Savor & Style

Renowned as a leading international shopping destination, South Coast Plaza is home to more than 250 prominent boutiques: Gucci, Hermès, Cartier, Dior, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, and the list goes on. Its unparalleled collection of diverse retailers is complemented
by the adjacent Segerstrom Center for the Arts and the Orange County Museum of Art as well as an impressive array of critically acclaimed restaurants helmed by award-winning chefs, drawing epicures from near and far.

Tony Nguyen says the cuisine of his Vietnamese-born mother is the best he has ever tasted. Encouraged to pursue gastronomy, Nguyen aced the entrance exam for the Culinary Institute of America. During his school years, he interned in renowned restaurants including Guy Savoy and the James Beard House in New York City. Post-college, he headed to Las Vegas, where he cooked alongside Gerald Chin of Joël Robuchon’s L’Atelier and Rick Moonen, whose sustainable practices found acclaim at RM Seafood inside Mandalay Bay. The St. Louis-raised Nguyen then returned to the Midwest, where he created his own casual concept, Noodle Bar, in Kansas City, Missouri. Looking for a new adventure in the fine dining realm, Nguyen joined the House of An in Southern California. “I cooked a 15-course feast for the executive staff,” he recalls, “and thank God they liked it!” Nguyen is a veteran of food TV, having successfully competed on Guy’s Grocery Games, Beat Bobby Flay, Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown, and Recipe for Deception. To sum up his culinary approach, he says, “I am inspired by traveling, music, and what I see during the day and by all the chefs I work with, but the one constant is that there is always a Vietnamese influence.”

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