Show 246, November 4, 2017: Executive Chef Michael Rossi, The Ranch Restaurant

Michael Rossi of the Ranch Restaurant and SaloonThe much-honored Ranch Restaurant in Anaheim was the recipient this year of The Golden Foodie Award for the Best Entrée in Orange County. (That is their 9th Golden Foodie Award.) The item is Executive Chef Michael Rossi’s signature Cowboy Ribeye. That’s a 58oz. bone-in rib chop with Grafton Farms white cheddar scalloped potatoes and Sauce Bordelaise. Oh yea…

The Ranch Restaurant & Saloon (launched in January of 2012) is an upscale fine dining and country music establishment located on the ground floor of Extron Electronics corporate headquarters in Anaheim. Chef Rossi has led the kitchen brigade there since a year and one-half before the actual opening.

It also offers a luxurious private dining and events center on the sixth floor of the same building. A personal vision and dream of Extron President and Owner Andrew Edwards, THE RANCH comprises a rustic yet elegantly styled restaurant based on regional American cuisine and fine wines.

THE RANCH delivers a notable combination of a quality culinary experience with a seasonally driven menu emphasizing the best local ingredients. Many of the fresh fruits and vegetables used on the menu (and at the bar) are grown on The Ranch’s own farm in Orange.

The Thanksgiving Dinner Menu for $85 is a standout. It’s four-courses. The Main course is a choice of Mary’s Organic Free-Range Turkey, Loch Etive Steelhead Trout, Wyoming Raised Buffalo Prime Rib or Pheasant Pot Pie. Advance Reservations are a must.

We get Chef Michael out of the busy kitchen to chat in-studio about the extraordinary project that is The Ranch Restaurant.

 

Show 148, November 28, 2015: DINE LBC Holiday Cocktail Contest

Dan TapiaThe first DINE LBC Long Beach Restaurant Week Holiday Cocktail Contest was held at The Sky Room’s Cielo rooftop lounge on November 15th. Five amateur finalists were selected (out of dozens of qualified entries) to create their concoctions in front of a panel of five thirsty judges, including the Executive Producer of the “SoCal Restaurant Show.” and noted food writer Anne Marie Panoringan (OC Weekly’s “On the Line” columnist.)

Little Drummer Boy Cocktail by Dan TapiaThe cocktails were scored on the basis of Creativity of Ingredients, Taste/Flavor, Presentation and Likely to Order at The Sky Room. After careful deliberation the Judges’ decision for the First Place Winner was unanimous and Dan Tapia, the creator of Little Drummer Boy, joins us. The cocktail is a creative variation of a Hot Toddy. It’s his Thanksgiving Dinner specialty for a crowd.

Dan’s prize was a pair of JetBlue Travel Certificates for anywhere JetBlue flies domestically.

Dine LBC – Long Beach Restaurant Week is taking place April 23 – May 1, 2016! Held annually, Dine LBC features value-oriented, three course menus from dozens of Long Beach’s best restaurants in twelve unique neighborhoods throughout the city.

Each participating restaurant offers a three-course menu priced at $20, $30, $40 or $50, per guest either with wine pairing options at fine dining locations OR dinner for two priced at $20, $30, $40 or $50, where diners share an appetizer, each enjoy their own entree, then share a dessert at more casual establishments.

Dan Tapia, a Navy veteran, is opening 4th & Olive in Long Beach in January. The concept for the restaurant is a Franco-German beer and wine garden serving Alsatian-inspired food. He’ll employ as many veterans as possible.

Show 143, October 24, 2015: Executive Pastry Chef David Rossi, The Ranch Restaurant, Anaheim, CA

David RossiThe Ranch Restaurant’s (Anaheim) incredible pastry Chef is David Rossi. He was the recipient in 2014 of the Golden Foodie Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. This is “Peer Selected” award which gives the honor even more weight. (He was nominated again in 2015.)

David just returned from an intensive cacao (chocolate) tour and research trip in Ecuador with 6 other accomplished pastry chefs and chocolatiers. He visited the single origin cacao plantations of Republica Del Cacao. This is a bean-to-bar, premium chocolate entirely produced in Ecuador. Chef David also toured the dairy where they source their milk from as well as the local organic sugar cane plantations where the sugar is grown.

Chef David now uses this exclusively at The Ranch. He’s even using the chocolate in two of his special Thanksgiving Dinner menu (November 26th.) desserts including the Republica Del Cacao Chocolate Pots De Crème with Espresso Chantilly.

We’ll get all the sweetly decadent details…