Great Taste Magazine

-Chef Brian Black started his new gig yesterday. Congratulations on the new Exec Chef position at Stonehill Tavern. Where did Chef Keogh go, anyone know? 03/02/2010

-We recently caught up with Chef Jason Pena this week. In Aug he left the Atrium Hotel, joined the Kyoto Grand Hotel in Los Angeles and is now moving on to the Hilton Glendale. 02/08/2010

-Chris Reischel took over the kitchen reigns at the Atrium. 02/06/2010

-Joe Youkhan is now at Savannah Chophouse, Laguna Niguel. 01/25/2010

-Chef Michael Rossi’s in Beverly Hills at Neiman Marcus and Chef Ryan Carson took over Ambrosia 01/15/2010 Read more »

Three-week Food Drive:Fullerton, CA (Tuesday, January 19, 2010) – Graves Gallery has announced that they will be partnering with many other Orange County artists and arts organizations to fight hunger through a three-week food drive, January 16 - February 14. The campaign, entitled Arts Can, is being coordinated by Arts Orange County in tandem with the Community Action Partnership of Orange County, which operates the Orange County Food Bank.Anyone interested in donating to the food drive is welcome to bring non-parishable food items, such as canned goods, to Graves Gallery located at 114 E Amerige Avenue in Fullerton, CA.”The condition of the economy has dramatically affected many people in our communities, and this is just one way we can help support our community members and reduce the strain felt by those we care about,” said Gary Graves, owner of Graves Gallery.Arts venues, organizations and galleries of all sizes throughout Orange County are participating and will be promoting the drive to their members, audiences, donors and staff in a variety of ways, encouraging them to donate canned food.Individuals wishing to contribute to the campaign can also do so through the OC Food Bank’s “Virtual Food Drive” at www.ocfoodbank.org, where they can credit the “Arts Can” campaign by selecting it from the pull-down menu of current food drive efforts.The Orange County Food Bank distributes over 15 million pounds of food each year to vulnerable people. Over 325 other charities rely on the Food Bank for the food they distribute. Those organizations include churches, senior centers, shelters, community centers, and social service agencies. Those charities feed seniors on fixed incomes, disabled individuals, the unemployed, homeless persons, and the working poor. The Food Bank also feeds 1,400 people directly each day in communities throughout our county.Arts Orange County is the leader in building appreciation, participation and support for the arts and arts education throughout Orange County, operating the comprehensive arts & cultural events website SparkOC.com, producing the annual Imagination Celebration and Orange County Arts Awards, and serving as the official local arts agency of the County of Orange and state-local partner of the California Arts Council.For more information on the Arts Can food drive or Graves Gallery, visit the Graves Gallery web site at www.GravesGallery.com or call (714) 879-1993.ABOUT GRAVES GALLERY – Graves Gallery works with mainly on promoting Fullerton area artists and their work and is the most recent addition to Graves Design and Communications, LLC. Graves Design is a full-service marketing and advertising agency located at 114 E. Amerige Avenue in Fullerton, CA. Specializing in brand development, graphic design, website development and email marketing, they have been helping local businesses build their image and improve their sales since 1999.###Graves Design and Communications, LLC114 E Amerige Ave.Fullerton, CA 92832Phone: (714) 879-1993 Fax: (714) 276-0190www.gravescom.com

By Chef Adam Navidi
November/December 2009
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the back of the house

Pots and Pans were Clanging, “Where’s my f’ing turkey!” squeaked a mouse;

With no one left to prep, clean or give a care, he smoked like a chimney

In hopes that his night cleaners, elfs/cooks would soon be there;

The waitstaff were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of money dancing in their heads; Read more »

By Robert Johnson
November/December 2009
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach too many people to fish and there is an issue with sustainability.

Sustainable means the ability to harvest or use a resource without causing depletion or permanent damage; especially important when harvesting food resources. Now, thanks to better technology and global awareness, more is being done to promote a safe, healthy and sustainable environment. Seafood is one resource which is currently under the microscope due to concerns which address both the environment and personal health. Industries are now seeking to make better choices for health-minded consumers’ increasing environmental conscience. Read more »

By: Robert Johnson

From 1998 to 2002 Scott Robbe served his country enlisted in the Marine Corps. For the last few years he has been serving up delicious food at the Salt Creek Grill as the Executive Chef at the Dana Point location, but when the opportunity to once again serve his country arose, Chef Scott was eager to accept the challenge.

Read more »

May/June 2009

Great Taste recently had the opportunity to spend some time with one of the nation’s top restaurateurs, Paul Fleming. Here Paul dishes on growing up in Louisiana, building iconic brands, living in Napa and his latest venture, Paul Martin’s American Bistro.

GT: Your success in creating and building brands like P.F. Chang’s China Bistro and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar is legendary. But no one starts at the top. What and where was your first job in the business?

PF: I went to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and began working at a local restaurant. I started as a dishwasher, and progressed to a busboy, server, bartender and finally manager during the course of my college years. The name of the restaurant was Saturday’s, a rip-off of T.G.I. Friday’s.

GT: Did any of your family work in hospitality? Read more »

Industry specialists around the California region were recognized Sunday March 8^th by the Southern California Restaurant Writers organization during the 2009 annual award banquet. Formed in 1975 to honor the restaurant industry, the S.C.R.W honor restaurants and individuals whose “standards of quality and service deserve exceptional recognition.” This year’s winners included: Harold and Denis Legaux/Al & Sue Honore of Harold and Belle’s  in Los Angeles (Restaurateurs of the Year), David Cohn of Cohn Restaurants in San Diego (Owner/Entrepreneur of the Year), Christian Boinard of the Renaissance Hollywood (Pastry Chef of the Year), Patrick Kolanski of Eric’s Restaurant in Thousand Oaks (Food and Beverage Man of the Year), Sean C. Fisher of Tastes Restaurant in Encinitas (Sommelier of the Year), Lotte McGee (Longevity in the Hospitality Field), Wang Tcheng of Anaheim (Restaurant of the Year) and most notably Donatello Barone (pictured above) of Costa Mesa’s Nello Cucina honored as the Manager of the Year.

Sen. Kerry has introduced legislation that would ban all 421 firms, including the nation’s largest banks, that received money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) from hosting, sponsoring or paying for conferences, holiday parties and entertainment events. If passed, Read more »

Cultivated fresh wild mushrooms have been recently recognized as antioxidants, anti-cancerous, and labeled as a must-try for health food junkies.  They are indeed just as tasty as they are beneficial to the body, with descriptions such as incredible nutty, meaty, and earthy flavors. Read more »

by Lachelle Brown Nov/Dec 2008 Issue

For the past 16 years, Shannon K. Jones has been and continues to be, the ringing heartbeat of the well-known Scott’s Seafood Restaurant. From restaurant server to now awarded, General Manager, Shannon is nothing less than spectacular! “I really feel like I’ve grown up here, that it is my home.” With her naturally warm and welcoming demeanor, Shannon expresses her love for Scott’s and for the industry. Strongly supported by the owners, past management and fellow staff members, Shannon explored her interests and developed her natural place within the Scott’s family; “It was fun and it was new. I got to build it and take different avenues,” describing her once role in Guest Relations, promoting and expanding Scott’s with neighboring restaurants, hotels, convention centers, and most importantly, the restaurant’s clientele.

Hearing of her life philosophy, it is not hard to see why and how Shannon came to create the success Read more »

Doris Kwon of Newport Coast tasted victory when she won the Z’Tejas Charity Dessert Contest with her Bittersweet Chocolate Chile Créme de Pot, which reigned supreme over more than 20 other entries! The contest was a part of the Z’Tejas 3-week annual Chile Fest, Read more »

Thursday, October 23rd, STRIKE celebrated its’ Nationwide 70th Birthday Fiesta! Guests enjoyed hours of delightful cocktails, cuisine, and of course, bowling. Located in famous NY, Bowlmor Lanes has been making it’s mark since 1938; hosting countless professional bowling competitions, world leaders, celebrities, and rock stars. In 1997, Tom Shannon, took Bowlmor Lanes in to a new direction–creating a new style, new look, new feel, and new form of entertainment to the sport of bowling, crossing together fun with flare. Read more »

(Newport Beach, CA October 21, 2008) In a surprise upset, the winner of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar’s Culinary Competition was the youngest and least experienced of the six culinary student finalists. Kevin Bui, 19, of Cypress and a freshman in Cypress College’s Hotel Restaurant Culinary Arts program, walked off the with the $5,000 first prize.In second place winning $3,000 was Corona del Mar resident Patrick DiGiacomo, 53, a student at Laguna Culinary Arts. Caitlin Knoop, 20, of San Clemente and enrolled in Orange Coast College’s Culinary Arts program, came in third, winning $2,000. Read more »

School is now in session! With children, teenagers, and young adults all sounding to the sound of the bell, both students and parents are running rampant, squeezing in more then the day’s hours allow. What suffers greatly? Our bodies, of course. To help pamper our health in ways that fit our wildly active life styles, Great Taste looked to helpful information to know and ways to help…

Released within the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the federal government, a healthy diet is listed in detail. Of course, the guidelines call for eating more fruits and vegetables (two and a half cups of veggies and two cups of fruit for people on a 2,000-calorie-a-day-diet)  to help fuel the system while maintaining a healthy balance. More suggestions called to the table are entree salads, vegetarian entrees, fruit and vegetable side dishes that you can create at home as well as order when dining out. Read more »

Newport Beach-based Culinary Adventures - operator of numerous chic restaurants throughout Southern California - has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing drastic downturns in revenue. Wilhelm’s Chop House (formerly French 75) closed Thursday at the Marketplace in Irvine, and the company is set to close two other eateries in Los Angeles. Read more »

Since 1981, Wine Spectator magazine has been recognizing restaurants around the world with their Restaurant Award program. 2008’s winners have recently been announced, and not surprisingly, there are a wealth of local eateries that have received rewards! The highly regarded wine magazine awards chosen restaurants with one of three designations. The Award of Excellence is given to establishments that offer a well-chosen selection of quality producers, along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style. Read more »

Yard House Restaurants recently launched the first Yard House Bar & Grill, a new concept from the group, in Chino Hills.  Steele Platt, Founder and CEO of Yard House Restaurants, took the time to answer the following questions from Great Taste about the exciting new venture. Read on to learn all about the process of creating and launching Yard House Bar & Grill! 

What sparked the idea to develop a ”neighborhood” Yard House?
There are smaller markets that cannot support a 10,000-14,000 square foot Yard House - so a smaller size Yard House was envisioned to give the establishment more of a neighborhood feel. A minimum size ended up being 6,300 square feet, which kept all of the essential Yard House components intact; the 360˚ bar, the keg room, oversized booths, our display kitchen, and the patio. We also wanted a Yard House that would be the same each time we built it - a Yard House Bar & Grill is designed to be build strictly on pad sites, and not inline spaces like the original Yard House. It is positioned to be the upscale casual choice over Chili’s, Friday’s and Outback in the casual dining segment.

How long has this new concept been in the works?
The concept began developing approximately four years ago.

Has the financial/economic state of the country influenced any decisions made about the new restaurant, either in the initial or the evolving development? Read more »

By Chef Gabriel Caliendo, CEC

I remember rolling around late at night, thinking about whether I had asked for 220 volt outlets for our large mixer and Robot Coupe, or if there should be a fryer next to the grill, making it easier for the fries to get to the burgers, or if I would need two cooks to work any particular station. It’s not really where things started, but it is my hazy reality of the months before we opened the doors at the first Lazy Dog Cafe. While creating a menu, scheduling labor and designing a kitchen can be fairly easy to accomplish in an existing restaurant, bringing a menu to life, training cooks to perform and execute willingly and placing three dimensional pieces of equipment in just the right places are very difficult to do from a sheet of paper (especially those sketched out on bed stands in the middle of the night). Read more »

There is an Orange County Restaurant Association in the formation stage and we want to know what you think about that. Please click comment at the bottom of this posting and answer the following questions or, leave any comments you wish. If you want to remain anonymous just let us know. Read more »

Pop Quiz: When was the last time you drank water from a sealed, plastic bottle? It wouldn’t be surprising if you were doing so right this very second while reading this page. Now, when was the last time you enjoyed a refreshing glass of water from the tap of your kitchen sink?

Isn’t it strange that something so accessible, easy to use and practically free has become virtually outdated? Read more »