Great Taste Magazine

January/February 2012
by Suzanna Hoang

In a town where the trees sway with cool, winter breezes, and the community shops, chats and eats along historic sidewalks, the perfectly situated Haven Gastropub fits right in. Like its home in Old Towne Orange, Haven settles right into the fabric of old-world coziness with a modern flair, like it was supposed to be there all along. Inside, with its stone and vintage wood interior, Haven is just as inviting as its address. Locals agree, with regulars coming in three to four times a week. Chef and partner Greg Daniels’ hard work and passion for life are two things that ring true for one of the hardest working men in Orange County. Read more »

By Linda Mensinga
November/December 2011

Chefs are always on the move, particularly in the early stages of their careers while they are gathering experience, but also later still eager to learn and meet new challenges. We discovered several of our past featured chefs have moved so we will tell you where they are cooking now. The four we caught up with shared a recipe so be sure to check them out!

Fred Mensinga, Executive Chef

Mission Inn Hotel & Spa
3649 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
951.784.0300

Restaurant Hours

S-TH: 6 AM – 11 PM
F-SAT: 6 AM – 1 AM

Lobster Bisque Read more »

Sept/Oct 2011 by Chef Katie Averill When you walk into Bad to the Bone, San Juan Capistrano, you are immediately struck with two things: the space is huge compared to what is expected walking in, and the customers look like they have sat in their seats many times before; there is an instant sense of familiarity. Co-owners Chef Marty Wells and Al Meyling have the monopoly on true American BBQ in Orange County. Read more »

July/August 2011
by Robert Johnson

Delicious food, great personality, sophisticated, approachable, as well as environmentally conscious. I am talking about both Chef Jeff Platt and O’Neill’s restaurant at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo. Because of the symbiotic nature of the relationship between Executive Chef and restaurant, it is not difficult or particularly interesting to imagine the two share similar attributes. Read more »

In a transient profession where all chefs seem to be imports from elsewhere, we found a chef with a local past. Chef Rob Wilson was raised in Laguna Niguel, attended Dana Hills High School, and currently holds the revered position of Executive Chef of The Montage Laguna Beach. Read more »

Intuition is a remarkable thing. It can protect someone from harm, help find the keys to the car, or simply be a gift that is shared with others. Chef Miriam Ramirez of Quattro Caffe at South Coast Plaza is considered by her peers to be a very intuitive person and professional.

Read more »

One of the difficulties of being a great chef is trying to find the right balance of flavors and textures. An extra pinch of salt can make or break a dish. Chef David Parry, newly appointed Executive Chef and Vice President of Operations at Billy’s at the Beach, is not only working on the right balance of flavors in Billy’s menu, but he is also trying to find the right balance of the old and the new. Billy’s is a-changing, but do not fret, true-blue fans of Billy’s, Chef Parry is striving to polish this Newport Beach icon and get it back up on the mantle of premier food and beverage destinations in the Orange County area. Read more »

Chef Fred Mensinga began his indoctrination into the culinary world in East Germany, where his family had always owned restaurants. One restaurant that his mother and father ran was destroyed in World War II, and as a result, they moved to Holland, just across the German border, when Chef Mensinga was still young. While in Holland, Chef Mensinga fondly remembers how his mother took great care in preparing the day's meals. She would bike several miles to shop for groceries. Sometimes she would even cross the German border in search of breads and other ingredients. His mother's passion and diligence got him interested in cooking. Read more »

By Robert Johnson

September/October 2010

Question – Are humans predisposed to a particular course in life or are we free to choose which path suits us best? The middle road of this argument could be that while we may have predispositions, unless they are nurtured, it is possible to find one’s own way in life. Just because a family has owned a farm for generations does not mean that the oldest son has to become a farmer himself. Perhaps he longs for the big city and the limelight. But, on the other hand, if he were so inclined, the son in question could probably grow one heck of a bunch of tomatoes. Zov Karamardian is a prime example of being predisposed to a particular course in life as she could be described as the ultimate hostess. Zov is the chef and owner of Zov’s Café, Bistro, and Bakery. She opened the Bistro in 1987 and since then has added two more locations, the Café and Bakery.

Before opening her first restaurant, Zov began her training to become a chef and restaurateur at a very early age. Her grandmother was a private chef and Zov clearly remembers making pita bread as a child with her mother. She says that her grandmother and mother were excellent chefs and natural entertainers. Her family was a very large one and there were always people over to her house socializing with her parents. Because of that constant entertaining, Zov learned to cook and take on the role of hostess by watching her mother meticulously make soups and stews and serve them to guests. Read more »

By Robert Johnson

August 2010

In Downtown Long Beach on the corner of Pine Avenue and First  Street, just up from Long Beach Harbor, sits what used to be a bank. Built in a more romantic age, this particular building is a Grecian marvel – guarded in front by ionic pillars that give way to a stone and mortar egress.  The bank is now long gone, but please trust that some treasures still remain. Today, the Madison Restaurant keeps watch over the culinary assets and currency that Chef Reynaldo Tovar lends out to interested patrons. The restaurant opened in 1997 and stayed true to the design and architecture befitting the era in which the building was constructed.

For nine years, Chef Tovar has worked at the distinguished establishment. First, Chef Rey was a line cook and then sous chef for a few years under one chef. He was then sous chef under a new executive chef before stepping into that role himself. Now the menu, the aplomb, and the satisfaction of being a part of The Madison are all his. Read more »

By: Robert Johnson

July 2010

Culinary artistry can be achieved by delicately balancing contrasts, and chefs spend their careers trying to pair the right combination of sweet and sour, salty and bitter, even crispy and tender. For Chef Joseph Youkhan of the Savannah Chophouse, this philosophy not only applies to cooking but also to life. The Chef is unwittingly a prime example of contrasts. Chef Joseph is a towering figure; at first glance, one might too quickly assume that he is the type that might fold you in half for looking at him the wrong way, but once he begins to speak, an unexpected mildness radiates from his imposing frame.

Chef Youkhan was born in Yonkers, New York but grew up in the Bronx. A self-taught chef, Joseph learned the basics of the culinary industry from his father – a chef and owner of an Italian restaurant in New York. But rather than rely on what he learned in the kitchen, Chef Youkhan spent a great deal of time at bookstores pouring over cookbooks so that he could learn new techniques and refine the ones he had already learned. Around age sixteen, Chef Joseph left the Big Apple for a trip behind the Orange Curtain. Read more »

By: Robert Johnson 

May/June 2010

It’s been said, “the future is now” and this adage certainly holds true for Chef Gabriel Caliendo of the Lazy Dog Cafe. His future seemed to have been decided at an early age, while growing up in his mother and father’s deli. At the tender young age of seven, he began his culinary training in the back of his family’s deli cracking olives with a Progresso soup can while standing on a pickle bucket in order to reach the counter. Chef Gabe helped his father make seven different kinds of sausage, learned how to make charcuterie and hand-pulled fresh buffalo mozzarella – all before he could drive a car.

Then, when he turned 14 and was eager to set out on his own, Chef Caliendo began working at Round Table Pizza on a work permit. His innate understanding of the intricacies of restaurant business was quickly revealed to his bosses when they realized that not only could he make pizzas better than his older peers, but he was also knowledgeable about food costs – a skill he attributes to his parents teaching him how to be efficient in both the kitchen and the office. Chef Gabe stayed in the pizza industry working at various pizza places until he thought that he might try his hand in the corporate world. Read more »

By Robert Johnson
March/April 2010

Life is strange. Very few of us actually end up where we plan to go. Rather than battle against the current of life’s ocean, we succumb to its effluence and trust that we will be provided for. Rather than be taken away by the current, Dave Dennis of the Matador Cantina in Fullerton, CA, was submerged well below it exploring the reefs. Dave started out as a scuba instructor and then later plunged himself into a life as an executive chef.

A native of La Habra Chef Dennis originally attended a commercial scuba diving program in Santa Barbara. While in school, he worked as a cook in order to earn money. So he was already used to being in the kitchen. He hoped to become a dive master on a charter boat, but there were not any of those positions available. Read more »

By Robert Johnson
January/February 2010

Sometimes professionals can get too caught up in image and title. In doing so, they may lose focus on their craft and the end product may suffer as a result. One professional who can not only teach lessons on focus and passion, but can also take you to school on what it takes to become a great cook is James Chavez.

James is the Executive Chef at Agio Ristorante at the DoubleTree Hotel in Anaheim, and he is dedicated to being dedicated. Chef Chavez grew up in La Puente, CA with very little. Read more »

By Robert Johnson
November/December 2009

As with any artistic form, good food should evoke emotion. A carefully crafted, simple stew can elicit fond memories and transport a diner back to a comfortable, happy time. The setting in which a meal is enjoyed can also help conjure warm recollections. A Restaurant in Newport Beach offers the best in both atmosphere and food preparation. Seemingly enveloped in wood, the restaurant is dimly lit with dark red leather booths. While dining, one might expect Ol’ Blue Eyes himself to saunter in, Rat Pack in tow, order a round of whiskies and martinis, and sip them slowly while Chef Vartan Abgaryan sautés them plates full of nostalgia. Chef Abgaryan recognizes that food portrays emotion and, upon entering A Restaurant for his shift, will leave anything that is bothering him at the door. He believes that his food will suffer if his head and heart are burdened. Read more »

By Robert Johnson
September/October 2009

Ask Chef Don Schoenburg a question and you will get an answer. Just make sure to be prepared to hear the plain, unadulterated truth because he makes no efforts to avoid what needs to be said. To do so would be a waste of his time. Chef Schoenburg immerses himself completely in what he is doing at the moment and this go-getter attitude nearly steered him down a different career path at a younger age. He has really come into his own as a chef, and luckily for restaurant patrons, his food reflects his passion for what he does. Ver la versión española del artículo. Read more »

By: Robert Johnson
July/ August 2009
We all hear that hard work, dedication and perseverance will pay off in the end. We are told that if you keep working, despite the consequences, that one day you will get a shot to prove yourself and to “make it.” Do we really take full advantage of the opportunities given to us? Do we really believe that it will actually happen?  I tell you we must believe it because, essentially, that is the American Dream. Someone who has put this theory into practice with a great deal of success is Aurelio Sanchez, Executive Chef.  Ver la versión española del artículo. Read more »

By Taylor Roll

May/June 2009

Spaghettini’s Executive Chef Victor Avila has worked his way up from his humble beginnings in the dish pit over the course of 19 years. The single father of four spends his time in the kitchen creating and preparing dishes while supervising a crew of 14.  Ver la versión española del artículo. Read more »

By Taylor Roll & Melissa Banks

Spring 2009

A recent fire at McKenna’s on the Bay has expanded Chef Art’s ability to create innovative menus while re-developing the restaurant’s back-of-house operations. The Long Beach establishment was forced to evacuate in March due to an exhaust systems fire leaving employees out of work for over a month. Chef Art Gonzalez has utilized this time to reflect on his career and the future of McKenna’s amidst the necessary reconstruction planning underway; Art has had to become a key contributor in negotiating with contractors and insurance professionals. Ver la versión española del artículo. Read more »

by Lauren Monahan Jan/Feb 2009 Issue

Chef Noe is one of those, rare, extremely talented Chef’s that is both an artist and a sales person.  His food creations are always a work of art and he is thrilled to come out and speak with any customer at any time. Capistrano’s and Embassy Suites are very fortunate to have such an experienced professional.

by Lachelle Brown Nov/Dec 2008 Issue

Entering the well-known Anaheim destination restaurant, Mr. Stox, Great Taste Magazine was engulfed with the feeling of fall in the air as layers of pumpkins and corn decorated the lobby area. Trickling down in to the main dinning room, the mood was set as laughter and conversation were heard in every direction. Guests enjoyed their lunch entrees, sipping on afternoon chardonnays and ice teas, not minding our inquisitive eyes admiring the scene. After receiving a personal tour around the restaurant and its lovely wine cellar, we had the pleasure in sitting down, face to face, with Chef Scott Raczek himself. Read more »

By Natalie Manning September/October 2008

Chef Ryan Adams is certainly not one’s typical interview, “I am not nine-to-five, I don’t dress corporate, I don’t act corporate and I speak my mind. I don’t really like people and I judge them. I judge them on their attitudes though, not on their looks,” he pauses, “I mean look at me, I get judged all the time,” gesturing to his left arm elaborately decorated with tattoos from his shoulder along down to his wrist. Perking up, he shows off his latest tattoo of a Weber Barbeque on his upper left chest; Read more »

by Lauren Monahan July/Aug 2008 Issue

Yvon Goetz is a normal guy – a father, a runner, a friend, a soccer fanatic. Oh yeah, and did I mention he’s an internationally renowned chef?

Chef Goetz has cooked for thousands of people in numerous fine-dining establishments across the world. His culinary expertise has helped many of his restaurant homes earn prestigious accolades, from Michelin Stars to AAA/CAA Diamond Awards, and he was even named OC Business Journal’s Chef of the Year. He is unquestionably a sought-after culinary master, highly regarded in all aspects of restaurant culture; something you could never tell if you met him on the street – unless he talked to you about food.

I first met with the French-born Chef at his new home, The Winery Restaurant in the newly minted District at Tustin Legacy. He greeted me in the entry, where I stood staring wide-eyed at the wine lockers of restaurant’s loyal patrons. We made our way through the spacious dining room to the outdoor patio, where Goetz had been waiting and watching the Champions League Semifinal between his beloved Chelsea and rival Liverpool. We sat in a booth on the beautiful terrace, and over a glass of wine began to discuss his love affair with all things food. Read more »