The Viking Truck, a sausage food truck founded in 2011, has closed its McFadden Public Market location. (Courtesy Viking Truck)

Habana at the Irvine Spectrum launches Sunday brunch Jan. 14. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register)

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Mini versions of Habana’s Cafe Cubano dessert are part of the Sunday brunch spread. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register)

Casa Barilla at South Coast Plaza serves made-to-order pasta dishes, pizzas and salads that follow a good-for-you Mediterranean diet. The restaurant offers alternative pasta options including whole wheat, gluten-free and protein plus. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Viking Dogs sold premium sausages, hot dogs and hand-dipped corn dogs made with bratwurst. The truck lives on, but the brick and mortar location s has closed. (Viking Truck)



The Viking Truck, a sausage food truck founded in 2011, has closed its McFadden Public Market location. (Courtesy Viking Truck)

Casa Barilla at South Coast Plaza serves made-to-order pasta dishes, pizzas and salads that follow a good-for-you Mediterranean diet. The restaurant offers alternative pasta options including whole wheat, gluten-free and protein plus. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The operators behind The Cannery in Newport Beach have joined the fray of fast casual seafood with Coast Fish Company. The casual seafood restaurant is at Los Olivos shopping center in Irvine. (Photos courtesy Coast Fish)

Casa Barilla at South Coast Plaza serves made-to-order pasta dishes, pizzas and salads that follow a good-for-you Mediterranean diet. The restaurant offers alternative pasta options including whole wheat, gluten-free and protein plus. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The operators behind The Cannery in Newport Beach have joined the fray of fast casual seafood with Coast Fish Company. The casual seafood restaurant is at Los Olivos shopping center in Irvine. (Photos courtesy Coast Fish)



The operators behind The Cannery in Newport Beach have joined the fray of fast casual seafood with Coast Fish Company. The casual seafood restaurant is at Los Olivos shopping center in Irvine. (Photos courtesy Coast Fish)

The operators behind The Cannery in Newport Beach have joined the fray of fast casual seafood with Coast Fish Company. The casual seafood restaurant is at Los Olivos shopping center in Irvine. (Photos courtesy Coast Fish)

The operators behind The Cannery in Newport Beach have joined the fray of fast casual seafood with Coast Fish Company. The casual seafood restaurant is at Los Olivos shopping center in Irvine. (Photos courtesy Coast Fish)

Bay Area SAJJ is planning two Orange County units. (Courtesy SAJJ)

Casa Barilla at South Coast Plaza serves made-to-order pasta dishes, pizzas and salads that follow a good-for-you Mediterranean diet. The restaurant offers alternative pasta options including whole wheat, gluten-free and protein plus. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Casa Barilla at South Coast Plaza serves made-to-order pasta dishes, pizzas and salads that follow a good-for-you Mediterranean diet. The restaurant offers alternative pasta options including whole wheat, gluten-free and protein plus. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kohl’s stores offer free Amazon returns; Customers get a coupon with their confirmation receipt. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kohl’s stores offer free Amazon returns; Customers get a coupon with their confirmation receipt. (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The latest retail and restaurant news for the week ending Jan. 14:

Habana launches brunch

Habana’s in Irvine is slated to launch Sunday brunch service today, Sunday, Jan. 14.

The restaurant, which opened late last year at the Irvine Spectrum Center, is a grander venue compared with the original location at the anti-mall The Lab in Costa Mesa. The owners’ vision was to open a restaurant that would resemble a crumbled Cuban mansion.

After a few construction delays and design compromises made with the Irvine Co., the 9,800-square-foot restaurant-villa opened two years after it was first announced.

The buffet is similar to the one served at Costa Mesa with a few more options at each station, Executive Chef Alex Moreno said during a preview last week.

The buffet spread, which cost $38 per person, includes seafood, charcuterie, carving stations (including lechon, or roasted piglet) and pastries. The assortment of fresh-baked goods is from the restaurant’s cafe, a mini Cuban bakery inspired by famed Los Angeles bakery Porto’s.

The weekly buffet is held Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For a limited time, Habana is offering $10 off the buffet.

Another food closure in Santa Ana

About four months after opening at McFadden Public Market in Santa Ana, Viking Dogs closed Jan. 9. The brick-and-mortar eatery for The Viking Truck food truck, its first such location, is the second restaurant to close at the rookie food hall. Viking Dog replaced Vietnamese restaurant Bone Stock. McFadden Public Market opened in mid-April 2017.

“We appreciate all of our longtime Viking Truck fans who came out to dine with us, and the new faces we saw there, too,” owner Luis Flores said in a statement. “I made this decision in order to refocus my efforts on The Viking Truck, our awesome BBQ restaurant Meat Up BBQ in Placentia, and most importantly, my family. I have a young son, and I feel like, before I know it he won’t be so little anymore, so it’s important to live in the moment.”

Flores launched The Viking Truck, which serves sausages and corn dogs, in 2011.

Healthy outlook for 2018?

This time of year, many restaurants showcase more healthful dishes as diners resolve to lose weight for the upcoming year. Here are a few restaurants to watch:

Casa Barilla: The fast-casual eatery by global pasta maker Barilla has been open for two months at South Coast Plaza. The company, founded in Italy 1877, is not your typical carb-centric Italian restaurant, Chief Executive Stefano Albano.

Albano said restaurants serve made-to-order pasta dishes, pizzas and salads that follow a good-for-you Mediterranean diet. The restaurant also offers alternative pasta options including whole wheat, gluten-free and protein plus. The latter is a multi-grain pasta made with legumes (lentils and chickpeas), flaxseed, barley, and oats.

Barilla’s Executive Chef Alfonso Sanna said the restaurants offer a variety of fresh pastas to meet various dietary needs, in addition to being a sneaky way to add healthy ingredients to a child’s meal. The gluten-free pasta as made with corn and rice.

Albano said Casa Barilla strives to bring “balance” to every dish by adding vegetables and light sauces made with extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes. Only a few pasta dishes contain heavy cream sauces.

Coast Fish Co.: The operators behind The Cannery in Newport Beach have joined the fray of fast-casual seafood with this new concept in Irvine. Coast serves fresh grilled seafood made with a choice of year-round and seasonal fish such as salmon, ahi tuna, swordfish, tilapia, local sea bass, mahi mahi and halibut.

Customers can order a plate with sides dishes, fish tacos, and burritos. Chowder, fish and chips, poke, brown rice, grilled vegetables and a salmon burger are also on the menu.

The restaurant is run by Brendon Salisbury, whose family founded El Cholo restaurants in Southern California. The Salisbury family also operates The Cannery in Newport Beach and a soon-to-be-open Italian steakhouse in Newport Beach.

Coast is the Newport Beach company’s second attempt at fast-casual. About 10 years ago, the company opened a fresh-Mex concept, Cafe Maiz, in Mission Viejo. But it eventually closed.

Salisbury said Cafe Maiz had trouble finding an identity. But with Coast, it has already received a good response, as more people are looking for quality seafood at a reasonable price. The average check is about $12 per person, he said.

“I think (Coast) is something we can build on,” Salisbury said.

Coast is at the Los Olivos Shopping Center near Whole Foods Market. Address: 8543 Irvine Center Drive.

SAJJ Mediterranean: The Bay Area concept, which specializes in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foods, recently announced plans to expand to Southern California.

Its first Orange County location is opening in late January in Rancho Santa Margarita. It is replacing a Daphne’s California Greek. SAJJ is part of a growing category of personalized fast-casual restaurants. Like Chipotle, it allows customers to build their own meals from house made and locally sourced ingredients.

Options include chicken or steak shawarma, pomegranate chicken, falafel, or shawafel. The latter is a combo dish of shawarma and falafel. The main protein is served in a pita bread, sajj wrap, salad, or turmeric rice bowl.

The first concept launched five years ago as a food truck in the heart of Silicon Valley. Techies from Facebook and Apple flocked to the concept immediately, said co-founder and CEO Zaid Ayoub. “Customer acceptance was phenomenal.”

The restaurant has grown to five locations; Ayoub said he plans to add five more in 2018. In spring, Sajj is slated to open in Irvine at the Sand Canyon Plaza.

In the fall, Kohl’s announced plans to partner with Amazon to offer free returns at 82 stores in parts of Southern California and Chicago.

The Kohl’s choice is especially appealing if you discover your return is not eligible for free shipping. This happened to me the other day, so I took advantage of the Kohl’s offer. I boxed my return, only to find out later that Kohl’s promises to also package merchandise, as well.

“Kohl’s will pack and ship eligible Amazon return items for free, providing an additional service and convenience to Amazon customers,” Amazon said in a statement to the Register.

So why is Kohl’s doing this? “To bring people in the store,” a Kohl’s employee told me as I made an easy, hassle free return at a store in Tustin.

I left without shopping, but Kohl’s tempted me to come back. My return confirmation slip came with a coupon for 25 percent off my next transaction made within seven days. – Nancy Luna