The Recess Room
18380 Brookhurst St.
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Welcome to another episode of Restaurant Reviews!
Today, we are looking at a restaurant that takes New American cuisine and incorporates Asian flavors to create their own spin on fusion cuisine.
ABOUT THE RESTAURANT
‘The Recess Room’ is a gastropub located in the city of Fountain Valley that serves modern American tapas.
The restaurant’s name is derived from relationship of 5 boys who became friends during school recess and eventually succeeded in achieving their mutual dreams of opening a restaurant together. Although they don’t seem to directly market their restaurant serving Asian-fusion cuisine, it’s obvious there are a lot of Asian flavors incorporated in their dishes.
Now we didn’t try too many dishes at this restaurant because it was just the two of us, but we did order one thing that definitely should make up for it…
Onto the review.
*Disclaimer (Again...): the restaurant was extremely dark which made it difficult to take pictures but I did my best to correct them in post. Unfortunately, a lot of the trendy restaurants seem to dim their lights at night to set the mood and atmosphere.
This was our only real source of light
THE DRINKS
1. Blood Diamond ($14)
Description:
Blood Orange Elyx Cosmo, Blood Orange and Kaffir Lime Absolut Elyx, Cointreau, Lime, Cranberry Marmalade, and Orange Bitters.
Review:
Given that we were at a gastropub and this day was a Friday, we decided to start off with some cocktails and this one definitely caught our attention. Blood Orange is up there alongside Kumquat as one of my favorite flavors in drinks and this cocktail really did not disappoint. Despite having 4 different types of orange liquors, most of the orange sweetness seemed to be coming from the Cointreau and was well balanced with the cranberry marmalade. This drink was the perfect balance of sweet while still retaining a good amount of the alcohol taste from the liquors.
Result:
A pretty solid cocktail 8/10
2. ♪ IF YOU LIKE PINA COLADAS ♪ ($14)
Description:
el dorado 5 yr, smith & cross, hamilton black pot still rum, diplomatico anejo, lime, pineapple elyx cordial, coco mix
Review:
If you don’t know what any of the ingredients in the description are, don’t worry, because I had to look them up too. This cocktail is pretty much made up of 4 different kinds of rum, pineapple vodka, and a coconut flavored mixer. The drink was actually a bit thicker than I was expecting from the cocomix and there wasn’t as strong of a pineapple flavor compared to other pina coladas I’ve tried in the past.
The Recess Room seems to do most of the flavoring of their drinks with flavored liquors rather than with fruit juices which lead their drinks to be pretty strong in alcohol content and a little underwhelming in sweetness, but I guess that’s a personal preference.
Result:
The underwhelming flavor of pineapple kind of made me not love this so much. 6/10.
THE FOOD
1. Blue Crab Beignets ($13)
Description:
Maryland Blue Crabs mixed with Mascarpone Cheese inside a Beignet Batter served with a chipotle aioli.
Review:
After doing some previous research and speaking with our waiter, this seems to be one of their most popular starters. There was a healthy amount of crab packed into the little pastries, and although the combination of crab with mascarpone seem like it would be extremely rich, the flavor profile of this dish was actually a bit underwhelming. The chipotle aioli added to the ‘heaviness’ of the dish and without the addition of contrasting textures or bright notes from something like pickled onions, the beignets were a bit monotone in flavor.
Result:
The crab was noticeably fresh and this starter wasn’t terrible, but was a bit underwhelming. 6/10.
2. Scallop Pasta ($32)
Description:
Pan Seared Scallops and Pasta Noodles in a Coconut Broth with Lemongrass, Coriander, Crispy Garlic, and Fish Sauce Caramelized Shallots
Review:
This pasta dish was actually very interesting and the Asian influence from the lemongrass and fish sauce really shined through in this dish. Despite having the properties of a cream-sauce like pasta, the overall dish was pleasantly light in flavor and the pasta noodles matched well with the coconut broth sauce. The scallops were large and (although I wished they had seared it a bit more to add a greater crust), were pretty solid in flavor. However, the real star of this dish were the fish sauce caramelized shallots which had the consistency of almost like a marmalade. The shallots were packed with flavor from the fish sauce and had that umami flavor that you get from perfectly brown caramelized onions.
Result:
This was definitely a flavor combination I’ve never had before and although the lemongrass flavor seemed to add to the uniqueness of the dish, I felt it also didn’t quite match as well. Nonetheless, this was still a pretty solid dish and is worth trying. 8/10.
3. Pig’s Head ($58)
Description:
Whole Confit Pig Head served with Roti, Market Vegetables, kimchi sauce, and sweet and spicy vinegar.
Review:
This was the real reason why we came to this restaurant and it was definitely a head-turner when the dish came out (although they might have just been judging us because 2 people ordered something that’s probably more for like 4-6 people). We were told by the waiter to start with the cheek first because it had the most meat and with the first bite, the crust and richness of the meat were phenomenal.
The crust was crispy and crunchy like a chicharon or the crust you see on Asian roasted pork belly. The meat was VERY rich and had a strong game-y pork flavor. This is something you should definitely share with a lot of people because the meat is so rich and fatty, it’s hard to eat a lot of.
The vinegar and kimchi sauce alongside the vegetables and roti definitely helped though adding those much needed bright notes to the otherwise ‘heavy’ pig head.
The both of us got full pretty quickly and after a short while, we ended up spending most of our time inspecting the anatomy of the pig head.
We peeled back the lower jaw revealing the pig’s tongue which was actually one of the best parts of the pig. It was surprisingly soft and had a more subtle richness compared to some of the gelatinous pieces of meat.
After flipping over the head, we revealed the center of the head which gave a better view of the bones and anatomy of the head. In the center of the skull lied the pig’s brain which wasn’t too bad because it was fried to a crisp, but still had a pretty iron-y flavor.
What was left of the dish was something that looked like belonged to a museum rather than a restaurant.
Result:
Overall, the novelty of the dish was worth it, but I would highly recommend you try this with a large group of people with many other different entrees and appetizers. 8/10.
DESSERT
1. Cereal Milk Crème Brulee ($8)
Description:
Milk Crème brulee topped with frosted flakes and strawberries.
Review:
My girlfriend had actually wanted to try their crème brulee after seeing some pictures on yelp, but unfortunately, the presentation and execution didn’t seem quite the same compared to the pictures she had seen. The crème brulee cream itself was actually pretty solid having that eggy vanilla bean creamy goodness, but the caramel shell on top seemed unfinished. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but there was hardly any of the crispy blowtorched layer on top and the crunchiness of the dessert seemed to all come from the frosted flakes. I’m not a big fan when restaurants use common store bought snacks in their dishes (unless creatively integrated) so I would say this was average at best.
Result:
Average but I probably wouldn’t pay $8 for this dessert. 3/10.
OVERALL RATING
The concept of this restaurant is definitely interesting and there are a bunch of eye-catching menu items. I applaud their creativity in the diverse ingredients and flavors used in their dishes, but I thought each of their items came up a tiny bit short overall. Still, the experience was positively memorable and I would recommend this place if you were looking for a casual gastropub to relax and drink with a large group of friends.
Food: 6/10
Service: 9.5/10
Value: 5/10
We actually ended up taking the leftovers of the pig head home (including the whole skull) so if you’re interested in seeing some pictures of the aftermath, please let me know in the comments below!
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