Rance's Chicago Pizza

Rance's Chicago Pizza
1420 Baker St
Costa Mesa
714-708-2143

Rance's Chicago Pizza is across Harbor Blvd. from Moscow Deli and Empanada's Place. I heard about Rance's and wanted to see how they compared to Tony’s Little Italy Pizza, which still has a very good deep dish or stuffed Chicago pizza, but the service there now sucks.

Rance's is located in the very busy Target shopping center towards the southwest part of the center.  Rance's has a row of tables and booths, along with bar area.  They have been open for about three months and the word has gotten out there in the Costa Mesa area, if you want Chicago pizza go to Rance's.

Medium stuffed House Special, $23.69, sausage, green peppers, onions and mushrooms. The crust on this pizza was great! Maybe the best crust of any deep dish pizza I've had in LA.  Very light, flakey, and buttery.  It was almost like eating a biscuit or apple turnover.  Though this was not cornmeal crust, like some people from Chicago prefer. 

The sauce was on the sweet side.  But lots of good quality tomatoes, I'm guessing they are canned, but don't know for sure.

The cheese is thick and piled on and they use a good quality cheese.

The veggie toppings were cut too small and just blended into the cheese an sauce.  They should cut them bigger.

Another thing that should be bigger is the amount of sausage on the pizza.  I'm guessing the pizza is 12in., well the sausage-which is a flat piece of sausage only covered about about 8in. of the pizza! When I cut a slice of pizza from the center it was filled with sausage, but towards the crust, there was only green peppers, mushrooms, and onions.  But, the sausage had a mild flavor.  They use a good quality sausage.

Despite the small amount of sausage, this was a very good pizza, better than Tony's but maybe not as good as Hollywood Pies or Masa.  The flavors all work well together.

Service was nice and friendly.  But, they need to either hire a host/hostess or find a better way to let first time customers know if they are a side down restaurant or counter service when they first walk in.  When I walked in, I went straight to the counter and ordered my pizza.  I didn't realize if you wanted to dine in, you could have sit down and ordered.  The other compliant I have is that they need to inform customers how long stuffed or deep dish pizza takes to bake.  Since I've been to a ton of Chicago pizza places I know the time and was expecting to wait 45 minutes.  But, if people haven't been to a Chicago pizza place, they may not know and then complain.

Even with the smaller amount of sausage on the pizza, I would gladly go back to Rance's for their stuffed pizza.  They also have a good selection of beer on tap!

Empanada's Place-Closed

Empanada's Place
3011 Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-825-0100

Empanada's Place is a few doors down from Moscow Deli is an Argentinian restaurant, that serves empanada's. Duh!! It's a cash only operation and there are a few seats, both inside and outside, for you to enjoy their great empanadas.

All empanadas are $2.99 with a dozen for $29.99.





I got two empanadas; corn-sweet cut corn with melted mozzarella cheese and white sauce; and chicken-fresh California chicken with peas, carrots, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, herbs, spices.

The first thing I noticed about these empanadas was the size- they were huge.

I loved the corn!! It had a perfect blend of sweet, creamy and salty flavors. The outside shell was buttery and flaky, just perfect.

The chicken was also good. Well seasoned, perfectly cook, moist white meat chicken, with lots of good veggies. Another winner at Empanada's Place!!

Service is very good. The ladies welcome you to their store with a smile and a warm hello!! They answer questions patiently and in a friendly way.

I would go back to Empanada's Place any time. They have a location in Culver City that I may try, if I could stand being in the snotty west side!

Moscow Deli

Moscow Deli
3015 Harbor Blvd
Costa Mesa
714-546-3354

Growing up during the Cold War era, I hated the damn Russians. One of the greatest moments in history, was the Miracle on Ice, when the United States hockey team beat the Russians on January 22, 1980!! And to correct some misinformation, that game did NOT clinch the gold medal for the US. The US had to beat Finland to win the gold medal. Which of course, they did!!! USA!! USA!! USA!!

But now the Cold War is over and the commies, I mean the Russians are more US allies than enemies. I found out about a Russian deli in Costa Mesa and since I was in the area and it was close to lunch time, I decided to give their sandwiches a try.

Moscow Deli is located across the street from Wing Nuts, and it may as well be across an ocean. The owner is Russian, many of the customers are Russian and they are speaking Russian. The store is small store with the deli counter at the back. There are two tables inside and one table outside if you want to eat there.

Kiev sandwich, Russian bread, assorted salami, salad leafs, tomatoes, cheese and Russian sauce, $5.99. This was a great sandwich. I have no idea what kind of salami they used, but there were at least three varieties, but there were all great. The cheese is kinda of like a provolone cheese, with a mild flavor and texture. The bread was firm, I reminded me of a cross between rye bread and pumpernickel bread. The veggies were fresh. My favorite part of the Kiev sandwich was the Russian sauce. It's close to Russian dressing but not as much kick as some Russian dressings I've had.

Service is good. The ladies are nice and friendly people. They are all Russian and have a heavy Russian accent. The interesting part is they gave me the sandwich before I paid for it. I actually finished the sandwich and walked to the register and paid.

I would go back to Moscow Deli anytime. I really enjoyed the sandwiches. Next time I may order some sausages to grill!!!

Update June 23, 2012




I ordered another Kiev sandwich and it was great as the first time. I just wanted to post a better picture, where you can see a better picture of the meats in the sandwich.




I got the Odessa sandwich, Russian bread, Odessa kielbasa, salad leafs, tomatoes, Odessa sauce, and onions. The Odessa sauce has garlic, onions, bell peppers, and spices. I thought it was good, but not for me. The Odessa kielbasa tasted too much like baloney, which I had. The bread is the same bread they use for the Kiev, so it's great. Overall, I didn't like the Odessa sandwich.

Service is good. The ladies are nice, hard working people. I never knew Orange County had so many Russian immigrants.

Next time I go to Moscow Deli, I will stick to the Kiev sandwich, but may try other sandwiches, besides the Odessa. I will try some of their cakes, which look awesome.

Umami Burger- Costa Mesa-Closed

So the pretentious assholes of Orange County, most of who are too scared to go to LA, can now enjoy the famous Umami Burger without going to LA. The New Diner has already reviewed two other Umami locations, Umami Hollywood and Umami La Brea. Since I was going to be behind the Orange Curtain and surrounded by pretentious assholes, I figured why not see them at their best; trying to be hip and copying something from LA.

Umami Burger in Costa Mesa is located in a shopping center called The Camp. It's modeled after a camp site, with different sections for stores and restaurants. Parking just sucks at The Camp, because there are too many stores and not enough parking spaces. They have a valet, which charges a reasonable $3. If you can't find parking quickly, just pay the $3. A restaurant called Mesa has a very popular happy hour and a yoga studio both explain why the parking lots fills up.




Earth burger, $12, mushrooms and edamame patty, white soy aioli, truffle ricotta, cipollini onions, lettuce and slow roasted tomato. I know people may say you're at a burger place, you should get a burger made with beef or at least turkey. But, I wanted to see how their veggie burgers were. Big mistake. This burger was disgusting!! The patty was a soggy, flavorless mess. I couldn't taste any of the toppings. The only thing I could taste was the bun, which is always good-nice texture and flavor.

Service is good. But, I was surprised that the restaurant is so small. They really don't have room for a big group, so don't come here with ten of your friends expecting to get a table quickly.

I'll chalk this experience at Umami Burger to ordering the wrong burger. I would go back to Umami, but not the OC location, and I would not order the earth burger again. I'll stick to the beef or try the turkey or ahi tuna burger.