Twenty-five years ago the consistent restaurant winners in the Best of Orange County always seemed to be Claim Jumper, Denny’s and El Torito. Not that there’s anything wrong with baked potatoes the size of footballs, tummy busting Grand Slam breakfasts or enchilada combo plates smothered in cheese.
There were of course local advocates of the slow food movement even then; creative restaurateurs paving the way for future entrepreneurs.
Zov Karamardian had begun dishing up fresh contemporary dishes with a Middle Eastern flair at her self-named restaurant in Tustin. Antonio Cagnolo was catering to an upscale theater-going crowd at Antonello Ristorante near South Coast Plaza. John Ghoukassian assembled a wine list with Napa and Central Coast bottles to pair with contemporary California cuisine.
In Costa Mesa, Alan Greeley was dazzling diners with his chef-driven The Golden Truffle restaurant and Bruno Serato had opened the Anaheim White House, bringing with him the outstanding hospitality he had established at La Vie en Rose years before. Back then Pascal Olhats set the standard for French cuisine at his eponymous fine dining room in Newport Beach.
Thanks to these pioneers, all of whom are still in business (with the exception of Greeley who retired in 2017), the O.C. dining scene began to come of age.
The next wave of industry leaders were restaurant groups. David Wilhelm launched Kachina, Sorrento Grill, French 75, Savannah Chophouse, Chat Noir and other fresh concepts in the 1980s and ’90s; he founded Culinary Adventures in 1997. Tim and Liza Goodell’s Domaine Restaurants, established in 1994, rolled out Aubergine, Troquet, Red Pearl Kitchen, 25 Degrees and more. Domaine’s dining rooms were game changers, running the gamut from nouvelle cuisine to burgers and nurturing talent such as Chef Florent Marneau, who started at Pascal and came into his own at Aubergine and while helming Pinot Provence in Costa Mesa for L.A. super chef Joachim Splichal’s Patina Restaurant Group.
The tipping point seemed to come in 2007, when Marneau and his wife, Amelia, founded Marche Moderne in South Coast Plaza, a dining room that went way beyond bistro, attracting critical acclaim as arguably the best French restaurant in Southern California. By the time Chef Amar Santana hit the scene in 2008 at Charlie Palmer in South Coast Plaza, he made it impossible to decide where to go between the two.
To see Santana leave to open two stellar dining rooms, Broadway by Amar Santana (2012) in Laguna Beach and Vaca Restaurant (2015) in Costa Mesa was stunning: top-flight young talent was seeking out Orange County as a destination. His near-win on “Top Chef” in 2016 showed just how far our local dining scene had come.
He wasn’t alone. Past “Top Chef” contestants included Brian Huskey of Tackle Box in Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa and Shirley Chung, founder of Twenty Eight in Irvine. Local chef and TV/radio personality Jamie Gwen emerged victorious in 2013 on “Cutthroat Kitchen.” Jason Quinn won “The Great Food Truck Race” in 2011 before opening his brick-and-mortar Playground in Santa Ana.
Meanwhile Chef Carlos Salgado of Taco Maria in Costa Mesa enjoyed a meteoric rise as a critics’ darling, named Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in 2015 and a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: West in 2016 and 2017.
It was the age of quality all around.
“Hotel dining” meant Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak and Craig Strong at Studio at Montage, who left to start his own restaurant, Ocean at Main, in Laguna Beach.
Grass-roots fast-casual restaurants made great strides: Wahoo’s Fish Taco, Chronic Tacos and Bruxie expanded nationally at lightning speed.
Food halls have popped up everywhere: 4th Street Market in Santa Ana, the Anaheim Packing House, SoCo in Costa Mesa and Lot 579 at Pacific City — the fancy one with the ocean view in Huntington Beach.
No wonder Best of Orange County voters are more engaged than ever. They’ve become stalwart advocates for their favorite indie restaurants through strong social media networks.
It’s been a delicious 25 years, so voters rejoice. Don’t stop telling Best of Orange County exactly what you think. Thanks for your past participation and as for the next 25? May the forks be with you.
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