Break of Dawn - Laguna Hills

Have you guys been here?! I’m not very hip on OC myself but someone with a smart palate took us here for brunch yesterday and what a most interesting spot!

The Vietnamese chef/owner apparently worked at Ritz and decided he needed to be closer to family and opened up a breakfast brunch only place where his family helps. Right next to a Marshall’s but looks slick with all contemporary wood.

A most interesting menu crafted with focus on finding interesting ways to present oozy eggs. http://breakofdawnrestaurant.com/menu/

I had the shrimp and super cheesy grits with a layer of runny eggs in between. An almost perfect dish when paired with their homemade chili sauce.

Borrowed pic

Pork belly is very popular here, two people ordered it… eggs are tempura fried yet runny. great technique… pork belly is super delicious but crisp fried and drier than what most are used to.

Girl went with the Beef tongue presented with a zinfandel poached egg. a very meaty dish served with toast… (this one needs to be shared)

kid had some of the best pancakes i’ve ever tried… dense yet fluffy with fantastic texture and taste, great griddle browning,

Vietnamese coffee is served cold for some reason, so know that. It’s fantastic but menu doesn’t specify that it’s iced coffee.

There’s two types of Vietnamese coffee, cold and hot, or Cafe Sua Da Cafe Sua Nong, respectively. Both good, but I get the feeling that Cafe Sua Da is more prevalent and popular.

it tasted great. the hot dripping coffee is what i was expecting but got iced… though right after ordering i thought I should have ordered iced coffee since it was hot so it worked out

Went there once (upon the rec of someone from CH, actually) and thought it was very good. Didn’t have the egg tempura, which looked great! If I lived anywhere near the area and didn’t mind the huge wait, I’d prob be a regular…

There were only 4 tables with people in this large place at 12:30 on Sunday

Really??? When I went (admittedly several yrs ago), there was like a 30 min wait and a huge crowd outside. My impression (maybe confirmed by someone on CH) was that the place was usually mobbed b/c there wasn’t much else in the area.

Yep. My friend who lives there said it’s usually busier but they don’t wait