Shrimp

Where’s it at: Daphne’s Greek Cafe, 3030 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, (714) 885-8945 and 1330 Bison Ave., Newport Beach (949) 729-0671 What’s in it: The plate can be ordered with either marinated chicken, spanakopita (spinach and feta wrapped in filo dough), steak or shrimp kebab. Gyros, Greek salad, rice pilaf and pita accompany it. Cost: $8 for chicken and spanakopita; $8.50 with steak kebab or shrimp Why you should order it: This is a great lunch that is quick and delicious.

He may have been cooking shrimp, but Newport Beach City Councilman Steve Bromberg felt free to ham it up while serving as a celebrity chef for charity Monday. Bromberg was one of 16 volunteer chefs cooking to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Orange County at Benihana restaurant in Newport Beach. The Irvine office of accounting firm Ernst & Young held the event for 144 current and former employees and clients, spokeswoman Marietta Uebelhack said.

In La Ca"ada Flintridge, the family-run Thai restaurant Min's Kitchen has graced Foothill Boulevard for decades. A recent facelift provided newly sponge-painted walls and a lighter appearance to the small dining room. The honey-colored wood tables and chairs add an elegant touch to the décor. Nearly everyone who comes in the door seems to be greeted as an old friend, so it is apparent that Min's has a loyal local following. Servers are hospitable and they're patient with menu questions, but things can get a bit slow, as there are frequently two servers for the entire restaurant, and one or both are fielding a brisk take-out business as well as tending tables.

What a pleasure it is to be able to dip into the treasure trove of restaurants that is Little Saigon. For those of you who have never tried the delights that await you there, we hope to tempt you. For those of you who know it, we hope to point you to new finds. The food is not only scrumptious, but affordable as well. One of our very favorites is Xanh Bistro, tucked into a strip mall at the edge of Fountain Valley. This storefront restaurant is small and casual, decorated with photographs of Vietnam.

The reputation Hooters has as being a sanctuary for misogynists is not a mantra the chain restaurant lives by or encourages. It really kind of pokes fun at the whole sexist image. The company's slogan, "Deliciously tacky, yet unrefined," is meant as a joke, and those who go there regularly get it. I mean, where else would you find a restaurant that offers a $179.99 gourmet chicken wing dinner, which is the same wings it usually serves, but accompanied by a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne?

When the weather gets a little cold, as it was this past weekend, my mind hungers for soup and I was figuring, or maybe hoping, this would be my last chance for it. The weather can’t stay cold and dreary forever, can it? Well, I was hoping not, and as a celebration of the impending summer, I went to Oki Doki to get some ramen and say farewell to the clouds. The light soy flavored soup is great for lunch, and it is one of three Asian influences the restaurant features.

Newport Beach has got a new fish restaurant, aptly named The Newport Fish Company, down in Lido Village where the old Warehouse Restaurant and the lesser-known and less successful Buzz used to reside. The new place definitely has hints of the old restaurant, but it is a lot fresher, has a lot more light inside and infinitely more style. If you remember the Warehouse was sort of a dark and dismal affair. The old freight elevator is still there, the excellent view of the bay is still there -- there's really not a bad seat in the house.

1. Shrimp and sports do go together courtesy of the Lido Island Yacht Club as it hosts Shrimp on the Barbie, its annual fund-raiser to support the Junior Sailing Program at 6:30 p.m. today at the clubhouse, 701 Via Lido Soud, Newport Beach. $15. The night includes a live auction with autographed basketballs, baseballs and celebrity photos. (949) 673-5119. 2. The French have invaded Santa Barbara. Members and guests of the Newport Beach Sister City Assn.

Young Chang COSTA MESA For $21.93, you can outeat the table. For $21.93, you can do it in less than an hour. And for the grand total of $21.93, you can experiment with dishes you don't really understand and take risks with $1.75 for a Banh-Mi Vietnamese Sandwich just to see what a Vietnamese sandwich on French bread will look like. From the beginning, we laughed. The waitress at Vietnam's Pearl Restaurant looked at us funny, recommending we split the fourth dish we had chosen instead of ordering a fifth.

What a pleasure it is to be able to dip into the treasure trove of restaurants that is Little Saigon. For those of you who have never tried the delights that await you there, we hope to tempt you. For those of you who know it, we hope to point you to new finds. The food is not only scrumptious, but affordable as well. One of our very favorites is Xanh Bistro, tucked into a strip mall at the edge of Fountain Valley. This storefront restaurant is small and casual, decorated with photographs of Vietnam.

Some would call the consistency of Golden Dragon ordinary, but I prefer to think of it as reassuring. This feeling begins the moment you walk into the restaurant, which has been a fixture on Harbor Boulevard near Victoria Street for more than 30 years. One of the owners, an elegantly dressed petite Asian woman, acts as if you are a long-lost cousin and hugs you. That was a first for me, getting hugged by any employee of a restaurant. It actually was a really great tone to set for our meal.

Talk about a plum assignment. Most days, lunch for me is take-out food on the fly. I’m a reporter. Not only do I not have the time to enjoy a leisurely lunch, but one at French 75 in Fashion Island would ordinarily be out of my price range. Not this week, though. On Monday, which was Day 2 of Newport Beach Restaurant Week, I got to mingle with the rest of the locals out trying special three-course prix fixe lunches for the affordable price of $15. As an added bonus, I got to take our ace photographer, Don Leach, with me. It took a good 15 minutes before we stopped looking at our watches and worrying about the newspaper long enough to relax and eat, then once they brought the food, we forgot all about the good old Daily Pilot.

Where’s it at: Daphne’s Greek Cafe, 3030 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, (714) 885-8945 and 1330 Bison Ave., Newport Beach (949) 729-0671 What’s in it: The plate can be ordered with either marinated chicken, spanakopita (spinach and feta wrapped in filo dough), steak or shrimp kebab. Gyros, Greek salad, rice pilaf and pita accompany it. Cost: $8 for chicken and spanakopita; $8.50 with steak kebab or shrimp Why you should order it: This is a great lunch that is quick and delicious.

Generally I like my dining experiences to be somewhat subdued. Usually I go out to dinner with friends or family and am trying to spend quality time with them, because chances are it has been a while since I have seen them. Talking dominates the evening as we catch up, and I don't want anything to interfere with that. Loud music, interactive wait staff or boisterous customers at the next table are all unwelcome intrusions. Then there are the nights I just want to cut loose.

The reputation Hooters has as being a sanctuary for misogynists is not a mantra the chain restaurant lives by or encourages. It really kind of pokes fun at the whole sexist image. The company's slogan, "Deliciously tacky, yet unrefined," is meant as a joke, and those who go there regularly get it. I mean, where else would you find a restaurant that offers a $179.99 gourmet chicken wing dinner, which is the same wings it usually serves, but accompanied by a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne?