Eureka Opens in Irvine

Disclosure

One of the best things about living close to UC Irvine is all of the great restaurants nearby. Recently a new restaurant called Eureka opened and I was invited to try it for the first time. I had read up a little about it prior to going and one of the first things that caught my eye was that they have a whiskey/bourbon bar – Squeal!!!!! If you know me personally then you know I am a huge whiskey lover. It is my drink of choice and my friends are never at a loss as what to buy me for a gift.

Eureka Exterior and Interior

Eureka has a fun and rustic feel to it. The decor of the restaurant is very industrial chic, with lots of reclaimed wood, steel, fun light fixtures, and very nice booths.

The outside patio has a gorgeous glass fire pit with lava rocks and over head string lights.

There is even picnic style seating if you choose.

Eureka Food and Drink

I arrived at lunchtime and the first thing I did was order myself an old-fashioned! Happy hour starts at noon right? It was sweet and bitter and citrusy just the way I liked it!

We started off with a trio of appetizers. The first one was the Lollipop corn dogs. ($7.50). They had crispy corn batter outside and a juicy dog on the inside. I could have eaten a second serving of these but I needed to save room for my main dish.

The second appetizer was an alfredo mac-n-cheese. I loved that it came in a small skillet that kept it hot the whole time we ate it.

Our third appetizer was a truffle cheese fries. Holy goodness. These are amazing. They were cheesy and crispy and my belly was perfectly satisfied.

Finally it was time for the entrees. First up was the short rib ragu ($16). It had stone-ground grits, shaved horseradish and herbs. I absolutely loved this dish and would recommend it to anyone. It has a unique texture but looks like mashed potatoes.

I also sampled the slow roasted beet salad ($10.50) and the watermelon salad ($11.50). As a food blogger I thought I had pretty much seen it all but then they brought out the beet salad and I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were pop rocks on the salad!! You could actually hear them slightly.

The watermelon salad also had arugula but was tossed with quinoa, kale, feta cheese, walnuts and a balsamic glaze. It was delicious and light and perfect for sharing.

Best of all was the bone marrow burger. This juicy and decadent burger ($16.50) has bone marrow porcini butter, mustard aioli, oven roasted tomato and is served with french fries but we opted for the onion rings instead since we had fries as an appetizer. As you can see in the photo the onion rings were s big as saucers and equally big on flavor.

Let’s not forget about dessert.  If you come to Eureka you MUST order the  butterscotch rum pudding. The sea salt totally puts it over the top.

The americana apple crisp is also very tasty. The pecan oat crisps are a nice change from the typical crumble you usually get with this dessert.

I cannot say enough good things about Eureka. Wait, yes I can. They have hoppy hour every day from 2pm to 6pm and then again from 9pm to close. Does life get any better than this? And you can get $5 bloody mary’s all day.

If you are looking for a new place for date night, a quick bite to eat, a corporate lunch or just want to get out with some friends Eureka is the place to go. They offer a jubilant atmosphere with handpicked house music, televised sports and weekly events like Steal the Glass and live music featuring the singer songwriter of the week.

Eureka Irvine is located at:

4143 Campus Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
(949) 596-8881