Newport Beach

Birthday Brunch at Newport Beach’s Malibu Farm Lido Village

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Saturday brunch at one of my favorite OC cities became one of my unforgettable birthday celebrations for this 5-Footer. Many favorable descriptions in this restaurant — named 1 of 2019’s Best New Restaurants of the OC from Orange Coast Magazine — popped into my mind: simple, relaxing, mellow, joyful, and subliminally unpretentious.

Sitting outdoors with a great Lido Bay view of the iconic boats, yachts, and cruises for weddings/events with a satisfying heater slightly above where I sat I enjoyed this seemingly little feast with my fiance, his brother/future bro in-law and his S.O.

For the sake of my birthday I blissfully quenched on their seasonal yet wonderfully vibrant F’Rose Cocktail. I relished every sip so slowly, and the mixture was beautifully done that my tongue detected subtle softness of the alcohol itself.

The girlfriend of my fiance’s brother happily shared the Avocado Huarache, consisted of heat flatbread jalapeño, ricotta spread, and Malibu honey lemon vinaigrette. It sounded quite fancy, but once I bit into a piece, this dish didn’t play games with my tongue. Instead, all ingredients harmonized throughout the bite.

Because I had another birthday gathering coming up within hours, I chose to eat their Fried Egg “Pytti Panna” Hash, embedding the potatoes, beets, squash, zucchini, onion, arugula, horseradish cream, and tender smoked salmon. It’s one of the most zesty and lightly feeling dishes I’ve ever consumed, and this entire dish indeed left my tummy in satisfactory level — neither feeling stuffed nor inadequate.

But the creme de la creme of all the foods from Malibu Farm Lido was their phenomenally delicious Fried Egg Sandwich. I admittedly rolled my eyes initially at the price tag of this $16 sandwich, but my careful bite on the fried egg, crispy bacon, arugula, havarti, perfectly soft country wheat toast, and notable lemon aioli slapped my mind unabashedly. My fiance and I were simply dumbfounded on this deceptively delicious handful.

The overall pricing may be personally higher than what I typically pay for restaurant breakfast/brunch, but the no-nonsense flavor profile from every item we ate and drank was worth every cent. This also reminded me of my wonderful foodie experience in Portland, Oregon, where I felt that practically every food I ate there had that farm-to-table concept. Malibu Farm Lido, I revisit you very soon regardless of occasion.

Malibu Farm Lido, 3420 Via Oporto #101, Newport Beach, CA 92663

#malibufarmlido #fiathe5footer #brunch #newportbeach #orangecoastmag

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Newport Beach Restaurant Week 2018: Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens

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This 2018 for Newport Beach Restaurant Week my boyfriend and I dined outdoors under cozy night skies and superbly tolerable heat lamps at the new Farmhouse inside/adjacent to Roger’s Gardens.

Their version of #NBRW hosts a $50 dinner for 4-courses. All but the main course (i.e. 3rd course) had just 1 option to bite into, and on that main course there were 2 options available whether the eater craves for turf or surf. Come to think of it — most of the platters we’ve dug onto would be considered vegetarian cuisine.

Our 1st course featured a double deal. Our Seasonal Soup Shooter from “The Soup of the Day” fascinated our tongues from the dominant, great flavor of split peas, while interestingly warming my belly with ease once semi-gulping it. The frankly dainty House Cured Salmon with crispy potato cake, creme fraiche, and chives stunningly made our appetite yearning for more. It was honestly difficult for me to try to take more than 2 bites because I reluctantly wanted to finish them so quickly.

2nd course veered from a warming to cooling sensation in about a 10-minute interval. We were served the Root Vegetable Ribbon Salad meticulously tossed with caramelized cauliflower, arugula, puréed satsumaimo sweet potato and cauliflower, raspberry vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds, and candied pecans. This salad was overall too mild for my palate, yet the boyfriend stated that it was a delicious, well-balanced, and approachable way of intaking those nutritional needs, and at the same time became a mellow “pit stop” before moving on to the main course. Notably, this salad has actually been a seasonally everyday plate during lunch hours — except with some hankering shrimp on top! That said, that may change my mind when I’ll revisit in the daytime.

Now our 3rd course became vastly distinct between our dishes. The boyfriend got the Red Wine Braised Lamb Shank with roasted butternut squash, kale, and cipollini onions –smothered in Tehachapi Grain Project red life and Sonora, red lamb jus, gremolata plus topping off with crispy sunchoke chips. These huge mouthful mix of ingredients unfortunately led to little adoration, as the fall-off-the-bone characteristic received the only highly graded mark. The boyfriend did indeed finish up this rather decent entree while I was blissfully delighted with…

The Seared Sea Scallop dish with practically an equal mouthful of crispy sage, brown butter, sitting atop and around puréed roast maple bourbon butternut squash, roasted spaghetti squash, cipollini onions (also), and an incredibly soft and wonderfully juicy grilled Meyer lemon shyly placed next to the veggies. The presentation could have been much more graceful, while the portion of the proteins lacked brawn compared to the lamb shack. Regardless, my taste buds ignored the size of these perfectly delectable mollusks.

The last course, the Satsumaimo Sweet Potato and Banana Bread Pudding, ended with a deliciously fruity and rich touch alongside the ginger honey ice cream and the complimentary, unexpected Prosecco to bubbly pair. The bread pudding, though, deemed too dense of a texture that I failed to finish all of my dessert. Come to think of my last words — I partly blame my incessant hunger on our “pre-appetizer” featured in Farmhouse’s “regular, non-NBRW” dinner menu…

The regally delicious and excitable Prince Edward Island Mussels faithfully cooked in white wine, garlic, and herb butter to soak with toasty garlic bread.

Throughout the NBRW dinner we pleasantly ate and intermittently became cordial with our curious waitress, Taylor, who I realized was equally enthused with photography by asking me about my camera, which I’ll mention on another post. For now I recommend dining at this garden-encompassed, welcoming outdoor restaurant, for any occasion, or for the upcoming OC Restaurant Week in early March (with different 4-course dinner items). Hopefully Farmhouse will continue lighting its NBRW torch next year!

Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens

2301 San Joaquin Hills Rd

Newport Beach, CA 92660

farmhouserg.com

(949) 640-1415

#farmhouserg #newportbeach #newportbeachrestaurantweek #NBRW