June Art Walk

If you're looking for something to do tonight, come stop by our Art Walk starting at 7PM–and don't forget that next month's Art Walk is going to be HUGE!

Mil Jugos

One of Santa Ana’s best-kept secrets is tucked away on a one-way street that channels the five 0’clock mass exodus from the Ronald Regan Federal building.

Mil Jugos (translation: one thousand juices) is a colorful hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by the friendly and always full of smiles Norah Briceño, seen pictured below (left) with her mother, Solange.

The vibrant walls are covered with various photos from Norah's hometown in Venezuela, as well as interesting handcrafted Venezuelan-style building façades.

As a rule of thumb when trying new restaurants, I always tell the server that it's our first visit. Not because I expect special treatment, but I like to get the back-story of the establishment while it buys me some extra time as I peruse the menu.

Luckily, our server just happened to be Norah and she sat right down with us at our table to help decipher the menu while sharing the story of the fruition of her dreams and the difficulties one faces when starting a restaurant in downtown Santa Ana.

Though the menu wasn't complicated, I did need a little handholding from Norah being that I've never eaten Venezuelan cuisine before. She seemed familiar with my cluelessness of Venezuelan dining as she proudly claimed to be "the only Venezuelan restaurant in town" (yeah, it even says that on her business card too).

After helping us pick out some of the restaurant favorites, she headed back into the kitchen where her mother immediately began preparing the forthcoming deliciousness.

First up were the Arepas–grilled cornbread stuffed with either chicken or seasoned meat. The size of an Arepa is hard to tell from these photos, but each one is about the size of a Jr. Whopper (my mouth was salivating as I Photoshopped these two photos together).

The cornbread was light and sweet with just the right amount of crispiness, adding texture to a mouthful of overflowing steamy goodness from either the seasoned meat or the flavorful chicken. The Arepas come out piping hot, but the amazing taste makes one a glutton for punishment as I couldn't resist to continue to chomp and chew away, burning the insides of my mouth rather waiting a few minutes for them to cool down.

Just as we finished up the Arepas, our Cachapas were being delivered to our table. What looks like a burned omelette is actually a folded sweet corn pancake stuffed with white cheese and seasoned meat.

Though it may look like breakfast, this bad boy could be served at anytime of the day, bringing me to my only complaint about this restaurant–the hours.

Mil Jugos is only open from 10AM-5PM Monday-Friday, and from 10:30AM-5PM on Saturday. Norah said that after 5PM, the downtown just seems to die giving her no reason to stay open, especially now in these tough economic times.

Hopefully, with my boys just around the corner at The Crosby "killin' it" on what should be a dead night like Mondays or Tuesdays, perhaps the nightlife will pick up downtown and we'll all soon have an opportunity to sear the insides of our mouths way after the street lights have come on.



Oh yeah, the juices were great, but that's kind of a given.

Mil Jugos
318 W. 5th Street
714 836-4601

Need more convincing you say? Check out these fine reads:
Yelp
OC Register
Washington Square Website

...and don't forget to check out The OC Weekly's review (like I did–sorry Gustavo ;)

The "One-Stop" Ticket

Whether you love him or hate him (or have no clue who he is), Don Cribb proposes the idea of a "One Stop" ticket between the Santa Ana and Orange stations in an article featured in the May/June 2008 edition of the Old Towne Orange Review.

The train depots in Orange and Santa Ana present exciting changes. Both areas are experiencing new residential loft development and new business and retail opportunities in these areas. Orange’s Depot Walk and Santa Ana’s Santiago Street Lofts have introduced fresh ideas and energy into established dynamics. In Orange, new loft development helps reinforce the importance of Chapman University’s growing role in the socio-economics of the area driven, in part, by its celebrated new film studio. The Orange Plaza is becoming a smaller version of “Westwood Village” near UCLA! In Santa Ana, the Santiago Street Lofts, one-hundred ten of them, with the launch of monthly art walks, have demonstrated the vitality and appeal of transient-oriented development and reinforces the role of the Downtown Artists Village as an urban interactive arts district. A new streetcar system is under review that would link the depot to the Artists Village, the Santa Ana public library and the Orange County Civic Center, where a new Court of Appeals is under construction.

What happens when these two depots better relate? New residents at Santiago Street Lofts soon discover that they have few restaurants and retail amenities nearby, even though Downtown Santa Ana has new cafes such as The Crosby at 4th & Broadway, an ultra-cool and tasty music cafe, and a stylish small development called “Art House,” a residential/professional address next to Chiarini Marble and Stone on Washington, as an example of new ideas moving into established, older areas. This said, it doesn’t take long for new buyers to recognize that a five-minute drive up Grand Avenue onto Glassell can lead to Gabbi’s, one of the best regional Mexican restaurants, or to a wealth of other good cafes and quality retail opportunities - in Orange!

The Orange and Santa Ana Depots have one important and unique feature they share; proximity! A special “One-Stop” ticket, created to encourage residents near either location to move easily back and forth by rail for educational, artistic or business benefit, would enable others to look at rail transportation more seriously in their daily lives. It means they could leave many cars at home!

Santa Ana is set to acquire county land near its depot. There have been discussions regarding more art, educational and residential development, near the depot. The first Artists Village boundaries included the Santa Ana depot and some land south of the depot reads “Artists Village influence” in terms of future development, to make use of light industrial properties.

Much as has been done in Orange. The two depots help to offer positive transportation consideration while discouraging automobile use. The more cars that enter Old Towne Orange and begin to congest the area, the less appealing the area becomes. No one wants to lessen the charm and attraction of Historic Old Towne Orange.

At a time when fuel costs are ever high and pollutants are becoming increasingly regulated, more MetroLink use could help ease vehicular demands! Much mutual benefit could be realized between two important Orange County cities with so much to share! They share a community college district, public school district boundaries and have city boundaries that move back and forth irregularly through neighborhoods and retail and office addresses. Both cities share so much! This relationship could become even more important when transportation opportunities become more important and are shared, too, to help preserve quality of life and ensure sustainable growth and maybe add a bit more interest and fun!

Don Cribb served on the Santa Ana planning commission for eight years, is currently sitting on the Environmental and Transportation Advisory Committee and is the President of the Santa Ana Council of Arts & Culture.

Would a "One-Stop" ticket encourage you to visit our neighbors to the north more frequently? If you haven’t been to Gabbi’s, my growing gut and I highly recommend.

Are there Any Depot Walk residents out there? Would this ticket encourage you to visit sunny, sometimes scary Santa Ana?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

MGS4

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday.
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Goodbye social life :)

Santa Ana Propaganda

You would never think that the Santa Ana featured in this clip is the same Santa Ana you read about in the OC Register. It’s amazing what good stock footage, editing using quick cuts, and super-saturating the footage can do for your city. Still, there's nowhere else in Orange County I'd rather live than here in Santa Ana.



Zapfino is arguably the worst typeface–EVER.

$105.46

Thank you to all of the wonderful blog readers out there for helping me raise the first of many checks to be delivered to Pet Pro Life–the organization where I adopted my wonderful and loving doggie back in October of 2006.

By spending time on this blog, clicking on ads, or even buying something featured in one of the ads, you have helped raise this money to support a fantastic non-profit organization dedicated to helping furry friends find new homes.

Currently, animal shelters and rescue programs all across the nation are under great financial strain due to so many homeowners losing their homes and being forced to give up their pets in these tough economic times–as seen in this video featured on CNN.com.

Every penny counts and I couldn't have done it without you.
You guys ROCK–Happy Friday!

Save $25 at Lucky Owl Tonight

Passing on the goodness:

Come Join Us for our First Fridays event, this Friday June 6th from 7-10 pm, featuring Black and White Photography by Michal Pfeil. He will be showing and selling new work from his black and white architecture series. With a special performance from Violinist, Mathias Chaidez.

Lucky Owl will also be releasing it's latest Summer Line of tank tops. Be the first to purchase these HOT tank tops.

Stop by the City Place sales office to receive a $25.00 gift certificate for that night only. (while supplies last)

We look forward to seeing you!

Lucky Owl
714-558-9695