Picnics Deli and Cheese Shop is a major find for gourmet foods and artisan cheeses in Eastside Costa Mesa. It's a deli for lunch and fine foods to go. Stop by on the way home from work and pick-up gourmet dinners, or do the same for a memorable picnic, lunch, or bay cruise.

Chefs and owners Jeana and Robert Whitesell together cook dishes inspired from top restaurants in San Francisco where they worked. French, Thai, Greek and Italian dishes make up the eclectic menu.

The deli selection changes daily, giving customers always something new for the palate. Popular choices include the chicken breast roulade with morel, porcini, cultivated and black trumpet mushrooms; Dungeness crab cakes (light on bread); filet of petrale sole with braised leak and chanterelle mushrooms; and grilled salmon with cherry tomato basil relish.

For lunch, try the roasted beef tenderloin sandwich on toasted sourdough with horseradish sauce, grilled red onion, tomato, arugula, balsamic dressing and Swiss cheese ($12); or the hot chicken breast sandwich, with eggplant, provolone and sun-dried tomato pesto on French roll ($10), or poached pear and walnut salad ($9), and ($12) with chicken.

Picnics can also create a five-course meal for a small dinner party for ten or cater a lavish 750 sit-down dinner.

Picnics stocks an incredible selection of artisan cheeses. The cheese case consists of 40 choices, always cut fresh to order. Picnics imports directly from Neal's Yard Dairy in London, a fine cheese purveyor.

At Picnics, you can also buy hard-to-find olive oils, varietal honeys, sea-salt caramels, hand-cooked potato chips and Barefoot Contessa cookie and brownie mixes.

Open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 435 E. 17th St. in Costa Mesa. 949. 722.7200.

www.picnicsdeli.com

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