The Gossiping Gourmet: Truffle still golden after three decades

Alan Greeley's Golden Truffle has been around for more than 30 years, and there is a reason why this neighborhood bistro has had such longevity.

The Gossiping Gourmet: Very Peri-Peri at Mozambique

Summer is coming to Laguna Beach in fits and starts, tempting us with a beautiful sunny day followed by a gray cloudy one. On one of the lovely warm evenings, my husband and I decided to enjoy the upstairs terrace at Mozambique called the Shebeen.

The Gossiping Gourmet: From O.C. to the shores of Peru

Peruvian food is an interesting and delicious mixture of indigenous cuisine combined with influences from the Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese and West Africans who settled there. At the family-run Inka Cantina in Fountain Valley, you will find a menu featuring the operators' own traditional family recipes from the Andes and the northern coast of Peru.

The Gossiping Gourmet: Fine dining with cool jazz

Bistango has been around for 26 years and is still going strong, perhaps even better than ever. This could be attributed to its chameleon-like nature.

The Gossiping Gourmet: New menu makes a Splash at Surf & Sand

Splashes, at the Surf & Sand Resort, recently had a new chef. His name is Michael Reyes, and his credentials include stints at Gotham Bar and Grill and the French Laundry. We were excited to try his cuisine at this beautiful Laguna restaurant.

All About Food: Tips for proper brining

To brine or not to brine, that is the question. Robert L. Wolke, in his book "What Einstein Told His Cook," says, "Brining seems to be all the rage these days, as if the world's chefs and food writers have suddenly discovered salt water, like Balboa discovering the Pacific Ocean."

The Gossiping Gourmet: Romance in a mundane spot

In a nondescript strip mall on 17th Street in Costa Mesa, located next to a Chixy Natural and a Bomburger, along with several other chain restaurants, is a very good family-owned Mediterranean-Italian bistro called Café Tria.

The Gossiping Gourmet: Thai spice (if you ask) at Bamboo Bistro

We were on our way to dine at a restaurant in the Quail Hill Shopping Center in Irvine, but when we arrived, we discovered it was packed, so we wandered around the center and came across a sweet little Thai place called Thai Bamboo Bistro.

The Gossiping Gourmet: Too much ho-hum at Ho Sum

When Ho Sum Bistro first opened in 1987, there was virtually no other Asian fusion restaurant in the area and the notion of healthy Asian cuisine didn't exist. "Califoriental" was the way they described their concept, and we both went back many times for their Chinese chicken salad. As time went on and Asian fusion restaurants burgeoned in Orange County, we explored the multiplicity of other choices and forgot about Ho Sum.

The Gossiping Gourmet: Nirvana in the fullest sense

The consistently good food and the changing seasonal menu keep bringing us back to Nirvana Grille in Laguna Beach. This attractive, comfortable space is divided into the bar area with tall communal tables for eating and drinking and the cozy dining room. A beautiful stone wall provides a backdrop to the bar while large windows give the room a light and airy feeling and small, original plein air paintings decorate the walls. Larger parties of 10 to 12 can dine at a private table in the back. In warmer weather, there is a covered outdoor patio upstairs called the Bliss Bar.