Dining
BURGER & BEER PARADISE AT TOMMY BAHAMA!
03.16.11
Review by Joanne Tucker
Chart your course to Tommy Bahama’s Island Grille, where you’ll find a new Burgers & Beer Menu that blends the fresh flavors of California with Tommy Bahama’s island roots in six handcrafted burgers and six microbrews for lunch or dinner.
Located in the Corona del Mar Plaza at the corner of Avocado Drive and PCH in Corona del Mar, Tommy Bahama’s Island Grille has soothing British Colonial décor with dark woods, soft golden lighting and rotating ceiling fans that gives guests an intimate vibe while dining on their favorite gourmet burger or relaxing with a draft lager or ale brew.
Most of us have experienced the fast food burger and diner or café burger fare, but what makes a Tommy Bahama’s burger different from the ordinary burger world?
For this reviewer, it’s the mouth-watering golden brown broche bun from LA’s La Brea Bakery and the juicy prime Angus beef patty that sets a T.B. burger apart. Plus, the fresh and creative accoutrements between the broche buns also heighten the taste of a true gourmet burger.
But how can one resist such culinary temptations? We couldn’t and dove into a table laden with six awesome T.B. burgers and flights of six draft beers to sample, along with three choices of fries that come with each burger.
My picky granddaughter happily dined on the All American Burger, which features prime Angus, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo with house-made dill pickles and sweet potato fries ($13.50).
The more adventurous burger lovers in the family sampled the Jamaican Jerk Burger with jerk rub on prime Angus and citrus mayo slaw ($14) and the Caprese Burger, which includes mozzarella, beefsteak tomato, walnut tapenade and white balsamic ($15). Both were crowd pleasers as well as the Hawaiian sea salt and truffle fries.
The bolder burger explorers taste-tested the Wailea Burger, which comes with crispy pancetta, grilled Maui onions and pineapple relish ($15.50). The ultra luxe of the burger world is the the Mushroom Truffle Burger. It comes topped with grilled shitakes on a Snake River Farms American Kobe patty and Tartufo cheese. Yummy!
For vegetarians, there’s a delicious meatless patty with avocado, alfalfa sprouts, roasted tomatoes, English cucumbers and lime sour cream ($13.50). Even my carnivore son-in-law was impressed with the fresh taste of this burger.
But no burger would be complete without a frosty mug of beer and Tommy Bahama’s doesn’t disappoint. The new draft beer menu includes light beers such as Kona Longboard Lager, Allagash White and Duvel Green Ale while the darker brews include Stone IPA, Humboldt Hemp Brown Ale and Spaten Optimator ($6-8). We enjoyed the light Duvel Green Ale and the dark Humboldt Hemp Brown Ale.
When the dessert tray was passed around, we couldn’t pass up a sweet treat and ordered the multi-layered chocolate cake and Papa Bahama’s version of Key West Lime Pie, which we all loved.
After this sumptuous repast, we felt like we had just entered burger and beer paradise, and heartily gave a “thumbs-up” to Tommy Bahama’s way cool Burgers & Beer Menu.
Tommy Bahama’s Island Grille, 854 Avocado Ave., Corona del Mar, 949-760-8686, www.tommybahama.com.
Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thu.; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun.
Joanne Tucker is a freelance travel and dining writer based in Costa Mesa, Calif.
SAVE SCIENCE AT SPRING FLINGO!
03.16.11
Did you know Newport Mesa’s Kaiser & Woodland Schools recently lost a huge source for their science programs? You can do something about it by attending Kaiser & Woodland Schools Foundation’s Spring Flingo benefit to “Save Our Science.”
Held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Apr. 2 at Newport Beach Golf Course, Spring Flingo costs just $25 per person and includes a no-host cocktail reception, Mexican food buffet, bingo games orchestrated by a fun host, a Texas Hold ‘Em-style poker tournament, an extensive silent auction baskets and several opportunity drawings.
Here's more information about Spring Flingo:
Bingo, which will be held from 7:30-9 p.m., includes a hilarious host, entertainment for everyone and prizes for the winner. 10 cards for $40.
Texas Hold ‘Em Poker has limited seating, starts at 7 p.m. and features first, second and third place prizes. $100 buy-in donation.
The first prize in the Spring Flingo Opportunity Drawing is a week at a flat on the West Coast of Ireland in the city of Kilkee. The second prize is an Apple iPad2 and the third prize is a year’s worth of pizza from Original Pizza in Costa Mesa. Tickets costs $10 each or three for $20.
To purchase admission tickets, visit http://kwschools.org/14.html
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