Category: Disneyland 2013

Napa Rose is an upscale Californian style that uses seasonal ingredients in its offerings. The menu is changed every week based on seasonal ingredients and is targeted toward adults who need a break from the typical amusement park and chain restaurants.

The restaurant located in the Grand Californian Hotel which is accessed from the Downtown Disney district. There are two seating options: the traditional table and the counter. At the counter, you can give the chef your preferences and he will create a custom tasting menu for you. Since we made the reservation late, we had to settle for the traditional seating option. Service was prompt and our waiter Al gave us a good run down of the menu and daily specials. You  can also opt for the 4 course tasting menu paired with a flight of 4 wines. We had read that portions are fairly large, so we passed on the tasting menu and opted to share an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. We told our server we would be sharing everything, and without prompting, each of our courses were split into two portions when served at the table.  So the salad and entree pictures below are actually haf portions.

Bread was brought to the table after our order. The basket contained crisp flatbread, foccacia, and “white” dinner rolls. If the quality of bread is an indicator of the overall quality of the restaurant, we were in for a good experience.

For an appetizer, we ordered the Sizzling Beach Rock. A modern take on the pu pu platter, it consists of  Garlic Seared Shrimp, Soy Glazed spare ribs, Lemongrass Chicken skewers with Thai Chili and Ponzu dipping sauces.

The lava rock is heated, put onto a bed of rock salt, and put in the center of the platter. You then use the rock as a heat source to warm/sear the shrimp, skewers, and ribs before dipping them in the sauce of your choice.

For the salad course, we chose the Smiling Tiger Salad. A base of  Spicy Asian Beef is topped with Asian greens surrounded by a coconut-lime vinaigrette and accompanied by Tempura fried lobster, with small dallops of cilantro pesto and sriracha.  With so many elements on the plate, I expected a collision, but all the flavors complimented each other, with the coconut milk based vinaigrette providing a nice flaovr contrast to the salty sweetness of the beef. The crisp greens also provided textural contrast  to the rest of the salad. While the lobster tempura is a nice luxurious touch, I felt that it was an addition that could be skipped, as it was mostly batter, a bit on soggy side, the lobster itself was a bit overcooked.

For our entree, we ordered the Slowly Braised Short Rib, which was braised overnight in a  a zinfindel braising liquid, then braised quickly before serving.  It came accompanied with a Sweet Potato Tater Tot, Orange Gremolata and Pomegrante-Zinfindel Jus reduction. The short rib was very melt in your mouth tender with good penetration of flavor with hints of citrus.  The jus added a nice glaze and brought a nice concentrated flavor punch when cutting and moving the meat around the plate.

For dessert, Al recommended the Chocolate Crunch cake with salted caramel ice cream.  While the cake was good, it wasn’t outstanding, relative to other chocolate cakes we have had in the past. Surprisingly, the ice cream was the tastiest element of the plate, with a nice balance of sweetness and cream, without being overpowering.  You can order scoops of ice cream for dessert, and I would recommend doing this based on our tasting.

Napa Rose fits in nicely to the California motif/theme Disney wanted to create with the Grand Californian.  While a great place to visit if are visiting Disneyland, Napa Rose would be worth a trip if you just happen to be in the Anaheim area. Next time, we will definitely try the counter and let the chef create something custom.

 

Our friends suggested we try Bruxie’s while on our road trip to Southern California. Bruxie’s serves up waffle sandwiches, which replaces the bread with Belgian style waffles.   We went to the one in downtown Brea.

The menu consists of savory and sweet sandwiches, with daily specials that differ by location (currently Bruxie’s has 6 locations in the Orange County area). Prices are on par with other sandwich offerings from the likes of Togo’s, Five Guys, etc. The setup is fast casual, with counter service, and seating at several small tables and bar height stools and tables both indoors and out.  You order at the counter and then are issued a coaster with a number on it.  When your order is ready, they bring it to you.

Sides include waffle fries and Irish Nachos.  After pondering for a while, we decided to order the Bruxie Burger, Proscuitto with Gruyere, and the Irish Nachos.

Each sandwich consists of a single waffle folded over to create a pocket for the filling you choose. The waffle itself is less sweet and seasoned to taste more like bread than the waffles you would typically get at breakfast places (like at Hash House a GoGo or Bill of Fare). It is also thinner, with an overall thickness of around a half inch. This makes the waffle pretty crisp and rigid enough to hold the fillings. I was expecting the waffle to be a bit denser, but it was pretty airy with the texture/mouth feel of toasted bread.

The Bruxie Burger comes with cheddar cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, pickle and mayo.  We chose this based on the recommendation of the cashier because he said it was the most satisfying and it definitely was.

The Proscuitto and Gruyere sandwich was smaller and lighter than the burger. Nothing spectacular or noteworthy, but not a bad sandwich either. Good if you are looking for something on the lighter side.

The Irish nachos are waffle fries topped with Bruxie’s homemade cheese sauce, bacon, sour cream and chives. Achieving the correct balance of toppings to fries is always tricky. Too little and you have to struggle to get all the flavors in each bite. Too much and you are essentially fishing the fries out of a soupy mess.  The Irish nachos got the ratio correct and Bruxie’s homemade cheese sauce is very tasty.  I would recommend getting this as a side to accompany your sandwich, and the portion is definitely large enough to share with someone else.

We talked with the cashier for a bit and he potential expansions could come to  Northern California, Arizona, and Texas, as Orange County is getting a bit saturated.  The waffle sandwiches are definitely a novel take on the standard sandwich, and based on our first experience, I would be willing to eat here again and/or seek it out if they opened a location close to us.

On a recent road trip to LA, we decided to take the longer scenic route along US 101 and stop in Santa Barbara for lunch. Norton’s Pastrami and Deli came up in our internet search of good lunch places to try and we decided to go to the original downtown location (there are now 2 in Santa Barbara).

The restaurant is fairly small with a counter and kitchen on the right and 4 small tables on the left. It can be tough to get a seat during busy times, so most people will order their sandwiches to go and find a spot outside. People are also encouraged to share tables.

As the name suggests, Norton’s makes its own pastrami and offers a variety of pastrami based sandwiches.  Other options include Philly Cheesesteaks, melts (tuna and cheese), cold sub sandwiches, and hot dogs. Sides includes chips, fries and onion rings.  You can order whole or half sandwiches as well.

For dine in orders, the staff brings a small plate of housemade pickles to your table. Something nice to munch on while you wait for your sandwich or with your sandwich.

We decided to order the PLT, which contained a nice amount of their signature pastrami, thin cut, and piled between two slices of toasted sourdough with chipotle aioli The pastrami has a nice cured flavor without being overly salty or weighted down with nitrite, and developed a nice crisp texture after being put on the griddle before serving.

If you are a fan of pastrami and hot deli sandwiches and are in Santa Barbara area, Norton’s is worth a stop.