Mayor Steven Weinberg and Heather Johnston, executive director of the Dana Point Chamber of Commerce, present The Little Kitchen Asian Cafe with the buiness of the month award. (L to R) Heather Johnston, Lauren Liam, John Yang, Chris Liam and Steven Weinberg. Photo by Andrea Papagianis
By Robert Sedita, Management Analyst, Dana Point Community Center
On July 1, 2011, John Yang opened The Little Kitchen Asian Café in Dana Point, built around the best parts of a home kitchen. Using the finest locally sourced farm-fresh ingredients and no MSG or preservatives, Little Kitchen provides the community with a healthy, home-cooked meal at an affordable price.
Yang and his wife are originally from China, where he worked in the medical field and owned a pharmaceutical company. However, Yang left his success in the medical field and immigrated to the U.S. with his wife 20 years ago, so she could obtain her doctorate at the University of Southern California. Upon her graduation she took a position as a professor at USC, and still teaches at the university today. John Yang, however took a different path, and tried his hand at opening a restaurant, called Quick Wok.
His first restaurant venture has grown to include four locations throughout Orange and San Diego counties. However successful Yang’s Quick Wok was, he wanted to open a new restaurant with a different business model. Yang started scouting out locations and recognized that Dana Point was the right place because of the city’s beauty and relaxing feel. He also loves the beach and as a photographer—in his spare time—loved coming to Dana Point to photograph the ocean and sunsets.
Managed by Lauren Liam, Little Kitchen offers a wide range of menu options. The restaurants chefs use fresh ingredients to prepare all items from scratch, and made to order. Specialties and favorites include the seared ahi tuna salad, kitchen beef, orange zest chicken, and Sichuan fish. Yang used an open concept layout when designing Little Kitchen, which allows customers to watch all their favorites being prepared.
Along with delicious food, friendly staff greets customers and welcomes them into the Little Kitchen family. In addition to being warm to their customers, the Little Kitchen staff is also friendly to the environment. Since opening the doors, Yang has implemented environmentally friendly business practices and has taken the initiative and already started implementing the city’s ban on plastic bags.
Little Kitchen is proud to be a new addition to the Dana Point community and is glad to be part of the neighborhood, offering high-quality, healthy Asian cuisine at an affordable price to residents and visitors of Dana Point. For more information about The Little Kitchen Asian Café, 24831 Del Prado or visit them online at www.yiscafe.com or call (949) 276-7799.
