Ruby's Diner Introduces Fall Menu Items!

Just in time for Fall, Ruby's Diner, one of the iconic Southern California favorites for burgers, shakes and fries is introducing new menu items for a limited time. Ruby's Diner invited Sasaki Time to check out their new Fall Menu offerings that start this Wednesday October 5th!

One of my seasonal favorites, the Pumpkin Hot Cakes are back! The pancakes are light and fluffy and full of that delicious pumpkin and cinnamon flavor! They almost do not need maple syrup!

New this year is the Pumpkin Waffle! The outside of the waffle is crisp while the inside literally melts in your mouth! This would be my choice for breakfast!

Square One Pizza Cafe in Irvine Brings Fresh Ingredients to Pizzas, Pastas and More

I was invited to check out Square One Pizza Cafe in Irvine along with friends and team members Marco and David. Marco and David are also part of the team who built a recreation of the famous Pizza Planet Truck from Toy Story. I thought it would be cool to have them bring the Pizza Planet Truck here as well. Above are the awesome owners of Square One Pizza Cafe, Kyle and Liz Gillies with the Pizza Planet Truck. I love that Kyle covered up the Pizza Planet logo with their logo!

The restaurant is informal and casual. It's the perfect place to stop in for a lunch or dinner. You simply step up to the counter and order and your food is brought to your table. Service is super friendly and you can tell the employees take pride in their job.

Did someone say salad? I love a good salad and we tried two of them. You can never go wrong with a classic Caesar salad. Crisp and refreshing and you can really taste those anchovies in the dressing.

The mixed greens with roasted vegetable salad is my new favorite salad. The roasted vegetables blend perfectly with the fresh greens. Make sure you get it with the balsamic vinaigrette for a fantastic combination of flavors.

The star of this amazing meatball sub is the house-made meatballs. So many places do meatballs but sometimes they are almost burnt on the outside or not cooked all the way through. These meatballs are perfectly cooked all the way through and still moist and flavorful. The rich marinara sauce and melted mozzarella cheese are equally as good as the soft baguette. Do not pass up on the meatball sub.

We also ordered the baked penne pasta. A wonderful combination of soft penne pasta, tomato cream sauce, fennel sausage and peas.You are going to love the perfectly cooked pasta with the creamy sauce, the sweet fennel sausage and the peas. Plus, you can also get pasta that is gluten-free.

Now we get to the pizza. As you can see all the pizza's are square, hence the name of the restaurant. You can order the pizza 50/50 so you can get to eat try two pizzas. We combined The McTernan which combines tomato puree, sweet fennel sausage, pepperoni, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella cheese. The other half of the pizza is the Charred Steak which blends marinated steak, roasted corn, roasted red peppers, red onions, manchego cheese and topped with sour cream and cilantro.

This is a great pie. It's thin crust pizza, almost flatbread like. The thin crust is sturdy and crisp. I'm a fold kind of guy when it comes to pizza and this is the perfect pizza to fold a slice and eat. I loved the McTernan with the slightly spicy sausage and pepperoni. But I would have to say that the Charred Steak completely won me over with the perfectly tender and flavorful steak. Combine that with the flavors of the sweet corn and fresh vegetables made for a refreshingly hearty pizza. I cannot wait to come back and try more of their creations.

For dessert we decided upon the midnight layer cake. This is house-made with a toasted pecan crust, chocolate ganache and chocolate espresso cream with bourbon caramel. If you love dessert and are a chocolate fan, then you owe it to yourself to try this dessert. It's moist and full of amazing chocolate flavor. It's almost pudding like a solid pecan crust. A dessert that is almost too good to share.

The lunch experience was a fantastic one. Everything we tried was fantastic. The freshness of the ingredients really shine. The extra ingredient here is love from Chef Kyle and his passion for making great food, using fresh ingredients and making sure that no one leaves hungry. If homemade, fresh pastas, pizzas, subs, salads and desserts are your thing in a casual friendly environment with friendly guest service then look no further than Square One Pizza Cafe.


Check out their web site:

Square One Pizza Cafe

Oak Creek Shopping Center

5789 Alton Parkway
Irvine, CA 92618
Phone: 949.451.1750
Email: info@sq1pizza.com 

Hours

Sunday - Thursday: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Friday & Saturday: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM

*Disclaimer: The experience was provided for free in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Restaurant Review: The Melt

Today I went with my friend Daisy to check out The Melt at the Irvine Spectrum. They are part of the grilled cheese craze!

I love their list of philosophies!

They have a very simple menu but still too many great sounding options!

Simple continues with the entire layout even in the cooking area!

They take your initials and you just watch the board to see when your order is up!

I don't know why I was so fascinated with their soda dispenser but I was!

I love the dispenser!

Daisy got the regular grilled cheese. For $2 more you can add a side salad or a cup of soup. She went with the sweet corn tortilla. The soup was perfect. Smooth like a bisque with the sweet taste of corn. You also get your choice of a side of chips or pickles.

I went with The Italian Job - fontina and provolone on housemade garlic bread. I added tomatoes to it and also added a cup of soup. I went with the seasonal soup which was sausage and peppers. The soup was smooth as well with the rich taste of sausage and pepper in each spoonful. So good to dunk the grilled cheese into the soup! The Italian Job was fantastic! The soft gooey cheese was melted perfectly and not too hot! The garlic bread was toasted perfectly as well! Just a great comfort food meal!

A great fresh meal that is relatively low cost. I was content, not overly full and definitely not hungry for anything else.

Check out the site for more details and info:
https://themelt.com/

Here is the address of the one I went to:

The Melt Irvine Spectrum
73 Fortune Drive, Space 105
Irvine, CA 92618

Review of Kula Revolving Sushi Bar

Kula Revolving Sushi Bar in Irvine where pretty much everything is $2.00 a plate!

If you are not familiar with a revolving sushi restaurant, allow me to explain! The sushi is placed on a revolving conveyor and you pick up which plate you want. The sushi only revolves for a certain period of time before they remove it from the conveyor belt. Each plate is priced differently and you just stack up the plates you finish and they add up your total at the end! But since pretty much everything here is $2 a plate, you can't go wrong!

This is the beef sushi! Raw beef marinated in a ponzo type sauce! It was amazing! The beef was soft and flavorful! I had another plate of this!

Tuna is one of my all-time favorites and this was no exception!

Seared salmon was amazing!

Salmon sushi is another one of my all-time favorites and here the salmon is rich and buttery! High quality sashimi indeed!

A rainbow roll!

Ell! Yes eel! Another favortie of mine! Perfectly seared and nice and buttery as well!

Caramelized sweet potatoes! Delicious! I would definitely order these again!

Kinako covered mochi!

Traditional azuki bean (sweet bean) filled mochi!

A great meal for a relatively low price! Everything was fresh and flavorful! If you don't see what you want on the conveyor belt, ask one of the helpful wait staff and they will bring it to you!

Kula Revolving Sushi Bar

2700 Alton Pkwy
Ste 133
Irvine, CA 92606

(949) 553-0747

http://www.kura-corpo.co.jp/us

Hours:

Mon-Thu 11 am - 11 pm

Fri-Sat 11 am - 12 am

Sun 11 am - 10:30 pm

$12 unlimited video game Tuesdays at Boomers!

$12 for unlimited video games?
Check out the Twelve Buck Tuesdays. You can also add on unlimited bumper boats, miniature golf, go-karts, kiddie rides and more for an extra $10.

Click here to go to the Twelve Buck Tuesdays and other promotions page at Boomers Fountain Valley

Click here to learn more about Twelve Buck Tuesdays and other promotions at Boomers Irvine

2011 Year In Review: My Top Italian Restaurants!

Here are my picks for my favorite Italian Restaurant discoveries this year:

3. Pieology goes down as my favorite new pizza place of 2011! Quick and cheap and delicious! Plus I get to make it the way that I want! You can't beat that!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2011/04/review-of-pieology.html

2. Itriya Cafe goes down as my second favorite Italian place of 2011! With a huge variety of pasta dishes, you are going to find something yo love! Plus, throw in some Asian Fusion and you have a unique place to eat! Great service and a fun ambiance makes this place a winner!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2011/12/review-of-itriya-cafe.html

1. My number one Italian restaurant of 2011 goes to Il Garage! From its amazing service, to it's feel of escapism as Beach Blvd. is literally a hop skip and a jump away, to its fresh pasta to fresh from the garden produce, Il Garage is not only my top Italian Restaurant of 2011 but don't be surpised to see it high on my list of my top restaurants of 2011!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2011/07/review-of-il-garage.html

Review of itriya cafe

Hello Sasaki Time fans! This is my first restaurant review in a long time and it feels like coming home! I went to itriya cafe in Irvine for lunch today and it was a great experience!

Part of the gorgeous interior of the cafe!

 This is the brainchild of Howard Gordon of Cheesecake Factory fame. He wanted to bring a casual dining experience with food that would be attractive to everyone. He succeeded! Plus, Howard is there at his restaurant and was kind enough to stop by and talk with us. The hands on approach is greatly appreciated and he guided us through the menu with ease!

Itriya is believed to be the earliest word meaning pasta. They serve spaghetti in its usual forms (meatballs, beef bolognese, etc.) but also serve it as Korean black bean, Memphis chicken bbq or even white clam chowder. Their other big item is a small item but it's called ssam which is a Korean word meaning "wrapped". Think of it as a taco but lettuce instead of a tortilla and filled with rice, Korean vegetables and spices, and your choice of korean style meats, fried tofu or shrimp. They also have soups and salads.

To start, the water is infused with lemon which was a nice refreshing change.

They even brought us out some garlic bread to start.

I ordered a triple berry lemonade which said it was their signature handmade non-alcoholic cocktail! I can see why it's their signature drink! The sourness of the lemonade matched perfectly with the sweetness of the triple berry blend! I would order this again and again!

My friend ordered the watermelon cilantro and it was just like a watermelon cucumber infused drink. Nice and refreshing! The cilantro surprised me by having that cucumber taste.

We started with two orders of ssam. The first was the sizzling tofu which was fantastic. Even though the tofu was fried, it was still soft. The amount of rice and vegetables was just right. Perfect sized appetizer course.

The second ssam was the bbq rib eye. Even better than the sizzling tofu! The rib eye was nice and tender and tasted like short ribs at any Korean bbq place! Just delicious!

I had the white clam chowder pasta. It was amazing! It was like a variation on white clam sauce but with all the bacon and chunks of potato like a great white clam chowder should have!

My friend had the korean black bean which reminded me of a chow mein! It was really tasty and I wanted to eat more but restrained myself!

My friend's husband had the Memphis chicken bbq pasta! Just like Memphis BBQ sauce it was sweet and smoky! Another winner!

So if you are looking for comfort food or a unique twist on comfort food, try itriya cafe in Irvine! Thank you for a great meal and I'll be back!

 

Address:

Diamond Jamboree Center
2740 Alton Pkwy
Irvine, CA 92606

(949) 955-2080

www.itriyacafe.com/

Hours:

Mon-Thu, Sun 11 am - 10 pm

Fri-Sat 11 am - 11 pm

Itriya Cafe - look for a full review soon!

Restaurant Reviews are back! I just came back from a great new concept restaurant called itriya cafe in Irvine, CA. I will bring you the photos and review tonight or tomorrow! And yes I had the spaghetti and the ssam! Amazing! Full details soon!