A new restaurant called Another Kind Cafe has opened in Laguna Beach. It serves both Vietnamese and Thai. Main dishes include pho and som tum (green papaya salad). It calls itself a “crossed-culture canteen” and proves it with desserts of turon and ginataan, which are Filipino. It's located on Laguna Canyon Road next to Laguna College of Art + Design and has indoor and outdoor seating.
793 Laguna Canyon Rd., CA 92651
Baker & Olive—a purveyor of oils, vinegars, cheese, charcuterie, and wine from the North San Diego area—is opening its first Orange County store in Newport Beach at Corona Del Mar Plaza. The opening date is slated for tomorrow, November 1 sometime later this month.
928 Avocado Ave., Suite 928, Newport Beach, CA 92660
Seasons Kitchen USA is opening this week in Anaheim at the 99 Ranch-anchored plaza on Crescent and Euclid. It will feature Malaysian cuisine, specializing in char siu fan (BBQ pork served with fragrant rice) & bak kut the (herbal pork soup with rice or noodles). Hainan chicken will also be on the menu.
641 N Euclid St., Anaheim, CA 92801
A new restaurant called Zinqué has opened in the Le Bistro Restaurant space in Newport Beach's Balboa Peninsula. It serves tartness, salads, and charcuterie. Mains include lasagna, quiche lorraine, and Bourguignon braised short ribs.
3446 Via Oporto, Newport Beach, CA 92663
COMING SOON
Inchin's Bamboo Garden, an Indian-Chinese chain with locations throughout the US, is slated to open in Irvine at Crossroads. As with its other restaurants, this outlet will feature a number of vegetarian-friendly dishes such as cauliflower Manchurian and paneer dishes, but also halal meat dishes such as Szechwan lamb and Mongolian beef.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.