CCQ

Rest stop after shopping :)
Food was eh… asked for hamburger to be well done but it was medium. too pink for my brother to eat, he’s 8: T

We were feeling a bit peckish during wedding related activities at Macy’s Home (i.e., she scanned everything in sight and I held the clipboard). I had the veggie soup with burnt ends. It’s one of three «restaurants» in one. The second has burgers that looked really good, and fries that smelled really good, and the third place was a something or other.
My soup was great. Light broth but loaded with veggies and also some croutons. More of a stew, really. It also came out piping hot. And from me, that’s saying a lot. Skip the burnt ends. Most were primarily fat.
There are 5 or 6 sauces in squirt bottles. I liked the fruity bbq sauce in particular. Not sure that was the name, but you’ll know it. Beware though. It’s chunky. In a successful attempt to clear the nozzle of the squirt bottle, I sauced the ceiling. This seemed both to the bewilderment and chagrin of the staff. I wouldn’t recommend a repeat performance.
The also had beer and wine, though I didn’t see anything that particularly caught my eye.

3 ½. Went here on the recommendation of the OC Register. I was happy to try something new. I had the beef brisket platter. More than enough food with tasty beef, beans, slaw, madeleine. And all tasted fresh & healthy. I will most likely go back.

Located on the first floor of of the Macy’s Home Store in the newly dubbed «South Coast Plaza West» (aka Crystal Court), my friend AT had been bugging me to try Cat Cora’s interpretation of Global BBQ. So I dragged my brother, my friend WT and AT + his girlfriend and we had lunch here. It’s located on the first floor near the cookware and part of the «Signature Kitchen.»
It’s not an extensive menu. There are only three options to choose from in terms of how you’d like your BBQ served:
1.) A platter (with a side of beans, slaw and a madeleine)
2.) A wrap (with slaw and beans),
3.) A chopped salad served with a BBQ Ranch dressing.
After you make that decision, you choose your BBQ meat, and there are nine different sauces that you can sample to go along with your BBQ to complete the «global bbq experience»
I went with the Chopped Salad topped with Pulled Pork. I grabbed the Mediterranean sauce because it said it had roasted garlic in it and I can never pass up a garlic sauce. It came with a madeleine and I had a choice of Blue Corn Jalapeño or Cheddar Scallion — I went with the latter. My meal came out and it was a lot of chopped salad and what looked like some dry pulled pork on top. My friend WT got the beef brisket platter, which was also a bit underwhelming even though he said the meat was seasoned well.
The shining spot of my meal was the $ 2.50 Frosty Draft Root Beer, which came out thick and delicious — quite possibly could have been a meal on its own and it was refreshing on a hot summer day.
For its hefty price tag, I don’t think I’ll find myself venturing out to experience Global BBQ ever again — but at least I can say I came, I saw, I conquered, I left underwhelmed — and then let others know that it’s only a novelty item to say «I went to Cat Cora’s CCQ.»

I love me some Cat Cora, but you know…
After reading some of these harsh reviews, I didn’t expect much, but still had to give it the old college try.
It’s located inside the Macy’s Home store in the Crystal Court. It shares real estate with a burger joint and a Brea Bakery. Kinda reminiscent of the Ikea cafeteria. Whatever. We order up two wraps. The beef brisket and pulled pork. I go to get my drink… and AAAAH SH! T they got Sprite Zero! The dude working the counter was a friendly plump fellow, eager to explain the options. Before we grab our seats, we snag a myriad of their dipping sauces, BTW, the ancho chile one is the best.
This friendly crackhead looking dude brings out our food. And to our surprise, the portions were bigger than expected. Always a plus. Both meats weren’t the best, but also not the worst. Not really tender but had good flavor. The slaw in the wrap was very tasty. The wrapping tool itself was like a pliable crunchy pita bread. Served with some salty good kettle chips.
After the meal, I walked two feet and bought a food processor. Talk about convenience!

We want to try Cat Cora’s BBQ. We had a little trouble finding it, we went to regular Macy’s.
Once we found it, it was like a little cafeteria in the middle of Macy’s Home.
I ordered the CCQ Platter with the brisket. The brisket was delicious, it was somewhat crispy but still melted in your mouth. I wasn’t really a fan of any of the sauces, but I would say my favorite was the Mississippi Mop. It would have been better if the mustard flavor wasn’t so strong. Now, the raves end. The portions were ridiculous. The platter only got me a decent sized mound of cole slaw (which was tasty) a small serving of baked beans (once again, the mustard was over powering) and FOUR slices of brisket. Not a lot of food for $ 12.
My girlfriend ordered the CCQ wrap with shrimp. We counted and there was a total of 4 shrimp, cut in half. Putting it bluntly, the wrap sucked.

Portions small, decent-​tasting food.
CCQ is Cat Cora’s (of Iron Chef America) portion of the new Macy’s Signature Kitchen. Three «restaurants» basically share a kitchen (and cash registers).
I paid about $ 17 for a shredded bbq pork platter, arnold palmer and bag of three cookies.
The platter came with cole slaw, a small cast-​iron dish of baked beans and one corn-​bread madaleine. They didn’t have the dressing for the cole slaw that day, so we got raw veggies. The lady offered us a regular salad dressing instead (chipotle ranch), which was heavy on the chipotle. It was so spicy I couldn’t taste anything after eating it.
The madaleine was a bit dry. Definitely not the best corn bread ever.
The pork was average. I’ve had better and much worse. It wasn’t the biggest portion either. For the price, I’d have rather gotten it with a burger bun to put it on.
But the most disappointing thing was the bbq sauce. They had about eight different sauces that you can help yourself to. I wasn’t wowed by any of them. The Green Gaucho was good, but it didn’t go with the pork at all. The Southern Red was too vinegar-​y and the sweet one was way too sweet. Eventually I mixed the two together and got an okay bbq sauce out of it.
We also tried their red velvet cupcake. It was huge and the icing was good, but the cake was a bit dry. Boo.
I didn’t get around to the cookies until that night, because I was so full, but it was a standard chocolate chip/​peanut-​butter cookie blend. I can make them better.
The best part of the place, though, was the service. There were three people working there that particular Saturday morning and all three were extremely helpful and nice. One guy even brought us some custard to sample (part of another «restaurant’s» menu).
I will probably try the other two places before I eat at CCQ again. The food is okay, but the price to portion ratio just isn’t worth it.

I stopped in here with my mom last month after shopping in Macy’s home. You get to choose your platter, salad or wrap — I was feeling veggie so strangely enough, I ordered a vegetarian meal off a bbq menu. The veggie wrap was really tasty. I got a sample of each sauce to dip my chips in and they were all pretty good.
I think this spot is still working out the kinks, they haven’t had their official opening yet — and I get the feeling that it all depends on who is at the wheel, er, um, at the grill.
The service is top notch, I hope that doesn’t fade as time passes…

Part of the Signature Kitchen, which encompasses 3 casual eateries, CCQ is Cat Cora’s first restaurant. The area seems a bit out of place considering that it is on the first floor of Macy’s Home on the Crystal Court side of South Coast Plaza, but the concept is interesting where the three restaurants share a combined counter and dining area. You order, take a number, grab a seat, and wait for the food to come to you.
There were 3 choices… a platter, salad, or wrap… and 5 choices of meats… pork, beef brisket, chicken, shrimp, and veggie/​cheese. I went for the Chicken wrap and ordered a side of 3 bluecorn/​jalapeño madeleines. As we waited for the food to come out, my friend and i tinkered at the condiments bar where there were 8 different bbq sauces you could take. My favorite was the green gaucho… not sure what it really was, but it had a nice kick to it. Took a stab at the ancho-​apple and i’m pretty sure my tastebuds have been scarred for life… i don’t know why anyone would want to eat that.
The chicken wrap tasted delicious… just the right amount of seasoning and the sauce complemented it very well. The bluecorn/​jalapeño madeleine was basically cornbread shaped like a madeleine and tasted awesome. My friend had the beef brisket and loved every bite of it… i’ll definitely be trying that next time.
Overall…a nice and cheap dining alternative at South Coast Plaza that is severely lacking in quick and cheap eats.