Orange County Restaurants

Open for dinner daily, The District's approachable menu showcases traditional cuisine discovered during An's travels throughout Vietnam-whether in districts filled with street vendors or those laden with French-trained chefs. Every dish balances the five fundamental elements of Vietnamese cuisine-spicy, sour, bitter, salty, and sweet-and incorporates plenty of Southern California's finest seasonal seafood, produce, and garden-fresh herbs, along with Asian spices to create a harmonious and healthful dining experience. Menu highlights include Turmeric-Crusted Chilean Sea Bass with dill and served over handmade rice vermicelli noodles (Cha Ca); District Spice Lobster with half of a wok-roasted lobster and Hannah's homemade noodles; Grilled Sirloin Beef with lemongrass and wrapped in betel leaf (Bo La Lat); and more familiar dishes such as elevated takes on the traditional pho featuring Northern, Central, and Southern regional variations with handmade noodles and chicken, beef, or crab meat; and a Crab & Pomelo Quinoa Salad with baby kale, mixed greens, mint, garlic, and lime.
In developing the menu, An explains that "with all the global influences found in Vietnamese cuisine, there's a lot of room for creativity and it allows for many familiar points of reference. It's comfort food in the context of culture."