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Taste Of Newport (Foodbuzz) Review.

September 20th, 2009 No comments

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As a Food Correspondent for Foodbuzz, I attended the Taste of Newport Food Festival and reported about it on Foodbuzz.com.  See more photos there and most of the review below.

The 21st Annual Taste of Newport Food Festival happened this year on September 18th – 20th.  And I was there as a Foodie Correspondent on behalf of Foodbuzz.  The beautiful city of Newport Beach is home to some of the finest restaurants in Orange County, California, and over 30 of them were serving top notch fare on Newport Center Drive, around Fashion Island.  The food was amazing as usual and this year’s musical headliners were Sugar Ray, Train and David Cook.  Do you think David can cook?  Maybe he’ll cook me dinner some night.  In any event, it wasn’t a food event to be missed.  Happy 21st Taste of Newport!  We celebrated by taking in all it had to offer – Indian, Italian, Brazilian, Thai, Japanese and more.

Taste of Newport provides a great opportunity to sample dishes from several local restaurants in one evening.  For the price of admission, one can participate in cooking demonstrations, corporate giveaways, and superior entertainment.  Some even consider the Taste of Newport a great concert with access to fabulous food.  We had fun dancing at the Sugar Ray concert this year, especially with a Lamb Chop in hand.

Unfortunately the food isn’t included in the $25 cost of admission – Once you’re inside, it’s necessary to purchase an eScrip card in any amount between $1 and $100, which is then swiped at the various food booths in lieu of cash.  The process works well, after you get passed the two lines.  The restaurant lines aren’t too bad if you arrive when it opens, but the event packs them in and gets pretty crowded.  For optimum enjoyment it’s best to get there early and bring cash, as the credit card lines to purchase tickets and eScrip are much longer than the cash lines.

Our favorite restaurants this year were Chakra Creative Indian Cuisine and Agora Churrascaria.  Another benefit of attending Taste of Newport is taking home lots of coupons as an incentive to visit the actual restaurants – I can’t wait to eat at Agora Churrascaria with my $10 off coupon.  As a Foodie Correspondent for Foodbuzz this year, I learned how best to navigate a Taste of Newport next year, which will hopefully helps others.  The event isn’t cheap, but a portion of the proceeds are donated to various local charities.  And my final recommendation is to select a few Christopher Michael Handcrafted Chocolateson the way out with the balance left on your eScrip card. 

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The 14th Taste Of Anaheim At The GardenWalk.

May 16th, 2009 No comments

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I like the blurry hustle of the photo above.  We almost tried everything at the 14th Annual Taste of Anaheim and took a few notes.  This year it was held at The Shops at Anaheim GardenWalk, an outdoor mall venue that seems pretty nice — My friend was purse and clothes shopping in between eating.  We were able and happy to squeeze it all in. 🙂

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Above from left to right working on down, we had Shrimp and Pineapple Soft Tacos from Tortilla Jo’s, Mahi Mahi from The Rainforest Café, Panini’s from I forgot where (sorry), Spinach and Artichoke Dip from Mimi’s Café (YUM), Corn Chowder from Storytellers Café (YUM too), and I forgot what exactly from Geisha House — Its presentation was nice.

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Continuing above is Gumbo being served from Café Orleans (I think), Creole Shrimp from Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, Sundried Tomato Hummus on Cucumber from Lazy Dog Café, and Chopped Salad and Meatball Sandwiches from Oggi’s Pizza & Brewery — The Meatballs were very good.

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We had Chicken Tikka and Samosas from Chakra Indian Cuisine, and as previously reported and linked below, the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company Crab Cakes and taste-TEE Sauce was a favorite, especially since they had an abundance of food, which beats a few.  And I’m not sure who was serving the Cupcakes above, but they look pretty.  I should have logged that name for sure, but after a couple Glasses of Cabernet some things just don’t matter, HA.

One thing we did care about was that a few restaurants ran out of food before the event was over.  The Taste of Anaheim ran from 5:30 – 9:30 PM and a few restaurants were out of food at 8:30.  To me, that’s not acceptable.  I paid $35 expecting to eat something from Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine and Mr. Stox Restaurant, but their spaces were hollowed by the time we got to them.  That was disappointing and shouldn’t happen.  Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse also ran out of food, but scurried to serve something, Hamburgers.  Although it wasn’t what we hoped for, we give them points for trying.

Related Link:
http://www.ineedtext.com/FoodBlog/?p=5212