Best thing I ate: Orange County’s 20 best dishes of 2021, ranked

Hats off to all the new restaurants that opened this year. It was a long list that included a new wave of Thai restaurants, several new Italian restaurants and pizzerias, plus sushi, ramen, burgers, Mexican, Chinese, French, Spanish, American… But...

When dining rooms were forced to close, it not only changed the way restaurants operate, it changed the way we all eat. Takeout took on a new meaning, suddenly serving a different purpose. It became less about instant, individual gratification and...

Andrei's    Birrieria el Bandido    Buttermilk Fried Chicken    Clay Oven    Harley    The Kickin' Crab    Lola Gaspar    Noble Bird    Taco María    Vaca   

Every year as the holidays approach, my inbox fills up with variations of the same question: “Hey Brad, I’ve got relatives coming into town for the holidays. Where should we dine out?” My first response is to steer them toward several years’ worth...

Most of last year’s temporary outdoor dining tents and parking-lot patios have already been dismantled and put away, perhaps somewhat prematurely. A lot of people still want to dine outdoors, especially right now in the dead of winter while it’s...

“Do you like it spicy?” I love hearing those words. It’s a question I got recently from the cashier at Southern Spice in Irvine. When I said, “Yes. Yes I do,” she steered me toward an incredible eggplant curry. “You want it spicy?” asked a...