Best of Food
Where to satisfy your irresistable appetites
Traditional Tres Leches cake
The search for not-too-watery-and-not-too-dry ends in Tustin, at El Buen Sabor Restaurant & Bakery. Just off the 5 Freeway in a nondescript shopping center anchored by a Stater Bros., the folks there know how to tread the line between drowning in milk and wandering through a desert of cake mix—they pull off the perfect traditional Tres Leches pastel, made fresh daily. 14141 Red Hill Ave., Tustin. 714-573-1112. www.elbuensaborrestaurant.com.
Chocolatier
The world slows down when you’re savoring one of the gourmet chocolates from Irvine’s Chuao Chocolate Café (pronounced “chew-wow,” according to its Web site). The Venezuelan chocolatier thinks outside of the (chocolate) box, with dark chocolate with olive oil and sundried tomato, or milk chocolate with Meyer lemon and mint-infused caramel. Another top pick: goat cheese and black pepper cream enrobed in dark chocolate. Chuao also makes iced and hot chocolate drinks. Irvine Spectrum, 95 Fortune Drive, Irvine. 949-453-8813. www.chuao chocolatier.com.
Kosher Market
Moshe Zelig moved his market from the Pico-Robertson Jewish area in Los Angeles, where it thrived for 17 years, to a Tustin strip mall in 1999 and became one of the only kosher grocery and butcher shops in the county. Now the Orange County Kosher Market and Deli has customers from as far away as San Diego. “I gambled,” he told the Jewish Journal in 2001. We won. 688 El Camino Real, Tustin. 714-838-3108.
Bliss-on-a-Stick
The Balboa Bar isn’t an original concept—chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream dipped in nuts, sprinkles, or other toppings—but it has the kind of prosaic name that has made it legendary in these parts. (More elegant than the stickless Klondike, don’t you think?) Blogger Eric Swanson celebrated it in “Ode to the Balboa Bar,” which begins: “I think that I shall never taste/a treat that so quickly goes to waist.” Two good options in Newport Beach: Dad’s Donut & Bakery, 318 Marine Ave. 949-673-8686; Sugar ’n’ Spice, 310 Marine Ave. 949-673-8907.
Egg Nog Cupcake
French’s Cupcake Bakery has nailed the perfect holiday dessert with its light, cream-colored dainty cake. When you find yourself cranking up the car heater and KOST-FM 103.5 starts its 24 hours of Christmas music, head over to French’s for a mini, regular, or extra large—or try the other flavors, which are just as satisfying. 273 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa. 949-642-0571. www.frenchsbakery.com.
Seafood Market
If you follow your nose to Santa Monica Seafood, you’ll never find it. This stuff is as fresh as it gets. Name your fish and they have it, with more than 40 varieties displayed in a 50-foot case. Point to what you want and the fishmonger wraps it up. If you ask, he’ll tell you how to cook it, and suggest a bottle of white, which you can grab on your way out. Can’t wait? A cook will fry or grill your catch to go, or to enjoy right there at a patio table. 154 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa. 949-574-0274.
Cheese Shop
Owner-exec chef Azmin Ghahreman couldn’t have placed Sapphire Pantry in a more perfect spot. Nestled beside Sapphire Laguna, where he presides, the pantry glistens under the direction of cheesemonger Starr Cornwall. Peruse the selection of, yes, cheese, but also homemade breads, gourmet condiments, pastas, olives, and wines. Work in Laguna Beach? Pick up lunch to go. 1200 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. 949-715-9889. www.sapphirellc.com.