3321 Hyland Ave, Ste E, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Pricing - $/$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - American
www.theironpress.com

Is it wrong to combine two visits into one post for now? I returned the The Iron Press only three days after my first visit so that's why this review will be a heavy one with a variety of sandwiches reviewed - I promise I didn't eat all of these in one sitting!


So when you first go into the restaurant, you're greeted with open waffle irons ready to be used to make tasty sandwiches. Their 30-tap bar features local brews and what a variety! When I had gone, they had just recently done a Hangar 24 takeover so the majority available were offered by that Redlands-based brewery. Neat stuff! I had gone to meet with dear blogger Bobby from 100 Eats 100 Days who introduced me to Iron Press partner Jerry manning the bars. On my second trip, I checked out the place's awesome quirky bathrooms (perfect for when you moustache the mirror on the wall who the fairest one of all is, hah - see picture).


Anyhow, the place is a good center for waffles and beers. I chose to go with what is called the "Flight of Darkness," a five pour flight of their stouts and porters (though I did switch one of mine out). Tasty tasty. Since I had a friend with me, I also took some tastes of other brews including some limited edition Hangar 24s such as their 4th Anniversary brew and the barrel-aged.


I took several pictures of my order, the Prosciutto + Gruyere (thinly-sliced prosciutto, Gruyere cheese, frisee, and stone-ground mustard), because it was so photogenic. I greatly enjoyed this sandwich, mainly because the batter of the waffle itself which was a slightly thick, slightly sweet consistency complimented the prosciutto well.


My friend got the Fried Chicken (hand-sliced fried buttermilk chicken breast, jalapeño maple syrup, and coleslaw), which she made into the "Circle of Life" sandwich upon Jerry's suggestion. What did this mean? The addition of a runny egg. That was a fabulous, sopping mess of a sandwich which satisfied any carnal desires. Great choice there!


In a reverse order, we had gotten the garlic Parmesan tots with all the possible sauces for dipping they had - Garlic Aioli, Jalapeno Maple Syrup, Sriracha Ketchup, Lucky Habanero Dragon Lips Salsa, and Lucky Habanero Mango Firecracker Salsa. The tots were crunchy to perfection and the sauces quite varied. I think I liked the Sriracha ketchup best with it all. On my second visit, garlic Parmesan waffle fries were the appetizer and they were delightfully crunchy and tasty as well.


The second time around, I opted for the Bratwurst (smoked bratwurst, sauerkraut, and stone-ground mustard) as I was feeling in need for a manly sort of sandwich. It certainly was as was it very well-made with its juicy, thick meat and complementing flavors of sauerkraut and mustard. Delish.


The other order made on the second visit was for the Breakfast sandwich (pan-fried egg, black forest ham, smoked bacon, and cheese). Talk about a hefty breakfast that one was. It was great but oh so heavy. Overall, The Iron Press has some solid food and impressive brews. I'll have to come back again sometime when I'm next craving a waffle sandwich.

141 S Glassell St, Orange, CA 92866
Pricing - $$/$$$ | Dining - Casual, Dressy Casual | Cuisine - Mexican
http://www.gabbipatrick.com/gabbis-mexican-kitchen/ 

Oh my love, love, love. My friends and I wanted to get together for a dinner, and one had raved about this place for a long time. I had seen the name pop up through various other venues of media so I knew that there was something special here. What I didn't realize was that it was the unmarked restaurant in Olde Towne Orange that I've always passed. Who would have thought it to be so covert? I really enjoyed the decor inside as it highlighted brick, glass, and metal - a fusion of materials possibly likening to the style of food. All of the authentic Mexican flair was there without any of the street food fuss. Be warned, however, that your price set here is nothing like a $2 midnight taco run.


My dish of the evening was the camarones en mole verde (pan seared shrimp in mole verde de Veracruz, garlic white rice, vegetables, platanos, crema) for a cool $22. See? Not for the casual Mexican food eater. My regret is that we had had dinner there so my lighting was horrid for any decent pictures of the amazing presentation (with taste to boot!). However, that's just motivation to come back during the daytime so I can have ample sunlight to properly document the beautiful dishes. The shrimp was just perfect. That mole verde was nothing like I had tasted before, and not only did it go very well with the shrimp, it pulled out complexities in rice that I wouldn't have thought about. I was in love. I know I shared some with my friends but I was a little glad they didn't ask for more (well how could they when their dishes were just as mindblowing?). I was actually sad to have finished off the plate.


Though feeling sated, I couldn't resist asking for a dessert menu just to peek at what was in store. What was in store caught my eye though so we quickly decided to split a dessert between the three of us. For $9, we snagged their strawberry horchata tres leches cake (Grand Marnier Chantilly, candied hazelnuts, cantaloupe-jalapeno sherbet). I had vied for this because the sherbet sounded interesting. The cake was very moist and subtly flavored with the horchata. What sealed the deal for one of my friends was the whole hazelnut on top. I particularly enjoyed the sherbet as it was a very good palate cleanser. It was a great night out and I'm eager to come back to Gabbi's.

When Duc and I were in Idyllwild on our anniversary trip early August, we stumbled upon a shop that was dedicated to jerky - Grandpa's House of Jerky. What a neat place to come across. We enjoyed our purchase back in our cabin later, and I couldn't help but tweet it.


To my surprise, I got a nice tweet back from Janie at House of Jerky, the main distributor. I love seeing companies care about their customers and how they like the products. That's a great way to add a more personal touch to the relationship between the two and to show that there is a face to whom one could reach out. Not only do they have excellent customer service but their jerky is superb! I got the opportunity to give twelve of their huge array of jerkies a try at different sizes (with help from Duc and my younger brother of course) and man were they amazing. I have pictures of everything for your drooling pleasure too (and notes)!


The first one we tried actually was one of my favorites - the teriyaki beef. Consisting of top round, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, and ginger powder, this cut had a sweet aroma with an unknown texture to my naive jerky experience. It was soft and very addictive as the juiciness showed its true impact upon constant chewing; with a lingering sweetness and sauce present in every bite, this was truly a top favorite.


The black pepper beef was the kind we had bought in Idyllwild. Made of top round, soy sauce, water, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, and garlic powder, this peppery smelling jerky was too salty for any of us. The pepper was good though but in general, the jerky was thick-cut and a bit tougher than desired.


Next up was the black pepper kangaroo (who doesn't want to give kangaroo a try just once?). It contained irradiated kangaroo meat, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, and white pepper. With a sweet and peppery aroma, this jerky was slightly salty and much softer than one might imagine (able to bite through with one chomp).


Then we moved on to the teriyaki turkey, a product made from turkey breast, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, and ginger powder. The aroma was sweet and the jerky was translucent! The teriyaki sauce really makes all their jerkies awesome and this was no exception as it was very flavorful, light, juicy, and well-balanced with black pepper.


The hot beef, wow. The hot beef is no joke and you'll see why when you see the ingredients list: top round, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, pineapple juice, water, Tabasco, habanero pepper, red crushed chili pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, liquid smoke, black & white pepper, and ginger powder. With a salty and already apparent spicy aroma, I knew it'd be trouble for me. It was! It was a fast yet lasting burn that lingered as the juiciness inflicted more pain onto taste buds. We all sweated but man was this good as the spices were complex and still well-done. Try this one if you want to get kicked in the face.


The black pepper buffalo jerky had buffalo, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, and white pepper. It smelled lightly peppered and a tad sweet. The meat was a bit too veiny for me but the sweet & savory lingering taste worked.


Black pepper turkey was turkey breast, soy sauce, water, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, and garlic powder - this one ended up being a little tough, salty, and dry.


Sweet and spicy beef brisket: a wonderful end to whole beef brisket, water, brown sugar, honey, seasonings, pineapple juice, cayenne pepper, Tabasco sauce, black pepper, liquid smoke, garlic powder, white pepper. Everything smelled sweet and thick. It was a juicy and soft meat that had a little toughness to it. Overall, there was a nice backburn to this, so it made it much easier to eat after the slight sweetness. This made it to my top 3 list.


Venison (venison steak, water, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, white pepper) is a thicker meat than what you may be used to. Surprisingly, the process of turning it to jerky removes the overwhelming gamey taste that may occur with venison. This jerky was slightly dry as the meat itself is extremely lean and had a salty aroma.


Black pepper wild boar was a little different as it was distinctively porky. I'm not sure swine in general is a good meat to turn into jerky? The ingredients explicitly said the meat was from feral swine, and the rest were typical of the other black pepper jerkies. It was soft, salty, and sweet with an emphasis on the pepper. Again, very porky.


Not too long after having the sweet and spicy beef brisket, we had the regular sweet and spicy beef composed of top round, water, brown sugar, honey, seasonings, soy sauce, pineapple juice, Tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, liquid smoke, black pepper, garlic powder, and white pepper. It was quite pliant and soft but had the juiciness necessary for something with a kick. I mean, after all, you want more sauce to help swallow the burning in your throat. It was one of my favorites.


Lastly but not least was the natural style beef jerky. It had all the makings of a basic beef jerky and yet, I didn't like it so much. Too much salt perhaps too on this one. It was a thick cut and quite a tough one as we had to tear away strips to consume.

Overall, that's a lot of meat! No wonder it took my taste-testers and me a long while to get through them all but now I definitely feel spoiled when it comes to jerky. When I went on a recent hike with my brothers, we had brought along beef jerky from Costco and my younger brother complained about how it wasn't good anymore after having had House of Jerky jerky. That's quite the compliment! I mean, he's a growing teenage boy. They tend to like food in general, hah. Anyhow, I really enjoyed the softer jerkies it seems like (teriyaki beef, sweet and spicy, etc). House of Jerky makes a fabulous product in general - I'm debating stocking up on some for snacking. I mean, great customer service + free shipping + amazing jerky? How do you lose on that one? Thanks to Janie and your team for doing such a delicious job!

So Duc's told me that as the wine market grows in China and other countries, the rate of counterfeits has gone up (trust us Asians to fake even wine...). That's understandable - I mean, widely distributed goods eventually ends up in the wrong hands or for the wrong purpose. With something as expensive and indicative of high class as wine, it was inevitable. However, what about faux wines handled domestically? Using different grapes than advertised or re-corking isn't improbable.

"The most publicized claim of fake wine (so far) involves billionaire American wine collector Bill Koch, who has filed four lawsuits alleging that he was sold fraudulent wine, including a 1784 Château Lafite reputedly owned by Thomas Jefferson. (Koch’s story, and his outrage, have inspired a book, The Billionaire’s Vinegar, that is soon to be turned into a movie.)"

I read an article about a Food & Wine writer who decided to take it upon herself and try to imitate a wine, checking if she could scam her dinner guests. She paid a hefty price (in general,  not for the wine itself) for a 100-point ’82 Château Mouton Rothschild which came in at $1,200. That's a top notch price for a little dirty trick. Her scamming of the wine involved replacing the actual Mouton with another wine that was similar enough to hopefully fool her wine aficionado friends. Did it? Well the suspense is held in the writing so check out the article below!

Reader questions: Would you know the difference? If a person didn't know the difference, is it so bad that they paid their premium for the wine? How often do you think this will happen?

Original article: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/wine-scams-a-counterfeiter-confesses

THERE ARE MORE OF THESE. I think I'll have to subscribe to the channel soon because these are too awesome.

 
After learning how to make a cobbler with my own experimenting on the nectarine cobbler last summer, I realized that cobblers are awesome precisely because they are the "casserole" of the baking world. Well, at least, that's how I see it. I mean, you just mix a bunch of ingredients and dump them into a pan without stirring. They're just laid out in sorts of "layers" and popped into the oven. Anyway, this was created because my mom told me my dad had bought way too many cherries so they needed to be used/eaten before going bad. Cobbler-in' time, I thought! So this recipe is to account for the natural sweetness of the cherries themselves - many other cherry cobbler recipes call for tart/sour cherries but I used black ones in mine and thus had to reduce additional sugar additions.

Step 1: Ingredients (yields one 9x13 pan)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar + 3/4 cup sugar, separated
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp flour + 1 cup, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups black cherries, pitted

Step 2: Making the filling
In a 9"x13" pan, lay out your butter in even segments. Pre-heat oven to 375°F and place pan inside to melt the butter. In a separate container, sift together 1 cup of flour, 3/4 cup of sugar, and 1 tsp of baking powder. Once that's done, add in the 1 cup of milk and stir until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix cherries with 1 tbsp of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar.


Step 3: Finishing
Once the butter has melted, remove from the oven. Pour in the batter evenly in the pan but do not stir inside. Then plop down the cherries in evenly spread apart sections - do not stir. Put back in the oven for 50-60 minutes (err on the side of less), and then enjoy!

So I think it's safe to say that it's been a slight point of amusement amongst my co-workers that I have this food blog. I'm still determining how much of it is playful jest and actual interest. Anywho, our CFO is supposedly an amazing cook herself with plenty of years of experience behind her for cooking and taking care of her family. She came in the other day and gave us each a wrapped jar of homemade strawberry jam. What a pleasant surprise!


Unfortunately for me, I hadn't had it in the first week or so since she had brought it so when she came by again and asked, I was the only one who hadn't opened the jar! I felt quite guilty so I made pancakes this morning to have jam with. It was very delicious, not too cloyingly sweet and with the right amount of tart. I'm not one for sweets so that's why I hadn't tried the jam. The texture was nice and soft, making everything oh-so-spreadable onto my pancakes. What a delicious gift idea! Maybe one day I'll learn to can things of my own...I mean, she said she's never bought jams and jellies outside since she knows how to make them herself. How cool is that?

It's on YouTube, replete with fairly cheesy music and tiny cameos of my hand, blogger notebook, and eating face. Can you spot them? The Golden Foodie Awards are coming up people!

September does not joke around. Perhaps it's the back-to-school spirit or the excitement for fall that has caused so many food observations to be declared and pinned to the month. Who knows? All I know is that I better start cracking on these food month celebrations!

• '5-A-Day' Month (fruits & vegetables)
• All-American Breakfast Month
• Apple Month (until Nov)
• Better Breakfast Month
• Biscuit Month
• Chicken Month
• Cholesterol Education Month
• Food Safety
• Honey Month
• Mom & Apple Pie Month
• Mushroom Month
• Organic Harvest Month
• Papaya Month
• Potato Month
• Rice Month

So let's see how I can get as many out of the way as possible. Undoubtedly rice and chicken will be easy to do. I guess I should pay better attention to what I eat in the mornings for my breakfast and how many fruits and vegetables I consume. After all, cholesterol and food safety awareness are quite important any day of the year. I hope to get some recipe posts out this upcoming month so let's see how I can best utilize the other notations...hrm. How will you celebrate?