The Dream Team : The Verdict Is in for 25 Praiseworthy Plates

The past 12 months have not been extraordinary in terms of restaurant openings or trends. But at least it was a year of great dishes.

Some years I have to stretch to think of 25 dishes deserving special praise. This year, I had to leave several deserving ones off the list, among them the Zuni fry bread at Memphis Cafe (and practically everything else on the menu there) and the light, healthful pastas at Costa Mesa’s Venus at the Spa.

This was the year the Spectrum Entertainment Center opened in Irvine, bringing us a food court starring the killer burgers of a Canadian-based chain called Blueberry Hill. Two of the best new O.C. restaurants opened next door toeach other on South Bristol in Costa Mesa: the excellent Memphis is evolved Southern; Habana (in the Lab anti-mall) is a first-rate Cuban restaurant with style to burn. And the gigantic, tent-like Twin Palms (an offshoot of the one in Pasadena) recently debuted to brisk business near Fashion Island.

Things to look forward to: With steak apparently back in style, a Ruth Chris’s Steak House is in the works for ’96. Also expect a bunch of new Asian and Pacific Rim spots.

My mouth is watering already.

* House special lobster: When I look back on 1995 (and forward to ‘96), the one dish I want to eat again and again is this incredible platter of fresh Maine lobster cut into glistening pieces, flecked with red pepper and awash with bits of fried lobster coral and crisp green onion; it’s as intense a lobster dish as I have ever tasted. Chef Loi Truong uses butter, salt, rice wine and a sauce he will not reveal. This is simply a miracle dish, best shared among four or more.

Newport Seafood, 4411 W. 1st St., Santa Ana. (714) 531-5146. House special lobster priced by the pound, according to seasonal fluctuations.

* Pear and Roquefort salad: No O.C. restaurant made a more auspicious debut this year than Aubergine, a chic Lido Isle charmer operated by Tim and Liza Goodell. Chef Tim formerly worked with two of O.C.’s best chefs, Pascal Olhats of Pascal and Christian Rasinoux of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point. This salad is a simple mix of chopped Belgian endive, imported Roquefort cheese and whole Bartlett pears poached in white wine and spices. Tim also turns out spectacular desserts, such as a fudgy Valrhona chocolate souffle cake.

Aubergine, 508 29th St., Newport Beach. (714) 723-4150. Pear and Roquefort salad, $6.50.

* Princess cake: Gustav Anders is recognized as the best Scandinavian restaurant in the state; nowhere else even comes close for such delicacies as pickled herring, salt-cured herring and smoked reindeer salad. Princess cake is one of the most regal of all European desserts--and possibly the greenest. Imagine layers of genoise cake, pastry cream, raspberry jam and whipped heavy cream, enrobed by a pale green marzipan frosting. Chef Ulf Strandberg makes one that would make a Swedish teahouse owner turn green himself.

Gustav Anders, in South Coast Plaza Village (corner of Bear Street and Sunflower Avenue), Santa Ana. (714) 668-1737. Princess cake, $8.

* Cinnamon pretzel: The soft pretzel has a new champion in the name of Auntie Anne’s, a hot mall franchise. This twist is boiled, baked, then dipped in butter and an unctuous sugar-and-cinnamon mixture and served piping hot. It is the great American mall snack, light years better than the lifeless Chinese, Italian and salad-bar fare plaguing most large shopping centers.

Auntie Anne’s, 1043 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 721-1255. Also in Brea Mall, Mall of Orange and Westminster Mall. Cinnamon pretzel, $1.58 to $1.86, depending on location.

* Hash browns: The crowded, clubby Morton’s of Chicago serves beautifully marbled, ultra-prime steaks from a cart, along with impressive salads and upscale red wines. But it is a side dish that most impresses me.

These are without a doubt the best hash browns I have ever tasted--crackly, golden, LP-sized discs of shredded potato, minced onion, butter and salt. The potatoes are so good you know they must be bad for you. So why not go for broke and have them with some steak juice soaked right in?

Morton’s of Chicago, 1661 Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana. (714) 444-4834. Hash browns, $4.75.

* Cassoulet: Garden Grove’s cavernous, dimly lit La Fayette is a throwback to the glorious classical cuisine of chefs such as Auguste Escoffier, Antonin Care^me and Cesar Ritz. Chef Edmund Sarfati revels in traditional dishes: seven-hour leg of lamb, Dover sole and, above all, cassoulet--a hearty bean stew made with garlic sausage, braised lamb shank and preserved duck. Sarfati’s masterpiece, available as a special only, is served in a copper dish, finished with buttered bread crumbs. Superbe.

La Fayette, 12352 Garden Grove Blvd., Garden Grove. (714) 537-5011. Cassoulet, $22.

* Pot stickers: Chef James Yang hasn’t changed his English-language menu in a decade, and we should all give thanks. At his Peking Restaurant--a dark slit of a place next to the mammoth Seafood Paradise--he turns out the best Chinese dumplings in the county. An order here means 10 exquisitely browned pasta gondolas with neatly crimped edges and fatty, delicious meat fillings. This is the real neighborhood paradise, despite what the sign next door says.

Peking Restaurant, 8588 Westminster Ave., Westminster. (714) 893-3020. Pot stickers, $3.95.

* Fried green tomatoes: Those who wax nostalgic for Southern farmhouse cooking should head over the county line to Long Beach, where a roadside shack named Johnny Reb’s Southern Smokehouse pulls in the crowds. These tomatoes come as four plump, underripe pieces, lightly dredged in cornmeal flour, then pan-fried in grease and topped with crumbled bacon. Wash them down with a Dixie beer from New Orleans, and you’ll swear you’ve beamed down in the rural South.

Johnny Reb’s Southern Smokehouse, 4663 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach. (310) 423-7327. Fried green tomatoes, $3.25.

* Risotto with blue shrimp: It is a fine madness that inspires Alan Greeley, the Anglo Zorba who is both chef and owner of the Golden Truffle. Greeley is Orange County’s most inventive, passionate kitchenmeister; you just never know what you’re going to get from him. One day he cooked up a delicate risotto with blue shrimp, perfumed with truffle oil and flecked with black truffles, as memorable a dish as I’ve had at this restaurant. Greeley’s technique is awesome, and dinner here is always an adventure.

The Golden Truffle, 1767 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 645-9858. Risotto with blue shrimp, $10.50.

* Bo cha dum: There are many places in which to eat the fabled Vietnamese feast known as the seven courses of beef, but none is better than Thien An, a spacious Garden Grove roadhouse. You’ll get beef in soup, in pa^te form, in meatballs, wrapped in leaves, grilled, boiled, marinated and griddled, accompanied by exotic Indochinese flavorings from cilantro to lot leaves. My favorite course here is bo cha dum, an airy, crunchy ball of ground beef, bean thread noodles, nuts and mushrooms. It’s country pa^te, Vietnamese style.

Thien An, 13518 Harbor Blvd., Suite A-6, Garden Grove. (714) 530-4955. Seven courses of beef, $10.95.

* Foie gras mi-cuit: The underappreciated Byron Gemmell remains one of the area’s top chefs. This Guatemalan-born protege of the legendary Los Angeles restaurateur Jean Bertranou knows his way around duck, rabbit and classic sauces as well as anyone, and his foie gras preparations are peerless. The excellent “half-cooked” foie gras is warm slivers of goose liver wrapped in blackened cabbage leaves. Gemmell serves the foie gras in three tiny bundles, with minuscule heaps of salt and pepper as the only condiments.

Palmira Grill, 18770 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine. (714) 833-2770. Foie gras mi-cuit, $15.95.

* Yeast rolls: Shenandoah Cafe, an antebellum-style Belmont Shore restaurant staffed by Southern belles direct from Central Casting, specializes in Southern cooking and regional American fare. At the beginning of any meal here, the waitresses hand out yeast rolls--hot popover-like buns that melt in your mouth and make butter seem a complete indulgence. They are the best thing to eat here, in spite of such fine dishes as Texas-style brisket, chicken-fried steak and seafood gumbo.

Shenandoah Cafe, 4722 E. 2nd St., Belmont Shore, Long Beach. (310) 434-3469. Yeast rolls, free with entrees or salads.

* Chestnut gnocchi and sea scallops: Many other local Italian restaurants seem boring these days, but Tutto Mare in Fashion Island continues to turn out a repertory of interesting fare. Chef Corrado Gianotti’s dappled brown chestnut dumplings with sea scallops, very rich in spite of a magical lightness, is a dish you might discover in a sophisticated restaurant kitchen in rural Italy. They come cloaked in a delicate cream sauce, and every bite is a new experience.

Tutto Mare, 545 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 640-6333. Chestnut gnocchi and sea scallops, $11.95.

* Dung goo hai mai qing yuk beng: China Palms has a Chinese-language menu and this is my favorite home-style Cantonese dish from it. It’s really just a minced pork cake with dung goo (black mushrooms), something like a foot-long sausage patty with complex flavors. Eat it with steamed rice, the Sinophile version of great meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

China Palms, 25254 La Paz Road, Laguna Hills. (714) 470-0392. Dung goo hai mai qing yuk beng, $5.25.

* Tea leaf salad: Burmese is the least known of all major Asian cuisines, in no small part due to that country’s hermit-like withdrawal from the rest of the world. Golden Triangle in Whittier is the only true Burmese restaurant in the Southland. Tea leaf salad (lap pat thoke) will give you an idea of this food’s distinctive appeal. It’s a dense mix of tea leaves, sesame seeds, peanuts, garlic, green onions and spices--the quintessential Asian savory.

Golden Triangle, 7011 Greenleaf Ave., Whittier. (310) 945-6778. Lap pat thoke, $5.95.

* Rotisserie chicken: The chickens are clucking all over Orange County, from the fine birds at Anaheim’s El Pollo Inka to the national chains such as Boston Market, Kenny Rogers and a seemingly endless skein of others. Rosine’s Mediterranean Cafe uses the same formula as L.A.’s wildly successful Zankou Chicken: a half chicken with pita bread, spears of pickled turnip and a thimble-sized cup of terrific garlic sauce. These are fabulously juicy, flavorful birds, and the skin is cracker-crisp.

Rosine’s Mediterranean Cafe, 721 S. Weir Canyon Road, Anaheim Hills. (714) 283-5141. Half chicken, $3.99; whole chicken, $6.99.

* Polenta with wild mushrooms: In all too many hands, polenta, the staple cornmeal paste eaten daily all over Italy’s northern provinces, becomes mere mush. Aromatico in Laguna Beach has a better idea. Chef Tony Corke prepares polenta with melted Fontina cheese on a bed of wild mushrooms scented with white truffle. It’s richer than any farmhouse dish, but fashioned from humble ingredients, making it irresistible.

Aromatico, 1464 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. (714) 494-5819. Polenta with wild mushrooms, $13.50.

* Bittersweet brownie sundae: The splashy Chimayo Grill is the latest David Wilhelm project, and that means creative Southwestern fare, striking decor and at least one outrageous chocolate dessert. Wilhelm doesn’t fail to meet these expectations. Chimayo Grill looks like a desert sunset, and the restaurant’s bittersweet brownie sundae is masterful. A jagged hunk of crackly pine-nut brittle is stuck smack in the center of a fudgy, souffle-like brownie. Wow.

Chimayo Grill, 327 Newport Center Drive., Newport Beach. (714) 640-2700. Bittersweet brownie sundae, $4.95.

* Prime rib: Beef seems to be coming back, but it isn’t yet fashionable. In fact, more and more of my friends are announcing they have forsworn it, like cigarette smoking. But not me. And when I want a hunk of the stuff, I’m heading for Five Crowns. No one does a better prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, the slabs of beef prepared to any degree of doneness or thickness. The owners, Lawry’s, have more than 50 years experience serving beef, and it shows.

Five Crowns, 3801 E. Coast Highway, Corona Del Mar. (714) 760-0331. Prime rib, $17.95 to $24.50.

* Stomp and go: Food is a serious matter at Habana, but the restaurant still manages to have fun with it. This is the place for conch fritters, black bean soup, garlic roast chicken and conga rhythms, but my favorite dish here is the thin codfish pancakes called stomp and go, served with an astonishing mango and chayote slaw, brilliantly fresh and adroitly spiced.

Habana, 2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. (714) 556-0176. Stomp and go, $5.95.

* Poivre lox: I’m not a fan of Sunday brunch, but the peppered smoked salmon I tasted at Scott’s has had me dreaming about a return trip for months. This buttery, complex fish is crusted with pepper and cut into meltingly thin slices. The accompaniments--thin-sliced red onions, herbed cream cheese and fresh mini-bagels--are irreproachable.

Scott’s Seafood Bar and Grill, 3300 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. (714) 979-2400. Poivre lox, $8.75.

* Green jackfruit salad: Vietnamese food differs greatly from region to region, as illustrated by the foods of central Vietnam served at Da Nang. Mit tron xuc banh trang, #34 on the menu, is pulpy unripe jackfruit mixed with chopped basil, crushed peanuts and minced cooked shrimp. The mixture is scooped onto crisped rice crepes flecked with black sesame, and is as exotic a dish as I’ve yet seen around Little Saigon.

Da Nang, 9607 Bolsa Ave., Westminster. (714) 839-3173. Green jackfruit salad, $4.25.

* Menchi katsu: When most of us think of Japanese food, we aren’t likely to think of delicately breaded, deep-fried hamburger meat. Menchi katsu is a staple workingman’s lunch in Japan, and at Shonoya in Costa Mesa, it is as good as it gets. The dish will be accompanied by soup, rice, pickles and a side dish, filling, soulful and humble. This food is the true soul of Japan, not the ethereal chunks of raw fish eaten by upper-class ladies.

Shonoya, 891 Baker St., B-15 Costa Mesa. (714) 557-8715. Menchi katsu, $6.25.

* The Grand Thrill: I was skeptical when Bev Scheftz, owner of the new Canadian-based burger emporium Blueberry Hill, told me her burgers were the best around. But the first bite made a believer out of me. The Grand Thrill is a huge patty of chopped beef (not commercial mulch) with toppings that include alfalfa sprouts, hot peppers, the chain’s special sauce, relish, tomato, lettuce, onion and pickle, plus a choice of Dijon mustard, barbecue sauce and more. Don’t miss the sloppy gravy fries, for a real burger blowout.

Blueberry Hill, 31 Fortune Drive, Suite 208, Irvine. (714) 753-1515. The Grand Thrill, $3.95.

* Brandade de morue: Twin Palms, with its live jazz, circus-like ambience and country French style, is without a doubt the most ambitious restaurant of the year. Many of the dishes here are erratic, but no one can fault chef Michael Roberts’ engagingly rustic take on brandade, a creamy dip made from salt cod and potatoes. This is real fisherman’s fodder, the sort of stuff you’d eat in a Breton beach shack.

Twin Palms, 630 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 721-8288. Brandade de morue, $4.95.