La Sirena Grill Meetup

CLICK HERE for our complete coverage of La Sirena Grill Orange County or HERE for my review of La Sirena Grill and Cantina in El Segundo.

La Sirena Grill 3931 Portola Pkwy Irvine, CA 92620 (714) 508-TACO (8226) Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Yelp Official Site

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Just a quick mention that there is a preliminary Yelp meetup going on tomorrow at the La Sirena Grill in Irvine starting at 6:30pm. We'll have a bigger one later on down the road but will still have a few people there tomorrow night. CLICK HERE for more info on the official Yelp meetup page. You don't have to be a member of Yelp to come to this. UPDATE: La Sirena will have $5 quesadillas and nachos for tonight.

Avocado-Lime Salad w/ Carnitas

CLICK HERE for our complete coverage of La Sirena Grill Orange County or HERE for my review of La Sirena Grill and Cantina in El Segundo.

Best Breakfast Burrito in Irvine

No surprise to longtime readers but I am always analyzing the traffic for this site in many different ways. What has surprised me is how often people search for information on the "best breakfast burritos in irvine," with similar searches for other OC cities rarely turning up at all. Why would that one city be the most popular one out of all Orange County? I still don't know the answer but if anybody has any insight let me know.

I'm not even much of a burrito guy but recently set out to try all the breakfast burritos in Irvine I could. My quest may never end (as with the overall quest of this entire blog) but I'll update this entry every time I try a new contestant. And let me just say that I don't care where the breakfast burrito comes from. It doesn't have to come from a "Mexican" restaurant per se; it can come from any place that sells food and also happens to have breakfast burritos on the menu. So here's pictures (and possibly descriptions and comments) of the burritos I have come across so far.

Mimi's Cafe

Chipotle Breakfast Burrito

"Stuffed with scrambled eggs, shredded beef, green onions, cilantro and black beans. Topped with chipotle sauce and melted cheeses. Served with red skin potatoes."

Official Site

Chick-Fil-A

Sausage Breakfast Burrito

Official Site

Tacos & Co.

Chorizo Burrito

Official Site

Las Fajitas

I can't remember what this breakfast burrito was called. Las Fajitas has three or four to choose from but they no longer have an official website because, as they told me, nobody ever looked at it.

La Sirena Grill

Picadillo Burrito

"Organic scrambled eggs, Niman Ranch sausage mixed with peppers, onions, garlic and choice of rice or pinto beans."

I already wrote about this burrito in an entry on the breakfast at the La Sirena Grill in Irvine. It can be read by clicking on the 'la sirena grill' label at the end of this entry.

Official Site

McDonalds

McSkillet Burrito

My comments: More rustic than you would think coming from McDonald's.

Official Site

Carl's Jr.

Big Country Breakfast Burrito

My comments: nobody remembers that Taco Bell used to have a Country Breakfast Burrito with gravy in it. Now Taco Bell doesn't but Carl's does.

Official Site

Tortilla Grill

Machaca Burrito

"4 eggs scrambled with shredded beef and pico de gallo stuffed in a handmade flour tortilla with jack/cheddar cheese and beans."

My comments: This burrito was huge.

Taco Factory

Machaca Burrito

My comments: This was an okay breakfast burrito. The interesting thing about it is that they serve it to you open-faced then you can roll it up yourself.

Chorizo Burrito

My comments: Similar to the machaca burrito but maybe a little better

Official Site

Jerry's Wood-fired Dogs

Hot Link Breakfast Burrito

"Jalapeño hot link chopped with freshly scrambled eggs, grilled onions & peppers, with cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Served with a side of fresh salsa."

Official Site

La Sirena Grill - Review #3 (Breakfast)

La Sirena Grill 3931 Portola Pkwy Irvine, CA 92620 (714) 508-TACO (8226) Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Yelp Official Site

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I found out recently from the paper that La Sirena Grill in Irvine is now serving breakfast so I made a stop there this morning to check it out for myself. This location is on the far northeast side of Irvine, almost out into the wilderness, and has a very nice outside seating area:

One of the first things I noticed as I walked in this morning was that they have breakfast tortas. As far as I know this is the only place that has breakfast tortas. They also have huevos rancheros and several kinds of breakfast burritos. I wanted one of everything I saw but ended up going for the Picadilla Burrito: "Organic scrambled eggs, Niman Ranch sausage mixed with peppers, onions, garlic and choice of rice or pinto beans."

This was a very good, hearty breakfast burrito and I like that they cut it in half when they serve it; that makes it good for pictures. I forgot to add the green chile cheese potatoes on the side but I got filled up anyway and it automatically comes with a side of chips and their rustic guacamole. The total for my burrito and orange juice came to $9.70.

I'll be back to try the torta and the huevos rancheros later and will update this entry when I do. And, oh yeah, they serve breakfast from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays and Sundays so you don't have to race to get there for breakfast by 10:30 or 11:00am which are the usual breakfast cutoff times at most restaurants.

UPDATE (September 20, 2008): Went back today and tried their excellent huevos rancheros and my friends, Chris and Kristanna, shared the veggie burrito and a breakfast torta:

Click here to see the complete album (21 photos) at .

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Press Release

The La Sirena Grill people found my entry here and asked if I could post the following press release:

La Sirena Grill Hosts Fundraiser for Northwood Teen

Irvine, California, September 15, 2008 — La Sirena Grill at Orchard Hills Village Center is hosting a fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. to noon, when 15% of sales will be donated to the Deanna Flock Fund.

Flock is a 16-year-old Northpark resident who was being raised by her single mom, Nancy Flock, until this summer when her mother passed away from natural causes. The younger Flock was then taken in by neighborhood and family friends, the Bustos family of Irvine, so she could remain in the neighborhood and continue to attend Beckman High School.

"We are happy to support this cause in Deanna's name," said Brian Hendon of La Sirena Grill. "La Sirena Grill prides itself on being part of the Irvine community, and coming together on important causes such as this."

The casual eatery serves contemporary Mexican flavors with fresh, organic ingredients. The recycled wood furnishings and whimsical wall treatments create a charming dining atmosphere for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Additional seating is available in the center's open-air patio. Take-out service is also available.

La Sirena Grill is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and opens at 9 a.m. for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

La Sirena Grill Coming To Irvine

In analyzing the site traffic here I have noticed people searching Yahoo and Google recently for "La Sirena Grill Irvine." There is no La Sirena Grill in Irvine so I thought at first that people didn't know it's really in Laguna Beach. But after I saw that numerous people were searching for the same thing I decided to look into it and found out that there really is a La Sirena Grill coming to Irvine. It will be part of the new Orchard Hills Village Center on the north-west corner of Culver Dr. and Portola Parkway. We will try to give notification here when it opens for real. For now, you can read our review of the original La Sirena Grill in Laguna Beach.

UPDATE (Saturday, June 30):

Went to my dentist earlier today and in the discussion that ensued I found out he had been to this new La Sirena Grill location so a couple hours later I went for an early dinner. Here's a few pictures from my visit, showing their nice outside dining area, their menu boards, and the taquito plate I ordered.

La Sirena Grill - Review #1

Date of Visit: December 8, 2006

La Sirena Grill 347 Mermaid St Laguna Beach, CA 92651 (949) 497-8226 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website.

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Yes, it used to be a real cottage (the white one on the right)

Yesterday on my birthday I took the day off of work and decided to hit a Mexican restaurant up for lunch (surprise, surprise). I went to my secret list of restaurants to try and was reminded that I've been meaning to get to La Sirena Grill in Laguna Beach. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a drive through Laguna Canyon, one which almost justified the $4 toll I had to pay on the 73 South.

There really is a mermaid here

La Sirena Grill began in 1999 when a family bought an old cottage on Mermaid St. in Laguna Beach and saw it as their opportunity to offer contemporary Mexican dishes. It's no coincidence that Sirena is Spanish for "Mermaid."

Small but respectable salsa bar

I'd heard this place was small and when I arrived I saw how small it really was. With quarters as cramped as this and lots of friendly people coming to enjoy good food it's hard to not find yourself striking up conversations with perfect strangers, in other words, friends just waiting to be met. So when you go to La Sirena be prepared to converse with some of the other patrons there.

Inside the restaurant there is enough seating for three people at bar stools. Outside I believe there are four tables that seat roughly four each. Parking is also tight. Expect to shovel coins into a parking meter or the pay station across the street, unless maybe you have really good connections with the locals.

I ordered one of their signature Sirena Plates: "Grilled pasilla chile, herb-marinated bell peppers, onions, and cheese, served over fresh corn tortillas, and topped with pico de gallo" with blackened shrimp as my choice of meat (you can also choose carne asada, pollo, carnitas, pescado, or vegetarian). If you like setting your mouth on fire then this is the dish for you. I'm sure most of the spicy hotness came from the pasilla chile which is a huge component of this platter. I was tempted to run in from my outside seating and spray their fire extinguisher into my mouth. My watermelon/strawberry aguas frescas helped douse the flames a little bit but I wish they offered desserts here such as flan or deep-fried ice cream which are both good for finishing off a spicy meal.

There are numerous other items on their menu I'm looking forward to trying such as their vegetarian quesadilla, and their tortas and sopes. On my next visit I think I will try one of their Avocado-Lime Salads.

With a mailbox like this how could you go wrong?

La Sirena has a second location (30862 PCH, also in Laguna Beach) which I am told is five times larger and a couple I was talking with told me of a possible coming third location. As usual, anytime we get more such information we will post it here.

La Sirena Grill earns a very solid four Speedy Gonzales rating: