Food routine getting stale? Spice it up with 2010's top food trends.
BY Jessica Forsyth
June 22 - 2010 4:01 PM
Photo By Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register
Esteban Nocito, owner of Barcelona On the Go, serves traditional Spanish dishes like paella and tortilla Española from his mobile food truck.
On the Road It finally happened: the national food truck craze has come to Orange County, and it’s here with a vengeance. Lunch crowds looking for a quick, cheap bite and late-night revelers who stumble out of clubs and bars after an appetite-whetting cocktail of dance and drink will be thrilled to find all manner of food waiting for them that’s cheap, delicious and fast. In the last year alone, Orange County has been inundated with mobile food trucks that serve everything from tacos to cupcakes to Greek specialties, and beyond. And if you’re not in the neighborhood, you can always find your favorite truck by subscribing to their Facebook site or Twitter feed, which keep loyal fans apprised of their whereabouts.
Find a Food Truck :: Not sure where to find your favorite truck? Roaming Hunger has updates on all the local food trucks, complete with locations and times of service. :: roaminghunger.com
Photo By Cindy Yamanaka/The Orange County Register
Dishes like arrogant mussels at Haven Gastropub in Orange exemplify how culinary excellence meets a good time. These black mussels swim in a broth made with Stone Brewery's Arrogant Bastard beer, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and a splash of cream.
Ditch the Smoking Jacket Are you over stuffy restaurants that have a dress code and waiters that hover over your table? Good news: so is everyone else. Sprouting up all over the county are laid-back, casual restaurants that emphasize a good, informal time while also delivering on the food front. A combination of shifting public demand for low-key dining and a recession that nearly halted maître d’-type restaurants has brought a flood of delights like small plates and gourmet-meets-casual establishments like the gastropub. Armed with the food know-how of the culinary greats and with the appeal of a social, convivial atmosphere, casual dining is here to stay – and we’re so glad it is.
Go Gourmet :: Recreate the gastropub atmosphere at home by calling on a local craft brewery for the beer and firing up the barbecue for hamburgers made from organic, grass-fed locally sourced meat. The Bruery, located in Placentia, produces a full range of award-winning beers, from Belgian-style to hoppy ales, and local meat can be found at 5 Bar Beef, where Frank Fitzpatrick raises 100% grass-fed cattle in Silverado Canyon. The Bruery :: 714.996.6258 :: thebruery.com 5 Bar Beef :: 714.749.5717 :: 5barbeef.com
Photo By Cindy Yamanaka/The Orange County Register
The debut of Charlie Palmer brought pork to a new level with confit of Berkshire pork tenderloin and braised cheeks with parsnip purée.
Pig Out Long relegated to an overcooked, nitrate-infused slab on your breakfast plate or a dry, uninspiring dinner chop, pork is making a comeback. Those who never abandoned their love of bacon or a thick, juicy pork chop have long awaited the day when esteemed restaurants would sit up and take notice of the lowly “other white meat,” and that day has finally come. Dishes like pork belly have inundated the menus of the finest restaurants in a variety of incarnations that incorporate everything from fruit to mushrooms to more pork, and charcuterie plates have exploded, featuring selections of pork-based meats from all over the world. Bacon has even found its way into sweet concoctions like candy and ice cream – a development pork lovers are praising as a gastronomical breakthrough.
Rediscover Pork :: Change your mind forever about the dried-out pork of yore and head to Marché Moderne at South Coast Plaza for cured teriyaki confit pork belly with Chinese longbeans and jus à l’orange and star anise juice, or go to Charlie Palmer at South Coast Plaza for a summery grilled and smoked pork chop with braised cheeks, apricot and roasted sunchoke mustard greens. 714.434.7900 :: marchemoderne.net 714.352.2525 :: charliepalmer.com
Photo By Paul A. Hebert/The Orange County Register
Local farmer's markets are increasingly becoming the ingredient source for seasonal menus at OC restaurants.
Change is Good It wasn’t too long ago that a menu change at a restaurant meant either new ownership or an especially avant garde chef. But with today’s increasing awareness of our environment and the role that food plays in it, more and more restaurants are embracing the fact that the best-tasting ingredients are to be had during the time that they grow naturally – and that doesn’t mean importing strawberries from Chile in December, either. Along with the shift towards using seasonally grown food, many restaurants are also realizing that the best place to get fresh, full-flavored produce and meats is from local farmers, who provide the added benefit of allowing restaurants to make dishes that embody the concept of “farm to plate” – i.e. getting produce, seafood and meat straight from the farmer’s market and onto the menu that day.
Be a Locavore Season's Best :: Want to learn more about how to eat more seasonally or which OC restaurants subscribe to a locally-based approach to dining? Check out the Orange County Chapter of Slow Food, a movement out of Italy for food enthusiasts that values local flavors, the environment and a communally-based approach to eating. :: slowfoodoc.org
