Over The Top Mommy

Restaurant Reviews

I Got My Brunch On at Michael’s Pizzeria in the Long Beach Downtown Promenade!

One of my most favorite things about living in Southern California is the fact that there is SO much to see and do here! We recently decided to take a short drive down to Long Beach. The Downtown Promenade area of Long Beach is so cool.

IMG_4956Along the promenade, you can find this adorable little Italian restaurant called Michael’s Pizzeria. It has a charming outside patio area (as well as inside seating) and even an area to park your bike!

michaels patio

I had seen pictures of Michael’s delicious pizzas before on their Instagram page, but we specifically made the trip on this particular day to try out some of their brunch menu.

brunchThe brunch menu is served on Saturdays and Sundays and features several wood-fired cast iron frittatas, as well as sweet items such as cinnamon rolls, french brioche french toast, and pancakes. Other items available during brunch hours include wood-fired organic eggs, fennel sausage, smoked bacon, and garlic-roasted new potatoes. I also need to mention that they have NUTELLA to put on your toast and your french toast! Wow!

photo-333So let’s talk about what I got to sample that day. It’s a lot, so I hope you’re ready for the pictures and the descriptions. (I just hope you’re not reading this while you’re hungry!)

photo-334I’d already seen a picture of Michael’s homemade cinnamon rolls on Instagram, so I knew I was destined to have some of my own. We started out with an order of the cinnamon rolls.

photo-335They’re cast-iron baked and topped with a rosemary syrup. They were amazing and I had to fight over the last one with Emi. (we halved it)

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Next, a Salsiccia E Funghi frittata arrived at the table. It’s made with 2 organic eggs, fennel sausage, and mushrooms and wood-fired in the oven.

IMG_4977I love the presentation of the cast iron skillet. All of the frittatas are served with a side of brioche toast and house-made jam, which was strawberry. Yum!

photo-337We were just getting the party started when a Carbonara Pizze Bianca showed up at the table. This pizza is like a foodie’s dream. It’s made with provolone, mozzarella, and pancetta….and then topped with 2 eggs!

IMG_4970IMG_4972Breaking the egg yolk on top of the pizza just brought out even more flavor! This pizza is actually part of the regular menu and not specific to the brunch menu so you can order it anytime!

prosciutto and meloneWe slowed down a little bit with some light, refreshing Prosciutto and Melone. The cantaloupe and honeydew served with Parma ham was so pretty to look on the plate.  It was especially delicious and tasted so fresh when it was combined with the arugula and balsamic. You can tell something is great if a kid will eat it and Emi was doing just that.

IMG_4983We then ventured back to meet a couple more pizzas. The first one was a Margherita Pizza. Tomato, mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.

IMG_4988The second one was something featured on the special chalkboard menu that sits above the wood-fire oven. It was called the Porchetta Pizza and was made with pesto, porchetta (slow-roasted pork belly), smoked mozzarella, peppadews, and garlic spinach. It was loaded up with so much flavor!

photo-338Even though we were getting pretty full from all of the delicious food, we knew we still HAD TO have dessert! From the start, Emi had been eyeing the gelato she’d seen on the menu. There are about 8 different flavors of gelato to choose from each day at Michael’s. We finally decided to try the Salted Caramel and the Mint Chocolate gelatos. They were so light and flavorful and were just enough to top off our great brunch!

gelatoI especially enjoyed getting to chat with the manager, that day. He is so passionate about what they’re doing over there and talked extensively about the way the foods are all prepared fresh daily and how they only use the freshest ingredients. They really pride themselves on bringing the best foods to the table for their customers. He explained each and every detail about the items we were sampling that day.

photo-339I learned something about pizza slicing too. The pizzas arrive at your table unsliced. Michael’s Pizzeria follows what the natives in Naples do, by serving pizzas unsliced because they believe that slicing a pie immediately after it comes out of the oven, causes moisture to form beneath it.  They want to make sure your pizza does not end up soggy and suggest cutting it with a knife and fork as you enjoy it, but will slice it for you upon request. I love this!

photo-340Michael’s Pizzeria is definitely somewhere I’d recommend to others. They have 2 locations in Long Beach, on 2nd street and on the Downtown Promenade, as well as a location in Rancho Mirage. (I know where we’re going the next time we visit Palm Desert). The restaurant is family friendly and has something for everyone on it. Kids will love hearing the kitchen staff shout “Pizza!” every time they take another pizza out of the wood-fire oven. (Ok I’ll admit I loved that part too and may have joined in too) I cannot wait to go back and try more items from their  menu. I know you’ll love it too!

 

 

The Day We Personally Welcomed Fresh Brothers Pizza to Orange County!

Disclosure: We were invited to Fresh Brothers to sample menu items in exchange for a review. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 

When I heard that Fresh Brothers was coming to Orange County, I immediately did a Happy Dance and couldn’t wait for the grand opening celebration!

fresh brothers mascotOur family enjoyed a sampling of some of their most popular menu items. I think it should be mandatory  for every guest to start out with an order of Fresh Knots! Their menu describes Fresh Knots as “garlic bread tied in tasty knots, dusted with parmesan and served with a side of pizza sauce“.  These were so amazing. Seriously!

Fresh KnotsWe tried The Greek Town Special Salad  next which is made with romaine, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, cucumber, pepperoncini, red onions and tomatoes.

fresh brothers greek saladI can never get enough feta cheese. I loved the light dressing on this salad too. All of the salads on their menu are handmade, hand chopped and hand tossed. They offer a ton of different ones on the menu and  also give guests the option of creating their own salad.

Fresh Brothers Meatball SlidersAn order of the Meatball Sliders arrived at our table next. They’re served on King’s Hawaiian rolls and topped with mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce. Emi especially LOVED these. If a kid likes something, you know it’s great!

Fresh Brothers sliderDid I mention that all of the appetizers on their menu are baked and never fried?  I like that. I especially liked knowing that the entire order of buffalo wings I devoured, weren’t fried. The sauce was Roasted Garlic BBQ and SO tasty! They have 6 different kinds of sauces to choose from for their buffalo wings, including traditional hot sauce.

Fresh Brothers wingswing with blue cheeseI couldn’t stop dipping mine in the blue cheese dressing.

The grand finale of our meal was our delicious pizza! It was a delicious thin crust cheese and pepperoni pizza and it was beautiful. I say WAS because we ate the entire thing! By the way, they have gluten-free and vegan options!

our fresh brothers pizza more pizzaThe grand opening celebration of Fresh Brothers’ first Orange County location in Newport Beach had a bunch of fun activities for kids to do. There was face painting, temporary tattoos, pizza dough and cookie cutters to play with, and kids could even make their own pizzas!

grand opening funIt’s also fun just to play with pizza dough and cookie cutters! 

Emi was so excited to make her own pizza. Being the artist that she is, she chose to make a perfectly symmetrical pizza with cheese, olives, and pineapple! She was so excited to see her pizza when it came out of the oven!

making her own pizzamaking her pizzadecorating her pizzaher finished pizzaWhat a fun thing for kids to do!

Not only is the food at Fresh Brothers delicious, but I love the feeling you get when you’re there. It’s a family run business and you can chat with any of the family members that happen to be at the location and hear about the story of how Fresh Brothers came to be. I think the entire family was present at the grand opening celebration and just watching the way they worked together and reached out to every guest was heartwarming.

enjoying Fresh BrothersI’m so happy we have a Fresh Brothers Pizza near us now! If you haven’t checked them out yet, you need to.

To find a Fresh Brothers location, click here.

Connect with them on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram too!

 

 

 

Blue C Sushi in Newport Beach! Get There!

When my friend Melodi from Eat Drink OC called and invited me out for a night of fun at the newest location of Blue C Sushi in Newport Beach, I was quick to accept the invite! I LOVE sushi and I’d heard from a couple of other friends that I needed to check out Blue C.  They offer kaiten sushi which translates as “go around sushi”. There’s  a conveyor belt set up within reach of guests so they can then grab food to eatndirectly off of it at any time.

The decor of this place is so fun. The atmosphere is even more fun! When we walked in, I immediately spotted the magnetic wall. I KNEW it was somewhere I’d need to return with my daughter so she could draw pictures to put them on the magnetic wall. I’m guessing she’ll also probably end up playing with the wall magnets.

blue c sushi magnetic board How fun do these giant magnets look ? 

You can’t help but become almost instantly mesmerized by the conveyor belt and the colors of the plates! Each one has a description of what’s on the plate and its ingredients. There are even some plates with gluten-free and vegan options. The plates are color coded to tell you how each one is priced, which makes it very simple.

There’s also an extensive menu of drinks, appetizers, and other items, such as hand-rolled sushi made to order and some of the chef’s favorites. If you’re curious about the freshness of the items on the conveyor belt, Blue C Sushi actually uses an electronic sensor system on the revolving plates to monitor how long they’ve been rotating. They take pride in serving the freshest sushi, so you’ll never be served sushi that’s been on there longer than 45 minutes.

about as fresh as you can get! This is about as fresh as you can get for sushi! (We named him Sebastian the Shrimp!)

The chefs’ area in the center of the restaurant allows for the sushi chefs to monitor every table and interact with guests.  If you’d like them to walk you through the chef’s offerings and specialty items, you can press the blue button. They’ll also address any of your ordering needs at that time.

We had the best time chatting with “Joe” that night. He’s one of Blue C’s main sushi chefs and I loved that he greeted each of us with a little gift, our own personal blue ninja. Joe likes to keep these ninjas on hand for the younger visitors, but on this particular occasion we were the exception to the rule.

blue ninjaHe might be tiny but my ninja means business! 

When we sat down at our table, I was immediately mesmerized by the conveyor belt and all of the food going by on it. Not only is there sushi on the conveyor belt, but I also spotted some fresh fruit, edamame and other appetizers, and even desserts pass by us!

Desserts passing me by on the conveyor belt! Come back, cupcake!  

Our server, Matt, was so much fun! I think you HAVE TO BE fun to work at Blue C! He got each of us started with a cocktail.

my blue martiniMine was a beautiful blue one in a martini glass! 

Before I knew it, the eating began! All I know is we started with some Spicy Edamame and the rest was history!

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We were so lucky to be able to try quite a few of Joe’s own personal creations. He took so much time to describe each one that he’d made for us and even whipped up a few of his own personal favorites. The sushi was so fresh and I felt like I couldn’t stop myself from gorging! I’m pretty sure I ate my weight in fish!

seared sushiBLT sushiIMG_4114Joe came out and actually sat with us at our table for a little while. We chatted with him about his background in the food industry and he gave us a deeper insight into the history of Blue C Sushi. Not only is he great at what he does, he also seems very passionate about it. I think that’s really important.

oysters These clams were so delicious! Chef Joe made them especially for us! 

As if we weren’t already stuffed, Joe insisted we also have dessert! Good thing I have a “dessert compartment” from when I was younger that always allows me to have room for it! Dessert arrived at our table, an incredible tempura brownie with ice cream and some shaved! Whoa! We were ready to eat it but first I stopped to take a selfie with Chef Joe!

chef joe

IMG_4118This tempura brownie was to die for! Seriously, you NEED to try one when you go there! 

coconut shave ice The shaved ice was served with fresh fruit and topped with coconut milk! It was really yummy! 

We had such a great experience at Blue C Sushi! It was a lot of fun to really get to know the staff working that night and it felt like we had our own personal chef.  I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially families with kids.

If you end up going soon, could you please call and invite me though?  I’m totally ready to go back!

To locate a Blue C Sushi near you, click here! Connect with Blue C Sushi on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.