Greer’s OC: Drink up for breast cancer awareness

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Kabuki Japanese Restaurant in Huntington Beach is offering guests the opportunity to join the fight against breast cancer while enjoying a special rose-hued Pink Ribbon Saketini ($7.95). Kabuki will donate 50% of the proceeds from this specialty cocktail — made with fresh strawberry juice and Nigori sake with a hint of cranberry — to Susan G. Komen for the Cure through the month of October. With more than 150 menu items offered every day, this affordable eatery should appeal to those seeking classic and innovative Japanese cuisine.

Kabuki’s menu features signature sushi and sashimi selections such as the pyramid roll with tuna, avocado, krab and arare, with yuzu tartare ($9.95) and Kabuki’s most popular premium roll, the lotus on fire roll with spicy tuna, lotus root and fresh sliced jalapeño on top of a California roll ($9.95). Signature dishes from the updated menu include grilled calamari marinated in fresh lemon juice and served with ginger garlic sauce ($7.95); a spicy tuna trio with spicy albacore, poké tuna and spicy tuna ($10.95); and the Mediterranean sea bass with tomato salsa, corn, asparagus and Japanese mint ($14.95). The happy hour is a bargain from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Premium sushi starts at $2.95 per roll and appetizers start at $3.95. Sake and Kirin Ichiban draft beer costs just $1.95. Huntington Beach at 7801 Edinger Ave. For more information, call (714) 898-9239 or visit https://www.kabukirestaurants.com.

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Find your inner artist

Discover the inner artist in you at the Sawdust Art Festival’s Studio Art Classes, a new year-round program of hands-on art workshops every Friday and Saturday starting Oct. 15. You will be surprised by the art that you can create with the guidance of the Sawdust Art Festival’s professional art instructors. You can learn how to make jewelry, ceramics, tiles, wind chimes and more. The two-hour classes will be offered every Friday and Saturday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Cost is $95 per class (includes materials). For a complete list of classes, visit https://www.sawdustartfestival.org/studio-classes. The festival is at 935 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach. For more information, call (949) 494-3030 or visit https://www.sawdustartfestival.org

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Get vintage classics, collectors’ items

Assouline, a name synonymous with beautifully illustrated books on fashion and travel, art and architecture, epicurean arts and viticulture, has just opened a new concept boutique at South Coast Plaza. Unlike any other store in Orange County, you can find an elaborate array of Assouline titles and rare volumes, carefully chosen vintage classics and collectors’ items. It also carries Assouline’s personally curated vintages tomes and the brand’s extensive luxury gift line of leather bags, vintage bookends, limited-edition luxury libraries, museum-quality art, stationery and candles. Toward the back of the store, you’ll be awed by framed limited-edition prints: large-scale iconic Slim Aarons photographs, images of Baccarat-clad vintage cocktails, as well as heirloom-inspired crests and animal prints personally selected by founder Prosper Assouline.

If you’re on the hunt for a gift for the person who has everything, choose from museum-quality art including rare sculptures, one-of-a-kind bookends, vintage globes, telescopes and the full line of Assouline luxury gifts and collectibles. The store is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday on Level 1, Nordstrom Wing at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. For more information, call (714) 557-1882 or visit https://www.assouline.com

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Eat well at Oktoberfest

Celebrate Oktoberfest at Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach with a special three-course, prix-fixe dinner menu at $32.75 per person offered just three nights: Thursday through Saturday. Bayside, known for its stunning bay views and delectable dishes, is cooking up German favorites with modern twists to the classic Oktoberfest fare. Start with a compressed smoked trout salad with horseradish crème fraiche, petit greens and crisp flatbread or a barley soup with Bavarian sausage, forest mushrooms and aromatic vegetables. For the main course, choose from spinach spaetzle (German pasta dumplings) with black forest ham, appenzeller cheese and crispy shallots or the tenderloin of veal “wiener schnitzel” with warm potato and mache salad. Finally, for dessert, choose from an apple almond tart with vanilla ice cream or any of Bayside’s scrumptious dessert menus. The restaurant is at 900 Bayside Drive in Newport Beach. For more information, call (949) 721-1222 or visit https://www.baysiderestaurant.com.

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See a sustainable home

You can tour the newest LivingHome (https://www.livinghomes.net — the first home ever to be certified LEED Platinum in Newport Beach from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It’s not for sale, but you can see firsthand what a world-class modern, sustainable home looks and feels like. The home is designed by KieranTimberlake, the 2008 AIA Firm of the Year, and meets the “Z6” environmental goals of all LivingHomes: zero energy, zero water, zero indoor emissions, zero waste, zero carbon and zero ignorance. Some of the sustainable features that it incorporates are recycled steel and timber-efficient engineered lumber; a central vacuum system; bio-composite wood siding, recycled glass tiles, blown-in insulation and high performance windows with recycled frames; photovoltaics to create power; and water-saving features, such as low-flow water fixtures, dual flush toilets and an integrated grey-water system. Light bites will be provided by True Food Kitchen. You must RSVP at livinghomes100910.eventbrite.com/ to tour the open house; the location will be sent once registration is confirmed.

GREER WYLDER writes Greer’s OC for the Huntington Beach Independent each Thursday and the Daily Pilot and Coastline Pilot each Friday. She’s the founder and president of greersoc.com, a free daily e-mail service that provides the latest in Orange County fashion, dining, music, events and trends. Her blog can be viewed https://www.greersoc.com and she can be contacted at [email protected].