Old Vine Cafe

Every time I go home to Southern California I usually try go back to some of my favorite eateries which range from big chains to small mom & pop shops: In n out, Baja Fresh, Din Tai Fung, & Los Cabos are usually on the list when I go home. When I go to San Diego I usually like to check out Bahia Don Bravo, Point Loma Seafoods, Chilango’s, Cotija’s, etc. Inevitably I end up going to at least one formal meal with my family in LA which is also very good. But its rare when I go home and I have a culinary experience like I had last weekend. This probably goes down in the books as one of the best dinners I have had in Orange County. I am hesitant to call it the best, but I can’t honestly think of any better at the moment.

My parents mentioned it to me a few weeks before I was coming in because they had went there once for dinner and enjoyed it. Looking at the yelp reviews and orange county food blogs I heard nothing but praises so I figured it would a great place to try out.

The format is a bit different anywhere I have been. For one, they only have two seatings for dinner on the weekends… 830 or 530. Which is unfortunate if you need to plan around other things that night, but works out nicely if you don’t because they are not trying to turn the table over as quickly as possible. It creates a nice leisurely pace of eating I used to enjoy when I was living in Spain and went out for lunch. The other thing that is really interesting about the place is that every dish they serve has a suggested wine pairing that you can buy a half glass of for 5 bucks! The wine pairings were very well thought out and made a lot more sense than many other dinners I have been to recently (Momofuku Ko being one of the worst offenders considering what they charge for their pairings).

You can order the small plates a la carte or you can get a 4 course tasting menu with matched wines (4 full glasses) for a very reasonable $65. My dad and I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu and the seasonal tasting menu, respectively. Neither of are vegetarian in any sense, but the dishes they were serving the vegetarian menu sounded really good and it definitely did not disappoint. He did substitute the scallops for the salad in the vegetarian tasting menu though.

The Seasonal Tasting Menu:
- Large Sautéed Prawn, Fried Plantains & a Cajun Riesling Butter Sauce finished with Cream. (Paired with a 2007 Carl Sittmann Riesling, Mosel Germany)
- Hand Made, Lasagnette filled with Crimini Mushroom Duxelle, Pecorino Pepato Cheese & drizzled with a Light Tomato Cream Sauce. (Paired with a 2006 Valcantara Old Vine Garnacha, Carinena Spain)
- Certified All Natural Lamb Meatloaf, on a bed of Caramelized Onions, garnished with Wilted Arugula & a Rich Syrah Demi. (Paired with a 2006 Tortoise Creek Syrah, Languedoc France)
- Mini Canoli filled with Sweet Pistachio & Artisan Ricotta, Garnished with Port Wine Dark Chocolate Sauce. (Paired with a N.V. R.L. Buller & Son Victoria Tawny, Victoria Australia)

The Vegetarian Tasting Menu (modified with scallops instead of a spinach salad)
- Sauteed Sea Scallop on a nest of Crispy Leeks finished with Tarragon Chardonnay Sauce. (Paired with a 2007 Macon-Vinzelles Chardonnay, Burgundy France)
- Mozarella Buratta, Panko Crusted Eggplant, Grape Tomatoes & Basil Pesto (Paired with a N.V. Caposaldo Prosecco, Italy)
- House Made Pan Fried Polenta with Pomodoro Cream Sauce Garnished with Aged Pecorino Romano Cheese (Paired with a 2004 Valle Reale Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy)
- Mini Pecan Pie Tartlets garnished with Vanilla Fleur De Sel Butterscotch Sauce & Whipped Cream. (Paired with NV Baroncini Il Santo, Italy)

The rest of the table ordered the following (excluding repeats of the above dishes):
- Fresh Spinach, Dried Fruit, Pine Nuts, Goat Cheese & Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette (paired with 2007 Domaine du Salvard Cheverny)
- Large Shrimp Sauteed in Asian Vodka & finished with Spicy Lemon Grass Curry Sauce, garnished with Flash Fried Glass Noodles (Paired with 2007 Reuscher-Haart Piesporter Riesling)
- Macaroni, Porcini Mushrooms and a blend of Artisan Cheeses (Paired with 2004 Valle Reale Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy)

All in all, it was pretty damn amazing food. The negative I could say is that shellfish was a bit overcooked. Both the prawns in my cajun sauce and the shrimp in the asian sauce were a bit on the tough side. In terms of flavor both dishes were strong. The scallops did not suffer from the same issue though. Overall, the highlights were the lasagnette, buratta, and pecan pie (I really liked the touch of salt), but really all of the dishes were amazing.

In terms of service it was spot on as well. They did a thorough explanation of the food and the wine it was paired with and why they were matched. There is only one dining room and the restaurant only seats about 30-35 so its very easy to get someone’s attention if you need something. Also, they bring you a new glass for every glass of wine you get so you are never in a rush to finish off your current one.

If you live in Orange County or happen to be visiting in the area I would definitely recommend making it a point to check this place out before their up their prices. Currently, the $65 for the four courses and four full glasses of wine is a great deal. They are a new restaurant that just opened up a few months ago so they probably dropped their prices to try to survive starting their business in such a tough economy. I am sure as we start to break out of this recession they will start to raise it.

Old Vine Cafe
2937 Bristol St. Suite A-102
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 545-1411