Brunch at Saint Marc Pub-Cafe, Bakery & Cheese Affinage in Huntington Beach! | @SaintMarcUSA

Brunch at Saint Marc Pub-Cafe, Bakery & Cheese Affinage

By Erin

I’ve found a very tasty brunch spot in a beautiful location that you must try and they have a bacon bar! Saint Marc – Pub, Cafe, Bakery & Cheese Affinage at Pacific City in Huntington Beach, California, is a remarkable concept that offers exceptional, nostalgic Americana cuisine. Boasting both a very pet friendly and family friendly environment, Saint Marc does an excellent job of blurring the lines between kitchen, staff and customer, with all of its open spaces that reveal the restaurant’s heart and soul.  The staff is more than happy to give you their expert advice on Saint Marc’s unique selection of distinctive food and hydration available at your table or  you can choose to make your own selections from free-standing iPad stations at your table.

Saint-Marc-Huntington-Beach

The chefs, sommeliers, mixologists and hospitality industry mavericks, are all dressed to match in chef’s coats. Saint Marc offers a very unique, one-of-a-kind, 360° morning to midnight experience without the expense and exclusivity you might expect from culinary talents of this degree and with such high quality food and drink.

Bacon-Bar-Saint-Marc-Huntington-Beach

You are free to order what you want when you want it, free-flow bread from the bakery is available, over 100 cheese selections from boards to fondue, craft beers in a can, 32 wines on draught, with mixology served in Red Solo Cups and dishes served on faux paper plates, is just a small sampling of what makes Saint Marc so unique.

Drinks-Brunch-Saint-Marcs-Huntington-Beach

Located along the Huntington Beach coastline within the vibrant new Pacific City Marketplace, Saint Marc’s flagship establishment engages all of the senses, with worldly sights, sounds, aromas and flavors that invoke a five-star experience yet provide an environment as open and welcoming as home. As we were seated, we were welcomed with these light and refreshing Aperol Spritz.

Saint-Marc-Bacon

We had heard about the bacon bar here and were eager to try some of their delicious bacon creations. The bacon bar is open for to-go orders now too. The Bacon Bar offers 11 signature flavors of bacon ‘buy’ the slice — including the Baker’s Double Smoked Bacon, Garlic Parmesan Bacon, Paprika Slanina Bacon, Peppered Country Bacon, Tender Belly Maple Bacon, Baker’s English Style Bacon, Zoe’s Applewood Uncured Bacon, Apple Pie Bacon, Tender Belly Habanero, Logwood Double Cut and Coffee Rubbed Bacon. My favorite one of them all was the Apple Pie Bacon. At a close second were the Baker’s English Style Bacon and the Garlic Parmesan Bacon. This bacon bar is a real treat for all the bacon lovers out there! 🙂

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Would You Like That Burrito’d at Farrell’s| #Farrells @FarrellsIsBack

Would You Like That Burrito’d at Farrell’s!

By Erin

Farrell’s Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlours is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with the world’s first (as far as we know) “Would You Like That Burrito’d?” event. From May 1 through May 15 you can get almost anything on the Farrell’s menu, burrito’d. When we were invited to come in and try this concept out I was curious to see how this all worked and  was wondering what would be fun to try to get ‘burrito’d.’ The process of burrito’ing something is to take an item and wrap it in a large tortilla. The concept is pretty simple, but the results are lots of fun and, with most food items, surprisingly delicious!

Farrells Restaurant
We made our way on over to the Buena Park location to give the burrito’d thing a try. My birthday was in a few days, so we had an early celebration of that too. Why not right? As “Farrell’s is always about celebrating with family and friends, being unique, pushing the envelope, and having fun! So, for Cinco De Mayo we wanted to give people an alternative to the traditional trip to the local cantina for a margarita and chips.” Said Michael Fleming, Farrell’s CEO. Fleming continued, “When the idea first came up we all thought it was really funny, but after tasting some of our burrito’d items, they are really, really yummy! A few of my favorites were the Burrito’d BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger, Chili Cheese Fries, and Gastro sandwich. We hope our guests have as much fun with this promotion as we did when creating the different burrito’d items.”

Cherry-Coke-FarrellsWe needed something to wash down all the yummy ‘burrito’d’ items and you can’t go wrong with a cherry coke! So what did we get burrito’d?

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger

The first thing that we got burrito’d was the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger.

BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Farrells

This was really good as a “burrito.” A 1/2 pound burger smothered with plum BBQ sauce, topped with melty cheese, onion strings, fresh produce and hardwood smoked bacon. Wrapped up in a tortilla to make it ‘burrito’d.’ This is a great savory option to have as a burrito.

Hula Girl Farrells

If you want a little sweeter option to get burrito’d, then you might want to try the Hula Girl as a burrito! A juicy grilled chicken breast with sweet, fresh grilled Dole pineapple, tangy sesame ginger dressing, swiss cheese, and produce on a whole wheat bun. I very much enjoyed this one!

Buffalo Mac N Cheese Farrells

If you really want to have something fun, then get this one burrito’d! The Buffalo Mac; Cavatappi pasta and tender grilled chicken mixed in spicy buffalo cheese sauce and covered with melted bleu cheese. Baked in the oven then topped with more buffalo sauce, their famous onion strings, ranch dressing, and green onions. You also get a side salad with this one. This one does have a bit of a kick to it, so if you like some spice, you will love this. 🙂

Ice Cream Nachos Farrells

What would a fiesta be without some nachos (and dessert)? To end our special adventure we had some delicious Ice Cream Nachos! Crispy tortilla chips (waffle cone pieces) for dipping into the mint chip, chocolate malted crunch and animal cookie ice cream. All topped off with hot fudge, caramel, marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, mixed nuts, and a cherry. Ole!

Even through Farrell’s will provide guests with a handout that explains the promotion and makes recommendations of food items to burrito, they say they will burrito just about anything on their menu. Some items they recommend not burrito’ing include fried pickle appetizers, pizzas, or any soup (for obvious reasons). They do recommend burrito’ing any of their burgers or salads and many of their sandwiches and appetizers. Farrell’s locations participating in this promotion include Brea, Buena Park, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, and Sacramento. For specific store address, hours, or to make an on-line reservation visit FarrellsUSA.com.

What would you get Burrito’d? 🙂

Good Times at Tempo Urban Kitchen | @TempoKitchen #TempoUrbanKitchen

Good Times at Tempo Urban Kitchen

By Erin

Tempo Urban Kitchen in Brea, California is marching to its own culinary beat and creating some amazing dishes that are not to be missed. I knew right from the start that we were in for a fun evening the second we walked through the door (you’ll see what I mean once you see the pictures below..) I was invited to attend a media tasting last week here to check out not only the amazing eats, but also the very eclectic atmosphere, some behind the scenes action in the kitchen and meet not only one out of this world chef, but 3! All of the invited guests were treated to 3 outstanding local OC chefs who each prepared a special dish for our dining extravaganza. Check out what these talented chefs are cooking up here at Tempo Urban Kitchen! You are in for a very enjoyable dining experience here.

Tempo Urban Kitchen

The ambiance of this dining haven is very friendly, welcoming , urban, chic and very eclectic, with lots of colorful contemporary artwork on the walls, that I noticed were also for sell. I think it’s pretty safe to say we were all super excited to see this new bar and eatery from owner, Jorge Cueva and to finally get to taste the Latin American offerings that we have all been seeing pictures of leading up to this night. It was awesome to be back to taste some of Chef Chris Tzorin’s crazy delicious creations as well since late last year we were all treated to an amazing dinner by Chef Chris Tzorin. Chris has been on several Food Network shows and is one amazingly talented and inspirational guy. He never gives up and keeps going for his dreams.Tempo-Urban-Kitchen-Drinks

Ok, so NOW you see why I said earlier this is such a super fun place? THIS is what you see the second you step into the door! The bar greets you full on with this beautiful setup! They have a very nice selection of tequilas and spirits offered. 🙂

Tempo Urban Kitchen Lights

Make sure you look up when you walk in as well. I love all the natural light and the other creative lighting hanging throughout the dining area.

Tempo Urban Kitchen Chefs

Chef Chris Tzorin had us start off the evening with a tour through the kitchen and to meet the other chefs and staff who were diligently preparing dinner for us. The owner of Tempo Urban Kitchen Jorge Cueva; hand picked and brought in these three awesome and talented young Chefs: (from left to right) Executive Chef Salvador Carrillo, Chef Chris Tzorin,  & Chef Charly Perez.

Tempo Urban Kitchen Prep Chef Charly Perez cooking up the deconstructed Korean tacos we were about to devour and enjoy.

TUK Margaritas

Once seated, we were greeting with these sweet things. Some Mango- Serrano Infused Margaritas with a Tajino rim. Sweet and spicy and so refreshing.

TUK Grilled Octopus

Our first bite of the night was the Marinated Grill Octopus, Created by Chef Chris Tzorin. Made with guajillo chili oil, a creamy Serrano sauce, lime cream and chipotle mayo, and topped with microgreens.  Served on wood planks to make it easy to dip into the Chipotle Aioli and greens. Oh my, so good. I did not want to share this. With anyone!! A very enjoyable dish, you will want to savor every last morsel of these bites of pure joy.

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