Restaurants in Mission Viejo

Chef Scott W. Lewis melds the zesty flavors of Southern California with Italian recipes from generations past at Zona's to craft innovative eats, including homemade meatballs and pizzas speckled with fire-roasted veggies. The central room sets diners at white-clothed tables, bathing the restaurant in the glow of red hanging lights, flowery orange chandeliers, and torches touted by gladiator busboys. At the sports bar and lounge, 15 LCD widescreen televisions broadcast sports and live music performances from local and national bands lacquer patrons’ aural passageways on the weekends.

Wa-ter-mark (noun): a mark showing the greatest height. This simple definition sums up co-owner and head chef Marc Cohen's goal: to create a dining experience at the top of gourmands' to-do lists. The LA Times describes his whimsical culinary aesthetic as "…[a] distinctive stamp, one informed by a particular love of Mexican and Pacific flavors and an artistic flair." With fresh fish and seafood at the forefront, Cohen's culinary presentations are often lauded as edible works of art, much like Pollock's famous mustard splatter. Menus comprising 36 ”grazing plates” dabble in savory meats such as filet mignon and duck confit, with unusual accents of capers and orange butter, watermelon, and shishito peppers.

Because the presence of liquid is integral to a Watermarc, the restaurant offers a 239-point wine program with selections representing varietals from around the globe. With virtually every wall filled with windows, natural light floods the space, instilling steel-colored chairs and smoky-gray napkins with a rich shimmer and bartenders with glamorous farmers' tans.

Proprietor and chef David Myers has never been a man to cut corners in the kitchen. He honed his attention to detail while working for Chicago's legendary Charlie Trotter and French gourmand Daniel Boulud, and then went on to earn praise of his own, including a Michelin star for his Sona Restaurant in West Hollywood.

At Chef Myers' Italian-spun invention, Pizzeria Ortica, patrons can peer at the open kitchen and watch as his team carefully assembles locally sourced and artisanal ingredients such as crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, cured pork cheek, and fennel pollen. An 800-degree wood-burning oven adds crispy finishing touches to Neapolitan-style pizzas built atop handmade dough, served alongside traditional antipastos and steaming portions of pasta.

A rustically modern interior of exposed white brick and large, glowing overhead lights offers a perfect complement to the restaurant's simple yet gourmet cuisine, as does a selection of Prohibition-era-inspired cocktails. Behind the bar, mixologists muddle fruit and herbs culled fresh from the farmers' market, and then mix them with gins, scotches, and whiskeys.

At Pho 88 Restaurant, heaping plates of fresh basil, bean sprouts, and lime add depth to the eponymous pho’s savory noodles and beef broth. The mound of sweet herbs is one of many fresh and fragrant garnishes that flavor Pho 88’s traditional Northern Vietnamese dishes, which spotlight stir-fried seafood and beef. Vietnamese black coffee and thai iced tea with boba wash down bites of traditional bahn mi sandwiches, which diners can hoist up with their hands or eat off the nose of a well-trained seal companion.

Skewered cuts of sirloin, brazilian sausage, and pork ribs rotate slowly over a sweltering grill, their savory juices producing a rhythmic hiss as each drop hits the metal. This is churrasco, Xodó Grill's specialty. Once the traditional Brazilian barbecue has roasted to a tender finish, the staff slices off juicy morsels for customers to pair with 12 types of salads and a slate of hot dishes from the colorful buffet. Heaping plates of fried yucca, picanha, and cheese bread await the scales, which customers use to pay by the pound and Lady Justice uses to smuggle extra cuts of steak.