Laguna Hills restaurant Break of Daybreak will shut this month earlier than shifting to Orange – Orange County Register
Years ago, Dee Nguyen realized that the sun might set on his foodie career because he had to focus on caring for his son. So he had a brilliant idea: Break of Dawn.
The restaurant concept would only be breakfast-brunch. This way he would not work late at night as a top chef at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, as he used to do before. He announced and accepted his new concept. After a year, it became a critic’s darling.
It’s bittersweet that he’s closing his restaurant in Laguna Hills at the end of August, but he’s embraced a second brilliant idea: moving operations to Old Towne Orange and starting a new concept: BoD. He will live on site, include dinner and still be able to properly take care of his son Berlin.
That is Nguyen’s top priority, because Berlin was born with kidney damage and complications arose. In April 2003, he was operated on at the age of 16 months. During the operation, his breathing tube became blocked and he was left without oxygen for at least 10 minutes. He was in a coma for a month, suffered brain damage, and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Even now, Berlin still needs a lot of care and attention. Moving to Orange guarantees that his father will continue to be there for him.
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The new location will consist of two parts, an approximately 2,000 square meter area at 171 N. Cypress St., which is intended for the restaurant, and an adjacent 950 square meter house for Nguyen’s residence. The property is located in Old Towne, very close to the Hilbert Museum of California Art.
Nguyen is doing well in South County but is looking forward to the move.
“The reason we’ve been successful here for 14 years is because of loyalty because this is not a walk-up restaurant,” he said. “You have to know that we exist in order to come back here. Orange is right in the middle of Chapman University and tourism is constantly flowing through it. So you will always have customers. “
Po-Sun Chen and Mark Carlos of the BrightView Design Group have designed plans that include an owner’s room, culinary garden, fruit grove with communal table, shade structure with vines and a “promenade” garden with raised planters.
Nguyen will work with the city commissioned by architect Susan Secoy, owner of Orange’s historic Ice House, to design the restaurant. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2022. Nguyen calls his style a “modern farmhouse with Eichler influences”.
“I told her, Susan, my house is a hipped roof house from 1905, but I love Eichler houses. Can you integrate and manufacture this modern Eichler farmhouse for me? So she’s building a courtyard with a tree. ”This room, which is located in the driveway between the two houses, will be the entrance to the restaurant with 50 seats.
She will add an orange steel wall. “A blank space with the BoD logo on it,” said Ngyuen. “Perfect for Instagram. Children love this stuff. “
Nguyen has already started testing the steak portion of his fresh concept at pop-ups on Saturday night. “It’s a fixed point, the same setup,” he said. When it opens in orange, it goes one step further. “You get a four-course meal, but you have four or five options for the steak itself. You can choose different types of cuts at different prices. ”Along with the beef, he serves a 70 percent plant-based menu with seafood.
Nguyen’s menus have always been creative. Born in Vietnam and classically trained at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, he layers Asian flavors and preparations on many classics of fine cuisine. Parker House rolls are glossy glazed with a little sweetened condensed milk to give the tips the texture of a dim sum bun. Smoked salmon, served on hearty oat pancakes, contains pickled onions that are deliciously tucked away in a banh mi.
But this chef also knows how to keep prices reasonable and serve home-style cooking like a hearty pan of potatoes or wild desserts like white chocolate and Basque-style parmesan cheesecake. Some of the breakfast items will be temporarily available at the old location, which is becoming a Mexican restaurant operated by Break of Dawn employee Alejandro Cuellar.
In the new BoD, the fixed-price steak menu starts at $ 40, then prices vary depending on whether you choose a more unusual cut such as rib-eye or New York steak. The meal includes soup, salad, and a side dish like french fries. Starters and desserts are available at an additional cost.
The restaurant will only have about 50 seats, but Nguyen is completely satisfied with it. “If I pay my rent and at the end of the night have my $ 10 and eat my in-n-out hamburger, I’ll be fine,” said Nguyen. “I’m not here to make money. I am not here to get rich. I have never been. Since the accident in Berlin I’ve seen life differently. “
breaking Dawn
Find it: 24291 Avenida De La Carlota, Laguna Hills, 949-587-9418.
Open: Until August 29th with breakfast and brunch 8 am-1pm Wednesday-Sunday and Steak-Prix-Fix-Dinner Saturday, August 7th, 14th and 21st, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm takes place on August 28th for 100 USD per person instead, cash only. For more information, visit facebook.com/breakofdawnrestaurant.
What’s next: BoD comes to 171 N. Cypress St., Orange in 2022.
