Now that “The Bear” has fired its last ticket, it leaves behind a much wider audience familiar with the language and rituals of tasting menus. Featuring chef’s counters, Michelin twinklers and precise plating, the prix-fixe experience has become easier to recognize, if not always easier to love.
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A tasting menu is essentially dinner with the bulk of the decisions made for you. A set progression of smaller courses chosen by the chef. At an omakase restaurant — roughly, “I leave it up to you” — the chef similarly decides what to serve based on the day’s best ingredients.
While the setup has its vocal, neo-Bourdainian detractors, fans relish the chance to see a chef’s full range and eat things they might never order on their own. Said critics also have a point. Tasting menus can be pricey, lengthy and overly precious. But, for some, that’s part of the vibe.
Orange County doesn’t have the Michelin firepower of Los Angeles, home to three-star Providence and Sonmi, or San Diego, where Addison holds three stars, but a tire guide’s celestial orbit isn’t required for a fantastic tasting-menu experience. These five restaurants prove it.
Chrysalis
Chefs Zach Scherer and Drew Adams opened Darkroom in Santa Ana in 2024, but Chrysalis, the tasting room tucked inside the restaurant, give the pair room to grow even deeper.
Beginning Sept. 11, Chrysalis will serve what the chef-owners call a “California Modern” menu, a five-course, $88 affair ($113.74 with tax, tip and fees included) offered Thursday through Saturday at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. The new menu includes kanpachi, squash cappellacci, local black cod, koji-rubbed short ribs and salted-corn semifreddo, with dishes shifting as summer gives way to fall.
Find it: 3751 S Harbor Blvd., ste C, Santa Ana, instagram.com/enter.chrysalis, 657-777-3275
iL Girasole
Chef Antonio Bevacqua’s summer “Best of Italy” menu at this Costa Mesa spot is one of the restaurant’s more ambitious efforts.
The $225 experience pays tribute to Italian chefs, including Massimo Bottura, Heinz Beck, Enrico Crippa and Norbert Niederkofler; they are among Italy’s most influential chefs, each earning three Michelin stars apiece for their respective flagship restaurants. Dishes include amberjack with green strawberry and fennel; black cod with black truffle and citrus; bottoni with octopus and smoked tomato; risotto with veal shank and apricot mostarda; and squab with cherry mostarda, bitter greens and cacao.
Dessert includes a riff on Osteria Francescana’s famous “Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart” (a dessert made famous by butter-fingered pastry chef Takahiko Kondo), here made with rhubarb compote, lemon-thyme sorbet and vanilla sable. The menu runs through the end of September with a new fall tasting menu expected in October.
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Find it: 3321 Hyland Ave., Costa Mesa, il-girasole.com, 657-218-9439
Knife Pleat
Chef Tony Esnault’s South Coast Plaza restaurant features one of Orange County’s most polished tasting menus and interiors. Esnault and restaurateur Yassmin Sarmadi currently offer two tasting-menu options: the $195 Preview and the more expansive $295 Collection.
The Preview includes Brentwood corn “pate farcie” with chanterelles and saffron; local wild-caught fish with bouillabaisse, fingerling potatoes, fennel and rouille; and chocolate with coriander semifreddo, caramel and gavotte. The Collection adds courses including Osetra caviar, black truffle and California squab. Afternoon tea also available.
Find it: South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St.,knifepleat.com, 714-266-3388
Omakase by Gino
Chef Gino Choi presides over a tiny 10-seat counter in Santa Ana, where the only option is his seamless $275 omakase, served Wednesday through Saturday with two seatings per night.
Born in Seoul, Choi began cooking as a teenager before immigrating to the United States. After operating restaurants in Fullerton and Tustin, he studied traditional Japanese technique under sushi chef Hideaki Kikuchi of Kikusui in Torrance before opening Omakase by Gino to raves.
The menu here changes according to availability. Past dishes have included Asian pear with yuzu cream and house-cured ikura; torched tuna with garlic and shishito-pepper miso; and udon with uni and black truffles. You sit down, hand the decisions to Choi and eat what he thinks is best that night — and he’s always right.
Find it: 304 N Main St, Santa Ana, instagram.com/omakasebygino, 657-231-6008
VIII by Selanne
What began as a limited summer concept next door to Selanne Steak Tavern is now a permanent part of the Laguna Beach restaurant.
VIII by Selanne has only 20 seats and one seating on Fridays and Saturdays. Executive chef Vince Terusa oversees the eight-course menu, while advanced sommelier and wine director Vito Pasquale handles the pairings.
The current summer menu has featured king crab tartlet, beef tartlet and pomme dauphine; a seafood course with bay scallops, bluefin tuna toro and oyster; and preparations built around peak-season produce.
Terusa plans to change the menu in mid-September. The fall lineup isn’t yet finalized, but he’s considering quail, chanterelles, kabocha or acorn squash, California halibut and, fittingly, an apple-based dessert.
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Find it: 1458 S Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, selannesteaktavern.com, 949-715-9881