A trip to sunny CA or how to gain five pounds in a week

Some weeks back it was decided that my boss and me, accompanied by some of our staff would make a trip out to Orange County.  Since my boss had other commitments at the end of the week that required her in DC, we left Sunday to maximize our time together there.  After her departure, I stayed behind with my team to touch on some other items.

My flight there as well as could be expected. I left on the latest schedule possible, hoping to spend as much time with Dan and Erin as possible.  This should have had me landing at 840PM PST/1140 PM EST.  However, I was delayed in Dallas. But I'm used to this by now. For just this reason I travel fully equipped with several books and at least two movies loaded on my computer at all times.  Waiting out the delay, I found a plug and settled in to watch, "The Switch" with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman.  When I finally hit the ground (or rather bounced off it - not a great landing) in Santa Ana, I snagged my rental car and headed for the hotel. I rolled in at 1130PM PST/230AM EST.  I was tired but in good spirits since I long ago decided getting impatient with travel, something I have zero control over, will only raise my blood pressure unnecessarily.  I think it took me exactly two minutes to fall asleep when I finally hit the bed.

By 515AM PST the next morning my phone was ringing.  Why would anyone call me that early you ask? Because it's 815AM in DC and the work day has started which means so has my day, like it or not.  I just roll with it.  Three phone calls later, a trip to the gym and a shower and I was in the lobby to meet my boss and get our day started circa 7AM.  This was more or less how the whole week went, filtering in some different players as various staff members came and went from DC. It was a solid, productive week.  We accomplished what we came for on several fronts and were able to head home feeling satisfied with our progress.

But the blog-worthy highlights, of course, have nothing to do with work and everything to do with what's available after business hours in sunny CA.

On Tuesday, we were able to leave the office early enough to snag a seat at The Rooftop Lounge.  The concept is explained in the name and while the drinks are overpriced, the small plates they offer are tasty and you canNOT beat the view.  We spent about three hours here, drinking, eating, laughing and watching a glorious sunset.

The view from the entrance to the restaurant/lounge

Becca and Sara enjoying Sangria

Meatballs with Gauva BBQ

Crispy, delicious enchiladas

The glorious Laguna Beach sunset

We wrapped up our evening at Las Brisas, the Mexican-inspired restaurant that relies heavily on seafood. It has a large menu and seems a little unfocused in general.  But my halibut with tomatillo sauce was well prepared and flavorful.

On Wednesday, after a long morning spent driving to San Diego we stopped just outside the Gaslamp Quarter at Neighborhood, an upscale burger joint that I think is best described as a gastropub.  Justin and I enjoyed "The NH Burger", a juicy patty covered in caramelized onions, arugula and Gruyere both with garlic fries (and there was no skimping on the garlic).  Sara opted for the black bean burger with sweet potato fries.  Michael chose tasty shrimp tacos and Brian enjoyed impressive seared albacore tuna sandwich.  Aside from painfully full, everyone was extremely pleased with their delicious meals.  The restaurant was an incredible pick by Justin and one that I would highly recommend to anyone headed to the San Diego area.

The NH burger and garlic fries, being approved of by Sara

The black bean burger, also being complimented by Sara's thumb

We piled back into the car, headed back to Orange County, still extremely full.  And we were still full several hours later when Dawn collected us from the hotel for dinner at Dana Kai, a delicious sushi place we've been to on a previous occasion and wanted to check out again.  The main reason to go to this place, and certainly there are many from which to choose, is the Japanese burrito, a soy paper wrapped collection of tastiness.  Filled with shrimp tempura, crab and avocado, this thing is HUGE but unbelievably delicious.

Half of a Japanese burrito

In addition to the Japanese burrito, which was the best dish of the night, we also enjoyed a variety of other tasty sushi rolls of which I was even good enough to take photos.  The problem is that I can't remember what the rolls are now, so there will be no photos.  

To say the food was good is true, but the company was better.  Highlights of the night included a lurid description of squid dissection as told to me by my coworker Dawn's 12 year old son, Nick, coupled with further chat on why it is acceptable to kill grey toads as they are not indigenous to the area and a discussion on the Mormon Church and Martin Luther King, as described by Dawn's 8 year old son, Jack.  Follow all of this with being shown a recently caught rainbow trout and getting to witness Dawn's near coronary when she thought that fish had just been chillin' in her fridge unrestrained and you have a recipe for a great night. Dawn's kids are hilarious and seriously cool.  Way cooler than I was at that age.

By the time we got back to the hotel you could have rolled each of us inside - we were stuffed and lamenting our choice of two big meals in a single day.  As a result the rest of the week was filled with varying forms of "light food" in order to ensure that we each only gained five pounds during the week rather than the 10 that might have presented themselves should our delicious adventures around Orange County have continued.

You mean Sushi Yummy?

Actually, it's Sushi Yama, but Yummy seems more appropriate for our Friday night favorite.

By Friday, I'm wiped out.  One long day after another and another makes Friday the one night of the week where cooking just isn't likely, no matter how much I enjoy it. Ben is usually similarly exhausted if he even gets home at decent hour.  This leaves us with two possible courses of action - leftovers or takeout.

A word about takeout. Neither Ben nor I enjoy chain restaurants for the most part.  As a result, the options are pretty scant. Our best bets are Lestrani's, a fantastic mom and pop owned pizza joint (there are a couple of them so strictly speaking it violates my chain restaurant aversion, but it's local and family owned, gimme a break) or Sushi Yama.  As you can see from the picture, we opted for Sushi Yama. We've opted for this sushi stand by so many times in the 7 years we've lived here in fact, I'm surprised they don't know us by name - not that it stops the owner from greeting us (and everyone who enters) like family.

Alligator, Yummy Yama and Bubba rolls, back to front

One of the best parts about this local place is that they do great sushi in every form - hand rolls, maki, sashimi, you name it.  Ben opts for sashimi or other more traditional cuts of fish with rice, but me, I always go for the rolls because they have too many good options.  This Friday I enjoyed an Alligator Roll (tuna, avocado and masago rolled with avocado on the outside), a Yummy Yama Roll (spicy salmon and avocado topped with salmon, avocado, white tuna and minced scallions) and a Bubba Roll (California roll topped with salmon, spicy mayo and crunch flakes). In addition to the great rolls I ordered, there are dozens more to try.  If you're a DC-area local, this small time operation offers big flavor at great prices!

Orange you glad you came to Orange County?

If you boiled my job down to a single sentence, this is what you'd get.  "I travel...A LOT."  Often that travel is to less than desirable locations (sorry all of you from Dallas, but I just don't like your city, same goes for you Indianapolis) or to really, really less than desirable Southwest Border locations like Nogales, AZ or Brownsville, TX (and don't even get me started on most of Western Texas, El Paso, Marfa, Del Rio, thanks but I'll pass).  But now that part of my team is in Laguna Niguel, a town right next to Laguna Beach in Orange County, California, I find myself complaining just a little less about my travel destinations.

I spent the week of April 26-30, working out of our Laguna location.  The first perk to this is that we have a great team in Laguna with whom it is always a pleasure to work.  The second perk is that while we keep a hectic schedule when traveling that typically starts very early since our DC office is three hours ahead, we get to enjoy all of what this beautiful area has to offer.  And we wasted no time on doing so.  In addition to myself, another DC native and two of our Indy team, met up with the California lead for sushi and some work scheming at Mahé in Dana Point.   What we learned was that this place has great happy hour specials and some tasty and different maki creations as well as a few delicious hand roll options.  When you get into the dinner menu, you're quick to realize that, as sushi places go, this place really is only about a B, but it was a great place for a group to get together, chat a little about work, a little about life and enjoy some tasty, if not tremendous, sushi options.  Perhaps the greatest selling point to this place is that it's walking distance to the Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort and Spa, the lovely, laid back resort that offers a government rate and gets my patronage almost every trip.  Having recently completed renovations, this hotel is gorgeous and very, very comfy!

Following our Monday night festivities we launched full force into the work week, keeping crazy hours and working too hard.  But we did find a couple of occasions to enjoy ourselves, not least of which was the generous offer of a co-worker to have us over for dinner and an evening cruise on their boat around the Newport Beach Harbor.  Thanks to my happy little phone GPS we found our way to her home without incident and were immediately welcomed.  Her husband had prepared a lovely dinner for us, including twice baked potatoes, roasted veggies and most impressive, grilled tuna steaks, cut down from Tuna he caught!  After a lovely meal on their back patio, which is feet from their dock and three boats floating in the Newport Harbor, we boarded their boat for our cruise.  My coworker was a wonderful guide as we tooled around in the light of a full moon on the water, pointing out quite a few celebrity homes including the former homes of John Wayne and Nicolas Cage.  She also regaled us with tales of the plight of several fellow Newport Harbor residents including one who's boat was just too large for his current dock space, a sad situation that required him to just BUY ANOTHER HOUSE in the Harbor to keep his boat.  Really?!? Are you kidding me?!? Sure, let's just buy a multi-million dollar home as a boat house.  I wish I had your problems.  Aside from choking on stories like this, stories I should add were told with humor by my coworker as she too, even as a Newport Harbor resident, sees the ridiculousness of, we had a lovely tour and were so grateful to have been invited.

 (A day time shot of Newport Harbor)

Wednesday and Thursday brought more crazy work hours but a very strong sense of accomplishment that we decided was worth celebrating on Thursday night with another trip out to Newport Beach, this time to enjoy the deliciousness of Villa Nova.  This restaurant has been a part of the Southern California landscape since 1933 and boasts some fun celeb-history including its role in a blind date between Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.  This particular venue (there are two) had suffered a crippling fire some years back and had been rebuilt, restoring exactly the restaurant that had burned.   Seated at a table with a lovely Harbor view (we'd passed this restaurant right on the water during our Tuesday cruise), we enjoyed a couple bottles of great Italian wine, courtesy of my boss, and some delicious, if not politically incorrect meat, in the form of Veal Saltimbocca (translates from Italian to "jump in my mouth").  While I have had better versions of this dish prepared elsewhere (Vinci in Chicago, it's one of their best dishes), this one was still very good and, paired with some delicious Italian red, made for a very pleasant celebratory/team building dinner.  

Friday morning dawned early as I boarded a flight at 630AM PST while already on a conference call with the east coast, but thanks to lots of United miles, I was able to get a comfy Economy Plus seat on the flights from both Orange County to Denver and Denver to Washington Dulles.  All in all, I had a busy but lovely week in Orange County, glad that now this will be a frequent travel destination, leaving me too busy to travel to those less desirable locations.  At least that's my plan.