In celebration of my 30th birthday Orange County gave me the wonderful present of kicking off OC Restaurant week!

We decided on Summit House, a beautiful restaurant in the hills over-looking Fullerton.  The ambiance is warm and inviting.  It is fine dining without being stuffy.  Its picturesque. 

Their OC Restaurant week prix fixe is fantastic and the servings very large.  Take advantage of it!

There were 13 of us and we did a combination of the OC and regular menus.

This is the Seaside Sampler.. half-eaten.  On the far end you see the crab cakes, closest to us was the seared ahi with a blackening on it (or was it cajun).  We really loved the large prawns on this.  They had so much flavor, I wonder what they were poached in.

Is anyone concerned with the styrofoam cups on the table?  I thought it was awesome they had these for the kids.  We got the glass ones :)

Follow me after the jump to see all the dishes we enjoyed!  I wish I had gotten some pictures of the kids checking out the snail shells…

Snails!  Bugs!  The Escargots Bourguignonne was tasty.  They were drenched in butter and garlic.. how could they not be?  Also in the sauce were brandy and pernod, neither of which popped out into my head when I tasted it. 

The other wonderful part of this appetizer is freaking the kids out.  “Look, your uncle is eating bugs!”  “Eeeeeewwwww!” 

This is the Summit House salad.  I just love that bibb lettuce and the sprinkled pancetta. 

This is their version of the wedge, prettily presented in small manageable wedges vs. the large daunting wedge you normally see…. half of which usually ends up on the table when I try to cut it.

Classic Caesar salad.  I enjoyed it but there is nothing incredibly distinctive about it.  Fantastic big slivers of parmesan on top and I never turn away a good caesar salad.

I took this shot over my shoulder during dinner.  Its a tragedy this is the only non-food shot I have.  You can’t even really see the fireplace.  Go there and take some pictures for me!

This is the braised lamb shank.  Just look at the size of that thing.  Its rich.  The servings there are large.

Ah, the John Dory.  Its a white fish (obviously) topped with macadamia nuts and panko bread crumbs and served with a lemon butter sauce.  This was my pick and I thought I had the best on the table.  I’ll want this fish again.  The crust was so thick and the entire dish so flavorful.  I was thrilled with my dish and possibly the happiest about my meal.

The prime rib served with creamed spinach and yorkshire pudding.  This was my first yorkshire pudding experience.  It was so much lighter than I expected.  It was perfect to sop up the juices. 

This is the tri-tip and I don’t know anything about it because it was a special and I wasn’t paying attention.

But in the corner you will see the Creamed Corn.  Hands down the family favorite.  I had several servings because when you eat fattening things on your birthday you don’t gain any weight.  Right?  The recipe is even featured on the website.. which is very similar to one I will be posting soon.

Another special, this is the sea bass on udon with a strawberry relish of sorts.

The Filet Mignon which is available for the OC prix fixe with a $5 upcharge.  Tell me you don’t want to stick a fork in those gruyere au gratin potatoes.

Traditional creme brulee, very creamy in that delicious mouth-coating way.

Three Chocolate Torte.  Need I say more?  No?  I really can’t help but describe this.  Rotating layers of mousse and gran marnier and rum laced cake and then topped with belgian chocolate.  I nearly licked the chocolate sauce off the plate.  It was perfect and not overly sweet at all.  The sauce I mean, the dessert itself was entirely rich and decadent.

The Summit English Trifle includes layers of rich creamy custard, rum soaked cake, chantilly cream and strawberries.

None of us finished the entire meal.  We had enough food leftover for a full meal the next day.  I still wish that I would’ve gathered up the scraps of desserts.  I do love picking at them for days… which is why I didn’t.

All in all, the food was traditional and good.  I suggest the John Dory.  The service was fantastic as we tend to be a bit loud and we had 3 kids and there were 13 of us.  The flow of dinner went without a hitch.  Its really about the romantic, moody, cozy ambiance.

Have you been?