Critic’s Notebook: Is dry-aged fish the next big thing on restaurant menus?

Dinner at Fable & Spirit in Newport Beach was a last-minute decision, so the only table available on short notice is outside on the sidewalk. Although the day was warm and sunny, things have suddenly taken a turn as a chill rolls in from the...

Hambone’s Bar & Grill in Huntington Beach is first and foremost a barbecue restaurant. But there’s more to it than that. This is also a burger joint. The pastrami burger at Hambone’s Bar & Grill in Newport Beach (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange...

It’s getting easier to find a decent pad Thai in Orange County. A memorable yum woon sen, too. In a surprising twist of good news, Thai restaurants have been opening at almost the same clip lately as Japanese ramen shops. I’ve already written...

I am not a fan of stuffing just any kind of food into a tortilla and calling it a taco, but the pastrami taco from a pop-up restaurant called Malli could be the most Los Angeles, of-the-moment thing I’ve eaten all year. When it works (e.g., Roy...

Does the three-second rule apply to customers?  That’s the very serious question racing through my mind as I’m dining at Henry’s in Huntington Beach.  I’ve just dropped a prawn on the floor of the dining room. Unexpectedly slippery, the crustacean...