Little Sister
Irvine Spectrum Center
The menu is specialized, revolving and sometimes secret during Locals Hour, from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Also, the famous lunch bánh mì aren’t listed on the dinner menu, but you can make it a DIY experience with the toasted baguette and house-made pâté that accompany the braised beef.
Oliver’s Trattoria
Quail Hill Shopping Center
Ask about the Whole Fish Flambé, where a salt-crusted branzino is deboned tableside – an exciting photo op. There’s a dedicated truffle menu during the fall, but some ask for the off-menu Truffle Cacio e Pepe. If fresh truffles are available, they can be shaved over the house‑made pasta.
Din Tai Fung
Irvine Spectrum Center
Order a side of the spicy wonton sauce and dip your xiao long bao in it or pour it over your egg fried rice for more complexity than the soy/vinegar mix. For dessert, ask for a side of the sea salt cream that usually goes with tea and dip the chocolate-mochi xiao long bao into it for a salted-chocolate lava effect.
Mastro’s Ocean Club
Irvine Spectrum Center
The most popular cocktails here aren’t even on the menu. The lemon drop and cosmopolitan get strikingly different treatment – prepared tableside with dry ice, dramatically bubbling and “smoking” in the glass. Like all cocktails at Mastro’s, each shaker essentially pours two.
Lazy Dog
The Market Place
Add sweet chili sauce to the on-menu fried chicken sandwich and you get Hari’s Sweet Heat Fried Chicken Sandwich. Or wrap the on-menu blackened chicken burrito bowl in a tortilla and you get the handheld Taylor’s Blackened Chicken Burrito.
Cheesecake Factory
Irvine Spectrum Center
All cheesecakes can be customized with your favorite toppings. Sandwiches come on white bread, but you can order the famed rolled-oat brown bread for any sandwich. Substitute salmon for the on-menu chicken piccata.
More off-menu tricks
Habana at Irvine Spectrum Center: Ask for the 90 Mile sauce, a spicy cilantro-garlic blend, on the side of your empanadas or plantains.
Sessions West Coast Deli at Woodbridge: Ask for the Shaka Spuds to be “extra thrashed” to get pieces from the bottom that are extra coated in sage, rosemary and Parmesan seasoning.
In-N-Out at University Center: In addition to the popular Animal Style fries, try the whole grilled onion-wrapped Flying Dutchman – two cheeseburger patties between caramelized onion slices.
