South Orange County dining destination, Hendrix Restaurant made their debut in Laguna Niguel in Spring 2017 and they are pretty phenomenal. I finally had a chance to visit the restaurant and enjoy a variety of different delicacies from their menu!
Prior to dinner, we were served a few cocktails.
My hubby chose the Salty Surfer made with Milagro tequila, ginger, lime-sour, and cilantro. This drink was a perfect blend of flavors. I had never paired tequila with ginger and it went together quite nicely.
The drink I chose was the Dark Blue Sky which was prepared with Svedka vodka, lemon, blackberries, blueberries, & cava. I wanted something light, fruity, and refreshing and this was perfect.
The manager, Pete brought us The Perfect G&T made with Hendrick’s gin, Fever Tree Indian tonic, and botanicals. He insisted we must try it because it is their specialty and the restaurant was named after Hendrick’s gin. I loved how this cocktail had edible flowers and peppercorns. While this drink had a strong punch, it hit the spot and we really enjoyed it.
To start our dinner, we were served:
A Creamy Potato-Garlic Soup prepared with rotisserie chicken and lemon agrumato. This was a light and delicious dish that made our appetites crave the dishes to come.
Corn Bread with Zucchini came next prepared with a honey compound butter & sea salt. This dish takes 14 minutes to prepare, so I recommend ordering it first thing when you sit down. Hot and steamy cornbread with zucchini and some of the most amazing butter…This was one of my favorites of the evening!
Roti Chicken & San Daniele Prosciutto Fritters were prepared with a maille whole grain mustard & a honey aioli and were devoured quickly. I loved these fritters without the aioli, but when I tried them with the aioli, I was in heaven. The pairing of flavors was perfect! These are a must order!
While several items were recommended to us, one that I had to have the second I looked at the menu was the Baked Lobster Mac & Cheese because I am always obsessed with this dish. The cheesy goodness of this plate can be seen in my photos. I loved the blend of cheese and lobster with the breadcrumbs on top that brought about a slight crunchiness that accentuated the flavor and consistency.
Grilled Spanish Octopus came to the table with a fresh hummus and harissa olive vinaigrette which made my hubby go wild! This dish is his favorite and while I am not an octopus fan, this dish brought back memories of our recent trip to Croatia as octopus is a popular dish there. My husband was in heaven with this dish.
Before our entrées came out, we were served the Jackson Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is sold in the front of the restaurant and can be served at your table with your dinner. There are a variety of wines to select from in the front of the restaurant that you can purchase and bring to your table or home and they even have a discount program if you buy a certain number of bottles of wine. The flavor of this cab was very well balanced and it paired well with the lamb in the roti plate perfectly!
An entrée we were recommended was the Cozen’s Fried Catfish made with cilantro lime, coleslaw, and creole tartar sauce. This dish was named after the Chef’s friend’s dad, Nick Cozen in Oklahoma. He had a catfish farm in Oklahoma and this was his recipe. We thought that was a pretty awesome story and the fish was just as great as the story. 🙂
The other entrée we orded was from “on the roti” aka rotisserie, where we had the choice to choose a board or get a sampler of all of the meats. Weiser farms “drip” potatoes are included with all rotisserie meats.
The sampler platter of all three meats we enjoyed was the Porchetta – Natural Pork Roll with pickled veggies, Leg of Colorado Corn Fed Lamb with mint-garlic lebni & Lemon Garlic Chicken. There is a minimum of 2 people needed to order the Roti three meat platter and it is well worth it! I think out of all three meats; the lamb was my favorite! It was cooked medium rare, just the way I love it! The chicken also was very flavorful and moist. My hubby was all over the porchetta. When we go back to Hendrix, we will definitely order this dish again! 😊
For dessert, they brought us a trio of three desserts. The desserts on our combo plate were all handmade and included the apple strudel, sticky toffee cake, and my personal favorite, the Hendrix Midnight. The apple strudel designed by Chef Rainer Schwarz and his old-world recipe from Austria had a thin, flaky buttered crust with Chantilly cream and vanilla sauce that was easy to eat. The sticky toffee cake came with a warm toffee sauce. Hendrix Midnight was created with a homemade peanut butter and jam layer with chocolate glaze.
Manager, Pete LaCava made our dining experience extremely pleasurable as he not only came to our table to visit us, he continued to buzz around the dining room greeting every customer in sight. In addition to delicious food at this establishment, the service we experienced was superb! We cannot wait to visit again soon!
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