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OC Restaurant Week, Our Top 10 List

03.06.17

It’s Orange County Restaurant Week! More than 100 OC Restaurants are offering offer special three-course menus, many with a cocktail or signature item at no additional charge now through Saturday, March 11. Our top 10 favorites from the list are an exceptional choice and value.

Orange County landed an exceptional seafood and raw bar restaurant when Anchor Hitch in Mission Viejo opened last year. Chef Michael Pham has created a delicious four-course dinner ($40) that’s a great value and seafood-centric, minus the Hangar Steak. You’ll have a choice of a clam chowder pot pie, or raspberry prosciutto salad; and an appetizer—choose from Cajun seared albacore, Hamachi chipotle ceviche, or abalone panna cotta. For an entrée, choose from Pan Seared Branzino, Hanger Steak or our favorite, the Tom Yum Agnoletti, an amazing ravioli stuffed with shrimp. Dessert choices include Girl Scout Caramel deLites with Chocolate Coconut Caramel Crumble and Butter Scotch Miso Angel Cake. Anchor Hitch is also offer wine pairing ($20), cocktail pairing ($20), or beer pairing ($15). For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

27741 Crown Valley Parkway in Mission Viejo. 949.226.8949.

One of Orange County’s best chefs, Yves Fournier at Andrei’s Conscious Cuisine in Irvine has created a three-course lunch ($20) and three-course dinner ($40) to celebrate the week. You can enjoy specialties such as Portobello Steak Fries, Panko-crusted Portobello Mushroom fries with tarter dip; a Moroccan Wrap with quinoa tabouleh, roasted red bell pepper, avocado, Upton’s Chorizo Seitan, Sriracha Chii Hummus, baby arugula and whole wheat tortilla; and the Sea Bass Provencale with pan-roasted Seasonal Seabass, Chorizo, Zucchini, Fennel, Basil-Pesto Risotto Cake, Slow Roasted Tomato Sauce, Pastis, and Toasted Pine Nuts. Andrei’s Signature Carrot Cake is a must and it’s on both the lunch and dinner menus. You can also enjoy a featured Chambord Cocktail ($12), a La Vie en Rose with Grey Goose Vodka, Chambord, Rose Champagne and Cherry Almond Ice. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

2607 Main St. in Irvine. 949.387.8887.

Coastal Kitchen in Dana Point is one of our favorite new restaurants in OC. It’s offering a two-course lunch ($20) and three-course dinner ($40) with Starter choices such as their delicious New England Clam Chowder with crisp bacon, and house made croutons; and Pork Belly bites. You’ll love their Classic Cheeseburger and Cuban Sandwich with Pork shoulder, Black Forest Ham and Muenster at lunch; and on the dinner menu, go for the Braised Short Rib with roasted Brussels and red cabbage slaw; or Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with whole grain mustard sauce and red cabbage slaw. The S’mores Pie for dessert is one of our favorites—graham cracker crust, chocolate custard and marshmallow pie. You can substitute a Starter with any draft beer, or glass of house or white wine. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

34091 Pacific Coast Highway. 949.449.2822.

Fig & Olive at Fashion Island is also going all out for OC Restaurant Week. Their three-course lunch ($20) and three-course dinner ($50) offer some of our favorite seasonal dishes. You can also add their signature crostini for $8 at lunch or dinner. Choose from Zucchini Carpaccio, Quinoa Salad, and Truffle Mushroom Croquette for starters at lunch; and Fig & Olive salad and Crab Cakes at dinner; and Entrée choice include Grilled Thyme Chicken Paillard, Paella Del Mar at lunch; and at dinner: Chilean Sea Bass and Fig & Olive Tajine. For dessert, you can choose from Dessert Crostini and Chocolate Pot de Crème at lunch; or Chocolate Pot de Crème or Chestnut Mousse with Amarena Cherry at dinner. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

151 Newport Center Drive in Newport Beach. 949.877.3005.

Five Crowns consistently makes our list as a top spot to enjoy a Restaurant Week menu. They go all out for the occasion and for ($50) you can enjoy a three-course dinner with choices such as Salmon Tartare, Spinach Salad with beets, blueberries, pistachios, lamb chopper and vincotto; and Crispy Artichoke Hearts with Watercress dressing. Main Choices include your choice of Prime Rib; Linguini with lobster, uni, ramps, lemon and beurre fondue; or Grilled Ribeye Medallion with asparagus, Yukon gold potatoes and sauce aux morilles. Dessert choices include Lemon Steam Cake; or Panna Cotta with strawberries and rhubarb; or CC Browns Hot Fudge Sundae. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

3801 E. Coast Highway in Corona del Mar. 949.760.0331.

Award-winning Chef Ross Pangilinan Mix Mix Kitchen Bar in Downtown Santa Ana is making OC Restaurant Week a must by offering four ways to dine! You can choose a a three-course lunch ($20), a three-course Sunday Brunch ($20), a four-course dinner ($40), or a $80 Luxe dinner menu. You can choose from “Snacks” such as Tuna Poke Toast, Local Goat Cheese Toast, Deviled Egg; and “Small Plates” such as Market Vegetable Soup and Filipino Ceviche; and “Plates” such as House Made Pasts, Kobe Burger; and Crispy Duck Leg. He’s even added a Girl Scout S’Mores Cookie Parfait dessert with S’Mores Cookie milk panna cotta, S’Mores crumble, Valrhona manjari cremeux, and torched nitro marshmallow nuts. You can view the entire OCRW menu here.

300 N. Main St. in Santa Ana. 714.836.5158.

We love that Moulin’s Restaurant Week menu is just $20 for lunch or dinner and you can order it to go from the Newport Beach or Laguna Beach location! The first course is a La Soupe a L’Oignon with house baked baguettes topped with melting Emmental cheese; and for the Second Course, you can take home Moulin’s famous slow-cooked rotisserie half chicken with your choice of French Fries, Roasted Potatoes, or Green Salad. Dessert is a French patisserie surprise.

1000 N. Bristol St. in Newport Beach. 949.474.0920.
248 Forest Ave. in Laguna Beach. 949.715.6990.

At Provenance in Newport Beach, you can be treated a special Napa Valley-style three-course lunch ($20) and dinner ($40) from award-winning chef Cathy Pavlos. The salads feature fresh clipped greens from Provenance’s gardens and with highlights such as the Spiced Squash, Pumpkin, Butternut and Crispy Artichoke Platter with Applewood smoked bacon, fried cage free egg, roasted shallots, arugula, torched rosemary, pine nuts, chipotle-maple oil; and Provenance Burger, with handcut proprietary blend of 4 premium beefs, gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, grilled garden chard, tomato jam on brioche bun; and the Honey Balsamic Winter Spiced Free Range Lamb Chops with mint gremolata, roasted potatoes, heirloom carrots, spinach, crispy artichoke, and veal demi-glace. Provenance desserts are among the best in OC! We especially love the Mini Apple Pie a la Mode on the Beach with caramelized granny smith apples, bourbon-candied pecan sauce, gingerbread crust, caramel, vanilla bean ice cream, and cinnamon sand. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

2531 Eastbluff Drive in Newport Beach. 949.718.0477.

Chef Pascal Olhats at Pascal in San Juan Capistrano is offering a four-course dinner ($50) and he’s also offering a $80 Luxe Dinner menu. The first course is your choice of Homemade Pate & Rillette with homemade condiments, Salad Lyonnasie, or Onion Soup. The second course is Sorbet; third course choices include Scottish Salmons Scaloppini with Vermouth sauce and Manassero Farms spring vegetables, or Smoked and Roasted Rack of Lamb with Mediterranean spices. The fourth course is dessert and you can choose from a Lemon Tart, or Chocolate Flourless Cake with caramelized poached pear, or Warm Macanese Tart. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

31451 Rancho Viejo Road in San Juan Capistrano. 949.488.0031.

SeaSalt in Huntington Beach is always a great choice and its wood fire grill and Santa Maria cuisine is one of a kind in OC. We love its three-course dinner ($40) that comes with a choice of Cowboy Caviar, Tri Tip Nachos and Pork Belly Mac & Cheese. For your main dish, you have a choice of Santa Maria Tri Tip and Linguisa, Pork Chop, Santa Maria Tri Tip Sandwich and Salmon Steak. Sea Salt’s incredible dessert choices include Omar’s Banana Pudding or Olive Oil, SeaSalt Ice Cream. For the entire OCRW menu visit, here.

21214 Beach Blvd., in Huntington Beach. 714.804.5545.

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20qs

Noah Plomgren

03.03.17

One of the cast members of Finding Neverland, Noah Plomgren hails from O.C. He's from Laguna Beach. In between rehearsals and touring for his role as Lord Cannon, Plomgren carved out some time to do a Q&A with us. You can find out what it’s like to be a part of a Broadway musical, what he does in his off hours, and what advice he would give to someone interested in a career in theatre.

1. Congratulations on your tour with Finding Neverland! What are some of your personal highlights of landing this role?
Thanks so much! Its been an absolute blast so far. Too many highlights to count. I get to travel to so many amazing places every few weeks and see the country. I get to play a really fun role in a really wonderful company of actors. I get to work with Diane Paulus and Mia Michaels, two brilliant women who I am a HUGE fan of and have been since being a little theatre geek growing up in Southern California. We would watch So You Think You Can Dance RELIGIOUSLY in high school and getting to work with Mia was never something I imagined myself getting the chance to do. Diane is also one of the most visionary and smart directors working in the American theatre today so getting to be in a rehearsal room with her everyday was nothing short of thrilling.

2. Does the musical, differ from the film?
A bit. The story is essentially the same. The movie is absolutely gorgeous and I LOVED it when it first came out. The musical takes that same story but adds a bit more whimsy to it, along with some thrilling musical production numbers, huge gorgeous sets, and a few moments of magic that can only be witnessed and work in live theater.

3. Do you have a favorite scene in your production?
There is a number called “PLAY” that we do in act two where a bunch of disgruntled and frustrated actors and stagehands are voicing their opinions and anger in a local pub and by the end of the number, completely rediscover their inner child. Its an absolute BLAST to get to do every night and a great reminder to remember that inner child and not take everything so seriously. That’s probably my favorite scene if I had to pick one. But there are a few I could pick from.

4. Can you give us some of your personal background? How did you get involved in theater?
My mother signed me up to do a play with the Children’s Repertory Theatre Company when I was 5 years old. This was an organization run by Shilind Wheaton and Dane Silzle who are the two people responsible for my obsession with the theatre. It was this wild original musical called “Where Are The Walls” that took place not too far into the future where humans started turning into computers and we didn’t know how to stop it. It was sort of brilliant and I played this robot named Calcium. I don’t think I really knew what I was doing or even understood the concept of the show at the time, but I was hooked and became obsessed from there on out. I continued to do community and school theater all while growing up and then got my BFA in acting from Carnegie Mellon University where I graduated almost 5 years ago.

5. You’re originally from Laguna Beach, what are some of your fondest memories of growing up in OC?
My best memories are probably from all the productions I did at No Square Theatre, Gallimaufry Performing Arts, and the Laguna Playhouse growing up, as well as our high school shows at LBHS. That’s where I made most of my friends and laughed the most.

6. Where is home today?
New York City.

7. Could you tell us a bit about your character - and what is his importance in terms of the narrative?
I play the role of Lord Cannan who’s this stuffy, upper-class society man. He swoops in and begins an affair with Mary (JM Barrie’s wife) and is a bit of a contributing factor to his marriage falling apart.

8. What does a typical day look like for you while you’re on tour?
A typical day usually consists of waking up in the morning and working out/doing a bit of yoga. I’ll usually either chill in my hotel room and read/watch movies for a bit if I’m especially tired, or I’ll go out and explore/find cool things to do in the city that we are currently in. I’m a big fan of just walking around and seeing what I stumble on, or renting a car for a few hours and exploring cities that way. I love finding a good hike or a good bookstore. Finding good food is also high up on the list. Then I’ll start getting ready for my show/warming up around 5 or 6 p.m., do a show, and then find a cool bar with my castmates or just go back to the hotel and crash from exhaustion haha. Of course, there is never a typical day on tour since many times we have rehearsal during the day for understudy assignments/cast replacements/brushups/etc, we may have two shows, or it may be a travel day to our next city.

9. What is your proudest moment in your career?
There is a play I did a few years ago at the Pittsburgh Public Theater called NOISES OFF which for the first few weeks of rehearsal and even into the first few performances was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my career. It seemed like this insurmountable task in a role I didn’t think I was at all right for, but after having done it, I think its the best thing I’ve done so far and the role/production I’m the most proud of. I’m also a laugh whore and that play gave me a laugh what seemed like every 5 seconds which felt…really great.

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?
Hopefully just doing some really cool and interesting work with some really cool and interesting people and being able to pay my rent while doing it.

11. What would be your dream role?
There are two. Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park with George and Leo Frank in Parade.

12. Who are your personal idols?
Mark Rylance may be my favorite actor of all time. I’ve made the effort to see just about everything he’s done on stage in New York and I’m always gobsmacked by what he’s able to do. He’s the kind of artist I aspire to be. He’s definitely an idol. Dustin Hoffman. Mike Nichols. I’m also currently reading Jim Henson’s biography and have always been fascinated and inspired by him. There are too many to count. I could keep typing names for the next three hours. But those are the big ones.

13. What is it like for you to perform in a musical? Is it tiring, fun, exciting?
It's all of those things.It's literally the BEST job in the world. This show is immensely fun. It's always exciting because its live theater and you never know what’s going to happen or how the audience is going to react. It's an incredibly physically intense show so I feel like I’m perpetually exhausted but once the curtain goes up, that adrenaline hits and I don’t really notice the fatigue until the curtain comes down. It's also wonderful to be able to do such a long run because we get to keep making discoveries and finding new things every night and making the show and our characters deeper and richer.

14. What do you do for fun in your spare time?
I’m a voracious reader so I read lots of books. I also love to eat (who doesn’t?) so finding new great restaurants is fun. Since it's awards season I’ve also been catching up on all the big movies from this year in my spare time which has been a blast. It's been a really wonderful year for film.

15. Do you have any advice for students that may also be interested in going into theater and music?
If this is something you really want to do and really love to do, keep at it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. Keep working and keep persevering and BE YOU. So many of us (myself included) spend so much time trying to be something that we think other people want us to be in this business that we ignore our authentic selves which is the thing that makes us interesting and fascinating to watch. See everything you can. Read everything you can. Experience everything you can. Stay interested and awake. My favorite advice though comes from Steve Martin - “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

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