the wrong restaurant...and cursing at people who were supposedly late (they weren't). We tried to forget it as fast as possible as I'm begging to order the food once we were seated at this tiny, but comfortable restaurant.

We eventually ordered:

*The utmost mentioned item, the lobsters. At $16 per pound (at the time), was the most expensive in our list and cost about more than half of our bill. It was worth it as it was very delicious, but it was also over-ordered. For its worth, I think when going to this restaurant, people should definitely ordered the lobster.

Deep Fried Lobster

*Bo Luc Lac. This Vietnamese shaking beef was a very popular dish among our group. The neatly cut marinated beef goes well with the lime sauce that was provided. I noticed none of us used the veggie as it would have complimented well with the beef.

Bo Luc Lac

*Walnut Shrimp. The savory mayonnaise sauce buttered up the jumbo sized shrimp was a little thick and slippery. It was also probably the 2nd most popular dish after the lobster according to our dining companions of the night. Probably would've been called "Slippery Shrimp", but I figured Yang Chow restaurant owned that phrase. Ha!

Walnut Shrimp

*Deep Fried Tofu. The Tofu was my personal favorite of the night along with the lobster. Dip in that soy sauce pan, it taste crunchy on the outside but silky on the inside, goes well with the other dishes. If it was stinky like the Taiwanese variety, I would have felt that tofu was made at home. Nonetheless, it still had made an impression with me.

Deep Fried Tofu

*Stir Fried Water Spinach. The dish was ordered because of affirmative action as we didn't want all meat dish. Got to throw in a veggie and make it a complete meal and this was worth it. Also did not want to make any undercover vegetarian unhappy.

Stirred Fried Water Spinach

As I was busting out my camera to take these pictures, I noticed our service gotten a lot better. All of the sudden, there were three servers that was catering to our needs. I don't know if they thought I was going to do something with the pictures, but the fact I was taking a picture of all the food that was served...did rattled their cage a bit.

Yes, the service was definitely excellent throughout the night. I'm not quite sure on if this was the norm because it felt a little contrived on that they have to make this a good impression. I know they felt a little uncomfortable of the picture taking of their food.

Overall, I did really enjoyed the meal. Very expensive, but mostly because of the lobster being over-ordered. I would recommend the Deep Fried Tofu and Stir Fried Spinach to go along with the big course Lobster. That would make a complete feast.

Spicy Squid (not spicy nor memorable)

As in for the question of the previous mistaken restaurant. I did felt bad about making a Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid getaway from that place pretending to get out of parking lot as if we were hitting the Mexican border. I probably need to make a return visit because I felt really bad at abandoning the "to-go" place that was in Westminster.

Just make sure you turn south on 1st street and not hit up north as it will turn to Bolsa Ave. They both have the same Newport Seafood sign, but the places are completely different. One is a dining restaurant, the other is a take out place.

Tan Cang Newport Seafood Restaurant
4411 W 1st St
Santa Ana, CA 92703
(714) 531-5146

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