Berkeley Dog-Closed

Berkeley Dog
215 W Birch St
Ste 2
Brea
714-257-0988

Berkeley Dog, is related to Top Dog of Berkeley. Top Dog is a well known hot dog and sausage restaurant, in the bastion of protesters and communists in America; Berkeley, CA. Home to Cal-Berkeley. Since I am a Stanford fan, I have no reason to go slumming and go to Berkeley, so I have never been to Top Dog- thusI don't know what all the hype is about. But I figured I would try Berkeley Dog since they opened a location Brea. Interesting that Cal's main rival, Stanford, calls people from Berkeley, wienies, since they are the biggest douchebags, you ever want to meet. I'm surprised people in Berkeley didn't protest the opening of Berkeley Dog, since they have no life.

All gourmet sausages are $3.85. But they have the best combo, two sausages and a soda for $7.99. A great deal. All sausages are grilled!! Which always impresses me. They come plain, but there is a full assortment of condiments, from deli mustard to raw onions, to sauerkraut.



Combo #2, $7.99, with two sausages, frankfurter and kielbasa, and a drink. The frankfurter is a long skinny, all beef hot dog, with a natural casing. This is how those nasty, terrible Dodger Dogs should taste. This has a great snap and full of flavor. A good spice combination. This is well worth the regular price, $3.85 and a steal with the combo.

The bun is really a piece of bread with sesame seeds on top. Well toasted, soft, and chewy. This will hold up to any topping you put. I put a touch of sauerkraut on the frankfurter. The sauerkraut was in a heated container, was fresh, had a nice tangy flavor and well made.



The kielbasa is 2/3 pork and 1/3 beef, with the same, toasted sesame bun. A nice snap, that just bursts with flavor. It is indeed hearty. I would say it was a good sized piece of kielbasa.

Service was good. Nice and friendly people.

Finally!! I found something good about Berkeley. I may have to go visit Berkeley and try Top Dog. But in the mean time, Berkeley Dog is one of my favorite hot dog places in Orange County.

Renaissance Bistro-Closed

Renaissance Bistro
955 E Birch St # L
Brea
714-256-2233

Renaissance Bistro is a nice place to have a meal after shopping at the Brea Mall.

I ordered a lunch combination of foccacia & grilled chicken and Chinese chicken salad for $7.95. The sandwich was marinated chicken breast, goat cheese, roasted red peppers, lemon aioli & baby lettuces served on fresh rosemary foccacia bread. The chicken breast was a bit dry but tasty.

The Chinese chicken salad was fresh sliced chicken breast, oriental won-ton noodles, crispy rice noodles, shredded iceberg lettuce & green onions tossed in our tangy red ginger dressing. Pretty good stuff but it could have used more dressing. The salad was tasty and the ingredients were all very fresh.

Service was pretty good. I got seated right away by the host. I was never lacking for drinks. But it did seem to take a long time for my food to arrive. There is a covered patio area and it's a great place to enjoy your meal on a nice day.

I would go back to Renaissance Bistro. They have a wide assortment of pasta, salads, panini and grilled meats. Prices are reasonable.

Market City Caffe-Closed

Market City Caffe
110 W Birch St Ste 7
Brea
714-529-7005

Market City Caffe has been one of the anchor restaurants in the Birch Street complex of Downtown Brea. They have other locations in Burbank and Pasadena. It's an Italian restaurant and one of the better priced places around.

Pictured is the penne al pollo, chicken with fresh and sundried tomatoes, fresh asparagus and cream sauce for about $10. This was a very good dish. The white meat chicken was tender and there were good sized pieces. The tomatoes and asparagus were also fresh and tasty. The cream sauce was on the bland size, nothing overwhelming which I like. The penne pasta was cooked just right.

Service was acceptable. Nothing bad and nothing outstanding.

I would go back to Market City Caffe. I think they serve good quality food at good prices.

Taps

Taps Fish House and Brewery
101 E Imperial Hwy
Brea
714-257-0101

Taps is a nice, though pricey, seafood restuarant in downtown Brea. This place gets very crowded on weekends. I would make reservations unless you like waiting for an hour before eating.

Pictured are the calamari fritti, $8.95. I liked this appetizer. The calamari was lightly batter and crispy. But most importantly it was fresh. God I hate chewy, old calamari. I would order this again and it's a fair price for the quality and quanity you get.

The next picture is the warm crab and aritichoke dip. A good amount of crab along with the creamy, cheesy aritichoke dip made this a good and tasty appetizer.

What I didn't like was the Seared Hawaiian Ahi Tuna, $25.95. Seared Hawaiian Ahi Tuna dusted with sansho pepper and served over soba noodles with roasted shiitake mushrooms and baby bok choy in a ginger ponzu broth. This is much different than how I like ahi tuna, lightly seasoned and charbroiled. The ahi tuna was overcooked and dry, even with the broth. I felt I was eating cup o noodles with fresh ahi. It may appeal to others but I didn't care for this dish.

Service is good, even when it's busy. Our server was nice and friendly and we didn't lack for anything during our meal.

I wouldn't rush back to Taps. I think the food is just ok and also overpriced. I wish they would cook their fish a different way. None of this elaborate stuff but simple seasoning and charbroiling. KISS it. Keep it simple stupid.

Lucille's-Brea

Lucille's
1639 Imperial Hwy
Brea
714-990-4944

Lucille's was the top rated BBQ place by Nine on the Town. Too bad Nine on the Town didn't go to South Central LA to find the best BBQ. But Lucille's caters to the suburban BBQ lovers and they do a great business. Too bad they don't do a good BBQ.

I ordered the half rack of St. Louis Spare ribs, with corn and mac and cheese, for about $25 with tax and tip. The ribs are baked in an oven, then grilled to make them hot, smothered in a sweet, sticky BBQ sauce and then served. They have three different BBQ sauces at your table, a regular, spicy and a Memphis BBQ sauce. I only tried the Memphis and it was actually damn good, one of the better BBQ sauces I've had. It's has a spicy flavor that really kicks in. I like it. I didn't care for the ribs too much. They were fairly meaty but they were a little chewy and lacked any smoke flavor. In the last picture you do not see the classic smoke ring. The corn was steamed/boiled and then grilled. It was OK, not sweet but tender. The mac and cheese was pretty bland. They need to add something to it.

Service was good, except for the fact the waitress forgot the wet towels after dinner. She was attentive, helpful and friendly so I won't hold forgetting the wet towels against her.

I would not go back to Lucille's. The ribs are decent but not worth the $19.95 menu price. They do get very busy, so expect a 30-45 minute wait during dinner. One plus for Lucille's instead of giving mints they give out Tootsie pops, including the blue raspberry, which I didn't know they made.

Please note, if you're going to comment about Lucille's or any other BBQ place I've reviewed, spare me the "You should try the brisket or the pulled pork." Those comments will be deleted. I have already stated I only go to BBQ place for PORK SPARE RIBS. There are many other blogs that review the other meats served at BBQ places. Or create your own blog. My blog will only review the PORK RIBS.

Brea's Best

Brea's Best
707 Brea Blvd
Brea
714-990-2615

Maybe it was the baconcheeseburger from Tom's yesterday but I wanted another bacon burger so I went to Brea's Best for lunch today. Brea's Best has been around for as long as I can remember. It's a small burger place on Brea Blvd and is always packed during the lunch rush. The bacon cheeseburger combo with fries and drink is $6.35.

I think the baconcheeseburger at Brea's Best is better. The burger comes with thousand island dressing lettuce, and tomato. The meat is very well tasty and thicker than the burger at Tom's. The lettuce and tomato were fresh and the bun was nicely toasted. The bacon was crispy and had a smokey flavor.

Brea's Best has an ostrich burger, which I will never order. Brea's Best is your neighborbood burger place. Good food at good prices. The only thing I don't like about Brea's Best is the dining room is very small. When I'm in the area I do stop in for a burger.