Farmhouse at Roger's Gardens

"Chef Richard Mead is a long-standing figure in the Orange County dining scene. At the Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens, the chef showcases the best that the season has to offer from the region’s many producers, which means ever-changing takes on dishes like sea scallops, as well as shrimp and mussels served in a tomato-Pernod broth with a polenta cake made from blue corn sourced from the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project." - Jenn Tanaka

"Chef Richard Mead’s cooking style at Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens centers on farm fresh produce. Pastry chef Mark Stovall adheres to the mantra by celebrating fruit from Murray Farms. The cherry tart hits all the right comfort food notes and is served atop chocolate sauce with a generous dollop of sweet cream and toasted almonds." - Jenn Tanaka

"Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens serves locally sourced breakfast favorites created by executive chef Rich Mead. The seasonal frittata and French toast pair well with Farmhouse signature cocktails, while other dishes like the chicken liver pate (from Autonomy Farms) with grilled Rye Goods bread confirm Mead’s affinity for local producers." - Jenn Tanaka

"Co-critic Patricia Escárcega found a lot to dislike at the spendy Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens in Corona Del Mar, the tony coastal neighborhood along the Newport Beach coast. The restaurant offers loads of al fresco seating and is situated inside a “seven-acre luxury nursery,” but even the closeness to nature can’t help to elevate chef Rich Mead’s takes on “field-to-fork” cooking. Escárcega can’t get past a “convoluted” bowl of rye berries with Chinese sausage, shrimp, kimchi, and caramelized onions, noting unhappily that it has been “crowned with a rubbery fried egg,” and that it all just “quickly slips into a brown, salty torpor.” Another signature vegetable bowl doesn’t fare much better: “The bowl⁠ — a dense, sluggish welter of fibrous things⁠ — is a slog.” Other dishes like a pork tenderloin come off as “unappealingly tangy” thanks to a port-dried cherry sauce, and the Icelandic cod is “conspicuously underseasoned.” In all, there’s not much to recommend beyond the helpful service and gorgeous setting." - Farley Elliott