Cultural Food Abounds in South County

By C. Jayden Smith

to visit more “homely” restaurants rather than the chains.

Trung, a native of Hawaii, handles the food side of the business and spent the company’s early years developing the menu. He traveled back to Hawaii on his own, according to Garrett, to eat at numerous plate lunch restaurants and learn what the best practices would be for Nalu’s to follow.

Those principles include making each item fresh every day and using free-range chicken, grass-fed beef and fresh fish for their food.

Having been involved in the surfing world for more than 40 years, Garrett says he was present in Southern California when surfing manufacturers and magazines were first started as a part of surfing’s introduction to the mainland United States and the rest of the world.

“Being in the surf industry, it’s a small group of people, and I’ve known them all my life,” he says. “Your soul is into it. We want to share that culture with the world, properly, and you want to be authentic.”

Nalu’s found its way to San Clemente roughly five years ago, says Garrett, as the company was looking to set up shop in a place near the ocean.

Since then, they’ve received significant support from people in town.

“It’s almost like a ministry,” Garrett says. “You get the community involved, and people come in and make it like a family restaurant, basically.”

Their location near the Camino de Estrella exit off Interstate 5 is conducive to receiving visits from travelers heading both north and south along the freeway. Many of them have seen Hawaiian food, Garrett says.

“We’re fast at making the food, and they get it within six minutes,” he says, adding: “I’m in there about three or four days a week, and I’ve never seen someone not like their food.”

From then on, it’s a test of trying to encourage people to try other menu items, as most people find what they like the first time inside and keep ordering the same dish.

“We get a lot of regular customers, and sometimes they get the opposite mahi than (what) they had before,” Garrett says.

“They go, ‘Wow, that was just as good as (the other one), so it’s hard for me to decide.’ That’s one of the things we did with the menu, to make it so that people could come in and get different things.”

Over in San Juan Capistrano, Breezy provides a wide range of breakfast- and brunch-themed foods that remind one of its owners, Jasmin Gonzalez, of spending time on a tropical island.

With Filipino culture carrying the banner, accompanied by Hawaiian and other Polynesian dishes, Gonzalez and her colleagues combined to construct a menu that boasts vibrant and flavorful dishes.

The storefront offers coffee beverages and acai bowls in addition to ube French toast and pancakes, longanisa breakfast bowls and pork adobo breakfast burritos.

“What this really is, is the island foods we grew up on,” Gonzalez previously told The Capistrano Dispatch in October 2022, adding: “We’re not trying to win awards, but mainly trying to introduce our culture and what we grew up with to San Juan Capistrano.”

Over in Dana Point, Lupe’s Mexican Eatery took home the People’s Choice Golden Lantern in the Dana Point Times’ Best of Dana Point edition for 2022.

One of five locations in Southern California, Lupe’s offers a vast and creative menu, including a special birria menu, locally themed and jam-packed burritos, and cocktails.

Take a good look around the South Orange County landscape, and you’ll find plenty of exciting and unique restaurants that will whet your appetite.

ESPRESSO BAR & SCOOP DECK

ESPRESSO BAR & SCOOP DECK

DELI & JUICE BAR

DELI & JUICE BAR