We’re not complaining that dining choices are exploding at Irvine Spectrum Center. Just in the last few months you can taste award-winning barbecue at the new Wood Ranch BBQ; choose from more than 100 made to order types of Chinese dim sum at the new Capital Seafood Restaurant; and now Orange County’s first Paul Martin’s American Bistro opened at the Irvine Spectrum. Renowned restaurateurs Paul Fleming (of P. F. Chang's China Bistro and Fleming’s fame) and Brian Bennett debuted the farm to table concept in Roseville, and now expanded it to Orange County. Their mantra "Eat organic. Believe in sustainable. Buy local. Love fresh” gives us a place to enjoy locally grown, organic and seasonal foods handpicked from sources and purveyors, and fine California wines.
Paul Martin’s extensive menu offers something for every one including cedar planked salmon baked with shallots and bacon; sautéed Bloomsdale spinach and crimini mushroom jus; the favorite succulent Brick chicken from Pitman Family Farms with mashed potatoes and fresh herb jus; and a Bistro burger (pictured above) with fresh prime chuck from Myers Ranch all-natural herd.
It’s best to share and sample an assortment of small plates: artisan cheese and salume, and a seafood platter with the freshest oysters, shrimp and crab. For value-priced offerings go to the happy hour daily from 3 to 7 p.m. featuring $4 and $6 small plates like smoked salmon lettuce cups, shredded beef tacos on hand-made rolled corn tortillas made fresh daily in-house, cider-maple chicken skewers, and slow-cooked pork ribs. Mesquite grilled steak skewers with arugula and pineapple salsa, crispy fried chicken and fries and hand-rolled, made to order Thai fresh vegetable rolls at $8 per plate.
Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday; and noon to 11 p.m. Saturday.
31 Fortune Drive in Irvine. 949.453.1144.
Greer in the OC Register!
Greer Wylder was featured in the Orange County Register this weekend for her work as executive producer of a documentary on type 1 diabetes and the path to the cure.
Together with co-directors Lisa Hepner, 41, who has been a diabetic for 20 years, and her husband and filmmaker Guy Mossman, "Patient 13" will be the first in-depth look at diabetes and the efforts to find a cure.
Read the OC Register story here.
Photo by Paul Berseback, Orange County Register.
