In an effort to draw younger audiences, the Orange County Performing Artscenter launched its first indie-rock music series, “Off Center,” on Thursday night, with Peter Bjorn and John and Sea Wolf performing at the still somewhat-hidden gem of a new venue, Samueli Theater.

Hooking up with Indie 103 FM as a promotional partner for this series of monthly events, is, I think, a brilliant move by the Artscenter. Consider the stellar, must-see lineup of upcoming “Off Center” concerts: Delta Spirit (Feb. 28, $20-$40), Cold War Kids (March 27, $25-$40) and Matt Costa (April 24, $20-$40).

And the classy Samueli is a perfect venue for this series, providing an intimate, warm, almost-lounge feel balanced with plenty of space to walk around - a nice change from the cold, sometimes-grungy industrial spaces that typically host “indie” acts.

Orange County Register pop critic Ben Wener dug the venue and the show, too. Check out his complete review here.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

So the local economy is supposedly tanking, companies are downsizing … and yet, life is GOOD when you can spend an afternoon sipping wine and tasting great cheeses of all shapes, textures, flavors and colors.

On Sunday, I checked out the final day of the first annual American Cheesemaker Awards gathering, a literal nirvana for foodies at the Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach.

Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 15-18, the epicurean event brought together top local and national chefs, taste experts and purveyors, and 25 cheesemakers from California, Idaho, Indiana, New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin showing off their excellent artisanal cheeses.

There was an official judging and awards dinner, and a series of “Cheese Academy” classes, open to the public, where the best of Orange County’s taste experts, like Napa Rose executive chef Andrew Sutton, Sapphire Pantry cheese monger Starr Cornwall and The Island Hotel’s executive chef Bill Bracken, offered tips and lessons on cooking with cheese and pairing it with other foods and wine.

But the ultimate reason to be there was to TASTE some 100 of these amazing cheeses. What an incredible feeling to pick up a wine glass, a small plate and napkin, and then walk into a huge tent to see table after table of cheddar, mozzarella, goat cheese, plus perfect pairing goodies from Bristol Farms’ bounty, from fig spread to olives to truffle butter (sinfully indulgent!).

My top discoveries:
1. Fiscalini Farmstead cheese from Modesto: specifically, the nutty, buttery, perfect San Joaquin Gold, which was “intended to be a fontina but developed into a unique cheese” as their literature put it; and the Vintage Bandaged Cheddar, a classic English style, aged 18 months for a lovely sharp taste that’s smooth on the finish.
I was especially enamored of cheesemaker Mariano Gonzalez, who took me over to a larger display of the bandage-wrapped cheddar and proudly explained that every day for two months, he turns the wrapped cheese upside down to stabilize the moisture and promote even growth of mold to create the rind underneath the cloth. “This is my baby,” Mariano said with a smile.
The “baby” actually loses weight as it ages and firms up, dropping from 60 pounds to about 55 pounds by the end of the 18 months.
Both cheeses won American Cheesemaker Awards, the San Joaquin Gold for “Best Hard Cow’s Milk Cheese,” the Vintage Bandaged for “Best Firm Cow’s Milk Cheese.”

2. Beecher’s cheese (pictured in the lead photo) is handmade at Pike Place Market in Seattle, one of my favorite places. Beecher’s signature Flagship (billed as “Wine’s best friend”) won the “Best Semi Hard Cow’s Milk Cheese” award. It’s hearty, nutty and would taste great in an omelette or simply with some crusty bread.

3. The Aged Cardona and Cocoa Cardona (aged and rubbed with that rich dark powder), goat cheeses from 105-year-old Carr Valley Cheese in Wisconsin. These are firmer cheeses, aged to taste closer to cheddar than the fresh Chevre usually associated with goat’s milk.

4. Grill cheese directly on a non-stick skillet for a mouth-watering treat — especially if it’s the creamy, mild but flavorful Jersey cow cheddar from the Ballard Family’s Idaho dairy. Steve Ballard showed us how simple it is, and Stacie served up the grilled pieces dipped in lemon, balsamic vinegar and other tasteful accompaniments.

The best news: you can find all of the above cheeses at Bristol Farms (in fact, apparently Carr Valley and Ballard inked deals with the gourmet grocery during the event).

And learning that there are domestic cheesemakers that can compete with the Europeans made me proud to be an American.

With Azmin Ghahreman, the enthusiastic, brilliant chef-owner of Sapphire Laguna & Pantry leading this cheese fest as event chairman, I knew the quality would be nothing but top-notch. But it was even better than expected, and many of the cheesemakers confirmed this, saying they didn’t know what to expect and ultimately were impressed with the attention to detail and quality of participants and crowd.

I’d say the only thing that verged on “cheesy” in its negative connotation were these cheese carvings:

… though, there definitely is some impressive craftsmanship, especially in the turkey!

For more on the American Cheesemaker Awards, including a full list of winners, go to the event web site.

For more on cheese and the best local cheese shops, check out this Party Gal column.

For the Orange County Register’s Monday news story on the event, click here.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

This year’s Music for a Cure benefit event brought together good music, a good cause, good hearts, plus beautiful people, places and things.

“The Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll” party Friday night, Nov. 2, featured a concert by Sugar Ray and Smashmouth; artfully tasteful food and cocktails; a silent and a live auction, all at the gorgeous, intimate Samueli Theatre at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. All the event proceeds go to Music for a Cure, the heart-warming charity started by Sugar Ray bassist Murphy Karges and his wife, Julie, to bring music into the lives of sick and financially needy children.

The Kargeses have done everything from bringing performers to hospitalized kids to providing instruments and music lessons to underprivileged children. And on Friday night, the Kargeses presented a $1 million check to Children’s Hospital of Orange County to endow a music therapy program there.

Last year, this event was held at the gorgeous Laguna Beach hillside home of Charlie and Brandi Hawkins, where a very rare rainstorm literally whipped the canopy off the backyard “stage” where Sugar Ray had just started playing and sent cold, wet guests — most laughing, some yelping — into the house. That led to some great mingling with strong drinks around a fireplace and eventually drew Sugar Ray and Smashmouth out with a couple of guitars for a fantastic, one-of-a-kind singalong session.

This year’s event was a tad more formal and sophisticated, but not overly so. There was still a cozy, house party vibe, with the beautifully dressed guests (lots of perfectly coiffed women in clingy, cleavage-bearing gowns) mingling in a familar, friendly way.

There’s a long list of local businesses and individuals (that I don’t have space to detail here but include the Orange County Register, Patina Restaurant Group and Saks Fifth Avenue) who generously supported this event by providing money, auction items, food and other support services.

As a result, there were lots of cool things to bid on both in the silent auction (guitars signed by Sugar Ray and Social D; a gorgeous, fully stocked golf bag; some cool custom Nirve cruiser bikes) and in the live auction (The Lakers Luxury Suite went for about 4Gs; “The Ultimate Race Experience” - a day in a Roush Mustang with an autographed Dale Jarret race suit thrown in - went for a bit more than that).

Sugar Ray played a great, fun set (including “Every Morning,” “Someday”) that had most everyone on the dance floor. Even the VIPs stood and boogied at their special tables on an upper landing: I actually caught sight of some Orange County Register execs shakin’ it! Sugar Ray pals Smashmouth followed with an energetic set to close the evening.

For lots more party pics, click here.

For a video clip, click here.

I continue to be impressed by Sugar Ray not just as a good band, but as a group of good-hearted, sincerely nice people. Besides Murphy and Julie Karges, who are always warm and charming and obviously generous, drummer Stan Frazier and his wife, Jennifer, (at right in the picture below, with friend Jennifer Davis of the Orange County Register) are likewise always warmly welcoming and thoughtful. After Sugar Ray’s set, Stan happened to see me standing near one of the humungous speakers and came over to say “hi” and express concern about my ear drums.

Most of the band still lives in Orange County and are devoted to local communities. These grounded guys, and their lovely wives, prove you don’t have to be a sloppy, selfish, immature celebrity like so many we’ve been hearing about in the news lately.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

This bilingual pop-punk band is a KICK to see live, a quintessential Southern California band with goofy-clever lyrics, and tunes that range from cheeky-sweet melodies (like “Pantalon” quoted above) to driving punk beats (”Stalk U,” “Van Nuys (es very nice)”).

We saw the energetic-yet-graceful Lady P and her hombres Thursday night at the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana, and it was probably the best live music deal in the O.C. that night: for $10 we got a great dose of infectious music, plus the always lively visual show…

…with slender-petite Pilar belting out the hits (”I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t mean to stalk u …”) while alternately pogo-ing, prancing, playing the ukelele and crouching close to the crowd; lead guitarist Don Verde and bassist Vira Lata jammin’ and riffin’ while writhing on the floor; and drummer Dulce drummin’ his ass off. For a few more photos, click here.

The band played like they were in a huge arena - tho the Galaxy was only about half-full. Lucky us - it was like we got Los Abandoned to come play at a house party or something.

Even some older, white hippie guys couldn’t stop dancing, making us think: how great that Los Abandoned brings all ages, races and hairstyles together.

Los Abandoned doesn’t get to O.C. that often - saw the group in another awesome show at JC Fandango about six months back - but you can catch them up in L.A. pretty regularly. Next gig: Sept. 14 at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, as supporting act for Zoe.

Speaking of supporting acts, the second warmup band Thursday at the Galaxy was a lovely discovery: Ceci Bastida, a charming singer-musician from Mexico who’s been backup singer and keyboardist for Julieta Venegas, and started her musical career at the tender age of 15, when she joined ska-punk group Tijuana NO.

If you like Julieta V, Cafe Tacuba and Ozomatli, you’ll dig Ceci’s rhythmic rock music. And you can catch Ceci in Orange County again on Sept. 20, when she, too, opens for Zoe, this time at House of Blues Anaheim.

Otherwise, head to the Knitting Factory in L.A. on Tuesday nights in September, when Ceci is the resident musician.

- Iris

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

I was reminded of this at the opening party this week for the new Melting Pot restaurant in Brea, the third Orange County location (Irvine and San Clemente are the other sites).

I’ve always loved the traditional Swiss cheese fondue at Melting Pot (Grùyere and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses blended with white wine, garlic, lemon and even a bit o’ nutmeg), but at this party, I was introduced to the Wisconsin Trio ( Fontina, Butterkäse and Buttermilk Bleu stirred up with white wine, scallions and a hint of sherry). Yeah, sure, you betcha - I’m a sworn cheesehead after tasting that luscious blend.

But when it comes to the chocolates, I can’t pick a favorite. All of them are blissful - the raspberry dark chocolate, the silky white chocolate swirled with Disaronno Amaretto, the Cookies ‘n CreamMarshmallow Dream … with big, fat strawberries to dunk in them.

Is your mouth watering yet? Go treat yourself to fun-due this weekend. The new Brea location is right in the happenin’ downtown, at 375 Birch St., across the promenade from Club 330. Take a date and you’ll get romantic for sure, with all those natural aphrodisiacs: cheese, chocolate and wine.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

Yup, yup, that’s me and lovely Laila with Billy Morrison and Dave Navarro during their Camp Freddy radio show on Indie 103.1.
We had a very fun half-hour of hanging with those lovely, highly entertaining guys on Saturday evening.

We went on the show to promote our Vanity party this Thursday, May 24, the second of the 7 Deadly Sins series of SqueezeOC soirees.
Indie 103.1 (my favorite station) is a media partner for the parties, and how appropriate to discuss Vanity with Mr. Hottie Navarro, n’est-ce pas?

OK, so every woman I know, young and older, drools when Dave Navarro’s name is mentioned. And YES, he’s great-looking in person - but I was sorta stunned at how great-looking his SKIN is. It’s flawless, practically luminescent, definitely prettier than some women’s complexions (ahem, including yours truly’s).
I should have asked him where he gets facials, and which wrinkle cream and moisturizer he uses.
But we ended up talking about so many other random things that I didn’t even think to ask him that stuff.

Dave was really cool, hyper, friendly and warm, and Billy was incredibly nice and warm, too. I felt like we were just hanging out in their den, shootin’ the shit, BS’ing and bantering about everything from why Latinos and Asians live inland and not on the coast to Red Lobster and midnight VW Rabbit rallies.
And this was without any alcohol or drugs!

They also recorded me promo’ing their show in very sloppy Japanese. So keep your ears peeled for it in the future.

I’m waiting to get a recording of the 20 minutes or so that we were on the show - for the many of you who no doubt missed it. I’ll update this blog entry when I get the sound clip.

In the meantime, check out our photo gallery of Camp Freddy when they played at the new Segerstrom Concert Hall, of all places, last fall.

I’m hoping we can convince Billy and Dave to come to one of our parties: Billy says he’ll wait for the GLUTTONY party, Dave for LUST. So even if you’re not a regular listener of their Saturday-night Indie 103 show, call them up and nag them to come down, will ya?

And if you wanna get a taste of what to expect at this Thursday’s Vanity party, here’s a recap of our first Sins party, Envy.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

There’s been a lot of events lately mixing great food and great causes, but among the best was the 20th anniversary celebration of Zov’s Bistro.

You foodies know what I’m talking about: if it’s an event at Zov’s, you know the food is going to be exquisite, the hospitality gracious and warm.

It’s no wonder Zov’s has been in business for two decades!

Owner-chef Zov Karamardian is 62 but looks easily 20 years younger. It’s gotta be all that great food she’s cooked up for more than 45 years, and the sheer joy she gets out of making all of us happy with her incredible food.

Karamardian came to the U.S. at age 15 after living with her Armenian family in various regions of the Middle East.
She is now considered one of the region’s top chefs; her Tustin bistro has become iconic in gourmet and gourmand circles.

And now, she’s expanding her empire: she opened Zov’s Cafe in Newport Coast in March and an Irvine location is slated to open in October.

So she - and her legions of fans - had much to celebrate at her May 6 gala, which also benefitted two very worthy causes: Serving People in Need (SPIN), which helps low-income families and individuals become self-sufficient, and the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at UC Irvine. The 350 people who attended the event helped raise a total of $41,000 for the two organizations (through the $100-per-person tickets and a silent auction).

But back to the food … the menu was long, fulfilling the night’s theme, “An Enchanted Evening of 1001 Mediterranean Spices and Flavors.”

I won’t rattle off everything, but all of the terrific Zov’s favorites were available, from the rack of lamb to this incredible appetizer table dripping with hummus and Armenian pizza and the best olives …

… to the DESSERT ROOM:

I could have died happy in that dessert room, next to the platter full of baklava and other honey-and-nut-packed pastries. Either that or at the appetizer table.

And a couple of SqueezeOC staff who went to lunch at the Newport Beach location today report that all the food there is reliably delicious, especially the sweets, and the location is perfect. Coastal residents can celebrate - at last they have a Zov’s in their neighborhood!

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

Crevier Classic Car Company is at 365-B Clinton St., Costa Mesa, in a typically drab industrial-office area off Redhill Avenue and Bristol Street South/73 Freeway. (If you kept going east on Clinton past Crevier, you’d hit the John Wayne Airport runway.)

But when you enter the Crevier building, you sorta feel like you’re in a members-only club – except it’s not stuffy and dark. There’s dark wood flooring and cushy wood-and-leather furniture, but there are no walls hemming things in; it all opens up to the wide space in back where the sparkling classic cars are displayed – including a 1935 Packard Convertible and a 1956 Dodge Golden Lancer 500 (only one ever produced of this Dodge test car) . (Read more about Crevier Classic Car Company by clicking here.)

And there’s still plenty of space for all the other cool stuff we’ll be showing off at the party.

To learn more about THAT, tune into Indie 103.1 FM at 7 a.m. Thursday morning (gulp, I know) to hear me, K-Fad and comedian Paul Ollinger talk about the party on the Last of the Famous International Morning Shows, hosted by the brilliant Joe Escalante (O.C. native-punk rock legend-lawyer-turned-DJ).

And if you haven’t already, get your tickets by clicking here. You don’t want to be left out and envying everyone else who’s at the party!

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

I went out to Wineworks For Everyone in Mission Viejo and tried LOTS of new things tonight. I went with my friend Cynthia - who has a divine taste and pushes me to expand my taste and try new things. We ordered a cheese plate and meat plate, along with a few different wines.

The cheeses were yummy-except for the Blue Cheese - Barf! Who wants to eat mold anyway? Then I became daring…I tried Pate (there is supposed to be a litlte accent mark on that because it’s ritzy but I can’t figure out how to make it so just use your imagination). I’ve never had it before…but I decided to just try it…liver…with some sort of fatty gross jelly on top which we dared Devin (another Squeeze food victim) to eat. He reported that the pate jelly tasted like a “booger jello.”

I spread the pate on a wheat cracker and took a bite - it tasted a little like garlic salami and a few other things I couldn’t quite figure out. I think it was the texture overall that grossed me out. I quickly grabbed my glass of red wine and took a giant gulp to get rid of the taste. The rest of the pate remained untouched.

Dessert was my savoir…imported chocolates from Ireland served on a plate drizzled with chocolate and raspberry sauce. MMM…delish! All I have to say is that I tried, and boy did I. I’ve done my daring deed for the week and I was rewarded with chocolate.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog

“It’s still warm!”
“Mmmmm … ”
“I love the way it peels.”
“It’s so pretty!”
We ooohed and aaaaahed and tore into the lovely loaves of challah (or hallah) bread Matt brought tonight, fresh from the oven at cooking school.
We’re all so glad Matt’s taking this baking class. But I also fear I’m gonna be weighing quite a few more LBs by the time his course is over …

Just in the last couple of weeks, he’s brought an apple pie, a truly tasty berry clafouti (like a cream-custard tart covered in berries) and killer white-chocolate cookies (the latter he just baked up late one night at home).
And tonight, this buttery, slightly sweet, melt-in-your-mouth Atkins Diet buster.
Sigh …

Read more about Matt’s cooking exploits on his Man Meets Kitchen blog.

Post from: SqueezeOC Staff Blog