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Tony Roma's In Los Alamitos

LOS ALAMITOS (Tuesday, May 08, 2007) - LONG BEFORE the blooming onion, there was the onion brick.
Probably invented at the Hackney's restaurants in the Chicago suburbs, this delicious jumble of compacted onion rings was popularized at the Tony Roma's barbecue chain.

Times change and so do restaurant chains. The company that owned Tony Roma's sold the chain to a financial group, which "made a lot of changes to the menu, to the concept and to the operating system," according to Jamshid (pronounced Jam-sheed) Hanani, who owns the Tony Roma's in Los Alamitos.

"They upgraded the system and made it more contemporary," said Hanani in a phone interview last week.

One result of the new approach was the disappearance of the onion brick. Maybe it was just too square. If you order the Onion Loaf now, you'll receive an onion cylinder.

This change was made a year ago, according to Chef Santiago Magadan, who has been with the restaurant for 10 years. "It's the same recipe as before," he said. The onions are sliced in the kitchen, dredged in flour, then kept

cold for at least a half-hour before being deep fried in a round basket.

When they're served, a little cup of dip sits indented in the middle of the cylinder. It's made from a mixture of the "Original" barbecue sauce and mayonnaise. A metal pan of regular full-strength original sauce also comes with the rings, so you have two choices for dipping.

Actually, my choice is a third one. While I like the barbecue sauce on the meats, I prefer to dip in Heinz ketchup. I also eat at least

The full loaf of fried onion rings is now round, but it's made with the same recipe as the old onion bricks. In the center is a lighter-colored dipping sauce made by blending the Tony Roma's Original barbecue sauce with some mayonnaise. (Tracey Roman / For the Press-Telegram)half my portion without dipping at all, because the rings have a great flavor all by themselves.
The rings I had recently at Los Alamitos were not as good as some I've had, but I've experienced inconsistency before, so I don't know whether the round shape was at fault or someone in the kitchen just didn't cook the rings long enough. Next time, I'll tell the server to make sure they're well done.

Hanani said the Roma Corp., headquartered in Dallas, is now marketing the restaurants as more than places for ribs by adding a variety of steaks and seafood. I tried one of the new fish dishes and was very pleased.

There were only two fish on the separate Fish Grill menu - mahi mahi and salmon - but the restaurant has cleverly turned them into 24 dishes by letting the diner choose among three different preparation styles and four different sauces. So, for instance, you could have the salmon grilled and served with the sweet Thai chili sauce or the mahi mahi blackened and served with the tomato pesto salad.

I chose the mahi mahi pan seared with a sesame crust and served with the scampi butter made by blending minced garlic, butter and some other spices. It's a relatively mild garlic sauce and very tasty, although I like stronger garlic sauce better.

Some other recommendations, which ranged from excellent down to good, include:

Original Baby Back Ribs. The ribs are trimmed and skinned in the kitchen, Magadan said, then briefly boiled in

Chef Santiago Magadan has been with Tony Roma's 11 years, so he's an expert on the old dishes and the new ones. (Tracey Roman / For the Press-Telegram)water with liquid smoke and lemon juice for flavoring. Then they're cooked in the oven for two hours and stored in the refrigerator.
When ordered, they're put on the gas charbroiler and topped with the sauce that comes from the Tony Roma's commissary. It's a sweet sauce, and if you like sweet sauces, like I do, it should please you.

Other sauce choices include Carolina Honeys, Blue Ridge Smokies and Tony Roma's Red Hots.

Beef ribs. These come to the restaurant already cooked and are refrigerated until grilled on the charbroiler and topped with sauce.

Tri-tip steak. They're cut and marinated for 24 hours in a sauce made with bourbon, ketchup, mustard, A-1 sauce and honey. They're cooked on the broiler when ordered.

Marinated chicken grill. Two large pieces of chicken breast are marinated 24 hours in Worcestershire sauce, white sugar and soy sauce and then grilled when ordered.

Not only the chicken, but all the meats and the fish are served in generous amounts, enough for two meals for an average person, especially if you have a soup or salad and dessert.


On the side

Each entree seems to come with a choice of two side dishes, even though the menu may say something different. For instance, the marinated chicken grill comes with rice and broccoli, but the server was willing to substitute other dishes for those.

The corn on the cob comes to the kitchen frozen and is thawed, then boiled and served with butter. It was amazingly good for having been frozen, but the other sides were much better, including:

Toasted garlic seared green beans. Fresh beans are washed, and the ends are cut off. When ordered, they are put into the deep fryer for 10 seconds, then tossed with garlic, pepper and salt.

Cole slaw. This blend of cabbage, carrots and a nice dressing comes from the company commissary.

Corn fritter casserole. "We had it a long time ago, and they took it away," said Magadan. It came back three years ago, and arrives already prepared from the company in aluminum pans. Then it's baked in the kitchen. It's sweet and a nice contrast to the meats and vegetables on the plate.

Tomato pesto. This mix of fresh cut tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, salt, black pepper and fresh parsley shows up in several dishes, but it's also good by itself.


Soups, salads and more

Other dishes were just as good as the meats and sides, including:

Baked potato soup. Onions are sauteed in butter and then flour and half and half are added, plus cut potatoes, salt, dry chicken base, Tabasco sauce, black pepper, basil and water. It's cooked for 20 minutes, then put on ice to cool for a while before going into the steamers. When served, it's topped with shredded cheddar cheese, bacon bits and green onions, and it does remind you of a baked potato in soup form.

Bleu Cheese Wedge Chop. A quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce is topped with red wine vinaigrette from the company commissary, crumbled bleu cheese, tomato pesto, bacon bits and sliced red onions.

Sonoma salad. Marinated chicken is cooked on the grill and added to a mix of cranberries, iceberg and romaine lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, plain pecans, green apple slices, bleu cheese crumbles and red wine vinaigrette.

Desserts. When I was there, only two were available, Chocolate Brownie Sundae and Apple Crisp a La Mode. Both arrive at the restaurant cooked and frozen and are quite good when finished. But meanwhile, general manager Melissa Harold is bringing back the cheesecake and the signature Chocolate Avalanche, a chocolate cake with a hot fudge center, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, Hershey syrup and Heath bar crumbles.

Service was excellent, even though on one visit it was a bit slow because one server had to cover a lot of territory. Prices are reasonable, $11 to $22 for an a la carte entree. That includes a large portion plus two sides, but you can have a cup of soup for $3 or a small salad for $2.50 more.

Hungry military personnel are welcomed in uniform or with ID and given a 10 percent discount on the total bill, and seniors 60 and over get the same deal.

There's also a bargain price for people who like to eat lots of ribs. That happens every Thursday all day. For an extra $2, your rib dinner turns into all you can eat. The portions are so big that this bargain is wasted on me, but if you're a professional football player, this is the place to be on Thursday.


From chicken to ribs

Hanani is originally from Iran. He graduated with a business administration degree from Baker University in Kansas but didn't get into the restaurant business until he was hired by El Pollo Loco as a restaurant manager in 1989. He was with the company for 10 years as district manager, franchise consultant and food safety inspector and says his career there "was the backbone of his restaurant experience."

In 1999, he had the opportunity to purchase two Tony Roma's restaurants in San Diego County and decided to become a franchisee, because "I always believed in chains." In 2003, he bought three Tony Roma's restaurants in Orange County and sold the two in San Diego because he wanted to be closer to where he lives in Irvine.

In Los Alamitos, he upgraded the kitchen equipment and remodeled the dining room. Part of his approach is to be involved in the community, so he gives food to help local churches feed the homeless, and last year he supplied the Los Alamitos High School softball team with gift certificates "to distribute to people who support the team."

Magadan, originally from Mexico City, started washing dishes in San Diego and that's what he did when first hired in Los Alamitos. But he moved up to prep and then cook and now kitchen manager.

With a strong team that includes general manager Harold and manager Heather Booth, the Tony Roma's in Los Alamitos still has people waiting for tables, just like in its heyday.

Of course, those who have just started going to Tony Roma's think that right now is its heyday. And they probably don't believe us old-timers who tell them that back in the day, why, by cracky, those onions were square.

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