Hits and Misses:OC's Sushi Murasaki

Usually I'm at a loss on where to eat in Orange County, and wouldn't even consider sushi. I mean, LA sushi is soo good and I was skeptical of OC sushi. Nonetheless, my friend convinced me a while ago to try out Sushi Murasaki, which had rave reviews (this is a backpost from long, long time ago).

The place was practically empty at lunch and we sat at the sushi bar in front of the owner.
We started off with some cucumber sunomono, then started ordering our sushi.
We started with some hamachi and the chef suggested some hamachi belly also (which obviously we took!)
The fish was pretty fresh, and the hamachi belly melts in your mouth. I was pleasantly surprised.

We also got some kanpachi
I thought he had put a little too much rice for my taste, but again, the fish was good and fresh.
I don't know how it would be when his apprentice is making it, but we had a great experience with the owner as the sushi chef.

There was a list of specials of cooked items, so we tried a couple of them. First we got the seafood croquette.
Pretty big croquette, and the filling and the crunchiness is great, but I wanted more seafood - or more flavorful seafood. Still, not bad, Iwould eat it again.

We also got some Black Cod with Wild Mushrooms and Daikon
This was ... meh ... bland. The fish is overcooked and tough, the sauce and the wild mushrooms added nothing. A waste of a cod, really.

My final impression was that this place has good sushi - good quality fish and all, but the cooked dishes were all ... meh, not worth it. I would recommend going to this place, but for the sushi only, although their fish choices are limited compared to a lot of LA places. But there's no need to get the cooked dishes - in fact, please don't (except the croquette).

Sushi Murasaki
2901 W MacArthur Blvd
Ste 108
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 241-1000
www.sushi-murasaki.com

Eat Lots A Fish!

Lately I have been driving down to Orange County way too many times to appease a friend of mine who keeps complaining about me never visiting (I don't know why she says that, I visit ALL the time ..)
But at any rate, being stuck in OC where I think there's always not that much to do, we have to keep coming up with potential good places to eat.

Recently, my friend suggested the Crab Cooker (with their motto Eat Lots A Fish!), either the one in Newport Beach or the restaurant in Tustin. I didn't need any additional reason to cut my driving time if at all possible, so I obviously picked Tustin. So, this review is only of the Crab Cooker Restaurant and I don't know how representative it will be of the Newport Beach location.

We came in with high expectation since apparently this place had raving reviews and supposed to have best crab cakes.

The Crab Cooker Restaurant is tacky in a charming way. The outside is painted all red, and the inside is decorated with various ocean-related knick knacks.

We started with the famous Maryland crab cakes ($9 for 2)
The crab cakes were good, but they weren't anything special. I guess they were cheaper than if we had gone to an upscale seafood restaurant? Anyway, the taste was good, but it wasn't as chock full of crabs as we would have preferred.

We ordered that day's special appetizer: Sweet Spotted Shrimp.

In my opinion, fresh seafood is best when prepared very simply :)
This was followed by some King Crabs
They look very fresh and delicious, don't they? :) They were.

For our main meal we ordered the Australian Lobster, Crab Cooker style.
The lobster was a little chewy, but fresh and tasty nonetheless. The sauce was pretty good, but I think I still prefer it the plain and simple way. (Or steamed with ginger, garlic, and scallions the Chinese way :P )

All in all, I think the main reason I posted this review is because the pictures turned out so well. The seafood they had was definitely fresh and good, but I don't think it's worth driving down from Pasadena just for that. If you happen to live/find yourself in the Tustin area though, and can't seem to find a good place to go to, I would definitely recommend the Crab Cooker.

The Crab Cooker
17260 E. 17th Street
Tustin, CA
(714) 573-1077
www.crabcooker.com

Fondue the Right Way

Not too long ago my friend took me to La Fondue in San Juan Capistrano with her exclaiming that "Melting Pot Sucks! (although their chocolate fondue's not bad)."

First off, their decoration is AMAZING! Especially their chairs! All the chairs are shaped into something interesting. For example, the chair in the Ladies room is gold-colored, the top shaped like a swan and the legs are a pair of feet wearing Ballet shoes. They have knight-themed chairs, etc. I suggest going to their website and looking at the photos :)

So began our amazing 3-course meal (plus salad). We got the Fondue Feast (For 2) and shared it among 3 people. This item is $92 and it's plenty for three people, really.

First comes the salad. We got the Chef's Salad, which comes with "Chef's Rolls" which my friend could not go without.

And then there was CHEESE! We obviously went with the Pesto & Cognac, since we love pesto (doesn't everyone?)

Comes with bread and various vegetables.
The cons: NOT ENOUGH of this goodness! we were scraping the pot with whatever bread/veggie remained.

By this point we were already full. But more to go. And we can handle it ...

So I like my meat grilled, not boiled. So we got "The Grill" which is one of the things that puts this place over The Melting Pot.

They took our pot away and brought a small black grill and a little black spatula.

Here was our feast:

Chicken Japonaise
Teriyaki Sirloin
Buffalo
Wild Savage Duck
Wild Boar
Private Reserve Filet Mignon


They give you 6 dipping sauces. And as much garlic as you want.


The Chocolate Fondue ... well, chocolate is mostly always delicious, isn't it? :)
Their rice krispies balls are generally the hit, and they give only one for each person :<

La Fondue
31761 Camino Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
(949) 240 0300
www.lafondue.com

Orange County Reviews

AnQi (Costa Mesa) - Red Hour
Bacchus Bar and Bistro (Irvine)
Blue C Sushi (Newport Beach)
Bruxie (Orange)
Burger Parlor (Fullerton)
Calivino Wine Pub (Anaheim)
Carolina's Italian Restaurant (Anaheim)
Charlie Palmer's at Bloomingdale's (Costa Mesa)
Crab Cooker (Tustin)
Cucina Enoteca (Irvine)
Great Maple Libations and Seasonal Plates (Newport Beach)
Hamamori (Costa Mesa)
Kaori Japanese Restaurant (Fullerton)
La Fondue (San Juan Capistrano)
Lido Deck (Newport Beach)
Nuoc Mia Vien Tay (Garden Grove)
Pizzeria Ortica (Costa Mesa)
Quan Hop (Westminster)
Quan Vy Da (Westminster)
Seasons 52 ( Costa Mesa)
Sidecar Doughnuts (Costa Mesa)
Siem Reap (Westminster)
Sushi Murasaki (Santa Ana)
TAPS Fish House and Brewery (Brea) : Brunch Buffet
Theorem by Portola Coffee Lab (Costa Mesa)
Vien Dong (Garden Grove)
Xanh Bistro (Fountain Valley)

LA/OC Food Trucks

Ahn-Joo 
Border Grill Truck 
El Taquito (Pasadena)
Get Shaved 
Heirloom LA
Kogi
The Lobsta Truck
Manila Machine
Mariscos El Teto's
Rambo's Taco Truck
SoHo Taco