DOZENS OF TASTES AT ONCE: It is likely you do, from time to time, find yourself in the County of Orange. (And, by the way, if we lived in Orange County, we would be calling it "The County of Orange" all the time, with a possible faux accent, until people asked us to stop.) And you probably have to eat as you're traveling the 5, and you have your usual exits and your usual stops and your usual meals and everything is usual usual usual. There come moments, however, when you can break out and try new things. In short, you can stop saying "Orange County" and start saying "County of Orange," if you please. Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17 will be those days, and Irvine will be the place, and Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre will be the venue, and Taste of OC will be the event that introduces you to a host of places that could become your next go-to stop-by.
30+ RESTAURANTS: Over two and a half dozen restaurants will be sizzling and sauteing and grilling and plating up their specialties; the names include Clay Oven, House of Big Fish, and Tamarind of London. Chef demos will also be in the house -- er, amphitheatre, rather -- and a tequila tasting is on tap, or rather bottle, too. Note that Saturday, June 16 is a 21+ event but June 17 is open to families. There are various levels of access with the passes, so take a look and find what suits your needs. Our needs are usually suited when we leave a food event feeling like we have a couple of new cafes stashed in our files for future reference. That's always better than driving through a city and wishing you knew just the perfect restaurant to stop at.
