Restaurants in Santa Ana

Although he specializes in American comfort fare, Executive Chef Diego Velasco wields a packed cabinet of culinary styles and spices, elevating meetings and cocktail parties to a higher gastronomic plane with custom menus crafted from many fresh, locally sourced ingredients.. Midday meals get a savory infusion from the corporate-catering lunch menu, which includes a signature sandwich tray ($54 for 16 half-sandwiches)—a selection of up to four of the various bread-bookended taste-fests, which include a brisket po boy. The hot lunch buffet ($14.95/person for 15–50 guests, $13.50/person for 50+ guests) offers a flavorful cornucopia of meatloaf, ribs, and cornmeal-fried catfish. Appetizers by the dozen grace the à la carte menu and include the grilled scallop lollipops with saffron aioli ($26), and the mashed-potato pancakes with American caviar ($22), a laid-back affront to the snobbishly monocled Caspian variety. Chef Velasco's epicurean enthusiasm runs rampant throughout the entree offerings, which include buttermilk fried chicken, and grilled leg of lamb accented by pineapple-mint vinaigrette.

Inside Chapter One: The Modern Local, high, lofted ceilings, geometric light fixtures, and chunky wooden furnishings complement Executive Chef David Martinico's menu of seasonal contemporary cuisine. Patrons clink glasses of handpicked brews or craft cocktails⎯such as the restaurant's signature moscow mule⎯as they dine on locally sourced produce and humane meat. Meals draw on flavors from across the globe: étoufée fries covered in spicy Cajun roux bespeak a New Orleans influence, and yakisoba stir-fries and a housemade sausage topped in kimchi import East Asian tastes. The Frank Sinatra–themed Sunday brunch pairs classic dishes such as brioche french toast with bacon-bourbon bloody marys and other creative drinks. Chapter One: the modern local also breaks up up the drudgery of the workweek with regular events such as charity bingo, jazz performances, and a fortnightly burning of uncomfortable business shoes.

These aren’t the grilled cheeses from the school cafeteria. They’re more like if grilled cheeses were made in shop class. Customers build their own sandwiches at The Grilled Cheese Spot, piling on up to two cheeses, plus veggies and proteins on a choice of bread to created limitless combinations. Melted muenster and swiss on sourdough; goat cheese and roasted red bell peppers on ciabatta; barbecue short ribs or rosemary citrus chicken with havarti or brie—these are just a few ideas. After building a sandwich and pairing it with a gourmet soda, guests can settle on a black barstool in front of a wall of black-and-white portraits of celebrities.

Both memberships also include the following:

After the popularity of Anabella and Salvador Corona’s first El Pollo Norteno restaurant in Santa Ana, they began to expand to more locations, each of which serves healthy, homestyle Mexican food. Mesquite charcoal heightens the flavors of charbroiled chicken dishes, and catering trays liven up parties otherwise filled with awkward silences . Family packs of dinners, along with tacos, burritos, and quesadillas a la carte, feed the entire family.

South Coast Pizza Parlors' dedicated pizza artisans arise each morning to craft fresh dough, blend a new batch of piquant sauce, and grate cheese to all be harmoniously commingled in the day's savory, circular creations depicted on the menu. Mollify mandibles with a 12-inch two-topping pie adorned with a duo of cheese-embedded accessories such as canadian bacon, pepperoni, pineapple, jalapeños, or bell peppers ($14.34). Sandwich options include the salami, ham, melted cheese, lettuce, and tomato ensemble that plays a culinary show on the South Coast sub ($5.38) and the tasty turkey sandwich, served hot and smothered with cheese ($5.38). A 60-ounce pitcher of beer can be used to toast breakthroughs in backyard gene-splicing experiments ($7.42–$8.77), and a small platter of spaghetti with meatballs can thwart hunger pangs with saucy goodness ($4.87).