Vaca
Spanish restaurant · Costa Mesa ·
Spanish eatery with aged steaks, tapas, and paella
Spanish eatery with aged steaks, tapas, and paella
"Courtesy of Chef Amar Santana, this cool and rustic tapas bar offers consistently pleasing food and an extensive list of sherries and Spanish wines amid a quirky setting (the banquettes are decorated with jokes). In addition to the beautiful bar area, guests may sit in two outdoor areas or the main dining room with views into the semi-open kitchen. The lunchtime prix fixe is a great deal, though it would mean skipping their wonderful array of tapas and paellas. Standouts include the bikini sandwich, layering cured Jamón Ibérico, Manchego cheese, and a bit of truffle oil into pretty little piping-hot grilled sandwiches. Croquettas de pollo tucked with shredded white meat are perfectly seasoned and fried to a golden crisp." - Michelin Inspector
"Top Chef: All Stars’ Amar Santana opened this sleek Spanish hideaway in 2016 inside the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center. Aged steaks hang from illuminated cases as if perched in a sleek showroom. For lunch, the lamb burger is punched up with feta, sumac onion, and red pepper jam. Those looking for paella will find options with saffron-hinted bomba rice. But the sharable tapas are the most fun. The chef’s snacks rotate often, but the creamy chicken croquettes and warm pulp with fingerling potatoes drizzled in Spanish olive oil remain mainstays since it opened." - Jenn Tanaka
"I dined at Vaca in Costa Mesa, one of The OC’s top restaurants specializing in Spanish cuisine with Japanese twists." - AFAR
"After transitioning from an earlier fine-dining project, Santana found sustained success with this eight-year-old Spanish restaurant, which I note is particularly known for its aged steaks and is currently doing fantastic business—especially at lunch—while helping Santana feel he’s finally found the chef community he sought in Orange County." - Jenn Tanaka
"I note that Amar Santana of Broadway and Vaca said letting people into his dining rooms isn’t in his immediate future: “We are being very careful with the pandemic,” he told the Register, adding that it’s going to be hard to reopen, that he wants to see how restaurants would be able to control the spread of the virus, and that there are so many questions that he’d rather wait." - Farley Elliott