The Gossiping Gourmet: Kitchen Republic’s eclectic offerings include an addictive poutine

The Bella Terra shopping center in Huntington Beach has a great many restaurants, most of them part of chains.

I was interested in a new one that is not a chain called Kitchen Republic. It describes itself as a tapas bistro, and it has an eclectic lineup of dishes. The menu has four categories: earth, pasta and soup, land, and sea.

My dining companion and I were very pleased with our first dish, from the earth section: roasted Brussels sprouts with sweet sausage. The thin rounds of sausage slices were a lovely foil to the sprouts. I haven’t had sprouts with something sweet before, but this was a good marriage.

From that same category we enjoyed the assorted sautéed mushrooms slathered with garlic butter. Guest will also find truffle fries with garlic, parsley and mozzarella, and sweet potato fries topped with butter cream. Baby kale salad and grilled chicken salad complete that section.

The “pasta and soup” section offered lobster macaroni and cheese in an herb crust, a vegetarian dish of garlic noodles sautéed with garlic butter, miso soup with tofu and mushrooms, and a tomato bisque made from red tomatoes, herbs and a rich cream sauce served with grilled cheese triangles.

The last offering in that category is pho filet mignon rice noodle soup, with rare filet mignon and brisket.

Next we went on to “land,” which is the biggest category. Those knowledgeable about Canadian cooking may be familiar with poutine. If not, beware. It can be addicting.

Kitchen Republic offers a classic poutine, a long-cooked stew-like dish with the minced meat of short ribs, plus great skinny French fries, cheese curds, grilled onions and fried eggs, all smothered with a very rich, beefy and delicious gravy.

We also tried the grilled lamb chops, which we ordered medium rare. Unfortunately, the three little chops came to us overcooked and under-seasoned. However, the orzo pasta that rested beneath them made up for the chops. It was rich, smooth and creamy with a hint of sweetness.

A few other items that sounded good were the spicy chicken khao soi, crispy Thai fried noodles with chicken and spicy curry sauce, and the braised pork belly infused with soy sauce, sake and ginger and served with steamed pork buns.

Diving into the “sea” listing, we chose the jumbo tiger prawns served with garlic noodles. Again we found the lovely prawns to be over-cooked. The shells were burnt black, but the dish was saved by the excellent, thin, buttery garlic noodles.

Other items that seemed appealing included the curried mussels in spicy green coconut curry and the crispy yellowtail collar served with the house-made ponzu sauce.

Desserts are molten chocolate cake, upside down vanilla bean cheesecake, bread pudding bites with cinnamon, and vanilla ice cream. We went for the bread pudding bites, which were disappointing. The little cubes were kind of mushy, and the crust was not crispy enough.

Overall we liked the food and would visit again just for the poutine.

Note that there are also four vegetarian items on the menu.

The restaurant has a big outdoor covered patio and seating in a smaller space indoors where the bar is located. Big windows look out on the walkway, and most of the indoor area has an attractive backlit wall of wine bottles and assorted beverages.

Available is a list of Japanese sake and soju that includes Fuji apple sake, lychee sake, white peach sake, nigori, onikoroshi, kikusui, sho chiku bai and jinro.

The center has valet parking near the restaurant.

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KITCHEN REPUBLIC

Location: 7821 Edinger Ave., Suite 110, Huntington Beach

Hours: 3 to 9 p.m. Mondays; 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

Prices:

Appetizers: $5 to $14

Entrees: $8 to $18

Desserts: $5 to $8

Wine:

Bottles: $26 to $195

By the glass: $7 to $11

Corkage: $20

Information: (714) 891-8890; kitchenrepublicbistro.com