SoCal Food and Lifestyle Podcast, ‘Walk-Ins Welcome,’ Launches Today
- Ivy Dai
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Culture OC contributing writer, Ivy Dai, will talk with chefs, founders and personalities shaping Southern California’s food and hospitality scene.
I am a chef and food writer by trade. I grew up in Arcadia and am based in Orange County. I am a graduate of UCLA and the Cordon Bleu Culinary Academy, and worked as a pastry chef for the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton hotels in California.
After refining my pastry skills at Lenôtre and Hédiard in Paris, I worked as a private chef aboard luxury yachts in the south of France. In 2017 I opened my restaurant Graze California Cuisine in the south of France.
Several people have approached me about doing a podcast because they wanted to hear stories about my travels and different experiences in food. Listening to an unfiltered conversation for half an hour or so per week lets you look at the whole story, whereas a short video or polished article is more like the highlight reel.
I’ve created that podcast where those deeper conversations can happen, and it’s called “Walk-Ins Welcome.” Every Wednesday will be a new conversation with the chefs, founders and personalities shaping Southern California’s food and hospitality scene.
This month, I spoke to several Orange County food founders. The inaugural lineup includes founders who have new locations this year – Wing Lam, co-founder of Wahoo’s Fish Tacos and Sumter Pendergrast, founder & CEO of Sidecar Doughnuts & Coffee. Wahoo’s will open a second location in Austin, Texas, and John Wayne Airport this year, and Sidecar has expanded into Utah.
Lam is an Orange County icon who opened the first Wahoo’s location in 1988 in Costa Mesa. Almost 40 years later, there are nearly 50 locations worldwide, including Texas, Hawaii and Japan. He talks about his interesting choice of footwear (watch for a Wahoo’s x Birkenstock collab soon), his early days trading tacos for merch, and his philosophy of working with people. His laid-back collaborative approach has garnered him countless loyal employees and customers over the years.
Pendergrast used to work in fashion and decided to make the transition into coffee and hand-crafted doughnuts. He and his wife Chi-Lin started in Costa Mesa in 2012, Today, they have nine locations in Southern California and a new location in Utah. He talks about how iconic imagery and partnering with Instagram was a key component of Sidecar’s early success.
Next Wednesday we will have a conversation with Viet Nguyen, chef-founder and co-CEO of the restaurant group Kei Concepts. Nguyen, who was a James Beard semifinalist for best chef in California, talks about his origin story in coming to the United States, going national and plans to expand Kei Concepts into consumer packaged goods and media.
Kei Concepts started in 2014 with eight fusion dining concepts and 10 locations in Orange County – Sup Noodle Bar, Vox Kitchen, Nep Cafe, Kin Craft Ramen & Izakaya, Rol Hand Bar, Ini Ristorante, Kei Coffeehouse and Qua Contemporary Chinese Cuisine.
I hope the stories and voices of each guest on the podcast enrich your culinary landscape and inspire you to try a new restaurant in the area.
If you would like to be a guest on the podcast or be one of our featured sponsors, please e-mail podcastwalkinswelcome@gmail.com for more information.
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