French baguettes in Orange County!

Did you hear our whoops of joy a couple of weeks ago?  We have found what we consider to be - by far - THE BEST baguettes to be found in Orange County.  Chewy and tasty inside, with a satisfying crunch to the crust, we find ourselves looking for any reason at all to justify the drive to Costa Mesa so that "gee, while we're in the neighborhood..." we can pick up another one of these gems.  You can find them at Surfas Culinary District, recently opened in the South Coast Collection (SOCO) in Costa Mesa. 

While you're in Surfas, good luck escaping with just the baguette - this is a playground for anyone who loves to cook (or eat, for that matter!).  There are terrific cheeses, olive oils, and balsamic vinegars to sample before you buy; many interesting and unusual jams, condiments, and flours; plus a whole range of unique cooking and baking ingredients.  Oh, and did we mention the chef's equipment and serving items?  This is a store that (like its parent store in Culver City) serves the restaurant and catering industry, so you can even pick up a chef jacket and some chef pants while you're there.

SOCO has some other very cool stores, and a farmer's market every Saturday.  We will fill you in on these in a future post.  In the meantime, enjoy those baguettes - but be sure to leave one for us!

Amazing Local Avocados

Ahhhhh, avocados, we love you so!  From omelettes to quesadillas, soups to salads, sandwiches to sushi, avocados add the perfect combination of familiar and exotic.  While eagerly waiting for our trees to produce, we have discovered a reliable go-to source for the best avocados in the county - possibly in the world - at Pacific Ranch Market in Orange.  These fabulous Fuertes are purchased from a local grower, and Pacific Ranch sells them for $.99 each.  Absolutely worth the drive from wherever you are in Orange County; but they are usually not ripe so be sure to plan ahead.

In search of local olive oil

We use lots of extra virgin olive oil in our cooking .  LOTS.  So we set out to find a more local source than the tasty oil we've been buying from Turkey.  Fortunately we quickly stumbled upon olive oil from California Olive Ranch in Oroville, CA.  (Yes, it more than 100 miles away, but at least it's in the same state).  They have single varietals as well as an excellent everyday EVOO.  Our favorite varietal at the moment is Arbosana, but the four we've tried are all excellent (there are a total of 7 on their website).  California Olive Ranch seems to be doing the right things in terms of sustainable practices and sourcing.  And best of all, they distribute through Whole Foods, Sprouts, Mother's, and even Albertsons.  So unless we can find a similar quality olive oil closer to SoCal, we've got our new house brand.

In Search of Fresh, Local Tortillas

Posted by the Sous Chef:

Our search for local foods prompted a conversation a couple of weeks ago about tortillas (a staple in this household).  I was appalled to realize that my favorite corn tortillas were produced in Texas.  TEXAS??!!  I immediately set out to rectify this, but when I started looking at all the tortilla choices at the market, none were from anywhere in California.  How can this be? 

So I did a little searching on the Web and discovered a tortillaria in nearby Santa Ana.  The Chef and I made the trip to Flor de Mexicali on Bristol and discovered the real deal.  Made fresh on the premises, just the smell of these tortillas transported me back to my pre-school days when my beloved babysitter Aurora made tortillas by hand in her cozy kitchen.  As she taught me Spanish words, she would roll and pat, cook, and serve these simple delicacies hot off the flames with butter, salt and sour cream.  Mmmmm...heaven!

Flor de Mexico is now on our Saturday morning to-do list.  We can't get enough of these tasty tortillas, and we are especially happy to support a small, local specialized business that knows what they're doing; and they do it very, very well. 

In Search of a French Baguette in O.C.

Posted by The Chef:

Having just returned from an extended stay in France where we enjoyed the pleasures of French foods, I embarked on an attempt to find a faithful reproduction of one of the simplest pleasures, the French baguette - a real piece of bread. I went looking for bread with a crunchy exterior and a chewy, somewhat open grained interior.  I went looking for bread like the bread we ate everyday in France; morning, noon, and night; every meal had this wonderful bread.

How hard could it be to find an acceptable baguette in Orange County?  Answer: I am still searching for an authentic reproduction.

I knew going into the search that the fat, spongy, fine grained thing that our grocery stores bake and place in a paper bag with “French Bread” written on it would not satisfy.  Unfortunately, what I found so far – with a couple of exceptions - hasn’t much been better.

Here are my initial results:

Pascal Epicerie: Grade = F

I figured this would be the winner going in and my search could quickly end. Surely you’d think this Frenchman would have the baguette thing down.  He runs a set of exceptional restaurants and his Epicerie has a nice selection of French products, including a very nice wine selection and moderate prices.  Regretfully, this was the worst baguette. It was completely void of taste, though it did have a pleasing crunch (but eating crunchy nothing is not what I was looking for).  The interior texture was totally wrong: fine grained like store bought sliced white bread (the latter actually has a better taste).  All in all, this was very disappointing.

Whole Foods Organic Baguette: Grade = C

Once again, I am amazed at the mediocrity of Whole Foods’ overall quality of food.  It may be one of (if not THE) best grocery store(s) in Orange County, but when I compare it to virtually any large grocery store in France, it simply doesn’t compare.  While the baguette’s taste was okay (though it needed a saltier bite) and the texture was okay (except it wasn’t chewy enough), the major problem was the totally wrong texture of the crust.  I think the crust would probably be fine if they didn’t stick the loaves into a sealed bag – something you will never see at a boulangerie in France!  The stack the loaves vertically in baskets to keep that perfect *crunch* and there’s no reason Whole Foods shouldn’t do the same.

La Brea Bakery (purchased at Albertson’s): Grade = B-

Texture was good – nice and chewy.  The taste was good as well, but needed a saltier bite also.  Unfortunately, the crust suffered from the similar treatment as Whole Foods – not the crunch and mouthfeel of a perfect baguette.

So apparently this will be an ongoing saga…the search continues…