Tempt your taste buds with these must-try dishes on Five Crowns’ spring menu.
By Ashley Probst
As spring blossoms begin to flourish, so do the seasonal menu items at Five Crowns, a British pub-style restaurant in Corona del Mar. Executive Chef Alejandra Padilla has created a unique selection of dishes featuring fresh ingredients and springtime flavors that are meant to perfectly complement the eatery’s classic plates.
Sensational starters include raw bites like steak tartare drizzled with truffle oil as well as salmon crudo with avocado vinaigrette, sea asparagus, serrano peppers, jicama and Japanese basil. The latter is exceptionally light and refreshing, offering a satisfying contrast between the seafood flavors and green elements, as well as a crunchy layer for a bit of bite.
If you’re a soup and salad kind of person, be sure to have a taste of the sunchoke soup as well as the baby beets and burrata salad. The soup has a sunchoke (the root of a type of sunflower) base and is quite creamy, with an added earthy element from a sunflower seed crumble topping, which is balanced out by the herbaceous elements from an herb oil. Add a bit of freshly cracked pepper for a subtle hint of spice. The salad incorporates three types of beets: regular, golden and candy cane. These beet varieties offer unique flavor profiles, with the candy cane beets being very light while the golden beets are a bit sweet and the regular beets are much more robust. Paired with a basil seed vinaigrette and melt-in-your mouth burrata cheese, this truly is the perfect start to your meal.
Moving on to mains, new items include a braised short rib with celery root puree, Jidori chicken that comes with a Parmesan fondue, lamb gnocchi as well as roasted Icelandic cod. The gnocchi is mixed with a lamb ragu, fresh mint and peas for a classic pairing. The crispy cod is served over a bed of fingerling potatoes, spicy chorizo and mussels, all smothered in a decadent saffron beurre fondue—a delicious marriage of land and sea.
The cocktails also change on a seasonal basis, with current offerings like the Rose Colored Glasses with tequila, lemon, basil, strawberry puree and, of course, rose wine, for a well-rounded refreshment. Another delicious drink is the gin-based Lemon Meringue with fresh Meyer lemon, chamomile syrup, orange water and egg white for a refreshing sip. Other libations, which all have creative names, include the Garden Margarita with tomatillo salsa and a cayenne-salt rim, the Gold Digger with ginger-tumeric simple syrup, and The Sassy Man, with whiskey, vermouth and sarsaparilla syrup.
For a sweet finish, the kitchen has also rolled out two new desserts. Sink your teeth into a fluffy strawberry cheesecake accompanied by strawberries atop homemade rhubarb sauce alongside sorbet for fruity flavors. Or, our personal favorite, opt for the sticky toffee pudding that’s topped with roasted pineapple for a bit of a twist on a traditional English after-dinner delight. (949-760-0331; lawrysonline.com)
