I’m convinced that my fellow neighbors in Old Towne Orange are deprived of good eats.

Every time a new food or dessert establishment opens in town, residents go nuts. Remember, how Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen got slammed in its first few months?

The restaurant didn’t even have a sign up, and people were lining up. I have to say — fantastic gourmet Mexican eats are hard to find in our neighborhood, so I could understand the stampede at Gabbi’s.

But, is that bad that we all scream for ice cream in Old Towne?

Enter Old Towne Grinder and Ice Cream Parlour. The shop opened a week ago — founded by Bill King, who proudly boasts that he has “no restaurant” experience. Not sure, if it’s good to say that to anyone, including the media…But, Bill’s a nice, enthusiastic guy. So, I’ll cut him (shown, left) some slack.

I stopped by the ice cream store the other night, just before it closed. While it wasn’t necessarily busy, I could definitely see how eager people were to get into the place.
In a slightly unusual twist, Bill is selling Dreyer’s ice cream and grinders (aka subs) made with bread baked fresh daily. Having not done much marketing, Bill told me he’s been “busy” all week.

I wonder how long that will last?

A few residents already made some interesting comments to me: “Why should I pay $2.25 for a scoop of Dreyer’s ice cream, when I can buy a half-gallon for roughly the same price at the market?” one neighbor told me.

You can’t argue with that logic.

But, Old Towne Orange is a tourist destination, as well. So, I think he’ll see demand for his dessert from visitors.

Besides, Bill has much more to offer than just ice cream.

His menu includes hot and cold grinders and burgers that cost about $6 to $7. He plans to serve espresso drinks soon. He also sells a variety of vintage bottled beverages.

Classics such as Moxie, Bubble Up and Dad’s are sure to be a hit with visitors looking to soak up Old Towne’s history.

So, go meet Bill, and see what he has to offer. Chances are, he’ll be the chatty guy behind the counter, serving you an old fashioned cone.

Location: 177 N. Glassell St.

Related stories:

• New dining on tap in Old Towne
• Yelp reviews: Old Towne Grinder and Ice Cream Parlour already has two review. YELP

The store opened Wednesday, marking the first Fresh & Easy to open since the British-owned retailer announced plans to supsend store openings for three months.

On Day 1, bargains seems to be on shoppers’ minds.

Fresh & Easy said consumers snapped up nearly 1,400, $4.99 “grill packs” at the Manhattan Beach store. The pacakge includes an assortment of beef patties, mild pork sausages and chili-seasoned chicken. (Limited-time deal.)

Tesco, Fresh & Easy’s parent company, plans to open its next Orange County store in Fountain Valley on July 16. Other Fresh & Easy stores are located in Orange, Huntington Beach, Anahiem, Laguna Hills, La Habra and Buena Park.

Related stories:

• Tesco targets Orange County and Los Angeles for relaunch of Fresh & Easy stores
• Fresh & Easy vs. Famima: Fountain Valley to open two stores a block apart
• Vons opens Fresh & Easy copycat market in Long Beach
• Details revealed on Wal-Mart’s new Marketside concept (FT.com)
• Japan’s Famima convenience store opening soon in O.C.
• Fresh & Easy to add 250 new food items
• Tesco to revamp Fresh & Easy stores, add British foods
• Vons to Fresh & Easy: we’re not copying you
• Fresh & Easy off to rocky start. A look at the first 100 days
• A closer look: What is Tesco’s Fresh & Easy concept?

The company started using three-wheel, sub-compact electric for delivering food in the Los Angeles area.

Covered in brand messaging set against electric purple backgrounds, the cars were adopted as moving billboards for the Costa Mesa-based fast-food chain. El Pollo Loco is only using them in Beverly Hills and Century City.

The cars also produce 97 percent less emissions than gas-powered vehicles. A single car that averages 30 miles a day can save El Pollo Loco about about 700 gallons of gas per year, the company said.

The Xebra electric vehicles were purchased from ZAP in Santa Rosa. They retail for about $12,000.

Karen Eadon, El Pollo Loco’s chief marketing officer, said the cars act like a “green billboard” for the chain.

“One of our drivers arrived at an office recently where more than 20 people came out to take pictures of the car,” Eadon said. “The vehicle draws an incredible amount of attention.”

A spokeswoman said there’s no immediate plans to bring the eco-friendly delivery vehicles to Orange County.

Fox’s website said the bar and grill is moving to Anaheim. “Thank you for your patronage at the FOX Sports Grill in Irvine Spectrum Center over the past five years. It has been our pleasure to serve you and we hope that you will visit us in Anaheim in early 2009, when we relocate this unit.”

The other Irvine Spectrum restaurants that have closed include Ling & Louie’s Asian Bar and the Fish Market. Irvine Co. spokesman Bill Rams confirmed the closures, saying the current state of the economy is hurting all retailers.

“As you know, the restaurant business is a very challenging business that has a limited success rate even in the best of times,” said Rams.

The news comes as the restaurant industry saw a slight uptick in sales for May, according to the National Restaurant Association. However, restaurant operators are still “pessimistic” about foot traffic rebounding significantly over the next few months.

Roughly 44 percent of restaurant operators surveyed by the association reported traffic declines in May.

Irvine-based Juice it Up is among them.

Chief executive Frank Easterbrook said the soft economy has forced the chain to close four smoothie shops over the last year. None were in Orange County. He said more stores could close during the winter, the slow season for the 155-unit chain.

Rams said the three restaurant closures have not affected the Irvine Spectrum Center’s overall traffic, which “continues to soar to new heights and overall sales are solid, despite the softened economy.”

He said the mall has not named new tenants to replace the shuttered eateries.

For a list of retail closures in Orange County, read Hang Nguyen’s OCRetail blog.

(Photo of Fox Sports Grill courtesy of Irvine World News )

The O.C. Fair, scheduled to start July 11, will debut two new fried foods that are sure to be a hit with fast-foodies: deep fried White Castle burgers and fried Spam.

“Oh, my!” was my first reaction when I first learned about the fried eats from fair spokesman Jeff Willson.

Turns out, Willson got to taste the fried sliders during the San Diego fair, underway now.

He sent me the photo, followed by this instant review: “Really good with hot sauce,” he said.

The White Castle burgers will run $5.75 with fries. (And, yes, it’s deep fried with the bun.)

Fair-goers can find the deep fried burgers at Chicken Charlie’s. The booth has become the go-to hot spot for all things fried at the fair. Remember, the deep fried Twinkie, deep fried Frog Legs and the Krispy Kreme Sandwich?

Crazy fair factoid: Last year, Chicken Charlie’s sold three tons of deep fried frog legs.

Also, new at Charlie’s booth this year: deep fried Spam and fried cheese ravioli. I’m not sure about eating the cheese ravioli. But, you can bet I’ll be among the first to try the deep fried White Castle burgers and Spam.

In case you don’t want to go into cardiac arrest eating all these fried foods, Chicken Charlie’s is also launching a few — dare I say — healthier items. For the first time, the booth plans to sell grilled chicken kabobs with fresh-made hummus and rotisserie chicken.

See you at the fair.

Related story:

• Prices at O.C. Fair going up this year

The suspect beef, supplied by Nebraska Beef, was removed from Ralphs meat departments late Tuesday, a spokesman said today.

“The ground beef on our shelves today is from a different supplier that was not associated in any way with this recall,” Ralphs said in a statement released Wednesday morning.

But, the recalled meat may still be in refrigerators. Ralphs said consumers should look out for ground beef products in Styrofoam tray packages wrapped in clear cellophane or purchased from an in-store service counter with buy/sell dates from May 21 to July 3.

*As of Wednesday, no other supermarket chain has yet to be linked to the recalled ground beef, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Customers who purchased ground beef at Ralphs with sell-by dates of May 21 through July 3 may return them to their local Ralphs store for a full refund or replacement. Any product still in stores will also be tossed out, the company said.

The meat is tied to Nebraska Beef Ltd., identified as the supplier of ground beef products linked to E. coli illnesses reported last week in Michigan and Ohio. Last week, a Ralphs spokesman told the Orange County Register that local Southern California stores were not tied to the recall. That was before federal authorities this week identified Nebraska Beef as the supplier of the contaminated beef.

Late Tuesday, Kroger, the parent company of Ralphs, said it decided to expand its recall after Department of Agriculture officials named Nebraska Beef. Kroger stores receive meat from Nebraska, which has recalled about 532,000 pounds of beef.

“Kroger has expanded the recall due to new information provided by the USDA. This information links product produced by Nebraska Beef to the illnesses. As a precaution, Kroger is removing all ground beef supplied by Nebraska Beef during the dates provided by the USDA,” the company said in a statement released late Tuesday night.

Kroger said the following items are not included in this recall: ground beef sold in sealed tubes in one, three or five-pound packages and frozen ground beef patties sold in the frozen food section of its stores.

Ralphs, Orange County’s second largest supermarket, said stores should have signs posted in meat departments notifying customers about the recall.

“Kroger is also using its register receipt notification system that alerts customers about recalls of products they may have purchased,” the company said. (photo above)

Consumers who have questions about the recall may contact Kroger toll-free at 800-632-6900.

For a detailed list of recalled beef products, go here.

*updated noon Wednesday to include comment from USDA

Jack in the Box tossed us free tacos last week. KFC is giving away gift certificates for hot wings this week. Pat & Oscar’s gave away free slabs of ribs on Tuesday.

But, there’s more. Later this month, Newport Beach-based Wienerschnitzel is giving away a free chili dog or ice cream. The July 15 freebie event is from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (CLICK HERE for more details.) On July 11, 7-Eleven stores in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties are giving away free Slurpees.

Perhaps the biggest bargain of the summer is happening at a few Golden Spoons. Orange County franchisee Dan Finch says he’s celebrating the frozen yogurt chain’s 25th anniversary by offering a 50-percent discount on certain froyo items sold at his stores.

The discount starts July 4, and runs the entire month of July. (Yep, the entire month.) And — get this: the discount has no limit. So, you can buy as many items at the reduced price, as possible.

When I told him he was nuts for being so generous, Finch said this in an email: “Yes, I am Crazy… no limit! The idea is to attract a lot of FY (frozen yogurt) customers that haven’t been to GS (Golden Spoon) before. I want big crowds!”

Be careful what you ask for.

Here’s the lowdown on Finch’s offer:

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