Good Eats 2023

Welcome to the first edition of South OC Good Eats!

THE FOOD SCENE IN SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY is a standout in Southern California, and we’re celebrating some highlights. Some may be places you’ve certainly heard of and helmed by award-winning chefs. We’ll provide insight into what makes them great. Some others may be under the radar and could open your eyes to something new. From the great side, we profile the three chefs who were named Best Chef in our latest “Best Of” awards in San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano. Get to know what shaped their careers and their menus. From the under-the-radar, we spotlight cultural restaurants in our town that showcase the cuisines of Hawaii, Polynesia and Mexico. Find something new to test your palate. Plus, we give a rundown of all the newest local eateries to add to your going-out options, highlight ice cream shops with non-dairy alternatives to indulge your sweet tooth and feature the area’s farm-to-table restaurants to give you the freshest bites around. We hope this section opens your eyes and fills your stomach with the best food South Orange County has to offer.

Keeping it Fresh: The Farm-to-Table Experience

By Collin Breaux

The farm-to-table concept has grown popular in recent years, as restaurant customers now value health and sustainability as much as they do flavor.

In layman’s terms, farm-to-table means restaurants directly utilizing fresh-grown food grown naturally, as opposed to freeze-dried or other traditionally stored ingredients.

This approach has become particularly popular in Southern California, given the region’s interest in environmentalism and health. People are no longer just stopping in a fast-food drive-through for a processed and quick bite to eat or microwaving a frozen meal.

They want food they know is nutritious, natural, and sourced in their area.

South Orange County has its share of eateries utilizing the approach.

FLIGHTS & IRONS URBAN KITCHEN

SAN CLEMENTE

As a family-owned restaurant that serves what it calls “rustic American

cuisine,” Flights & Irons uses seasonal ingredients.

The majority of its food is served in a cast-iron skillet, adding to the natural feel. Menu items include egg dishes, French toast, soups, and salads.

MAISON CAFÉ + MARKET

DANA POINT

Owner and chef Danielle Kuhn brings two decades of culinary experience to her venture, named after the French word for “home.”

Maison serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with an adjacent market full of items where customers can buy if they want to try their hand at replicating a dish. Hummus, salmon, and lentils are some of Maison’s offerings.

Maison also has a beer and wine list, thoughtfully collected from eco-friendly sources.

TREVOR’S AT THE TRACKS

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

Trevor Baird—who, unsurprisingly, founded and owns the well-known Downtown San Juan Capistrano restaurant—of-

ten touts the importance of the farm-to-table model and serving healthy food.

And, as Baird has said before, healthy food—vegetarian cuisine, in particular— can be tasty. That’s why Trevor’s tries to freshen up menu offerings so they have a new twist. The salads, for instance, aren’t just the usual house variety. The “no lettuce” salad, for example, is just that. It instead consists of tomatoes, snap peas, asparagus, and other vegetables.

A small garden yields fresh crops in front of Trevor’s, and Baird is looking to eventually harvest more fresh crops from a future farm area at the Northwest Open Space once development plans for that area get underway with San Juan developer Dan Almquist.

THE ECOLOGY CENTER

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

While not a restaurant per se, this community center is all about farm-to-table— literally, quite often.

In fact, The Ecology Center is a working farm. The crops grown on it are often utilized for the center’s community dinner nights.

Those gatherings are held on Friday nights and feature visiting chefs who cook a multi-course meal using fresh ingredients harvested right off the farm. Since each night features a different chef, the food can vary in taste and texture. On any given night, diners may have an opportunity to sample salads, fruits, vegetables, tacos, and other assorted dishes. Water and adult beverages are served with the food.

Diners are seated at tables to encourage conversation, particularly about sustainability and where their food comes from. Dinner participants may be seated next to folks they already know or people they’ve never met before—the latter of which can be an opportunity to meet a new friend.

Such occurrences are part of The Ecology Center’s commitment to community.

Along with the dinners, The Ecology Center also has a farmstand where people can buy food and drinks and where it hosts open strawberry pickings on the weekends, enabling families and other residents to come in and get their own fresh berries from the field.

The Ecology Center hosts Community Table, a Friday night dinner that rotates visiting chefs.

Photo: Collin Breaux

Discover the Area’s Newest Dining Options

By Breeana Greenberg

Since the spring of 2022, many new restaurants, taprooms, and cafés have opened their doors in South Orange County, offering residents and visitors alike a variety of new dining options to try this year. Here’s a rundown of those eateries where readers, residents and visitors can whet their appetites and quench their thirst.

SAN CLEMENTE

Los Molinos Beer Company

The new brewery opened its doors in the Los Molinos Business District on April 16, 2022, offering craft beer, burgers, sandwiches and more.

151 Calle De Los Molinos, San Clemente. 949.599.5029. losmolinosbeer.com.

Beach Hut Deli

The Southern California chain opened its third location in San Clemente’s North Beach Historic District in May 2022, offering sandwiches, salads, beach munchies and more.

1844 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente. 949.312.2257. beachhutdeli.com.

Gema

Owner Sarah Resendiz opened Gema in summer 2022, offering authentic Mexican cuisine in an intimate neighborhood environment.

110 South El Camino Real, San Clemente. 714.640.9371. gemarestaurant.com.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

The Rooftop Kitchen + Bar

The Rooftop Kitchen + Bar, offering American comfort cuisine with open-air seating that boasts a bird’s-eye view of downtown San Juan, celebrated its grand opening during the Swallows Day Parade on March 12, 2022.

31781 Camino Capistrano, Suite 301, San Juan Capistrano. 949.503.3358. rooftopoc.square.site.

Pacific Pearl Café

Offering a light breakfast or lunch and a relaxing spot to enjoy a cup of coffee, Pacific Pearl Café opened its doors in late March 2022.

31654 Rancho Viejo Road, San Juan Capistrano. 949.312.2906. pacificpearlcafe.com.

Breezy

The island-themed brunch spot celebrated its grand opening on Nov. 5, 2022, offering pancake stacks, avocado toast, acai bowls and more.

31761 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 949.373.5218. experiencebreezy.com.

Bloom Restaurant + Bar

Bloom celebrated its grand opening across from Mission San Juan Capistrano on Dec. 2, 2022, offering seasonally inspired comfort foods.

31760 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 949.503.2654. bloomsanjuancapistrano.com.

DANA POINT

Outer Reef

Outer Reef, which opened on April 29, 2022 at Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa, offers a distinct West Coast spin on favorite dishes from Chef John Tesar’s previous seafood restaurant, Spoon Bar and Kitchen in Dallas.

25135 Park Lantern, Dana Point. 949.487.7555. outerreefoc.com.

Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen

Parked at the intersection of Doheny Park Road and Victoria Boulevard near the 76 fuel station in Capistrano Beach, Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen food truck celebrated its grand opening on July 10, 2022, offering vegan burgers, chili cheese dogs and poke bowls.

tabaysmindfulkitchen.com.

APizza Doho

Marcos Costas, Christopher Christian and his nephew, Anthony Christian, held a soft opening for their East Coast-style pizza restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway on Sept. 21, 2022.

34255 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 101, Dana Point. 949.570.3636. apizzadoho.com.

Delahunt Brewing Taproom + Taqueria

The San Clemente-based brewery celebrated the grand opening of its taproom and taqueria on Sept. 2, 2022, bringing its craft beers and tacos to Dana Point.

34091 La Plaza, Dana Point. 949.503.1348. delahuntbrewing.com.

Young’s Beach Shack

The Ranch at Laguna Beach celebrated the opening of Young’s Beach Shack, a new concession stand at Salt Creek Beach on Feb. 21, 2023, offering locally sourced, coastal cuisine and craft beers and wine.

33521 Ritz Carlton Drive, Dana Point. 949.388.2430. youngsbeachshack.com.

Maison Cafe + Market

Dana Point Chef Danielle Kuhn reopened Maison Café + Market at its new location in the Prado West Development on April 4, 2023, offering a seasonal menu of organic produce, pastries and fresh coffee.

24501 Del Prado Ave, Dana Point. 949.218.8431. maisondanapoint.com.

Gema. Photo: By C. Jayden Smith

APizza Doho has quickly become a local favorite. Photo: Breeana Greenberg

Beyond the typical restaurants around South County that serve American or Italian fare, hungry residents in Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano have numerous dining destinations at their disposal that offer foods from a wide range of cultures.

Nalu’s Hawaiian Fish Grill & Tutu’s Kitchen, owned by Mike Garrett, seeks to educate visitors about “akamai eating,” which guides followers to eat smart and be faithful stewards of the world around them.

The plethora of char-grilled fish and poke dishes, roast pork meals, soups and other options bear out Nalu’s vision by using fresh and all-natural meats and locally grown produce.

Borne out of a deep connection to Hawaii and a partnership with Tony Trung, who Garrett calls the president of the Nalu’s organization, Nalu’s brings an authentic version of Hawaiian food to the West Coast.

Garrett’s business pursuits in the late 1970s placed him in Hawaii often, where he was introduced to the concept of plate lunches, an island staple, and its own version of “fast food” consisting of two scoops of rice, macaroni salad and meat, such as teriyaki chicken.

“There’s a lot of people that try to copy it,” says Garrett. “It’s not done like (it is) in grandma’s kitchen, and that’s pretty much why we call it Tutu’s Kitchen. ‘Tutu’ is grandma.”

He recalled that whenever he was in Hawaii on business, he always preferred

Cultural Food Abounds in South County

By C. Jayden Smith

to visit more “homely” restaurants rather than the chains.

Trung, a native of Hawaii, handles the food side of the business and spent the company’s early years developing the menu. He traveled back to Hawaii on his own, according to Garrett, to eat at numerous plate lunch restaurants and learn what the best practices would be for Nalu’s to follow.

Those principles include making each item fresh every day and using free-range chicken, grass-fed beef and fresh fish for their food.

Having been involved in the surfing world for more than 40 years, Garrett says he was present in Southern California when surfing manufacturers and magazines were first started as a part of surfing’s introduction to the mainland United States and the rest of the world.

“Being in the surf industry, it’s a small group of people, and I’ve known them all my life,” he says. “Your soul is into it. We want to share that culture with the world, properly, and you want to be authentic.”

Nalu’s found its way to San Clemente

roughly five years ago, says Garrett, as the company was looking to set up shop in a place near the ocean.

Since then, they’ve received significant support from people in town.

“It’s almost like a ministry,” Garrett says. “You get the community involved, and people come in and make it like a family restaurant, basically.”

Their location near the Camino de Estrella exit off Interstate 5 is conducive to receiving visits from travelers heading both north and south along the freeway. Many of them have seen Hawaiian food, Garrett says.

“We’re fast at making the food, and they get it within six minutes,” he says, adding: “I’m in there about three or four days a week, and I’ve never seen someone not like their food.”

From then on, it’s a test of trying to encourage people to try other menu items, as most people find what they like the first time inside and keep ordering the same dish.

“We get a lot of regular customers, and sometimes they get the opposite mahi than (what) they had before,” Garrett says.

“They go, ‘Wow, that was just as good as (the other one), so it’s hard for me to decide.’ That’s one of the things we did with the menu, to make it so that people could come in and get different things.”

Over in San Juan Capistrano, Breezy provides a wide range of breakfast- and brunch-themed foods that remind one of its owners, Jasmin Gonzalez, of spending time on a tropical island.

With Filipino culture carrying the banner, accompanied by Hawaiian and other Polynesian dishes, Gonzalez and her colleagues combined to construct a menu that boasts vibrant and flavorful dishes.

The storefront offers coffee beverages and acai bowls in addition to ube French toast and pancakes, longanisa breakfast bowls and pork adobo breakfast burritos.

“What this really is, is the island foods we grew up on,” Gonzalez previously told The Capistrano Dispatch in October 2022, adding: “We’re not trying to win awards, but mainly trying to introduce our culture and what we grew up with to San Juan Capistrano.”

Over in Dana Point, Lupe’s Mexican Eatery took home the People’s Choice Golden Lantern in the Dana Point Times’ Best of Dana Point edition for 2022.

One of five locations in Southern California, Lupe’s offers a vast and creative menu, including a special birria menu, locally themed and jam-packed burritos, and cocktails.

Take a good look around the South Orange County landscape, and you’ll find plenty of exciting and unique restaurants that will whet your appetite.

The garlic ahi plate at Nalu’s Hawaiian Fish Grill is one of many flavorful dishes visitors can try as an introduction to Hawaiian cuisine. Photo: C. Jayden Smith

The Main Course

Top-Rated Chefs Take a Flavorful Approach

By Collin Breaux, Breeana Greenberg, and Shawn Raymundo

San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, and San Clemente certainly have a wealth of restaurants and types of food to choose from if you’re looking to eat out. Readers of Dana Point Times, San Clemente Times and The Capistrano Dispatch recently voted for their favorite chefs during Picket Fence Media’s recent “Best of” Awards. We wanted to learn more about these local culinary gurus, so we spent some time hearing about their stories and approaches to food.

ROB WILSON OF GLASSPAR IN DANA POINT

After growing up fishing on his father’s 1965 18-foot Glasspar Seafair Sedan, Rob Wilson paid homage to the vintage boat company when he named his restaurant in Dana Point—Glasspar.

The boat seemed to be “a part of the family,” Wilson says, as he spent most Wednesdays and Saturdays either fishing with his dad out of the Dana Point Harbor or surfing at Doheny State Beach when his father went fishing.

Long before he opened Glasspar, Wilson’s career in the restaurant business started at age 15, when he worked as a dishwasher at the Dana Point Chart House. Wilson worked at the restaurant using a work permit from Dana Hills High School’s culinary department.

“One day, one of the managers came up and said, ‘One of the cooks didn’t show up for work,’ ” Wilson recalls. “And he said, ‘Aren’t you here from a work permit from the culinary department at Dana Hills?’, and I said, ‘Yes,’ and he said, ‘Here’s a shirt, here’s a hat, get on the line.’ ”

“And so, I started cooking pretty much a week after I started there, and I just fell in love with it, and I kind of never looked back,” Wilson adds.

From there, Wilson spent 25 years in the luxury hotel sector, working his way to an executive chef position at the Montage in Laguna Beach.

Using his extensive culinary background, Wilson and his wife, Annique Wilson, looked to create a “vintage American seafood hall” when they opened Glasspar in the Dana Marina Plaza in December 2019.

“My wife and I had always wanted to do something of our own, and so we had a couple of concepts we tossed around, and really it was a matter of like our kids were out of the house … and we just wanted to do something in our community that we love,” Wilson says.

Annique Wilson oversees the wine and beverage program, as well as the private dining and catering aspect of Glasspar.

Glasspar offers “creative Californian” cuisine that pulls influences from Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Italy and Peru.

“I try to pull from my experiences in my life and flavor profiles that will be creative,” Wilson says. “I’ve always said that California is kind of a melting pot for cuisine. People say, ‘What is California cuisine?’ Well, it feels fresh, it’s local, it’s a bit lighter, but it is a melting pot.”

When Wilson’s cooking, he always tries to use the ingredients that are in season.

“I always say that if it’s growing in my backyard, it should probably be on my menu,” Wilson says. “So, in summertime, you should have beautiful tomatoes on your menu, and wintertime, you should have more root vegetables. So, I always try to cook within the season.”

Wilson adds that since California doesn’t have very distinctive seasons, he changes the menu three times a year instead of four, letting the summer-fall menu collide into one another.

“I like to cook fresh,” Wilson says. “I like to make food that is flavorful and within the season, and if I can get it as local as possible, that’s what we try to do.”

Wilson adds that he’s very proud of Glasspar’s accomplishments, noting that it’s nice to be recognized by the local community for his and his staff’s efforts.

“I’m very proud that we made it through the past and that we’re here today,” Wilson says. “It’s been a tumultuous ride. It hasn’t been easy for anyone in the restaurant industry, but I think focusing on the future, we want to continue to get better and be creative with our foods.”

“I feel that with every menu that we put out, we get a little better,” Wilson adds.

Rob Wilson looks to emulate a “vintage American seafood hall” in his restaurant, Glasspar, which opened in the Dana Marina Plaza in December 2019. Photo: Courtesy of Glasspar

CHRIS KARTCHNER OF THE CELLAR AND JANE IN SAN CLEMENTE

Growing up in a Las Vegas household in which he was one of six children, Chris Kartchner and his family certainly weren’t going out to eat every night. Though that’s not to say he wasn’t exposed to the fine dining available in Sin City.

“I’m originally from Vegas, and I grew up going to all these nice restaurants and casinos,” he says. “I just grew up eating great food out there.”

Most of the time, though, about four or five nights a week, his mother provided home-cooked meals. When he was still just a child, he found himself in the kitchen beside his mother, helping her cook.

“I would say at age 9, that’s when I kind of started helping her out around the kitchen and stuff,” Kartchner recalls.

Learning how to cook in those formative years, he notes, “I knew I wanted to be a chef at age 11.”

At 27 years old, Kartchner now finds himself in the role of chef at The Cellar and Jane in Downtown San Clemente, achieving that very goal he had set out to accomplish 16 years ago.

And after being in the position for about the past 2½ years, he was recognized this past February as the Best Chef in San Clemente for the annual People’s Choice Ole Awards.

“I was really stoked (to get a Golden Ole), especially with it being a people’s choice thing,” he says, remembering the day he opened the Best of San Clemente issue. “That made me stoked, too, because, I know, I see the numbers here, I know we’re doing well, but it was cool seeing that people really do appreciate it, like notice what I’m doing here. It’s awesome. It’s a great feeling.”

Kartchner’s yearslong journey to become a chef started that year he turned 11. That was when he and the family moved near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where his parents—who had careers in real estate—

began to sell timeshares for some of the major hotels following the stock market crash.

“I lived in Mexico for three years, and I was just cooking constantly down there and learning how to make Mexican cuisine and Latin cuisine, and that was like a big inspiration for me in the kitchen,” Kartchner says.

When he was 12, he applied to attend a magnet school where he could receive formal training to become a chef.

“I didn’t get in, but that didn’t really deter me going forward,” Kartchner recalls of his determination.

Years later and back in the U.S., he notes, he would land his first job in a professional kitchen—by accident.

“I took the first job I could find as a

OMAR RAMIREZ OF FIVE VINES WINE BAR IN SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO

When Five Vines Wine Bar co-owner Suzy Fairchild was looking for someone to handle the food, she decided to call her longtime friend, Omar Ramirez, in 2018. The two had worked together in the service industry before, and she needed someone she knew and trusted for her Orange County venture.

“She said, ‘I need a chef at my place. Are you interested?’ ” Ramirez recalls.

He accepted her offer and has been practicing his craft alongside his longtime colleague ever since, including through the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had new ideas for this place, and I think that’s worked,” Ramirez says.

Five Vines offers finger foods that go well with its main calling card of wine. Current menu items include a hummus dip with carrot and cucumber slices, sal-

dishwasher at Nordstrom Café over at Mission Viejo. And within a month, even still as a dishwasher, I learned how to make everything on their menu, just make it myself like making my lunches when I go on break every day,” he says, adding: “From there, I kind of just kept climbing up the ladder.”

While on that climb, he’s ascended to a variety of roles in restaurant kitchens around South Orange County, including Olamendi’s and Panera Bread, where he was a baker; BJ’s Restaurants and Brewhouse; and Trevor’s at the Tracks in Downtown San Juan Capistrano, where he worked as a fry cook and then kitchen manager.

kitchen since I was 17, so I’ve been in the kitchen about 10 years—most of which I was working 60-, 70-hour weeks, because that’s just how you move up,” he explains. “There’s really no other way to do it. especially without schooling.”

For Kartchner, though, who needs schooling when you have practical, real-world kitchen experience? The recipes and lessons he picked up from his first teacher—his mother—also came in handy.

“When we went to Mexico, that’s when I started cooking often,” he says. “I made some of her recipes. And then, I would say around 18, 19, that’s when I started writing my own recipes, making my own stuff.”

Now as a professional chef, he’s used some of his mom’s recipes, while putting his own unique touch on them. He even incorporated her recipe for a potato and cheese chowder she used to make for the family into the menu at The Cellar.

“That was my favorite growing up. … That’s the recipe I took from her, and now it’s kind of completely different. I just gave it some flair,” he says, adding: “I’ve had it on the menu here, and people loved it.”

Recognizing her son’s talents, Kartchner’s mother will sometimes ask him for help seasoning her homemade soups.

“Having learned to cook and growing up cooking with her, it’s pretty rad now that I can kind of give something back to her after she gave me that livelihood besides raising me,” he says. “She pretty much gave me my career now, which is rad.”

As for his ongoing climb up the ladder, Kartchner acknowledges that he’s in a good place right now professionally, but at some point, after he turns 30, he plans to open his own restaurant.

“I plan to start my own business eventually; I have had people offer to invest,” he says. “But I don’t know, I’m only 27. I’m thinking maybe once I’m 30, I’ll start looking at something like that more seriously. I feel like I still have a lot to learn.”

“I just kind of worked my way up over the years. I’m 27, and I’ve been in the says. “The only thing, maybe, I don’t like is dessert … but I try.”

ads, soup cups, and flatbreads. The food is minimalist but delectable and is also frequently highly rated by readers when the “Best of” contest rolls around.

Five Vines is a popular spot with visitors and locals alike and has come to establish itself as an anchor in the Downtown San Juan business scene.

Ramirez says he can prepare any type of food. On a given weekday, before the nighttime and weekend influx of customers, he can be found diligently chopping lettuce and other ingredients.

“Honestly, I never follow recipes,” Ramirez says. “I make my own.”

He started cooking in 2001 and feels drawn to the kitchen—which, in Five Vines’ case, is upstairs and away from the downstairs bar, and therefore not near the milieu of patrons and other winery employees.

“I like to cook everything,” Ramirez

He offers a laugh when discussing his handling of dessert, underscoring his amiable and laid-back personality.

Ramirez enjoys the family feel of working at Five Vines, which is run by the Fairchild family.

“I like everyone,” he says. “We work so hard together to keep this place going.”

Though not from the area, Ramirez has grown to enjoy working in San Juan.

“The first thing I say, ‘Are you guys really busy? I don’t see many people around here,’ ” he says when recalling his initial conversation with Suzy about coming to work at Five Vines. “She said San Juan Capistrano is a really good area. I agree now, after five years of working here. San Juan Capistrano is a really good city.”

Without formal schooling to be a chef, Chris Kartchner of The Cellar and Jane in Downtown San Clemente has climbed the ladder in the restaurant industry to become a young rising star in South County culinary scene. Photo: Shawn Raymundo

Five Vines Wine Bar chef Oscar Ramirez brings an individualistic and free-form approach to crafting the food at the Downtown San Juan Capistrano winery. Photo: Collin Breaux

No Dairy? No Problem

Vegan alternatives still bring the flavor in local ice cream shops

By Zach Cavanagh

AS THE SUMMER MONTHS HEAT UP the sandy shores of South Orange County, many residents and visitors turn to a time-honored cooldown treat—ice cream.

While there are plenty of places in this corner of paradise to get a couple scoops or a cone, there are many who either can’t enjoy the regular dairy version or are simply trying to be more responsible in their choices but would still like to indulge in a rich, creamy, sweet dish.

Luckily, for those looking for alternatives, there are several options in San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano that can service those needs without losing what makes ice cream special.

Paradis Ice Cream, with locations on Pacific Coast Highway in Dana Point and on Avenida Del Mar in San Clemente, has plant-based vegan options that stack up with anywhere else’s regular ice cream flavors.

Among the most popular flavors is peanut butter chip, which is made with oat milk, peanut butter and shards of chocolate. While there is definitely a slightly different mouth feel of the vegan options, it is really just slight, and after a couple of spoonfuls, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference. It has that smooth richness people expect from a good ice cream.

Flavors like a fresh strawberry, almond chocolate chip and coconut chip are properly labeled to let customers know exactly what goes into these options. Paradis also offers a full vegan sundae, with two flavors of ice cream, vegan chocolate sauce and a vegan chocolate chip cookie.

If you’re looking for something even more densely packed with flavor, further down in San Clemente is Lucky Dog Gelato, which features small, handcrafted batches of gelato made with dairy and non-dairy milks along with locally sourced ingredients.

Lucky Dog Gelato, the 2022 winner in the San Clemente Times’ Best of San Clemente

for Spot to Cure a Sweet Tooth, offers a variety of unique vegan gelato flavors like black rice and sesame, white chocolate and yuzu and carrot, saffron and cocoa nibs, along with traditional staples like chocolate or peanut butter.

Like another location we’ll highlight, Lucky Dog offers sorbettos, which are more fruit-based, as well as Dogelato, which is a veterinarian-approved dog gelato for your furry friends.

Finally, in San Juan Capistrano, before taking your walk across the tracks into the Los Rios District, stop by 3:16 Bakery Shop, which offers gelato and sorbetto as

soon as you step in the door.

The sorbetto at 3:16 Bakery Shop packs a punch with strong fruit flavors up front. The strawberry is fresh and sweet, and the lemon brings an unmatched tartness. You can tell the freshness of the sorbetto as well, as you catch tiny bits of the real fruit in nearly every bite.

There are other vegan options at 3:16 Bakery, with the frozen yogurt dispensers along the back wall.

Whether it’s a rich creaminess or a sharp sweetness, vegan and alternative ice cream options can hit the spot this summer.

Lucky Dog Gelato offers a number of vegan flavors at its San Clemente location. Photo: Courtesy of Lucky Dog Gelato