fyfas

Couple of quick thoughts... first Orange County is BIG and getting from, say, Anaheim area to Huntington Beach, particularly around rush-hour (from about 3 p.m. to 7) can really take some time and raise the blood pressure. That said, by all means consider Aubergine or Troquet owned by a very talented cooking family, the Goodsells. Aubergine is more formal and in Newport. Troquet (believe it or not) is inside the giant South Coast Plaza shopping center in Costa Mesa. More bistro-like but very well-done foods. Go there if you have a hankering for fois gras. Both have excellent wine lists. Same couple has opened a casual (and small), no-reservations restaurant two blocks off Pacific Coast Highway in the main business district of Huntington Beach featuring very innovative, Chinese food; called Red Pearl. When in Los Angeles, I've eagerly traveled the fifty miles south to eat there. This is NOT the typical Chinese restaurant where portions are such that one invariably has cardboard take-out containers left to take home. I like most everything but especially crave a fried pork belly dish; wonderful with a gurwurtztraminer ! Because I don't like to wait long for a table, I go on a week-night by 6:30 p.m. Hope this helps. Bob Sherwood

With respect to the comment about larger, "regional" butchering yielding easier to unionize facilities, my recollection is that Wal-Mart's move to this type of butchering (being supplied by regional wholesalers) was a direct result of efforts to unionize their in-store butchers a few years ago. In other words, rather that allow a union, make the operation at "arms-length" and fire the employees en-masse who might have benefited/agitated for the union. Just a thought... I have all I can do to buy bird seed at a Wal-Mart.