Hoa's BD 2012

Celebrating Hoa's birthday at Mastro's in Costa Mesa, Ca- 5/18/12

For Hoa's birthday we are taking a road trip to Orange county with our friends. Instead of driving two separate cars we decided to rent a van so that the six of us can travel together. The ride from San Jose to Orange County is about 6 hours but it zoomed by so fast when you are in good company! Hoa, Minh and Tuan took turn behind the wheels and the 6 hours trips felt like only a few hours. We left fairly early to avoid traffic and by the time we get to Orange county we still have plenty of time to go shopping!

We cannot check in our hotel room until 3:00PM so we stopped by at South Coast plaza, an upscale-luxury shopping center in Costa Mesa, California.

Hoa likes Bloomindales so we parked close by and walked in the mall.

At the entrance there is a Charlie Palmer restaurant that I want to try out the next time I am in Costa Mesa. Charlie Palmer is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and author known for his namesake restaurant Charlie Palmer Aureole Steak in Las Vegas and in New York.

Adjacent to Charlie Palmer is the recently open anqi restaurant by Crustacean, owned by a Vietnamese family. The restaurant has a very modern and hip vibe.

After shopping for a few hours we went to our hotel to rest a refresh before going to dinner.

Here we are waiting for Hoa to get the car...

Mastro's is an upscale steaks house in Orange county and my second time eating there.

I had a great dinning experience there and I wanted my friend to give it a try.

This is the first thing you see when you walk in the restaurant.

The ceiling of foyer features a hand-blown “red flame-like” glass chandelier! It is really cool to look at and the color is so vibrant creating a exciting mood right away as you walk in.

They have giant wine rack that extends the length of a few walls. There is a 25-foot wine tower holding up to 18,000 bottles!

Pretty impressive.

We got to restaurant about 30 minutes earlier than our reservation and we sat at the bar.

They also have a live band with a singer and person playing music, too bad we did not take picture of them.

Here we are sitting a table close to the bar and waiting for our cocktail.

Hoa insisted that we get to restaurant early to get a cocktail and enjoy the music.

Hanh ordered a gin tonic in a tall glass.

I ordered a rum and coke and it came 3/4 full of rum! It was a bit too much rum for me.

I only took 3 sips and I had to stop because I was already tipsy!

Mastro's are known to be generous with their liquor.

Mastro's menu

The bread basket!

Our table is now ready so we moved from the bar with our cocktails.

Hoa and I

Minh and Loan

Hanh and Tuan

We ordered a dozen oysters for appetizers.

The oysters were served on a huge platter full of ice.

Our second appetizers in the Jumbo Lump Crab Stuffed Mushrooms. DELICIOUS!

The special for the evening was a 33 oz Wagyu tomahawk steak, priced at a steal for $95. The waiter told us they can only get around 20 tomahawks per week and they just fly out of the kitchen. Compare with an 8oz Wagyu fillet or New York cut at a cost of $200 the tomahawk is a great deal.

Because it is a 33 oz steak there is no way one person can finish it so Hanh and Tuan are sharing it. This picture is a half portion.