OC Restaurant Week 2015

I love restaurant week! In fact, my blog officially kicked off during a restaurant week in 2011. I am so excited for this year’s OC Restaurant Week as it celebrates 7th year as the region’s most anticipated and fastest growing culinary event. The 2015 Orange County Restaurant Week will be held Sunday, March 1st through Saturday, March 7th and includes a wide variety of options, from casual and family friendly establishments, to upscale and fine dining. During the week-long event, participating restaurants will offer special three-course menus, many with a cocktail or signature item at no additional charge. Each restaurant will have the freedom and flexibility to showcase its best offerings by talented chefs who will, no doubt, personalize each menu to reflect their individual culinary style. Participating restaurants will offer prix-fixe menus within the following price categories: lunch for $10, $15 or $20, and dinner for $20, $30, $40 or $50.

Allen and I had the opportunity to preview some of the menu items from a few participating restaurants.

Guests were greeted with fine wines from Merryvale Winery. I am a pretty light weight when it comes to wine and I really liked the Rose.
Fig and Olive served an array of tartines and crostini. Every bite was delicious! Located at the Newport Beach Fashion Island, Fig and Olive FIG & OLIVE is “about passion for the best olive oils, flavors and cuisine from the Riviera& Coastal regions of the South of France, Italy and Spain.”
Maro Wood Grill baked some fantastic Empanadas! You will find Maro Wood Grill at 1915 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. It understands that great ingredients from dedicated farmers, ranchers, & artisans are the key to great dining. Working with fresh and organic local sources, MWG wants to share their love for simple, natural food with the community.

Blue C Sushi, where Japanese tradition and technique intersect with American inventiveness and genuine hospitality. If you have not visited Blue C Sushi, you might want to know that all the dishes are prepared and placed on a revolving bar. You see something you like, and you grab it. I loved the Spicy Tuna on Grilled Rice and Albacore Sushi so much I had 4 plates of it! Yep! Blue C Sushi is also located at the Newport Beach Fashion Island. There are also locations in Hollywood and San Francisco and several in Washington State. Slapfish cooked up its famous Lobster Roll, mini sized. Guests also got to take home samples of house-made hot sauce. Slapfish has several locations in in OC and the Huntington Beach location is participating in the OC Restaurant Week. Valenza Chocolatier sweetened the guests with authentic Italian Inspired Artisan Chocolate. Located in Costa Mesa, Valenza’s award winning BONBONS, BARSand CONFECTIONS are handmade from the finest local and imported Italian ingredients paired with the purest single bean origin, fair trade chocolate and no added preservatives.

These Heavenly Cupcakes were from Casey’s Cupcakes. Each cupcake is made with love and the freshest ingredients, so perfect that you almost don’t want to eat it but you can’t resist! There are currently 5 locations; 4 in OC and 1 in Riverside.

There are over 100 restaurants participating this year. Don’t forget, this year you will have a chance to win dinner and a movie for a year + $100 Toll Road credit + Girl Scout Cookies by posting your OC Restaurant Week photos on Instagram and Hashtag #OCRW2015 and #OCRestaurantWeek! So start planning and making reservations. Happy eating!