Fast Food Maven

25/07/2024

Disneyland’s Hungry Bear restaurant brings back barbecue and Country Bears.

Hungry Bear Barbecue Jamboree won’t offer character dining or feature audio-animatronic bear figures.

22/07/2024

Congratulations to Russ Bendel and his partners: chef Jared Cook, beverage director Gabe Whorley and operations VP Kyle Simpson for opening their seventh restaurant The restaurant features pasta and “no flop” wood-fired pizza! Absolutely delicious.

21/07/2024

A night out at at Downtown Disney.

18/07/2024

https://www.ocregister.com/2024/07/18/dont-buy-those-900-oogie-boogie-bash-tickets-on-stubhub-disneyland-is-watching/?utm_email=9496C4A185E325B464C684EFC8&lctg=9496C4A185E325B464C684EFC8&active=yesD&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.ocregister.com%2f2024%2f07%2f18%2fdont-buy-those-900-oogie-boogie-bash-tickets-on-stubhub-disneyland-is-watching%2f&utm_campaign=scng-regional-parklife&utm_content=curated

Disneyland has cracked down on scalpers selling tickets for after hours, separate admission events.

16/07/2024

So bummed ’s Cantinas event was sold out by the time I got access. The BUY button was not available at 9 am PST as promised. I kept refreshing until I got the sold out screen. Oh well. Did anyone else get a ticket?

14/07/2024

Love the wood-grilled fish tacos 🌮 at

10/07/2024

I had a fun time touring CaliExpress by Flippy last week in Pasadena. The restaurant is billed as the world’s first fully autonomous restaurant.

Here's what I learned:

1. It's not all robot-run. I interviewed one employee who was working with the robots.

2. Miso Robotics, which initially debuted Flippy to cook burgers, is rolling out a faster and smaller version of Flippy the fry cook next month.

3. Mini scoop -- Chipotle Mexican Grill is no longer using Chippy. The chain had tested the tortilla chip fry cook in Orange County. Find out why they scrapped the test in my story.

Get a closer look at CaliExpress and learn more about the next-gen Flippy at Food On Demand.

Miso Robotics plans to debut a massively upgraded version of Flippy next month. The next-gen robot fry cook will be faster and smaller.

08/07/2024

It’s been too long since I’ve had the Banzai bowl at !! great value. Great quality.

29/06/2024

02/06/2024

While attending my niece’s graduation in Southern Oregon, I was finally able to make my first visit to a ! And boy did I have my pick! There’s one of these little drive-thru huts on every other corner! The stores are much smaller than I imagined. I bought my first drink in the town where it all started— downtown Grants Pass. I got an iced chai latte with oat milk. My niece ordered a super charged energy drink!

22/05/2024

Earlier this spring, held a contest for its super fans. The Mediterranean chain asked fans to submit their custom bowl creations. The top winners would have their bowls made available on the CAVA menu for a limited time between May 20 and June 2. Well, those winners were announced this week and one of them is from Costa Mesa. The student’s bowl is called Jonathan’s Custom Bowl. It contains half braised lamb, half grilled chicken with Crazy Feta®, two scoops tzatziki, pickled onions, tomato + onion, cucumber, tomato + cucumber, kalamata olives, romaine, spinach, and yogurt dill dressing.
He had me at two scoops of tzatziki!

17/05/2024

Anyone ever been to in Orange? It’s a fine dining experience you don’t want to miss. This is probably my third time here. I’ve come twice to celebrate our anniversary and once to cover a story while I was at The French-inspired tasting menu experience starts in the cellar of this recently renovated historic home. Then, guests are seated in various parts of the house — formal dining room, living room and upstairs, A truly unique experience.

08/05/2024

Crazy delicious Mediterranean fried potatoes. It’s like hash browns but drizzled with olive oil. Best app I’ve ever eaten at .orange !!

30/04/2024

Cute Mother’s Day idea from — The brand is selling a Fortune Cookie Flower Bouquet. Each bouquet includes 12 fortune cookies bearing heartfelt and humorous notes to Mom. Buy: PFCFortunes.com for $39.99.

28/04/2024

I love a good breakfast burrito. This one from did not disappoint. I ordered it from the app for pickup at the Huntington Beach location. I live in Orange. It was ready and when I arrived. (You can schedule pickup) I love that you can bundle menu items from Dog Haus’ different brands. We also got a slider , cowboy dog and chili cheese fries. The Bella Terra location is a Biergarten with lots of brews on tap. Tip: Order from the app and get $5 off.

28/04/2024

I’m a salad freak. I eat a salad nearly everyday. When I dine out, I’m always looking for an amazing salad. Something I can’t toss together easily at home. The Green Goddess Chopped salad at is one of the best entree salads I’ve ever eaten in OC. Baby kale, goat cheese , corn nuts, bacon, cucumber, avocado and tomato. At no extra cost, it comes with a choice of seafood protein such as ono, cod ( shown) salmon, wild shrimp, mahi mahi. It’s so good I can’t seem to order anything else when I visit. If you haven’t visited O Sea, make sure you give it a try whenever you’re in Old Towne. Other fave dishes here: oysters, poke, salmon ceviche, PEI mussels and fries and the cioppino.

25/04/2024

Finally, I had a chance to try the menu at Hoots Wings in Orange.
This is the fast-casual chicken wings concept by the owners of Ho***rs. I am not a regular at Ho***rs, but I’m told the wings are the same variety sold at Ho***rs.
I was surprised to learn that they have a ton of sauce and preparation options.
You can order the wings breaded, naked (like Wingstop), roasted or smoked. An employee referred to the roasted wings as “guilt free” because they’re not fried.

I have to say I like the parmesan garlic naked wings the best. They were much more flavorful than the dry naked wings at Wingstop. Don’t like wings? The menu also includes a hearty fried chicken sandwich, topped with tomato, leaf lettuce, and white onion. Served on a brioche bun. Is it better than Popeyes? No. But, it’s still a very good chicken sandwich, and it can be prepared with any one of the sauces listed on the menu. Hoots also serves a double double smash-style burger on brioche bun. I really liked it. And, it’s made with fresh ground beef. I also enjoyed the waffle fries and funnel cake style “ fries “
That’s my take. Also, don’t be thrown off by the name. Employees are not dressed like servers at Ho***rs. This is just a fast-casual outlet serving the brand’s famous wings plus much more. This one is located at the corner of Tustin and Chapman in Orange.

25/04/2024

This caught my eye.

Chipotle is asking employees NOT to eat chicken so they don't run out of the pollo al pastor???

Say what?

Restaurant analyst Mark Kalinowski's wrote this in a post-earnings note: "Chicken Al Pastor has sold so well in April that Chipotle has asked its general managers and restaurant employees to refrain from eating chicken at its restaurants until further notice. This is to help make sure that Chipotle has enough supply of chicken in the near-term."

More Q1 earnings info:

Get to know us better, or learn about what we're up to when we're not rolling your favorite burrito.

23/04/2024

Does Orange County. need a coffee chain from New York?

With locations throughout East Coast metropoles, Gregorys Coffee, which specializes roasting its own beans and offering a plant-forward food menu, hopes to open its first West Coast location at the…

19/04/2024

Dynamic pricing is coming for your delivery food. Are you willing to pay more during peak delivery times or a discount during slow times?

One San Diego operator is already engaging in the strategy. If you've noticed wild swings in delivery prices in Orange County, let me know.

A California operator said Juicer’s dynamic pricing platform has boosted his monthly delivery revenue.

18/04/2024

Almost open.

17/04/2024

I was at South Coast Plaza earlier this week, and heard through the foodie grapevine that the pastry chef at Knife Pleat was leaving.

That seems like a huge loss for a restaurant that has a Michelin star.

Here's Germain Biotteau's Instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/germainbiotteau/

So if you want to try some desserts before he leaves, get a reservation soon.

Note: Knife Pleat appears to be only doing fixed price menus at lunch. Is that a trend? Have you seen that elsewhere?
https://knifepleat.com/menus/lunch/

Knife Pleat is an elegant and approachable French restaurant helmed by Michelin-starred chef Tony Esnault and restaurateur Yassmin Sarmadi, who are well-known in the Los Angeles culinary scene. The couple’s chic new restaurant will showcase modern interpretations of classic French techniques by Es...

17/04/2024

Disney's getting bigger.

The city is set to get more than $100 million in community benefits from Disney in return for the development agreement that will allow significant growth.

15/04/2024

Salt Creek to return under new owners.

Three months after shutting its doors, the 27-year-old Dana Point institution known for its upscale American cuisine, will rise from the ashes with new ownership and a spiffed-up look.

11/04/2024

Do you want to see kiosks at Del Taco and Jack in the Box? It appears to be coming soon. The sister chains have partnered with a restaurant tech firm that will help them pave the way for food lockers, kiosks, automation, digital menu boards, and AI-enabled voice ordering

Jack in the Box and Qu are going beyond POS into the Store Platform of the Future, with a unified commerce platform to power the foundation of all ordering, fulfillment, and delivery operations.

11/04/2024

Disneyland is planning a new steak house in DT Disney.

Disneyland plans new steakhouse and barbecue concepts for the former Tortilla Jo’s location.

10/04/2024

Orange County is seeing a lot of restaurant closures.

The latest: Porch and Swing.

The southern-style restaurant that opened during the lockdown in 2020 to acclaim closed its doors for good on Saturday, April 6.

02/04/2024

Deals alert.

Chains including El Pollo Loco, Rubio’s Coastal Grill and Wahoo’s Fish Tacos will be offering deals while Chipotle Mexican Grill is launching an online game.

25/03/2024

Fried Mac n cheese on our food tour! Hannah had this too! Frittatina.

19/03/2024

Random eats from Florence and Tuscany. Boy, they sure like proteins here I have to say the rabbit stew from our second meal was my favorite. I also loved the sandwiches from our food tour. We had to try the bisteca — we asked for a small steak. This is what we got!