Scott’s Restaurant & Bar in Costa Mesa was a longtime fixture on the Orange County restaurant scene, and popular with the theater crowd attending Segerstrom Center for the Arts and South Coast Repertory.
It opened in 1989 as Scott’s Seafood, rebranded as Scott’s Restaurant & Bar, and had a successful 26-year run before closing in January 2016.
Water Grill opened later that year in the Scott’s spot.
Helming the kitchen at Scott’s the entire time was Chef Michael Doctulero. Born and raised in San Francisco, he worked at restaurants in Seattle and San Francisco before coming south to Costa Mesa and Scott’s.
Since Scott’s closed, Doctulero—better known as Chef Mike—spent several years as caregiver to his mother while working at culinary events and consulting with restaurants including Scarlet Kitchen.
Last summer, Doctulero realized a longtime dream by opening Mah Jong’s by Chef Mike in the new Collage collection of eateries at South Coast Plaza.
According to Doctulero, he has been creating sustainable dishes for decades, and his cooking style reflects a philosophy that is timeless and approachable, yet also inventive and progressive.
SF History
But why Mah Jong’s?
The official story: Mah Jong is a Chinese social game often accompanied by the theme of gambling. Doctulero grew up in the Cow Hollow district of San Francisco in a two-story Victorian house where he lived with his grandparents, mom, and two older sisters. To boost the family’s income, his grandmother rented the home’s extra bedrooms to merchant marines and U.S. Navy sailors that were on leave but traveled to various parts of Asia while on duty.
Doctulero’s grandmother hosted Mah Jong games in the kitchen, and his grandfather would come home after work (he was the personal chef for the Presidio Army base Commander) and cook food for the gamblers.
Doctulero, at 9 years old, would make whiskey highballs for his new “uncles” and they would tip him 25 cents a drink.
The chef fondly recalls those days in naming his restaurant Mah Jong’s, which serves seasonal fare with an ever-changing menu.
“The menu changes almost daily based on what is at the markets and what is available seasonally,” Doctulero said when I dined with Chef Pascal Olhats at Mah Jong’s for lunch last month.
“We like to run dishes that hopefully become an addiction and take things off because it’s not selling.”
One recent menu casualty was the veggie burger, which the chef said took a lot of steps to make properly.
“It was really good. The first month they were selling like hotcakes, second month it dropped off and we made them every few days. If we do not sell something, the staff eats it—and the staff ate really well.”
The day I dined at Mah Jong’s, the menu listed about 16 dishes plus desserts. As Doctulero brought out samples for us to try, he listed four items he said were his top sellers.
“My number one seller is chicken soup. I sell so much chicken soup. Number two is the oysters, number three is the burger, number four is the clam chowder.”
He also has an “off the menu” best seller: Oxtail. “I sell a ton of oxtail, maybe 20 pounds a week. I shred the meat and make loco moco.”
Olhats asked Doctulero about selecting South Coast Plaza for his restaurant concept, and Doctulero admitted he never thought he’d be at South Coast Plaza and across the street from the restaurant where he worked for several decades.
“I thought I would have a free-standing location, but here I have an escalator coming down from AnQi and Paradise Dynasty. Originally, I wanted to do an open counter with eight seats and four tables, but after looking at locations I had to go with what fits. This has 40 seats”
“And you have to make enough to pay your rent,” said Olhats knowingly, having owned several OC restaurants during his long career.
“I crunch my numbers,” affirmed Doctulero. “What is my check average, what do I need to do per day, per month. I know my numbers every day, I crunch numbers and readjust.”
Food costs are a constant battle for chefs everywhere. Doctulero has steaks that might cost $40, but offsets them with other dishes in the $20 range.
Another challenge is customers. Diners are finally returning to restaurants, but Doctulero says it’s been a slow growth, especially with the clientele that normally shops at South Coast Plaza.
International travel has been opening up, which means tourism spending will continue to increase.
