No. 12: Blowtorch-Seared Mackerel At Izakaya Ku

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • September 27, 2012
The menu said the mackerel would be seared tableside; but I didn't expect the hand-held flamethrower. I admit it:I was nervous. I inched away in my seat a little when the waiter lit it and the thing whooshed like an acetylene torch. We were...
The full article can be read on the OC Weekly website.

Related Articles

No. 7: Venison Filet Mignon at Mare Culinary Lounge

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • October 5, 2012
Mare is supposed to be known for its seafood. But you should know by now that Alessandro Pirozzi of Cucina Alessa fame has the golden touch, even with game meats, as it turns out. The venison filet mignon he serves at his newest restaurant, two...

No. 36: Hu Tieu at Pho Crystal Noodle House

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • August 23, 2012
The grime on the windows suggest that Pho Crystal Noodle House has been there on Bristol Street for quite a while–at least as another pho joint. The artifacts of its former life as Pho Bistro is still on an old marquee the landlords hadn't...

No. 56, The $7 Three-Item Combo Plates at Yu's Garden

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • July 26, 2012
This is not Panda Express. There is no Orange Chicken, no Kung Pao anything. Sweet and Sour? Forget about it. Instead there is chicken mousse wrapped in deep fried tofu skin; bone-in basil chicken in sauce-lacquered pieces; soy-simmered minced...

No. 59, Live Amaebi at Sushi Imari

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • July 23, 2012
If you fancy yourself a sushi purist, you, too, might have dismissed Sushi Imari as a roll-peddler, an entity that would initially appear so diametrically opposed to the respected raw fish masters at Sushi Shibucho and Sushi Wasabi that it becomes...

No. 35: Carlsbad Aquafarm Oysters at Slapfish

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • August 24, 2012
If Slapfish only served these oysters and nothing else, it would already justify the restaurant's existence. And co-owners Andrew Gruel and Jethro Naude know how special these babies are. Gruel–who was a program manager of the Aquarium of the...