"My story is too old. I'm 3,000 years old." Chef/Owner Walid Alarja was matter-of-fact when initially prompted about his food's and restaurant's journey. We were seated in the outside patio of D'Vine in downtown Fullerton, a location second to the flagship restaurant in Brea, and eagerly awaited what Mediterranean treasures the impassioned chef had available. Cooking was not a new venture for Chef Walid by any means as he grew up in the restaurant industry; his family has been running two restaurants and a hotel since 1946 in Bethlehem. Trained at the French Culinary Institute in Egypt and then teaching culinary school for 18 years, Walid knows his food, and you can immediately sense that at D'Vine where fresh ingredients and authenticity rule the plates.


We were invited to visit the Fullerton location which is the newer of the two D'Vine restaurants. The space is expansive with a large and comfortable outdoor patio that allows for large parties and potentially even to continue the raucous antics so familiar to downtown Fullerton. Inside, there is an impressive bar that is well-stocked and wall furnishings that play to the Mediterranean look and feel, complete with a faux stone wall. We adored the choice of lanterns and woven chairs, and the inclusion of event spaces in the wings of the building definitely showed how versatile the restaurant could be for any size group. We then asked for more details on the menu itself:

"Americans would call this a Lebanese kitchen but if you know about history, there was no Lebanon, no Israel, no Palestine, no nothing. After 1917, the EU just took a portion of the Middle East and gave them all these names. Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria - they almost have the same kitchen which is mainly whatever you had in your garden. What you grow, you eat. Your protein is whatever you grew and it's easily cooked on a grill. This kitchen has no fattening, no preservatives, no nothing. Even the marinades come from olive oil, garlic, and salt - all natural."

Pita chips arrived at the table before anything else to start our appetites on, accompanied by olive oil and za'atar seasoning. Already I knew I would like the place. Our cold mezzato begin were the Hummus ($7 - crushed chickpeas with tahini and lemon juice) and Beet Salad ($7 - red beets, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt), both of which came with a smattering of pickles, olives, and pickled turnip which can be ordered as a full mezza serving for $5 (called Turshi). Easily the smoothest, creamiest hummus I had ever had was on our plate. It didn't even look like hummus because it was so unbelievably smooth. Had I never had true hummus until now? Quite possibly so. D'Vine has their technique down pat. In fact, Chef Walid had some things to say about mainstream hummus as well:

"I try to do authentic food. I visited so many different restaurants when I first came to America and discovered that they Americanized the food to be far away from real food. They use cans and bad ingredients. They use so much tahina and then make hummus with avocados, etc which is no longer hummus. We make ours with 99% chickpeas and touch of tahina, touch of lemon, and touch of salt. That's it. I always say I am homemade. I do everything like I do in my grandma's kitchen."

Take one look at D'Vine's extensive menu, and you'll see that a large majority is dedicated to hot and cold mezza dishes. Typically, we'd just refer to these as appetizers and small plates; some may call it tapas-style. These items dominate the experience, and we were glad to get some tastes of many different dishes. For our hot mezza choices, we did a half order of each of the Cheese Fatayer ($7 - lightly fried dough stuffed with Mediterranean cheeses) and Kubeh ($8 - a fried cracked wheat beef and lamb crust, stuffed with minced beef, onions, pine nuts, and spices), both of which we had never had before.

The pastry dough for the fatayer was beautifully golden and explained to be mainly a simple mixture of oil and flour. This flaky dough was filled up with Nabulsi (a very fresh goat's milk cheese) and Halloumi cheeses with a touch of Mozzarella for moisture. They were pleasantly salty in all the right ways and savory at the same time. The kubeh was quite interesting as well with its savory makeup and balanced texture between crunchy shell and soft filling. Chef Walid suggested a few drops of lemon juice with each bite, and that tip really heightened the taste.

To get some vibrant vegetables into our spread, we had sides of the Turkish Salad ($6 - chopped onions, tomato paste, parsley, and house spices) and Sumac Onions ($6 - sliced onions with sumac, lemon juice, and house spices), both of which were brightly tangy and aptly refreshing palate cleansers.


With all of that, we still had entrees to tackle. D'Vine offers its entrees to include a choice of one cold mezza, rice, and pita bread. For starters, just know right away that their rice is superb and addicting. The Calrose rice mixed with broken vermicelli noodle pieces and cooked in both olive and soy oils has a unique taste and texture that makes anyone go back for more. Had there not been proteins available, I'm sure we would have still ordered some amount of the rice to indulge in.

There were protein options however so Duc opted for the Chicken Kebab ($13 - grilled marinated chunks of chicken breast) which Chef Walid recommended to have with the Mutabel - Baba Ghanoush ($7 - seasoned grilled eggplant with tahini, yogurt, and lemon juice) mezza choice. The chicken chunks seemed to come from a single skewer and were pleasantly plump. They held a nice grilled flavor to them and paired beautifully well with the smoky baba ghanoush.

I chose the Lamb Chop ($15 - grilled marinated lamb chops) paired with Chef Walid's suggestion of Cucumber Yogurt Salad ($7 - chopped cucumbers, fresh mint, and house spices mixed with yogurt) for the cold mezza and was quite happy to see how well it turned out. The lamb was tender and flavorful, rich in its own right and the perfect pairing with the cool cucumber salad. Both entrees also came with D'Vine's famous garlic sauce which was so creamy, it almost seemed improbable to have been made in-house. No wonder people come back for that sauce solely.

Though we had initially been lured in with the idea of authentic Mediterranean food, we stayed for its follow-up on its promise. D'Vine does do it right and well for an fairly inexpensive price point. If you are looking for the real deal, visit their Fullerton location at 132 W. Commonwealth Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832 or Brea at 955 E. Birch St, Brea, CA 92821. We don't think you'll be disappointed, and it's certainly time for Orange County to know more about this gem of a restaurant.

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available on Facebook here.

Craft beers, local foods, artisan coffees - Orange County has been having its fill of niche businesses that get food and drink enthusiasts excited about their products but there are still a few segments missing. What about spirits? The answer is here now as Blinking Owl Distillery opens its doors and productions in Santa Ana. Brought into the community by long-time Santa Ana residents Brian and Robin Christenson, the distillery is the first for the county and already has highly lofty goals for itself. Named after a since-gone bar in the city called the "Blinking Owl Bar" which had a blinking owl sign, the new distillery is more than just an exciting new spirit producer but also a local spot for the community to host events, relax in a tasting room, and learn more about production through hosted tours.


The location of Blinking Owl is unassuming, set among residential houses and a few industrial buildings, but stepping inside, you realize just how aware they were of making an impression. The beautiful marble bar tops juxtaposed to polished metallic elements (mainly gold in color) along with black accents made for an elegant, stylish space.

"It's time for Orange County to have an opportunity like this. Robin did 90% of the design to be a mixture of chic, feminine, and masculine. The bottle was also specifically designed for both men and women with a tapered waist to make it easy for any size hand while still having a whisky bottle design 'prestige.'"

In addition to being visually appealing by design, Blinking Owl also works on carefully honing the craft of their products to be appealing in taste and make-up. Their license allows for serving up to 1.5 oz per person in the tasting room and selling up to three 750mL bottles per person daily. Those bottles could be of their organic durum wheat vodka, orange-infused vodka, aquavit, gin, and/or whisky - whichever fits customers' fancy. What is special about these spirits, however, is their production and sourcing. They mill, mash, ferment, distill, and age everything themselves to ensure quality. As for ingredients, the goal is eventually to be 100% Californian.

"Our take is to source as much California-grown product as possible. The white organic corn is from California; the wheat is Californian. Both are crucial to building a local crop mindset. In our aquavit, we use hibiscus which is the flower of Santa Ana. The orange flavored vodka uses oranges from the OC Heritage Museum. Our whisky is grown, made, and aged in California because it just makes sense here.

Why not make products that highlight our climate and seasons? We have an ideal aging climate with heat in the day and coolness in the night. The swinging temperatures are good for aging so our whisky is aging in half the time as somewhere else."

Now if you have never had aquavit, you need to try theirs. Robin informed us of how proud they are of how this Scandinavian spirit turned out and with good reason - it is delicious! The spirit is similar to gin but rather than using juniper as the primary botanical, aquavit is an amalgam of caraway, cardamom, and dill (along with many other botanicals). The Blinking Owl tasting room does allow for taster sizes but you might also want to give some attention to their cocktail capabilities there which are created by local mixologists.


The distillery is impressive and also manages to be beautiful for what it is. In addition to being perfectionists in their crafts, the Christensons also have an advantage by producing their spirits in the city of Santa Ana - the water. The city was named in 2016 to having the 4th best tasting water in the country so if that's the case, what happens when you use such an award-winner as your base? You get the smooth, clean, and beautiful bottles of vodka, gin, aquavit, and whisky that Blinking Owl makes. Now, if you don't make it to the tasting room to get a few sips in, don't fret. The distillery is well-ingrained in the Orange County dining scene and already has culinary professional friends clamoring for bottles to stock their bars. Soon enough, you'll be able to get swing a swig of their spirits.

"We take our product really seriously but not ourselves seriously. Let's get spiritual!"

Check out Blinking Owl at 802 E. Washington Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92701, making sure to plan for plenty of time for finding parking.

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available on Facebook here.

Lovers of Burger Parlor and its beginnings in Fullerton rejoice! The high-quality, tastebud-stimulating eats have expanded their way to a second location, this time in the midst of the Old Towne Orange hubbub. The genius creation of Chef/Owner Joseph Mahon whose culinary career has served him since he was 16 years of age, Burger Parlor and its success hinges on its commitment to its customers, the community, and product. The selection process of Orange for the second outpost of the popular location was a few years in the making but an extremely important decision to Mahon who stated,

"Being a part of Orange is a critical aspect for us so we do community outreach through various opportunities, all charity and directed to schools. We want the families, the people, and the fabric of the town to enjoy our experience together."

Open just a few months now, the Burger Parlor's second location in Old Towne Orange has already found plenty of guest traffic from its loyal fanbase as well as those who are walking through, experiencing what the historic area has to offer. It has been an organic growth that has proven just how much need there was for a unique menu of solid burgers and fries.


If you are familiar with the Fullerton location where the restaurant staked its first roots, you might notice the similarities with the Orange location: 100 year old exposed brick walls, an outdoor patio, two points of entry, and so forth. Part of that is a result of the lot chosen in Old Towne Orange but the other part is Mahon's hand in designing the spaces himself from the materials used to elevation drawings to the logo and story. There were some liberties taken in this heritage building including turning a previous office into a taproom and expanding the dining room capabilities beyond just a handful of guests. Add in the similar demographics from both cities and you'll find yourself a burger parlor's success.

Mahon himself has paid his dues in the culinary world for many years, most recently as the Executive Chef of Bastide, a West Hollywood Michelin-star restaurant that has since closed, and with posts in France, London, New York, and so forth. He has seen the rigorous actions of fine dining and infamous restaurants and worked countless hours in both independent restaurants and large corporations. With these struggles in mind, Mahon turned his attention to building his own burger spot once he and his wife moved to Orange County, a way to take ownership of every aspect of the industry and develop business know-how beyond behind the burner.

"I think that's why I get along with our kitchen team so well. I've been in their shoes. I can relate to them, talk their talk, and walk the walk. It's all about our team - having a culture of constant improvement and letting them make mistakes to learn from. We've maintained a core Burger Parlor team for 3-4 years instead of the typical "few months" in the industry."

"It's my job to equalize the marketplace and give our communities a quality burger place without cutting corners. They really want establishments similar to this."

Burger Parlor prides itself in its ingredients. The patties are antibiotic-free Nebraskan beef blended in-house from four cuts of meat. After much R&D, they've created a burger bun that plays the balance between being a brioche and Hawaiian roll. As Mahon puts it, they "take all the unnecessary steps and make them necessary" which is why their sauces are made in-house, their meats are blended by their own team, buttermilk chicken pieces are marinated for 48 hours before frying, and sides like onion rings and fries are sliced and fried to order. Though some guests may be okay with frozen or premade dishes, one of Burger Parlor's core values is to do it right and do it fresh with a "less is more" attitude when it comes to showcasing food's actual flavors.


It shows. After chatting with Mahon about more than can fit into this article and taking a behind-the-scenes peek at the making of an Orange-location-only burger, we sat down for some tastes. The flight of sides were up first, and their sheer quantities left us packing up a few boxes to take home.

We had to get some bites of the Sweet Potato Waffle Fries ($4.59 - served with honey chipotle aioli) - there is something alluring about that particular shape of "fry" that also serves a dose of nostalgia along with it. I can't remember where I used to have waffle fries as a kid but it was some fast food spot that was a treat. These were thick and hearty, a great match for the spicy-sweet aioli that came along with it. Our basket of the Half & Half ($4.39 - half fries with sea salt, half beer-battered onion rings) was formidable with the over-sized onion slices but we powered through their beer-battered shells and really enjoyed the sea salt on each well-done fry. Definitely some of the better fries that we've had before. To capitalize on that preference, the Kevin Bacon & Pastrami Fries ($6.95 - traditional fries, aged Wisconsin Cheddar, cheese sauce, bacon, housemade hot sauce, and pastrami) hyped the spuds to a whole other level with smothered heart-stopping toppings. The side order was good but I could only stomach a bite or two before needing to save room for the stacked, hefty burgers next.


Each burger patty is 6.2 oz in size and proudly sourced 100% antibiotic-free from Omaha, NE. The one we saw built in the kitchen was The Orange Plaza ($10.79 - Parmesan-grilled sourdough bun, smoked bacon, Fontina, caramelized onions, mushrooms, arugula, and chipotle aioli), an exclusive to the Orange location for Burger Parlor and a bit of tribute to the community there. All the fixings on here oozed umami and really suckered you in for bite after bite.

Even knowing that the beef was such a highlight of Burger Parlor, I just had to visit the Portland ($8.95 - marinated beets, fried Mozzarella, sprouts, arugula, pickled carrots, oven-roasted tomato, and herb sauce; can add or substitute crispy Portobello or grilled Portobello) burger because it was on their vegetarian menu. It isn't often that places make impressive vegetarian offerings for those herbivore friends that join you for meals but this was something else. I had mine with both the fried Mozzarella and grilled Portobello and ended up finishing the whole burger because it was that good. Savory from the herb sauce and "patty," peppery from the arugula, slightly tart from the beets and carrots, and crunchy from such fresh sprouts, this burger hit all the crucial elements and textures for an enjoyable and filling meal, vegetarian or not.

On the other side of the spectrum, Duc went meat-indulgent with the popular Smokey ($9.95 - smoked bacon, crispy onions, caramelized onions, Wisconsin Cheddar, arugula, oven-roasted tomato, and chipotle aioli) burger whose crispy onions made the burger topple over once served. We re-arranged as best we could so he could attempt to wrap his mouth around such a burger behemoth. It was juicy, it was pleasantly unctuous, and it was hearty. The verdict was that we had to come back for more.

It's a pity we haven't been to Burger Parlor before but knowing what we do now and having seen what this second location has to offer, we'll be sure to stop by for some burger and fry goodness. Congratulations to Mahon and his team on the expansion with more planned in the future! Visit them at 149 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866 and 204 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92832 to get beefed up on burgers done well.

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available at Facebook here.

Since 2008, the barrel-aged craft beers of The Bruery have been delighting Orange County drinkers with punny names and carefully planned, tasty brews. What started off as a project by Patrick Rue who got interested in brewing and decided to forego a career in law turned into an operation that steadily grew. The original stomping grounds were just about twice the size of a modest administrative office and tucked away in a parking lot in Placentia but as the consumer base expanded, so did The Bruery which is now considered the biggest barrel aging and biggest barrel conditioning brewery in the nation with six warehouses to boast about. At any point in time, they house at least four thousands oak barrels!

So where does Bruery Terreux fit in? This space with a large tasting room is dedicated to producing farmhouse-style wild ales and sours. We hopped onto the opportunity to take a free tour of the establishment that opened July 8th and after Josh, our #bowtietourguide, went over the safety issues and distributed certified safety goggles, we and a few others were on our way.


Wildly Traditional Bière

Because Bruery Terreux (named for its French translation as "Earth") focuses on wild and sour ales, it had to be a separate production house from the original Bruery spaces; cross-contamination is tricky when you deal with sours and can often ruin beers not intended to become sours. We learned a bit about how the common beer styles (stouts, lagers, etc) are relatively young in the grand scheme of brewing history, sitting at just a few hundred years old, while Belgian styles and others that depend on wild yeast like at Bruery Terreux have been around the longest. What propelled The Bruery to this fashion of brewing was when their Oude Tart (Flemish red ale aged 12-18 months in red wine barrels) received multiple high-level awards and recognition. Despite sours taking more time, dedication, and risk, they do have a strong fan base. For Bruery Terreux, their ales must be aged at least 6-12 months in barrels and make use of the wild yeast brettanomyces (called Brett by brewers).

After some branding background, we gathered in their fermentation room which was filled with steel fermenters and thousands of barrels ranging from 59-gallon wine barrels to 88/120-gallon puncheons to the behemoth 7,750-gallon foeders. Not on premise? A mash tun and kettle which means that Bruery Terreux is not technicallya brewery; rather, it's a fermentation space that gets wort from the other warehouses and brings those to their tasty, beer-y forms in a few weeks' to months' time before the long aging, fermenting process. Josh pointed out that beers in the Bruery Terreux brand are, at minimum, a year old.


Part of the tour did have interactive components as we tasted two types of beers made at Bruery Terreux and sniffed our way around various covered flasks of bacteria. The strains of brettanomyces (lambicus and claussenii) got their rounds through the crowd of us as did lactobacillus and the overall blend of each type (smelled like cherry pie!). We also explored the differences between wooden fermenters (the foeders at Bruery Terreux) and steel fermenters, learned the various hoop names for barrels and the risks for pressure building up, and examined the bottling machines that get together the delicious brews everyone loves. I'd love to share more but where's the fun in that? You'll have to take 30 minutes out of one of your days soon to join the charismatic and informative Josh on a free tour of the place, and ask all the questions you want answered.


All the talk of beer had us hankering for our own libations. The extensive tap list in the tasting room section of Bruery Terreux featured brews from both brand lines and very reasonable prices per taster in a flight. We decided to focus mostly on the sours available but couldn't resist a few stouts in the way. Expect $1-$2 per taster which is plenty if you're doing a full five-rack as we did. The wide seating area inside opened up to an even bigger patio with access to the rotating food truck parked outside, a smart move for anyone wanting to stay a while and try several varieties. We ended up leaving with hefty bottles of their Share This: Coffee and Or Xata alongside the newfound knowledge about the new space.

Find Bruery Terreux at 1174 N. Grove St., Anaheim, CA and make sure you get your free sneak peek into how they do things there.

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available on Facebook here.

The highly anticipated Los Olivos Marketplace in Irvine opened a few months ago near Irvine Spectrum, bringing with it some beloved businesses and a gem that grew its loyal followers from a first location in Dana Point - Angelina's Pizzeria Napoletana. We were invited in to try out their brunch menu but fell in love with the way that Executive Chef Sandro Nardone approaches the entire menu, not just his pizza. While there were some dishes that certainly portray his creative freedom as a chef, for the most part, the array of food at Angelina's is true to southern Italian cuisine and reminded me of the summer I spent in the country itself. The focus on ingredients' true beauty and inherent goodness made for simple dishes that stood proudly delicious in their own right.


Before you approach the menu, however, you are met with a sophisticated interior design that makes one wonder if they really stepped into a pizzeria or a fine dining restaurant. Earthy oranges and seafoam turquoise accents gave color to the mixed media furnishings and walls. Artistic light fixtures and expansive windowed walls contributed the brilliance of natural light (with a little help) and washed the restaurant with an open air feeling. If you explore further towards the back, you'll spot the 900°F almond-wood-burning ovens outfitted with glazed deep blue and gray tiles. Frankly, the restaurant is beautiful, and we hadn't even seen the menu at this point yet.

"The biggest thing in the United States is the use of butter; we use very little of that. All my dishes are based on original flavors so we use extra virgin olive oil. It gives ease to digesting and allows ingredients to show. I try to get chefs to cook with olive oil because to me, that's number one in the world. I could just live on olive oil and bread. Going back to being simple is the best."

We spoke with Chef Nardone openly about how he composes his menu and praised the refreshing lack of novel-length dish descriptions. His own experience as a chef has been built upon the philosophy of simplicity and sincerity, trusting in the techniques of old and adherent to the beauty of traditional; as he puts it, "old people are never wrong." Some restaurants do try to load up on flavors and ingredients on one plate, masking what the focus point of the dish actually is, but at Angelina's, this is not the case.

"What I'm trying to do is something easy with high-end ingredients where you can taste what your eating. That's my philosophy."

We cheers-ed to that sentiment with a Bellini ($6) off the brunch menu, seasonally apt with a white peach base.


If I could have found the stomach real estate, I would have had every one of the salads on Angelina's menu because each of their descriptions tempted me for various reasons. Most importantly, they were apparent in their balance of flavor profiles and highlighting of rich produce. We landed on the Angelina Salad ($10 - wild arugula, fennel, orange, pine nuts, Gaeta olives with pits, and Sicilian white raisins) and Insalta di Polipo e Gamberi ($18 - grilled octopus and Mediterranean shrimp with wild arugula, roasted potatoes, red onions, and heirloom tomatoes drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemons). The namesake salad was composed mostly of the wild arugula whose peppery nature played well with thinly shaven fennel and juicy orange slices. The olives were slightly distracting as they had not been pitted but because of their bold flavor, this practice of spitting out the pits once you got to one gave the moment a necessary stopping point to let the brine wash over your mouth. It certainly was a simpler salad than the second one which ultimately was my favorite for the meal as both the octopus and shrimp were grilled to perfection. They were complemented very well by 1/4" cubes of roasted potatoes which added a lovely texture to each forkful, and of course, heirloom tomatoes made for bright bites.

We also augmented the start with their Capesante su Carpiccio di Mango Aria di Lime e Pepperoncino ($32 - pan-seared scallops on mango carpaccio, vanilla extra virgin olive oil, and pepperoncino) which had a very intriguing description at first glance. Chef Nardone did create this one entirely as it is not a traditional Italian dish, and its conception was meant to represent summer. The sweet crispness of thinly sliced mango was tart and playful, uniquely brought to the forefront of your palate once the spicy pepperoncini hit your tongue. The heat of the pepperoncini spun out a pleasant buzz in the mouth without being painful, and the inclusion of "air of lime" as foam presented the slight bitter zestiness of the citrus.  All of those pieces were married together by the large, perfectly seared scallops that were seductively soft and rich in natural flavor. What a delight of a dish.


A chef first and foremost, Chef Nardone intended to make a high-quality pizzeria when he first started that had respect for ingredients and tradition. Having had family in Orange County whom he visited frequently, he found the area severely lacking in good pizza so wanted to meet that need with perfection but not the presumptuous feeling of a three-star Michelin restaurant.

"This is the way pizza should be done. I didn't invent it but it's straightforward. This is pizza from the 1500s/1600s. I have tried to change the dough fermentation to get it to be lighter and easier to digest for people BUT I didn't invent anything."

As you might have experienced, there are multiple styles to pizza. Angelina's features Neapolitan pizzas which means that it needs to be made in a certain manner with certain ingredients (fine wheat flour, San Marzano tomatoes, etc) and cooked in a particular way (60-90 seconds through a high-heat wood-burning oven, typically ~900-905°F). This results in a thin pizza pie with an elastic, bubbly crust topped with a few ingredients. We love the style and what is produced by blasting such a creation in high temperatures.

The first option we tried was because of the brunch menu - their Breakfast Pizza ($14 - Mozzarella di Bufala, egg, and choice of sausage, guanciale, or spinach) on which we chose guanciale. This personal-sized pizza comes with a house side salad which was very tasty on its own as a combination of mixed greens and light vinaigrette. Aside from the expertly formed dough, the pizza found great favor with us because of its use of such rich cheese. You can taste the difference in a Mozzarella made from buffalo milk - it is creamier by far and much more luscious; melted in a quick-fired pizza, its silkiness felt just right with the savory runny egg and salty, crunchy guanciale.

The Diavola Pizza ($16 - choice of mild or spicy salame Napoletena-style, Mozzarella di Bufala, San Marzano DOP pomodoro sauce, and fresh basil with pepperoncini oil on spicy salame choice) with spicy salame came out much larger than the breakfast version, featuring the glory of heat associated with diavolo sauce. Again, the type of Mozzarella used on the pizza made a world of difference in how every piece came together but their umami-laden pomodoro was what stood out to me. Savory-sweet, tangy, and rich, the San Marzano base is a treasure.


Now when we thought we were done, we realized that we were wrong because Angelina's also takes pride in its desserts. An interesting one to end with if you don't want to dive into that deep end of the menu is to cap off your meal with their Cocoacchino ($6). As coffee tends to round out Italian meals, this one plays on the custom and adds in the element of Nutella, the hazelnut chocolate spread that Europeans know and love. The mug is coated in the decadent spread before espresso is added. Put this one in your books as a must-try.

Other treats that morning included a Nutella Pizza and Tiramisu. Whereas the menu does have a Nutella calzone as part of the breakfast section of brunch, this pizza version of Nutella loving allows for sharing (you really have to) and seeing the entire spread laid out. Slices of strawberry and banana make it less cloying, and the generous scoop of vanilla ice cream unsticks the slices from the back of your throat from all the chocolate. Surprisingly, it wasn't too sweet of a dessert and therefore a good option for a large party. It was enjoyable but the tiramisu was on a definitively different level.

"Real tiramisu doesn't have liqueur so I make it without. I made it the same way as we make it there and don't add sugar to the espresso. We use the sugar already on the ladyfingers. In the beginning, people told me that everyone wants the sweet stuff but I said no. You have to educate people."

Every component of the tiramisu was balanced. Many restaurants fail to keep the iconic dessert from becoming soggy but Angelina's has made their tiramisu into a piece of art. The right ratio of espresso to ladyfinger to mascarpone to cocoa powder to even powdered sugar graced the black slate that arrived. You, dear reader, need this in your life.

As a whole, we cannot stress enough how much we did enjoy our time at Angelina's; I felt my face light up as we spoke to Chef Nardone and tasted his food because it made me think fondly back to my time in southern Italy and reminded me of why I love the Italian cuisine and culture. If you need to find this sincere establishment, they are located in the Los Olivos Marketplace at 8573 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, CA 92618. We also hear that they are up for "Best Italian" in Orange County for the upcoming Golden Foodie Awards so if you enjoy them, a vote should probably be thrown their way for that honor.

I'm excited to return to see more of their menu. We had gone in for their brunch hours (Saturday & Sunday from 10AM-3PM) but they do do full lunch and dinner throughout the week. If you're interested in the brunch though, there is an a la carte menu but their Social Brunch seems quite the steal as well - for $30 per person at a two guest minimum, you can do a family-style meal with choice of one pizza for the whole table, two entree plates, and a shared carafe of bellini or mimosa. If that's not a great way to start your weekend, I'm not sure what is.

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available on Facebook here.