Galley Girl – She's in Your Kitchen

All my years as a critic have turned me into a serially monogamous restaurant goer with major commitment issues.  First, I’m smitten, then loyal, but ultimately I move on when the assignment ends. Few restaurants compel me to visit over and once a story has been turned in. 

Ravioli di Noah

One place I can’t get off my mind is a fledgling Argentinean-Italian restaurant in Tustin called del Tomate I came across on my search for empanadas for an Orange Coast piece. 

Lemon Tarts.

Far from the pampas-driven B.A.-style beef temples, del Tomate is a casual neighborhood cafe with handsome egg wash-burnished empanadas oozing eggplant and mozzarella, a generous version of miga that makes use of an entire Pullman loaf, malleable  pebete filled with savory prosciutto and buttery provolone and garlic-blasted choripan; a house made pork sausage sandwich served on foccaccia. While there is more variety on the salad bar at, say, Carls Jr., the small trolley of greens and dressings gives the owners more time and space to work on their labor intensive house-made pastas and pastries. 

The long, narrow dining corridor overlooks a brick courtyard with a lush garden. Its as if a Pacific Surfliner car that serves libidinous Malbec and ravioli pillows bathed in tomato cream sauce instead of chocolate flavored Yoo Hoo and stale Krispy Kremes jumped track and took up permanent residence in Tustin. The modest laminate tables and stackable chairs could have been lifted from a church fellowship hall. A modest account with a linen supply company and a few candles could do wonders for their date night potential in this suburb-adjacent location.

After attending  pastry school in Buenos Aires and running a bakery and sandwich shop in Argentina, the owners, Susana and Guillermo Giacobbe spent seven years in the kitchens of The Montage, Laguna and four at The Saint Regis, Dana Point respectively.  This expertise has brought crumbly alfajores, weightless, silky toasted meringue topped lemon curd tarts and  flaky mil hojas to Tustin. I may be ready for a long-term commitment.

137 West First Street, Tustin. 714 731 1738. del-tomate.com

  

   

Pimp my paella.

 Most of us eat out in brick and mortar establishments. It’s less drafty, and there are places to relieve yourself, and sit. 

Some of us treat them as homes away from home, pouncing on our favorite booth as if it were a Sit ‘n Sleep floor sample.     

But what about those days when you can’t leave your desk and no one in the office is going out to even the most rudimentary of drive-throughs?   Or when you’re a gridlock captive in the Honda Center lot after the concert in dire need of absorbant vittles?

Meals on wheels are the answer, and their evolution has never been more fully realized. A few months back, a food truck convoy the length of Mariner’s Mile rolled into OC in the wake of Kogi BBQ’s exhaust offering  everything from Taco Dawgs to Hakuna Mattatta Tostadas.

Tapas on board.

The latest mobile offerings come from Barcelona on the Go, twenty-two feet of quilted steel that looks like the spawn of an   Overhaulin’  rig and  Pimp my Ride  utility vehicle. And they have tapas on board. 

Croquettes are  as big as biscuits with the tender texture of Thanksgiving  mashed potatoes. The gilded crispy crust gives way to fluffy, mellow manchego and savory bits of ham. Balsamic reduction drizzle adds a concentrated sweet acidity to the mild snack. 

Chimmi Chimmi Co Co Bop!

Alongside the croquette sits a Galician style empanada is the size of a coin purse, stuffed with  sautéed onion, red and green bell peppers and savory, moist chicken infused with smoky pimenton.   

A full flavored flat iron steak is Expertly seared, hacked into rugged strips and generously doused in chimmichurri giving each bite of fat-marbled beef a garlicky, oily blast. A handful of rustic, crispy hand cut fries accompany the dish.    

While his fellow Argentine chef makes each dish to order,  you notice Barcelona on the Go owner Esteban Nocito’s curatorial attention to detail. His is the only coach I know of with lilting samba on the speakers, a museum quality facsimile of Picasso’s Guernica on the side of the truck and lovingly nurtured snapdragons in a window box. 

Piping hot lentil soup with morsels of ham is deeply flavored and homespun, like something you’d sample in a San Sebastian taverna. 

Flan was, well, flan. But when Nocito adds the promised chocolate drizzled pears poached in tempranillo to the menu, I’m there. 

Check  schedule on Twitter sidebar at Barcelonaonthego.com. 949.939.6798. Dinner for two, $18.00, food only.