Vaca, Los Angeles – Edible. 🍽️

Located quite close to South Coast Plaza, this place seems to have a decent reputation. The chef has been on Top Chef, and the whole vibe feels a bit upscale—wanted to give Irvine/LA "white people food" a try. 😅 Well, I think from now on, I won’t be lazy and will just make the trip to San Gabriel. Verdict: Edible. ✅ Pros: (1) The small dishes were actually pretty good! For example, their uni chawanmushi—the bread was fragrant and not oily, texture was fine. The uni was slightly sweet, probably local. The steamed egg part underneath was creamy and flavorful—definitely tasty. 😋 (2) Another good one was the chicken roulade with liver pâté—the pâté was rich with a hint of vinegar, well-balanced with the sides, not overpowering. The roll itself wasn’t too thick, just thin and tender chicken. (3) The proteins in the paella, like scallops and chicken, were tender. The seasoning was on point. (4) The steak sauce itself tasted fine… but it wasn’t really needed. 🥩 (5) The ambiance was okay, close to the mall, parking wasn’t too far, and they supposedly validate parking. 🅿️ Cons: (1) The ingredient quality was really disappointing. We’re not sure what went wrong, but we wanted to try their steak—sounded tempting, "50-day dry-aged, Colorado something" (didn’t catch the farm). This steak had almost no beef flavor—quality felt on par with Costco. 😬 It was indeed dry-aged for 50 days though—the bone-in parts and fattier bits had that distinct dry-aged flavor, and that part was good, so they didn’t lie there. But the meat itself lacked fat content and beefy flavor. Even purely grass-fed beef should have its own unique taste, and grain-fed should offer richer fat flavor. This had almost none—definitely questionable. (2) The paella looked delicious but tasted heavy, repetitive, and one-dimensional—mostly just a strong sauce flavor without much depth or freshness. 🥘 (3) Service wasn’t great. Now I understand why some people dislike tipping—the service here was problematic. 😒 When we said the steak wasn’t good, not even as tasty as what we make at home, the server actually replied, "Looks like all high-end steak places in the U.S. will have to switch to AZ beef." Seriously? Trying to lecture us, the masters of high standards? 🙄 If the steak quality is poor, just admit it—we held back just to keep things civil. (4) Overall, the main dishes weren’t good. The small dishes—since they don’t rely as much on premium ingredients and are slightly more reasonably priced—are better to stick to. But honestly, with "white people food" like this in LA… maybe just skip it. Isn’t it better to drive to San Gabriel for some Dong Ting Xian? 🚗💨 Address: 695 Town Center Dr. Ste. 170, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 960 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017 (Haven’t been) #Paella #SpanishCuisine #Tapas #Steak #DryAgedSteak #LosAngeles #Irvine #IrvineFood