A friend suggested meeting up at Lemonade for a quick and healthy lunch the other day. This grab and go/cafeteria style restaurant is located inside Fashion Island, on the second floor close to the fountain.
Outdoor seating area -
Entrance -
High ceiling with soft yellow and green color design give a casual/relaxing tone to the space -
Indeed it was a great choice. The restaurant has a wide selection of multi-cultural cuisine ranging from red curry salmon to double Decker grilled cheese sandwich.
On top of all the savory dishes, Lemonade also carries various salads, dessert, and my favorite thing during this visit - lemonade.
Never a big fan of lemonade, then later realized that I was just never met the right one. The restaurant carries seven different kinds of lemonade for $3/cup: old fashioned, cucumber mint, blackberry thyme, watermelon rosemary, ginger peach, blood orange, and Arnold Palmer.
My oh my, the cucumber mint flavor I had immediately converted me to a lemonade lover. It was refreshing with just the right amount of mint used to give you a slight tingling sensation. There are also tiny bits of cucumber pulps on the bottom, no doubt a perfect summer drink (non-alcoholic wise).
The dessert on the side is coconut layer cake $5. Very coconuty with generous amount of coconut flakes. The cake itself is light and airy.
The savory dishes all look so fresh and delicious -
Some lighter choices -
Array of salad -
Sandwich samples including buttermilk baked chicken, ham/manchego/quince, turkey, Masala green apple curry chicken, SW turkey club, herb grilled chicken, and grilled cheese -
For sweet-tooth diners -
Moroccan chicken with olives $7, one portion of beet and orange salad, one portion of radish/tuna/sesame salad, side of basmati rice $1.5 -
The chicken was highly seasoned with herbs, but the minty sensation prevails. Olives has a texture similar to grapes, which can burst in your mouth when biting into it. Unfortunately for the salad, the beet wasn't cooked long enough for my taste, didn't really care for the inconsistent texture and taste inside and out.
The watermelon radish was so pretty that I just had to grab some to my plate -
They even added black sesame seeds, I'm sure partly for the flavor; partly for the look of real watermelon. Asian style vinaigrette dressing.
Quinoa, tuna, and avocado wrap -
Kale salad, carrot salad, fish -
Mac'n cheese $3.75 -
The mac'n cheese here is more leaning towards a soft texture instead of al dente. Very cheesy, creamy - gooey goodness.
Food was decent, and the service was great too. The server was explaining to first comers about how the restaurant works and how to order their food. Always smiling, the whole staff has a friendly vibe which can be felt especially when talking to customers. There are also other servers cleaning the tables constantly, keeping the dining area tidy at all times.
If only all grab and go can be this good.
Cindy's rating: 7
Lemonade - Orange County Newport Beach
987 Newport Center Drive (inside Fashion Island Mall)
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 717-7525
http://www.lemonadela.com/
Operating hours: Daily 11 a.m. - 9:05 p.m.
Old Vine Café has always been one of my favorite spots in Orange County. Breakfast and brunch are superb here, especially the dishes that come with a Mexican touch. Dinner is served from Tuesday to Saturday but I never got a chance to try it. In fact, this place is packed almost all day long during dinner hours and weekends. If you ever want to pay a visit without the wait, try your luck before lunch rush hours on a weekday.
Old Vine Café is located at The Camp between Bristol Street and Baker Street. There are quite a few unique shops and restaurants with a hipster vibe. Wine store, tea shops, sportswear, even salon can be found in this area. My beloved (and up till this moment: the only beloved) burger joint Umami Burger is also situated at The Camp.
Semi-opened restaurant layout with no windows barrier between indoor and outdoor seating area.
Weekday morning before 11 is the best time to come. However, beware that the service can be quite slow doesn't matter if the restaurant is full or not. Not a big deal for me since my purpose was having a delicious and relaxing meal while soaking in the California sunshine at the same time.
Best seat to my opinion, is the indoor ones adjacent to the outdoor area, like regular window seats.
Six for sixty, where you can buy 6 bottles of carefully selected wine at a bargained price here at Old Vine Café. Not a bad choice if not sure how to pick up a decent wine with limited budget -
Menu -
Click on the picture to enlarge the view -
3 course set lunch for $22, available daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. -
Drinks menu -
Hitachino Nest beer is getting popular in California, I can see that owl everywhere. Espresso stout for the morning $7 -
The pleasant coffee beans aroma adds a nice complexity to the beer.
2011 Riesling, Scholss Lieser, Thomas Haag, Morsel, Germany $11 -
Rabbit mole $16.5 -
"Braised rabbit, 2 eggs, pasilla and cashew mole, fresh baked corn bread."
Where else can you find rabbit from a breakfast menu in Orange County? The meat was tender with just a tiny hint of that chocolate bitterness from the mole.
Lengua omelet $14 -
"Slow cooked beef tongue, queso fresco and spicy tomatillo salsa."
The fork tender beef tongue together with moist omelet and fragrant salsa, totally made my morning. Even though it must be at least 20 minutes passed from the moment when the order was placed till this wonderful plate of food showed up, it was all worth the wait.
Spanish style potatoes are included for the lengua omelet and other savory dishes. The potatoes can be substitute with cheese grits or mixed greens for extra $2. However, Old Vine makes awesome potatoes and it would be a shame to switch off to something else.
Unwillingness to give up my potatoes that was fully soaked in Spanish seasonings with crunchy seared edges, I ordered cheese grits on the side -
Creamy and satisfying. The leftover cheese grits were boxed home and turned into the dip for my salami chips.
House baked English muffin that comes with the omelet -
Other choices are toast or fresh baked cinnamon roll for extra $2. In addition, other house made spread including kiwi marmalade, strawberry marmalade, and apple butter.
Final bill -
The waitress took out the extra cheese grits because she forgot about it till half way through the meal.
Old Vine Café, along with The Camp is the place I would bring my friends over if they come to visit Orange County. There is quite a lot of stuff to see, to shop around, and most importantly, delicious food to help the friendships bond.
Cindy's Rating: 7 (supposedly 8 but the service can be very..very slow)
Old Vine Café
2937 Bristol Street. Suite A-102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 545-1411
http://www.oldvinecafe.com/
Operating Hours:
Breakfast daily from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Lunch daily from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Dinner Tuesday to Saturday starting at 5 p.m.
Dinner Sunday and Monday closed
*Reservation is highly recommended for dinner
*Old Vine Café does not take reservations for breakfast or lunch
Lady M Confections is a well known dessert store with vast media exposure such as Allure, Brides, Travel + Leisure, and New York - Best of New York. The very first location was established in New York and now Lady M has a total of four outlets. The latest opening is its first west coast store opened this summer in Los Angeles.
Minimal white color based store design and rectangular shaped layout are the general theme for Lady M, for both East Coast and West Coast outlets.
We arrived right when the confection opens at noon. It's not as crowded as it first opened during summer. However, steady customers starts to fill in the store soon after, mostly for take outs - large quantity take outs.
I read a Yelp review saying that Lady M was overflowed with Asians and a good portion of them were taking pictures of the cakes, which created a weird scene at the store. Well, it's true, and I was among one of them (but I did ask the waiter if pictures are allowed).
Lady M is pretty big among Asian communities. There were Koreans, Taiwanese (raising my hand), Japanese, and Cantonese at the store during my short 1 hour stay. It might be wise to arrive early still in case your piece of cake got taken away by one of my kind!
Mille Crêpes is what this confection is famous for. Created by gently piling up 20 layers of paper-thin crêpes coated with pastry cream. Besides Lady M's signature original mille crêpes, currently it also comes with citron, chocolate, green tea, marron (sweet chestnut), and strawberry flavors. The chocolate banana flavor not yet available in Los Angeles.
Lady M also carries other type of delicately made dessert. Light savory items such as sandwich and salad are also available for dine in customers.
(Click on the picture for a larger view)
Lady M Tea - Creamy Morning $6 -
Lady M's signature mille crêpes $7.5/slice -
My mouth is watering just by staring at the picture.
The crêpes is light, creamy, and with a slight caramel hint from the top layer. It's not overly sweet like some of the American cakes, which is ideal for a creamy treat like this. That way you won't get sugar stuck on your tongue feeling even till the very last bite.
Asian girls' picture taking mode.
Green tea mille crêpes $8/slice -
I would say the green tea version tastes even less sweetened, partly due to the slight bitterness from the matcha powder. Look at these paper thin layers, some might think $8 is very expensive for a slice of cake. However, you can tell how much work and precision goes into that one little crêpes. Don't even mention the quality of ingredients used. I think such a true delicacy definitely worth $8. For your reference, a 6 inch green tea mille crêpes costs $45 and a 9 inch one costs $80.
Checkers -
Made with vanilla sponge cake, chocolate sponge cake, and whipped cream throughout. To make it even better, the whole cake is covered with shining dark chocolate ganache. The cake itself is as good as the crêpes, I only wish the person who cut our slice can do a better job, so we get a cleaner color separation between the two flavors.
Flourless chocolate cake -
This one is pretty ordinary. You can still taste the quality chocolate used in the cake, but overall it's not as palate-blowing as others.
This place is definitely worth a try. The cakes and crêpes are light and delicate, similar to Japanese style cakes. However, the ones from Lady M are well flavored with its signature luscious cream, making the cakes light yet packed with delicate flavors.
Cindy's Rating: 8
Lady M Confections - Los Angeles
8718 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
http://www.ladym.com/
Operating Hours:
Tue to Fri from 12 noon ~ 7 p.m.
Sat to Sun from 12 noon ~ 6 p.m.
Closed on Mondays
*Do not take reservations
*Valet parking available
*Shipping available for certain items, please check website for details
