Chef Tim Hollingsworth is bringing his first Orange County restaurant to Anaheim, with OCVibe announcing that the James Beard-winning chef will open a wood-fire dining concept inside the 100-acre district surrounding Honda Center. The restaurant is expected to be among the standalone eateries opening in late 2027, part of a wave of chef-driven openings transforming the area.
According to a news release detailed by prnewswire.com, the restaurant will serve chef-driven American cuisine, with pizzas, meats and seasonal vegetables prepared over an open flame. The space is also set to include a visible raw bar and pastry station, giving diners a front-row view of the kitchen’s moving parts. Interiors will draw from Southern California’s mid-century design heritage, aiming for the feel of a lived-in home rather than a typical restaurant dining room, per the same release.
Hollingsworth’s culinary pedigree runs deep. He spent more than a decade at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry before leaving in 2012 to open Otium, a now-shuttered restaurant next to the Broad museum. Otium featured casual indoor and outdoor spaces for guests to unwind over an eclectic menu. In 2010, he received the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year Award, the news release notes.
From Otium to Chain: A Career Built on Reinvention
Before Otium closed, Hollingsworth told the Daily News that its menu would draw from “Asian, Mexican, Mediterranean, French. Really anything,” reflecting a chef unwilling to box himself into a single cuisine. He went on to co-found Chain with B.J. Novak in 2012, a concept that reimagined nostalgic menu items from chain restaurants, and later developed concepts nationwide with Ten Five Hospitality, Patina Group, H.Wood Group and Caruso…