OC Restaurant Week, Part Three

Friday afternoon we went to The Winery at The District in Tustin. I was particularly excited about this one as I thought they would have wine pairings too. Unfortunately, there were no wine pairings, which seems odd at a place called The Winery, you know? However, that was the only disappointing part of the whole experience.


My first course was The Winery House Salad. This was delicious. The dijon vinaigrette was fantastic. It was tart, tangy and paired well with the sweetness of the tomatoes and grapes.


My husband's first course was the soup de jour. Friday it was a carrot/ginger puree soup. OMG, WOW! "this is the best use of carrots I've ever had" coming from the anti-veggie husband. So it really was impressive. The ginger wasn't overpowering, and IMO it was the single best dish I've had at Restaurant week.


I don't really like fish so I got the "Grand Cru" burger which is made with Kobe beef, I chose blue cheese, carmelized onions, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes and bacon. The little frittes were seasoned perfectly, but I only had like 4. This burger is huge! I just stared at it for a minute and tried to figure out exactly how to tackle it. Once I figured out the logistics of actually eating it, I can honestly tell you it was the single best burger I've had in my life. I would have liked more blue cheese, but overall this burger was super!


My husband got the Chili-lime rubbed Mahi-Mahi. It was good. It was cooked through and as previously stated, I don't really like fish...like at all. But for posterity sake, I did take a bite and it was good. I don't think I can eat a whole portion, but I could have eaten a couple more bites. The chutney on top of the fish was excellent and really it's what made the dish!


My husband had the apple cranberry tarte tartin. It was good. It was a tarte. It was everything a tarte is supposed to be and was presented beautifully. It was not memorable. I wouldn't get it again.


I would get the Creme Brulee again. WOW! I have been in dessert heaven this week. The flavor was amazing, the texture was perfect, the little chunks of chocolate hiding on the bottom were amazing. This was the best creme brulee I've ever had. The only mildly disappointing thing was that the sugar crust wasn't crunchy, but I can get past it. This was served with a chocolate cookie that was ooie-gooie yummy goodness. It melted in my mouth.

The service was timely. Again, at lunch I'd hope for less time between courses so that the working people could take an hour and a half lunch instead of 2 hours (with drive time incorporated for my husband coming from the airport area). Obviously, this was a very minor detail, but the servers were good.