Bruxie Gourmet Waffle Sandwiches

It's been ways too long to post this entry.  Today, I am going to introduce this little fun restaurant/spot for everyone.  I discovered this little spot totally by a wrong turn.  I was crusing in Old Towne Orange and made a wrong turn, and then saw this little fun retro spot with a lot of people waiting outside (who knew that a "wrong" turn could make it so "right"?!).  As soon as I got home, I googled and tried to find what this line about, here is what I discovered: Belgium waffle + sandwich = interesting! 

Last Christmas Eve was our first visit to their original location in Old Towne Orange.  The owner was there too; he was super friendly and helpful with the menu to the newbies.  After that visit, we barely went there. Why?  Don't get me wrong that their food was super awesome and service was great.  Just that long line outside scared us away.  And waffle sandwich should be eaten at the restaurant, because they won't taste the same after you take them home.  About a month ago, my mother-in-law told me that they opened a new location in Downtown Brea.  Since she heard so much good thing about this restaurant from me; she could not wait to try.  So one lazy evening, we all went to their new location in Brea (not one but twice in a row).  The new location is much bigger and nicer than the original one in Orange.  However, the line was still long, but the wait was fast though. 


Long line, but suprisingly moving fast.

 Here are some interesting things I found online on their website and also some tips I want to give out to all the foodies, who plan on visiting this restaurant:

Brucks-ee

How do you pronounce “Bruxië”?
Brucks-ee!

What does Bruxië mean/How did you come up with the name Bruxië?
In French, Brussels is spelled “Bruxelles”; so Brux comes from the French spelling. Belgie is a Flemish term for Belgium and also used as a slang term for a waffle. We combined the “Brux” with the “ie” from a Belgie and incorporated the umlaut (two dots over the ë from German, which is also common language in Belgium) and the dot for the I (English artistic license) and we came up with Bruxië. The color of the three dots represent the colors of the flag of Belgium).

Pastrimi waffle sandwich

Turkey waffle sandwich

How did they come up with the concept?
Bruxië is the result of the collaborative effort of the three founders; chefs, Dean Simon, Kelly Mullarney and Philippe Caupain who have been friends for over 25 years. The Story – In 1999 Dean and Philippe were visiting Belgium on business. Dean was fascinated with the local farmers markets and street vendors and in particular the homemade waffles. Philippe was born in Belgium and grew up in this fabulous culinary culture. Upon their return to California, Philippe began developing recipes and Brux Waffles born. Over the next several years Brux sold product to some of America’s finest hotels and cruise ships. In 2009 Chef Kelly Mullarney was hired as a consultant to Brux Waffles in hopes of expanding sales to multi-unit foodservice operations. During the collaboration between Dean and Kelly the idea of making this waffle an all day offering was created. While traveling in Asia Kelly experienced dessert style sweets that were offered by street vendors similar to what was observed in Belgium. Because of the unique characteristics of the Brux Waffle, Dean and Kelly began pairing up a wide variety of sweet and savory combinations. The waffle was made thinner and then folded to make it portable…Bruxië AKA “The Bold Fold” was born!

What’s the difference between a Brussels and Liege?
The Brussels waffle is the platform in which all of our sandwiches are made. It is light, crispy and made with yeast. It is not sweet at all. The Liege waffle is more dense and sweet like a breakfast pastry. It has chunks of pearl sugar that gets caramelized into a sugary crust on the waffle.

Do you know Dairy Treet is misspelled?
It’s not misspelled! Before Bruxië came along the building was a restaurant called Dairy Treet. It was established in 1949 and was the oldest hamburger stand in Orange. They offered burgers, fries, and soft serve ice cream. The portion of our menu is a tribute to Dairy Treet.

Tips from me:

Good for big group of people:  No!  Both locations are not really good for big group of people.  So if you want to invite your family and friends to join you to try out this place, keep your group small.  The one in Brea is a little bits better since they have bigger tables.  The one in Orange is a very tiny spot, you will have a hard time if you come with a big group of people (and their parking lot is super small).

Should I come in a raining day?  The last time I went to the one in Brea, it rained quite badly.  However, we got a table indoor, so it's not a big problem.  And they do have cover and heater.

Is it good for to-go?  As I mentioned earlier, it's a BIG NO NO!  Eat there even you need to stand and eat. 

Pumpkin shake

How's their seasonal shake?  I tried their peppermint shake last year, and my mother-in-law tried their pumpkin shake.  They both are delicious; however, since they are so rich and creamy, better to share with someone you love=p.

Grape soda made with 100% sugar cane

How's their soda?  They don't sell typical soda here.  All of their soda are made with 100% sugar cane and they are absolutely delicious.

What's your favorite?  I love their goat cheese spanish and mushroom waffle sandwich with sun dried tomato.  I also love their liege waffles are also great.
For locations and full menu, click here.

Easy Panna Cotta Recipe

Panna Cotta means cooked cream in Italian.  It is a classic Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. It is generally from the Northern Italian region of Piemonte.  The dessert could serve with fresh fruits or hazelnuts.  If you want to have some bitter sweet flavor, try green tea powder (aka matcha) panna cotta.

Here is my recipe (adopted from all recipe.com):

Ingredients:

1/3 cup reduced fat milk

1 (0.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin (look for it from the jello section at the grocery store)

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (look for it from the baking section at the grocery store)

6 cleaned ramekin dishes

Direction:

1. Pour milk into a small bowl, and stir in the gelatin powder and mix well. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, stir together the heavy cream and sugar, and set over medium heat. Bring to a full boil, watching carefully, as the cream will quickly rise to the top of the pan. Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla extract and pour into six individual ramekin dishes.
3. Cool the ramekins uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving.
4. Serve with fresh berries (optional).

Max Brenner Chocolate Restaurant (Las Vegas, NV)

Mr. G and I go to Las Vegas quite often in the past few years.  Sadly, we have not yet got chance to visit Vegas together this year due to our busy work schedule, friends' weddings and other family events since our last visit in September 2010. 

During our last visit, we stopped by Max Brenner Chocolate Restaurant (located at the Forum Shop at Caesar Palace in Las Vegas).  The atmosphere of the restaurant is very casual - good for a quick bite, a coffee break, an after-dinner-hang out-place, a desert place for couples, a casual family dinner or a fast and decent brunch.  However, the shop is relatively small compared to most of the restaurants in Vegas though, if you have a big group of people (more than 6), that would not be a good fun place to dine together.

Their famous hot wings

Mr's G hang over breakfast

My chicken panini sandwich

My pren-go friend told me chocolate and pinkle are a great combination!  She didn't lie; they were pretty dang good.

My strawberry white chocolate milk shake

We went there on a Sunday morning for a brunch before leaving Vegas.  We got there at the perfect time because they offer both breakfast and lunch menus; the menu is short but "sweet".  They offer mostly American classic food (sandwiches, wings, burgers, and milk shakes).  They provide good size food portion; the taste of the food is great and price is reasonable.  We will definitely go back again to try more stuffs the next time.

Although their breakfast and lunch menu are small, but they do have an extensive dessert and drink menu.  Since only two of us, and Mr. G was not ready for something too sweet in the morning, so we didn't get chance to try their dessert.  We did order a strawberry white chocolate milkshake and a hot chocolate for our drinks though.  Both of them are so tasty, and you could not miss them!  Their signature chocolate pizza has been featured on the Food Network Show's The Best Thing I Ever Ate - Pizza.  They have a little To-Go counter just right outside the restaurant, if you just want to grab a slice of the chocolate pizza of some cookies, you could just order it from the To-Go counter.  They also have a little gift shop inside the restaurant.  You could take home some cute gifts for your family and friends or just pick up something "sweet" to reward yourself!

You could order the chocolate pizza by slice.

Chocolate bar

Pipe full of chocolate

Picked up a mike shake glass and a mini fondue set for myself.