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Oct 18, 2024 | 
laist.com | Miles Clements
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Oct 18, 2024 | 
laist.com | Miles Clements
Topline: Lake Forest is Orange County’s most underappreciated culinary destination, a sleepy city filled with some of the area’s most unique restaurants. Why it matters: While social media influencers are looking for the next viral restaurant trends, these largely mom-and-pop restaurants are what feed our communities. Why now? Food media is often too focused on the next big, PR-backed restaurant opening.
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Oct 14, 2024 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
AAA Magazines When the pomp and glitz of a buzzy new restaurant fades, even the best eateries might find it difficult to retain diners’ attention amid the churn of social media. That makes those restaurants that do survive even more essential. After five years, Bello by Sandro Nardone remains one of Orange County’s most consequential Italian restaurants.
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Jul 19, 2024 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
AAA Magazines It wasn’t long ago that the very idea of fusion cuisine was considered passé. Relegated mostly to corporate chain restaurants, fusion cooking was seen as an inauthentic relic of a different era. But in Southern California today, where our diverse sprawl results in a constant culinary exchange, fusion’s multicultural inspiration feels natural. This is the case at Aria Kitchen, a comfortable neighborhood restaurant delivering fusion cuisine for a new age.
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Apr 11, 2024 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
AAA Magazines The restaurant industry’s ebbs and flows have never felt more transitory. In the years since the pandemic upended life as we knew it, even the most beloved culinary institutions haven’t been spared from the tumult. Indeed, at Costa Mesa’s design-minded SoCo Collection, the departure of longstanding favorite Taco María signaled a shift. But Butcher’s House Brasserie, from chef Jeoffrey Offer, brings new hope.
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Oct 13, 2023 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
AAA Magazines Ini Ristorante feels like it has its own gravitational pull—a place in which, whether by choice or chance, you will inevitably find yourself. Once inside, you’ll see a dining room bursting with multigenerational families gathered in celebration, couples on dates trading bites of pasta, and friends reminiscing over cocktails.
Ini’s cross-cultural Japanese-Italian menu has an almost universal appeal.
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Jul 17, 2023 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
AAA Magazines Gema’s chile relleno is coated in hazelnut flour and topped with a fried quail egg. By Miles Clements | Photographs by Ron De Angelis July 17, 2023 In San Clemente, where spindrift dances through the air and the sun casts a golden, coastal glow, restaurants invariably aim for casual, beachy approachability. But Gema is more serious, a restaurant with ambition and an identity. Both are rooted in the artful interpretation of Mexican gastronomy.
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Jul 14, 2023 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
A stroll through Ojai’s historic arcade will inevitably lead you to Yume Burger. There, you’ll find beguiling Japanese-style Wagyu burgers slicked with spicy miso sauce alongside furikake-dusted loaded fries. That delicious journey of discovery led a group of restaurateurs to partner with Yume Burger owners Takeshi and Chikage Ozaki to open Ojai Burger in Old Towne Orange.
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Apr 17, 2023 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
AAA Magazines The ratatouille at Populaire is crowned with an egg yolk, shaved white cheddar, and gochugaru chile. By Miles Clements | Photographs by Ron De Angelis April 17, 2023 There’s no diminishing the high-dollar luster of South Coast Plaza’s shopping portfolio. But the mall’s restaurant renaissance has turned the property into something more.
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Apr 4, 2023 | 
ace.aaa.com | Miles Clements
It all started with gratitude. From its beginning as a pandemic pop-up donating free beverages to frontline workers, Thank You Coffee has struck a balance between a sincere, community-minded café and a playful, progressive coffee bar. Its signature You’re Welcome latte of smoky lapsang souchong tea syrup, espresso, chicory pecan bitters, and oat milk is unforgettable. Buckwheat and red shiso flavor the Matcha Tonic; even the so-called Boring Latte gets a dash of walnut bitters.
