Blaze Pizza is now open in the Orange Circle

On June 18, 2015, Blaze Pizza opened a new location in the southeast quadrant of the quaint Orange Circle in Orange, CA. The Orange Circle is a Hollywood star on its own. It was featured in the movie, Forrest Gump. The scenes where Forrest is sitting on a bench waiting for the bus and talking to people about his life was filmed right here. The Circle is also home to many antique shops and other wonderful restaurants.

This also one of the biggest Blaze Pizza’s in Orange County with a long pizza assembly line and huge dining room. If you are a first timer, here are the parts of your pizza that you need to decide on:

• Choose your sauce: Classic red sauce, spicy red sauce, white cream sauce, pesto drizzle, BBQ drizzle, or olive oil drizzle
• Choose your cheese: Goat, gorgonzola, mozzarella, ovalini mozzarella, parmesan, and/or ricotta (Vegan cheese is available at an additional charge)
• Choose your meat: Applewood bacon, crumbled meatballs, grilled chicken, Italian sausage, pepperoni, salami, and/or smoked ham
• Choose your veggies: Artichoke, arugula, bell peppers, black olives, cherry tomatoes, chopped garlic, fresh basil, jalapenos, Kalamata olives, mushrooms, pepperocini, pineapple, red onions, red peppers, and/or sautéed onion
• 180 seconds in the oven and your pizza is ready!

Here’s a creative option for you: Start with white cream sauce topped with all of the cheeses, salami, Applewood bacon, chopped garlic, roasted garlic, oregano, salt, and arugula. The creamy cheeses work well with the salty bacon and cured salami. The roasted and chopped garlic adds a slight sweetness and the arugula adds a bitter greenness for a perfectly balanced pizza. Rating: 5/5

Blaze Pizza also has a selection of freshly made, pre-packed salads. Antipasto Salad with House Vinaigrette is topped with mozzarella, bacon, chicken, red onion, roasted red bell peppers, and artichoke hearts. The vinaigrette has the perfect balance of oil and vinegar pairing well with the meats and vegetables. Rating: 5/5

Whether you are attending classes at Chapman University and antiquing, make Blaze Pizza Glassell a stop on your itinerary for a quick bite!

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 stars

Service: 5 out of 5 stars

Décor: 4 out of 5 stars

Food: 5 out of 5 stars

For more information:

Blaze Pizza Glassell (Orange Circle)

101 S Glassell St

Orange, CA 92866

+1.714.744.4777

Order online

• Hours: Sunday through Thursday from 11am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday from 11am to 1am
• Parking: Free lot parking behind Blaze Pizza off of South Orange Street

The Albright ties together family and the love of seafood in Santa Monica, California

After 35 years as Santa Monica Pier Seafood, Hae Ju Kim, let her daughter, Yunnie Kim Morena, take the helm of this seafood legacy on the Santa Monica Pier. In winter of 2014, Santa Monica Pier Seafood transitioned into The Albright, named after the nautical Albright Knot symbolizing the merge of two generations of the Kim family. The menu reflects a commitment to fresh, locally-sourced ingredients from the day’s catch, farmers’ market produce, and extensive craft beer and California wine selection.

New England Clam Chowder (served in a cup or sourdough bread bowl) is creamy, thick, and rich. The clam pieces are big and meaty. It’s served piping hot and oh so good. Even on a hot day, you won’t be able to stop eating it. Rating: 5/5

Oysters on the Half Shell are clean and fresh tasting. Fanny Bay oysters are slightly briny. If you want to bring out the sweetness, add the champagne mignonette. Kumamoto oysters are naturally sweet and creamy. They are best on their own or with the spicy relish for a refreshing flavor. Rating: 5/5

Poke is fresh diced raw ahi tuna with green onion, red onion, garlic, chile sauce, shoyu (soy sauce), sesame oil, and sesame seeds. The poke flavor is pretty authentic with shoyu, garlic, sesame oil and seeds. I would trade out the avocado and red onion for some ogo (seaweed) to add a bit of brininess and crunch-texture. The tuna is cut to the perfect size, not too small and not too big so the flavors penetrate the fish. Rating: 4/5

Fish & Chips are hand-battered Icelandic cod served with French fries and coleslaw. The batter is light and turns a perfect crispy golden brown. The fish inside is succulent and juicy. French fries are crispy and taste like kettle chips. The coleslaw is creamy, but needs something to kick up the flavor – maybe turn up the sweetness with pineapple or make more savory with salt and celery seed. Rating: 4.5/5

Shrimp & Chips are hand-battered black tiger shrimp served with French fries and coleslaw. The batter is light and turns a perfect crispy golden brown. The shrimp inside is perfectly cooked with a snap to it. It is sweet and delectable. Rating: 4.8/5

Whole Dungeness Crab (from saltwater tanks inside the restaurant) served with potato salad, corn on the cob, and drawn butter. This is one of the only places in California where the crab is served whole with the “miso” intact. The top shell of the Dungeness crab has a natural soup that contains the head fat (miso or tamale) and other goodies that you can spoon out or mix your crab meat in for a more intensified crab flavor. When it was served, I almost screamed in delight. The crab meat is so fresh that it just falls out of the shell without extensive picking. It is also really sweet and the drawn butter accentuates it. The corn on the cob is sweet and juicy. The potato salad is creamy but could use a little more herbs like dill or oregano to pair better with the seafood. Rating: 5/5

Whole Maine Lobster (from saltwater tanks inside the restaurant) served with potato salad, corn on the cob, and drawn butter. It is served whole preserving the “miso” inside. It is so fresh that the meat easily falls from the shell. The flavor is sweet and the drawn butter makes it even sweeter with each bite. We were lucky to get a female with a line of beautiful red roe. There is more meat than just the tail and claws. The body has meat too, at the base where the legs come out and inside the legs as well. If you split the legs at each joint, you can use your teeth and squeeze the meat out like tube of toothpaste. Growing up on seafood, I never leave any shells unpicked. Rating: 5/5

If you need something sweet to end your meal, don’t forget to pick up a homemade chocolate chip cookie. It’s a hefty cookie being slightly larger than you would make at home and about an inch thick. Since they leave them in a jar on the counter, the chocolate chips stay slightly gooey. When you bite into them, each morsel melts and coats the each bite of cookie. Rating: 5/5

With hot summer days upon us, why not visit The Albright for some summer sea breeze, beautiful views from the patio, and excellent seafood to behold.

Photo credit: John Konkal

Two outdoor options to enjoy (email info@thealbright.com for complete details):

• The Albright Picnic Baskets are perfect for everything from 4^th of July and Concerts on the Pier to a hassle-free dinner in the sand or day out with the family. Choose from two delicious menus, Summer Harvest and Pier Provisions Basket, featuring classic favorites like BLTs and corn on the cob, to brown rice bowls and a citrus kale salad. Both options come complete with dessert and a special add-on menu for the kids. Pricing starts at $90 for two people and include a festive Mexican blanket, Govino stemware, and bamboo cutlery.
• Fisherman’s Raw Bar is housed in a custom wooden dory and a charming addition to any summer gathering like a barefoot beach party, rehearsal dinner, or backyard BBQ with friends. The Albright’s all-inclusive mobile raw bar provides everything needed for a seamless event including delivery, setup, shucking, serving, and breakdown. Pricing starts at $700 for 40 people.

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 stars

Décor: 5 out of 5 stars

Service: 5 out of 5 stars

Food: 5 out of 5 stars

For more information:
The Albright

258 Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica, CA 90401

+1.310.394.9683

• Hours: Monday through Friday from 12pm to close, Saturday and Sunday from 11am to close
• Parking: Available from entrance on PCH on the southbound side (North Parking Lot) or off of Colorado and Ocean (Pier Deck parking). Check website for parking rates.

Review of Snyder of Berlin Potato Chip varieties

The idea started from a trip that Edward Snyder took to Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY, right after the Civil War. A customer asked the chef to fry thinly sliced potatoes until they were crispy – potato chips. Edward was so impressed by the potato chip, he thought this might be an income-replacement opportunity. Once back in Hanover, PA, Edward and his wife, Eda, used a miniature Pennsylvania Dutch slaw cutter called a “little shave”, which worked perfectly to slice potatoes into a black iron kettle of lard. The Snyder’s Potato Chips business started out small, producing the potato chips when the family needed to purchase something like clothes or other needs. Their girls would go around town selling the small bags of chips. As the business started to blossom, additions needed to be made to their Victorian home to accommodate. When Gary Sterner, great-grandson of Edward Snyder, was 16 and able to drive, he began his career as a salesman.

In the 1940s, the craft paper bag was switched to an aluminum foil bag to help keep the chips’ flavor and crispness intact. In February 1947, Snyder of Berlin began operation to be closer to their potato farmers in Berlin, PA. After the dissolution in 1961, the Sterner family took ownership of the chip factory in Berlin. In the 1960s and 1970s, many enhancements to production were made like large state-of-the-art automated fryers and packaging machines, In 1972, Snyder became a division of Curtice-Burns of Rochester, N.Y.. In 1994, Curtice-Burns Foods became a wholly owned subsidiary of Pro-Fac Cooperative in order to keep the economy going in Berlin. As of December 2009, Snyder of Berlin is now part of Pinnacle Foods Group LLC, a family of household name brands like Vlasic, Van DeKamps, Duncan Hines, Mrs. Paul’s, Swanson, Aunt Jemima, Mrs. Butterworth’s, Log Cabin, and Lender’s.

Snyder of Berlin puts approximately $7.5 million into the local economy and produces more than 17 million pounds of potato chips annually (from 43 million pounds of potatoes). Over half of the potatoes are harvested from Somerset and surrounding counties within 25 miles of the plant. The remainder are from Florida, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Distribution has also increased across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, Washington D.C., North and South Carolina, New York, Indiana, and New Jersey.

Let’s take a look at some of these tasty chips:

Vlasic Dill Pickle Flavored Potato Chips have a strong vinegar, dill pickle aroma when you open the bag. The chips have a uniquely salty pickle flavor (but not as strong as expected based on the aroma) with crisp, crunchy texture. The flavor is good but it does overpower the potato flavor. This would pair well with a tuna sandwich, deli sandwich, burger (either on the side or as a topping), and/or hot dog. Rating: 4.3/5

Honey Bar-B-Q Flavored Potato Chips have a slight honey aroma when you open the bag. The chips have a sweet honey, subtle barbeque flavor with a good balance of sweet and salty. The barbeque flavor could be turned up just a bit. This would pair well with a hot dog, juicy piece of watermelon, burger, roast beef sandwich, fried chicken, and/or ribs. Rating: 3.6/5

Wavy Potato Chips have the aroma of kettle chips when you open the bag. They have a rustic potato and salty flavor. The texture is crispy and thick enough to hold up well to dips. This would pair well with ranch or clam dips, or alongside a sandwich, burger, and/or hot dog. Rating: 3.4/5

Salt & Vinegar Flavored Potato Chips have a very strong vinegar aroma when you open the package. The chips are salty and have a strong vinegar flavor. The vinegar flavor is very overpowering. This would pair well with deep fried fish fillets/sticks, grilled cheese, deli sandwich, and/or burger. Rating: 2.9/5

Include Snyder of Berlin Potato Chips with your next backyard barbeque or party - “Taste the Difference”

For more information:

Snyder of Berlin

Available in Kentucky, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia or buy online