Fashion, Dining & Trends of OC
Sign up now for your FREE Daily Dose of OC!
Greer’s Pick of the Week
The Sassoon Salon Experience
Sassoon Salon offers a truly exceptional cut and color that will effortlessly complement your personal style for the holidays.
Sponsored by Sassoon Salon, South Coast Plaza
Greer’s Good Life
A+ for A Restaurant
From the darling "valet girls" to the retro luxe interior, the legendary restaurant property has never looked so good. It's serving up a 3 p.m. bar menu daily; Saturday and Sunday brunch (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and dinner nightly from 5:30 p.m. 3334 West Coast Highway in Newport Beach. 949.650.6505
Sponsored by A Restaurant
daily dose of OC
GOING NATIVE WITH TASTE
Native Foods at the CAMP in Costa Mesa is a must place to eat, even for non-vegans. The yurt-style restaurant is one of the original local vegan restaurants. Even the New York Times mentioned Native Foods (its Palm Springs restaurant) as a great place to eat an organic lunch. (Other wildly successful locations are in Palm Desert and Westwood.)
Native Foods' delicious menu features a wide range of meat substitutes that are tasty enough to attract meat lovers. Founder and Chef Tanya Petrovna hasn't invented new foods; tempeh and seitan have ancient origins. Yet Native Foods makes them from scratch, truly an artisan’s craft. Their skill lies in creating meatless, dairy-free dishes that also have wonderful flavors and textures.
Its gourmet dishes are both healthy and enjoyable. The menu features a long list of salads, handholds (sandwiches or burgers), pizza, soups, hot bowls, snacks 'n' apps and sweet treats.
Try the ensalada Azteca featuring freshly chopped tomato, cucumber, avocado, resting on top of quinoa and romaine with a mango-lime vinaigrette, garnished with pumpkin seeds and currants. The Bali Surf Burger gets rave reviews from non-vegetarians. Sauteed and grilled tempeh, lettuce, carrot, red onion and vegan mayo. If you want, add some Native Cheese (a blend of Rain Forest cashews and sunflower seeds).
Hot bowls make hearty meals with cuisines from around the world represented, including a rockin' Moroccan bowl features speared soy marinated in a spicy ginger Moroccan marinade on grilled vegetables and quinoa garnished with currants and toasted almonds; and a Gandhi bowl with jasmine and brown rice, steamed vegetables, blackened tempeh topped with cranberries and its wild curry sauce.
Desserts lack dairy products and refined sugars, but Native Foods can create rich alternatives: carrot cake with dream cheese frosting and elephant chocolate cake are two delicious choices.
If you want to learn some of Petrovna's secrets, you can sign up for her fun cooking classes.
Open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 2937 Bristol St. in Costa Mesa. 714.751.2151.
“...the best website in America for fashionistas and foodies!”
