Show 134, August 8, 2015: Show Preview with Guest Host Chef Andrew Gruel & Executive Producer & Co-Host Andy Harris

Andrew GruelExecutive Chef Andrew Gruel of the rapidly growing Slapfish empire with restaurants in Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, LAX, and now, Irvine at UCI, is back as today’s special Guest Host.

Next a tempting preview of Saturday’s ample show and definitely not for dieters. With any luck we will always leave you hungry and thirsty. In our case that’s probably a good thing…

Golden Foodie AwardsIt’s the last week of voting for the 2015 Golden Foodie Awards. The categories up for the people’s choices are Best Beer Selection, Best Wine, Best Pizza, Best Steak, Best Burger, Best California Cuisine and Best Seafood. Take a minute and vote your choice. A favorite restaurant will absolutely appreciate it!

If you feel so inclined we politely encourage you to consider voting for our Co-Host, Chef Andrew Gruel’s, Slapfish, for Best Seafood. www.goldenfoodieawards.com. Click on “Vote” and write in “Slapfish” for “Best Seafood.” Thanks so much for your appreciated support!

When it comes to Breakfast and Brunch in Fullerton, new and buzzworthy is Grits. “Grits is the new Fullerton home of Chef Cody Storts. The concept is classic Southern comfort food done with California creativity. The Kitchen is wide open and built to scratch-make everything that comes out of it. The food is real. Fresh, local, simple and clean. Nothing processed. Nothing corporate. Nothing boring.”

Finca la Carrodilla is one of the newer standout wineries in the Guadalupe Valley in Northern Baja attracting a lot of deserved attention. The winery is certified organic. It’s a 20-acre passion project of the Castro Family with the youthful Fernando Perez Castro overseeing the effort. He’s also the self-taught winemaker. The artfully landscaped and colorful grounds are designed to conserve water. The distinctive winery building is architecturally significant with a roof deck garden as part of the entry.

The very hands-on Sal Maniaci has presided over Sapori Ristorante in Newport Beach for over 25 years. He had a good pizza on the menu but wasn’t quite satisfied with it. Using his Italian roots for inspiration he researched wood-fired Neapolitan pizza and the result is Pizzeria Sapori adjacent to Sapori Ristorante. It features, of course, traditional Italian Neapolitan-style pizza baked in a wood-fired oven imported from Naples. You’ll hear from Sal himself what an incredible process making the dough is!

It’s time to talk wine again with our resident authority Kyle Meyer of The Wine Exchange in Santa Ana. There are a lot of obscure “green” terms being used in marketing wine these days. You have organic, sustainable and biodynamic being used. Also, what is skin contact and dry farmed when it comes to wine ? Kyle, a pleasantly regular fellow, will enthusiastically share with us what we really need to know in understandable English.

It’s safe to say Chef Amar Santana of Broadway by Amar Santana in Laguna Beach has created quite a following for himself in Orange County. He was recently recognized by the Orange County Register as one of the five top toques. Not bad for a 33-year old who immigrated to the United States when he was 13. We’ll meet Chef Amar and talk about his eagerly anticipated (and soon to open) Spanish concept, Vaca in Costa Mesa.

All of this and lots more absolutely incredible deliciousness on Saturday’s show!

 

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