Urban Plates, the self-described “farm-to-table” cafeteria from the Del Mar neighborhood of San Diego, serves a very respectable turkey meatloaf. It's even better when you get it with a side of sautéed broccolini while it's still hot from the pan and a scoop of mashed potato that's almost as good as Tender Greens over at the Irvine Spectrum.
Since this Irvine outlet opened about a month ago, the line forms early and quick for hot meals cooked in an actual stoves behind the servers, and sold for a reasonable price point of $10. The concept isn't new. Lemonade at Fashion Island, and as I mentioned, Tender Greens at the Spectrum came to OC first. But I think a friend put it best when he described this new breed of eateries as “Yuppie Boston Markets.”
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Perhaps the single best reason to queue up with the yuppies at Urban Plates is the mango tart–a pastry that sells for a slightly exorbitant $5 a slice, but is still kind of worth it. The crust is a shortbread-like, dense and crumbly thing about twice the thickness of what you'd find in a pumpkin pie. This is slathered with a layer of smooth custard, then mangoes arranged like petals on a flower. Together it forms an amazing dessert.
I've not tasted mangoes this ripe, juicy and sugary since the last time I had it with sticky rice at a Thai restaurant. You might as well shell out $30 for the whole tart. As a yuppie, you can afford it.
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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.