R+D Kitchen Take 2

Ok, so I may be a teensy bit obsessed with R+D Kitchen, but I promise I dine at other fine establishments in Orange County as well.  But since my friend suggested that we go to R+D Kitchen for my birthday dinner, I couldn't exactly pass that up now could I?

For those of you who don't know, R+D stands for Research and Development, which is exactly the premise behind this restaurant.  New dishes are tested in this restaurant, and if they are a success, will pop up at other Hillstone group restaurants such as Bandera, Houstons, etc.  Since the menu changes pretty frequently (especially as the seasons change), you can expect to see more posts about R+D Kitchen in the future.

But now the important stuff.  The food.

Last time when I dined at R+D Kitchen I had the Roasted Chicken and Mashed Potatoes, so this time I wanted to try something completely different.  My friend and I decided to have a balanced meal of salads, wine, and french fries.  Observe:

Light crispy fries seasoned with sea salt.  Delish.

The fries were lightly seasoned with sea salt, and had the perfect amount of crisp.  They were the perfect starter to go along with our Dragonstone Riseling which just happened to be pretty amazing.  I don't always rave about wine, but this Riseling was pretty fantastic.  I must find a bottle of it somewhere.  BevMo perhaps?

For my entree, I decided on the Mango Chicken Salad which had fresh diced mango, chicken, jicama, cucumber, almonds, noodles, cilantro, carrots, and lettuce. The salad also came with a soy-peanut vinagrette, but since I am unfortunately allergic to soy, I passed on the dressing. But the salad was still delicious without it.

Freshly made Mango Chicken Salad

My friend got the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad which had goat cheese, beets, egg, avocado and lettuce. I stole a bite of her seared tuna and it was prepared perfectly. You could definitely tell the fish was fresh.

Look at those delicious tuna slices

We were both so stuffed by the end of the meal that I ended up passing on the Pot de Creme (again!) but later had some flourless chocolate cake to share. All in all a great evening - good food, good company, and good wine.  R+D Kitchen, you never fail to impress me.

R+D Kitchen
555 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660