Mirepoix

Cute little restaurant tucked away in the middle of a busy Laguna Canyon Road. I never would have known this place even existed if it wasn’t recommended to me.
I came here with three other people mid afternoon for lunch after a morning at Sawdust Festival next door. Mirepoix is a restaurant, a cooking school and a place for wine tasting all in one area. Pretty sweet. They are mainly open just for lunch year-​round, but during the summer they are also open for dinner.
When we arrived, the restaurant was busy but not overbearing. We seated ourselves and where waited on fairly quickly. The special of the day was a Kobe Burger, which all of us ordered. The burgers were delicious and we all agreed that they where wonderful and worth ordering. All of us had water, which was always filled for us.
Service was wonderful here. Our server was very friendly, helpful and always had a smile on her face.
Prices here are comparable to other restaurants in the area, with the lunch prices being about $ 10 – 14 a plate. Lunch plates where mainly sandwiches and salads. I’m not sure what the dinner options are or how much they are.
I noticed wine tasting was from 2−5pm on Saturday’s. $ 5 a person will get you five tastes. If my boyfriend and my mom’s weren’t with us, I probably would have done the wine tasting since we were there right when it started. My boyfriend and his mom also did a cooking class series here a few years back and they both raved about it. A series of classes is expensive, being a little over $ 200 a person for about a 3 weekend series. But from what I understand, it was totally worth it for what you got out of the class.
Overall, this place was nice. I’d come back again if I’m in the area for lunch and/​or wine tasting, or maybe one day for a cooking class. I wouldn’t drive out of my way to come here, though. Cute place for the Laguna Beach area!
Cheers!

I wouldn’t feed my dog this food. First impression, you walk in to this «fine dining» establishment, and it’s like sitting in a York Deli at noon. We decided to sit down, despite the disappointing ambience. The first course was Stater Brothers undercooked potato salad with a packaged salami garnish. The second course («corn bisque») was lukewarm melted butter paste with cold corn chunks on top. We were given two choices on the main dish; pork chop medallions or top sirloin with asparagus. We were never asked how we wanted the meat cooked (another clue). Probably because both entrees overcooked, most likely before we ever arrived. They were both very extremely dry and salty. The asparagus tasted like butane, like they just warmed it up with a lighter. The 4^th course (a cheese plate?) was poorly put together with weak cheeses, brown bruised grapes, and a few almonds to fill in the spaces. The dessert was edible, decent. Overall, the experience was very disappointing.

I think I had the most delicious cheese ever here. It’s called bouchon and they put it on a little baguette slice with fig jam on top. To.die.for. YUM…
I took my mom to the Sawdust Festival and we stopped in here for a light lunch. It was crowded for mid-​week, mostly with what looked like retirees. And everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The space is bright and airy, and you are basically in a cheese shop eating. Which is nice because after I ate that cheese, I wanted to buy a whole log. *licks lips*
My mom had a croque monsieur sandwich with a side salad. She loved it. I had a beet salad with a salmon topper. Very fresh and I loved the vinegarette. And we shared a chocolate mousse dessert to top it all off!
Service was nice, casual, and unobtrusive.

This new restaurant at the Culinary Institute in Laguna Beach has only been opened since July. Thurs, Fri & Saturday nights — 4 course pre fixed menu with wine pairing suggestions. Casual atmosphere, simple and well prepared food. Very reasonable at $ 48 for food courses (wine extra). The chef’s amuse bouche was a small antipasto salad; garbanzo beans, diced red bell peppers, diced provolone & spicy salami in a hazelnut vineagarette was light and refreshing (actually 5 courses due to the size of this chef’s treat!). Duck breast in olive tapenade sauce was delicious and cooked perfectly. Trio of chocolate mousse had me feeling rather satiated! Cheers!

No Way Jose. $ 48 for a Prix-​fixed meal that I could have made at home. Nothing special what so ever. I wouldn’t even go back if they charged half price. The food wasn’t horrible but it certainly was not worth what they charged. I gave 2 stars because our waitress was nice, otherwise 1 star for overall value.

A great place for foodies! I had a wonderful, four-​course, prix-​fixe dinner for $ 48 amidst the cheese shop, wine shop, and home-​cook class that was eating the meal they had cooked in the next room of the Laguna Culinary Institute. What fun! The food was great. Wine was at retail prices, as long as you buy a bottle or half carafe. (Skip the by-​the-​glass, which is priced at restaurant prices). We had a great Semillon for $ 21 a bottle and far too much of a second bottle of syrah for $ 15. The meal was great – two fish courses – sauteed shrimp perfectly done, still translucent and not at all overcooked, and then a black pepper crusted sea bass– both personally cooked by the executive chef. The service was good (although the water was consistently tepid), and there were only three tables being served at 8:30 pm on a Saturday in this well-​kept secret in Laguna Beach.

A couple of weeks ago, my besty suggested that we try out Mirepoix in Laguna Beach. It didn’t take much convincing since he offered to drive and I love being near the beach! So, he made reservations in the afternoon and luckily we were able to get a table and off we went on our food adventure early Saturday evening.
AMBIANCE:
This is a great place to take a date if you want to get out of the dinner and movie norm. A drive along PCH to Mirepoix is perfect! You get to soak in the sun, see the beach, and feel the cool breeze from the ocean. Parking in this plaza was a little limited, but that may have been due to the Sawdust Festival going on right next door. Luckily we found a parking spot close by so we didn’t have to venture far.
Stepping inside the restaurant, you notice that it feels quaint and cozy. Although it is a restaurant that serves a four course dinner, it by all means does not feel stuffy and semi-​casual attire is appropriate. You also are able to see an array of cheeses right when you walk in and a great variety of wine in the back cellar.
I would have liked that the restaurant be a little bit better ventilated. I was sweating like I was a 50 year old woman having heat flashes! yikes!
QUALITY OF FOOD:
Appetizer: We got a little extra appetizer in the beginning. It was a cream puff with cream and ham on the inside. To be honest, this was not really good at all and the flavors really fell flat. I was kind of nervous about how the rest of the platters were going to go after this first plate, but everything else picked up and tasted much better from thereon out.
Course #1: My favorite dish of the night! Shrimp, Artichoke and Mushroom Purse with Tarragon Sauce (SEE PICTURE). I love mushrooms, artichoke and the shrimp were big and fresh! The sauce paired so nicely with all the items and the purse was edible and was just so deliciously flavored.
Course #2: The Crusted Baja California Sea Bass with Porcini Crust, Watercress Sauce and Braised Leeks (SEE PICTURE). I loved the freshness of the sea bass! The porcini crust had such a nice flavor to it and brought out the wonderful flavors of the bass. I feel like the watercress sauce could have been flavored better. The braised leeks were tender and refreshing to eat with the bass.
Course #3: L’Assiette de Fromage du Jour aka Cheese Platter (SEE PICTURE). This was such a cute display of cheeses. I LOVE cheese with a passion, but there were a couple of cheeses on there that made me sort of cringe when eating it. The taste was a little more unique than what I am used to, but my BFF went to town on that plate… it was one of his favorites.
Dessert: Fresh Blueberry Tarte with Rum Pastry Cream (SEE PICTURE). The blueberries were so so fresh! The crust of the dessert tasted like buttermilk cookies and was a refreshing dessert. I’m not a big fan of tarts, but this was another favorite of my BFF.
SERVICE:
Great service! The servers were efficient, filled up waters regularly, checked on us often and were very knowledgeable about their wines and each dish they brought out. It made the dining experience that much better!
OVERALL:
For 2 people, the bill came out to be $ 120. Although I don’t like to splurge that much on meals, this was definitely a nice little food adventure and I had an awesome experience at Mirepoix. I enjoyed going to the cellar after my meal and choosing some wines to bring back home with me. This is a great place to bring your family or a significant other. Plus, Laguna Beach is right down the street, so it is the perfect scenic place to stroll along and walk off your dinner.
TIP #1: You can choose your wine pre-​meal to have while you dine, or post meal to bring home. Either way, their wines are priced at retail cost. Yay! Thumbs up to them for not overcharging.
TIP #2: Make sure you call in ahead of time to make reservations. This place gets booked rather quickly.

Dining at Mirepoix was my perfect dining experience. Amazing food and a fantastic selection of wine from the wine shop — all in a casual atmosphere at a great price. Oh, and the service was attentive but not overbearing. What more could you ask for?
On the night I was there, the four course prix-​fix meal began with a small amuse bouche from the chef of a tiny potato salad square topped with smoked salmon — a ton of flavor packed into a single bite. We then moved on to the first of our four courses, the goat cheese tart. Had I been at home I would have made an entire meal out of this tart, it was so delicious — creamy and cheesy in a beautiful flaky crust. I’m glad I didn’t however because course number two was veal piccata. The veal was light and tender without being overly rich as this dish can often be. The cheese course was next. There were both hard and soft cheeses offered with a selection of nuts, fruit compote and dried fruit. This would have been a wonderful end to an amazing meal. But wait! There’s still dessert! The bananas flambé was rich and cooked to perfection — not mush. I was so full at this point (I didn’t pace myself) that I tasted mine and then shared the rest with my husband. I love that you can pair wines by the glass with the courses or buy a bottle (or two) from the shop to have with your dinner. Our visit concluded with a table side chat with the chef — a lovely and personal touch.
I can’t wait for my next visit to Mirepoix to see what the chef has in store. We will definitely be back!