We are over the moon with the new Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza!

Celebrated Chef Charlie Palmer, who provides world-class dining experiences in Manhattan and in other restaurants across the country, just opened his first haute cuisine restaurant in OC.

You must dine here, and Tuesday, lunch will be served! (Be sure to gaze through the kitchen window on the side of the restaurant, watch the talented chefs busy at work.)

Executive Chef Amar Santana (from Palmer's flagship restaurant in New York) follows Palmer's signature style that features seasonally inspired starters such as green asparagus and duck prosciutto with soft poached egg and truffle vinaigrette; Kampachi sashimi with pickled celery salad, spicy capicola and black lava salt; crisp pork belly with melon, pickled onion and aged Sherry vinegar.

Entrees include dishes such as lemongrass poached lobster with braised baby bok choy; pancetta wrapped quail with cranberry beans and salsa verde; apricot crusted rack of lamb with rosemary lamb jus; and aged New York sirloin with chipotle butter and shallot confit.

And we love Palmer's philosophy on enjoying wines: let diners experiment with wine by pricing wines affordably (even with hard to find labels.) And check out the wireless eWinebooks that let you search wines by price, region, winery, year, varietal and even food pairing on a touch screen.

At Palmer's innovative Next Vintage retail wine store choose from 800 wines priced from $11 up to $10,733. Next Vintage will also offer wine tastings, private wine cellar consultation, cellar software, gourmet food items and even customized six packs assembled according to region, varietal or personal preference.

Open for lunch 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Sunday; open for dinner 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday though Thursday; 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Charlie Palmer is at Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza 3333 Bristol Street in Costa Mesa. 714.352.2525.

http://www.charliepalmer.com/bloomingdale/home.html

http://www.greersoc.com/oc-deals/

Here's a partial list of our June OC Deals: our favorite Attus Apparel offers 30% off polos shirts; IsabeeTWEENS offers 30% off the best in tween apparel; and don't forget dad on Father's Day, Skin Deep Spa gives an incredible massage 55 min. massage for just $125.

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