Last updated Winter 2025
ORANGE COUNTY, CA
My home base and where my earliest food memories were born.
★ - All-time favorite / ✸ - Changing menu / Must-orders are bolded
-
My Vietnamese father’s favorite pho. Get there before opening (11 am) to ditch the line.
Order notes: Egg rolls, pho tai.
-
The French bakery where my carb dependency started.
Order notes: Butter croissant, raisin brioche, palmiers, deli sandwich.
-
Hands down the best fried fish tacos, as long as you’re cool with sitting in the parking lot.
Order notes: Fish tacos with beans and rice, side of guacamole.
-
Quintessential beachside eats with plenty of surfer regulars.
Order notes: The wakey wakey breakfast burrito, Blackie’s sammy.
-
THE restaurant for Chinese food with a killer name.
Order notes: Fried tofu with spicy salt, honey walnut shrimp, egg fried rice, gravy-style beef chow mein, Singapore-style rice noodles, Hong Kong waffle.
-
My childhood dim sum spot.
Order notes: Har gow, bánh bao, shrimp mi xao, beef chow fun, lo mai gai, bánh cam.
-
One of South OC’s only creative upscale restaurants. Located on Lido Island, Fable & Spirit maintains California cool while offering a bold and seasonally forward menu.
Order notes: Guinness brown bread, wood fired octopus, Hawaiian blue prawns, kale romaine caesar, fish & chips, cracked pepper bucatini, 12 hr. Kurobuta porchetta
