Our now legendary Orange County lady chef and restaurateur Zov Karamardian set out to introduce the dining public to Mediterranean food 27 years ago.
She’s still leading the way in fascinating us with the authenticity of foods from countries of the Mediterranean and Middle East, now with California sensibilities of pristinely fresh ingredients and beautiful presentations built in.
She’s my pick as Restaurateur of the Year because of her vision so long ago and her successful passion to better our dining world over three decades. She deserves that and more.
What’s important to note is that Zov never had any formal chef training. She did have a family background, as did her husband, that when they were growing up, revolved around family meals that honored good food.
She proved from the outset that her genius was in her soul, with a desire to replicate superb dishes that had already been making appearances in her catering.
Zov is confirmation that cooking is an art and sometimes a natural talent, not always a product of an expensive culinary education.
Her first restaurant, Zov’s Tustin, was a darling little gem. She started out with a warm, unpretentious but sophisticated, lovely bistro. Its furnishings and aura were like a beloved little restaurant somewhere far abroad. It was and is as sweet as anything in the county. We savor a different kind of appetizer and have some of the best lamb dishes in Orange County.
Soon her success led to expanding the kitchen and adding a Zov’s Bakery & Café combo on the other side of the kitchen.
Zov had been taking on a new reputation for making awesome pastries, and that part of her business became quite strong, along with her full menu of Mediterranean specialties. An adjoining space in the little center where Zov’s was located became available, and she snapped it up and put in her own baking facility to provide even more pastries and breads to accompany her cuisine.
Zov recently unveiled the $750,000 remodel of her flagship restaurant in Tustin whose centerpiece is a new, massive bar that offers 360-degree seating. The bar’s chevron pattern practically beckons guests to take a seat in one of its cane-back, cushioned bar stools to eat from an expanded small-plates and cocktail menu.Â
An updated lighting system with soffit illumination and several imported fixtures add just the right touch. New seating and freshly upholstered banquettes await in the adjoining lounge.
Zov and her family built on the success of the original location and began to expand the business. Her husband had left his own career to join her in the restaurant business, and today her daughter and son are also actively involved in all of the restaurants.
The business now encompasses Tustin’s Market Place, Zov’s on Portola in Irvine, Zov’s Newport Coast, and two outlets at John Wayne Airport.
Her newest restaurant, Zov’s Anaheim, is a full-scale eatery with a bar and lounge for all-day dining. It has a great location near the Honda Center and is quite popular in the area.
I’ll let Zov’s Tustin take the lead in our food and beverage conversation since it is the original that influenced the other locations. Twenty seats allow you to belly up to the activities at the fashionable bar and to eat there if you want to.
Otherwise, you’re opting for the luxe lounge seating.
I have to smile when thinking of eating the Dirty Fries while sipping my cocktail at the bar. Perfect fries strewn with chopped fresh herbs, parmesan cheese and cabernet-mushroom gravy—Zov’s take on poutine.
Good, good Tahini Chicken Tacos are a combination of spicy chicken, cabbage, fresh salsa, red pepper aioli, a few micro greens and ribbons of tahini sauce.
Zov and I go back in our acquaintance to about 18 months before the beginning of her restaurant career. I was writing restaurant columns for Orange Coast Magazine, and one day, my phone rang and Zov introduced herself. I immediately liked her soft voice.
She asked if I ever wrote about caterers. I said I hadn’t but that if there was something of great interest to me in that realm, I could. We had a very nice chat, and within minutes of her telling me that she was catering from her home and her description of the foods she cooked, I knew I wanted to know more. I had a few columns piled up and said any article would be about three or four months out, pending, of course, my researching more about her catering business and tasting the food, then making a final decision.
It wasn’t long before Zov called again and asked me not to write about her catering because she was opening her first restaurant. Her enthusiasm was palpable through the phone wires. And here we are, so many years later.
Zov has authored two cookbooks and accomplished something else no other chef in Orange County, and possibly the Southland, has managed. She has had some of America’s celebrity chefs give lessons, do meals, and host culinary seminars at Zov’s Tustin.
She’s received too many of the industry’s most prestigious awards to list them. She is our grand dame lady chef. Supremely talented, involved in community happenings, and a very kind person who is beloved by her customers— that’s our Zov, our Restaurateur of the Year.
