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Travel Costa Mesa Blog

Archive for August, 2009

Cigar Aficionado Reviews Habana Restaurant

Posted on August 24, 2009 | 9:00am

“I have to give up trying to find a Cuban restaurant in California, maybe even outside of New Jersey and South Florida. Quixotic would be the word that applies most accurately to my search. That said, my quest generally turns up pleasant enough benefits that more than make up. This time at Habana in Costa Mesa, California, with a menu that advertised the cuisine as Cuban, the big prize was the discovery of a patio on which one can enjoy a great cigar with a great dark rum.”

Check out the Cigar Aficionado website for a blog about Costa Mesa’s Habana Restaurant!

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Posted in Food

California Shabu Shabu

Posted on August 18, 2009 | 9:00am

I recently discovered a very hip and tasty restaurant in Costa Mesa called California Shabu Shabu.

If you are unfamilar with the term Shabu Shabu (as I was) here is a very nice and accurate summary from Wikipedia:

The dish is prepared by submerging a very thin slive of meat or a piece of vegetable in a pot of boiling water or dashi (broth) made with kombu (kelp) and swishing it back and forth several times.  (The familar swishing is where the dish gets its name.  Shabu-shabu directly translates to “swish-swish.”)  Cooked meat and vegetables are usually dipped in ponzu or “goma” (sesame seed) sauce before eating with a bowl of steemed rice. 

Once the meat and vegetables have been eaten, leftover water (not broth) from the pot is customarily combined with the remaining rice, and the resulting soup is usually eaten last.

In all honesty I discovered California Shabu Shabu quite by accident or should I say it was a stroke of luck?  Let me just say that if you are looking for a restaurant in Costa mesa and are looking for a new type of dining experience I highly recommend California Shabu Shabu.

Visit Robert’s complete blog.

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Posted in Food