Trendy. Talked About. Overpriced. Overhyped. I can’t argue. But I also can’t argue that these restaurants in SoCal are pretty dang good!
Din Tai Fung
Downtown Disney baby! We’d heard so many great things, we’d seen the gigantic lines, we knew it was overhyped, but we went anyway.
One Disney magical morning we strolled by at 11:00 a.m. when the line was just forming for lunch. We hopped in line, waited 20 minutes, and got a table! We’d seen other people waiting 3 hours to get in! Classic Disney LINES. No help from the Genie App.
All that hype? Totally delivered. I’m not trying to hype it up even more, but I guess I will a little.
We ordered all the things and LOVED all the things. Top recommendations from my crew?
- Sweet & Sour Pork Baby Back Ribs
- String Beans w/Garlic
- Vegetable & Mushroom Fried Rice
- Chicken Dumplings
- Sticky Rice Shao Mai
- Honey Lemonade
They were fantastic about allergies (we have many and varied). The kitchen was open (behind glass) and so cool to see the food being made (especially the dumplings).
Lots of hype. Lots of money. Would I go again? Probably. If the line wasn’t very long.
Black Tap Burgers
Another restaurant with big hype and EVEN BIGGER SHAKES.
You really can’t go wrong here. It’s burgers and fries. You better be hungry if you are ordering dessert, it’s a meal of it’s own.
Another one that was great about allergies and food prep.
Order anything!
Black Tap has just a few locations around the world. We wandered in for lunch at the Anaheim location in Downtown Disney.
True Food Kitchen
Did I mention we have food allergies run wild? 😉 This is another restaurant that has loads of healthy options and does a great job with food allergies too.
With people like Oprah Winphrey and Dr. Andrew Weil behind True Food Kitchen you know it’s been given LOADS OF HYPE.
I’ll stop in any time I see one specifically for and Ancient Grains Bowl and a Horchata Matcha. If I’m feeling really crazy I’ll get myself the Flourless Chocolate Cake.
Bonus, they have gluten free chicken tenders that will rock your world.
We hit up the Fashion Island location in Newport Beach when we’re in town.
Salt and Straw
Allergies be damned because it’s good enough that I’ll throw all caution to the wind and have myself a scoop of straight up dairy. Hit me!
However, they have some vegan and gluten free options that are actually amazing.
Another hype machine. Another menu I can’t resist!
Some favorite flavors:
- Sea Salt with Carmel Ribbon
- GoNanas Banana Bread w/Strawberry Jam (vegan + gluten free)
- Coffee and Love Nuts
- Peanut Butter Brittle Caramel Fudge (vegan + gluten free)
- Strawberry and Coconut Water Sherbet (vegan + gluten free)
You can check out their full list of flavors here!
Also. My husband got obsessed and got himself a Salt & Straw Cookbook. He even found the GoNanas mixes on Amazon (you can also find a few flavors at Target).
For those of you less enthusiastic about that kind of a cooking journey, you can order Salt and Straw directly to your house. My kids are already putting together their order.
Worth the hype.
What SoCal Restaurants Do YOU Love?
Hype them up in the comments! We’re always looking for something new when we travel. What are your favorites?
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