A new-school diner by the name of Le Hut Dinette opens on February 22, 2025 in Santa Ana in a remodeled Quonset hut (a corrugated steel structure shaped like half a barrel) from Heritage barbecue owners Daniel and Brenda Castillo. The high-ceiling restaurant features a menu by veteran chef Ryan Garlitos, previously at Michelin-starred (and now-closed) Taco María and modern Filipino restaurant Irenia, who will serve a friendly West Texas diner-inflected menu of pork chile verde tacos, chili cheese fries, brisket barbacoa tacos (with the smoked beef sourced from the Castillos’ San Juan Capistrano barbecue restaurant), and chocolate bibingka. Le Hut Dinette will open next to Santa Ana’s very popular and recently relocated 61 Hundred Bread, a modern sourdough bakery that’s drawn long lines for its inventive loaves and thoughtful pastries.
Le Hut Dinette joins a growing empire for Daniel and Brenda Castillo, who opened the celebrated Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano in July 2021. The barbecue spot was featured in an Eater video and cultivated a dedicated following of diners who would often wait for an hour or more for smoked meats. The husband-and-wife team also opened Heritage Beer in Oceanside in 2023, bringing craft beer and barbecue to the north San Diego county city. Originally, the plan for this Santa Ana space was to open a brisket taco spot called Le Brisket Hut, as announced in February 2024, but since then the menu has morphed into a modern diner concept.
Last week, the Castillos and Garlito hosted a Valentine’s Day-themed tasting menu with roast duck adobo over creamy garlic rice, chicken French onion soup, smoked salmon terrine with 61 Hundred’s blue corn sourdough bread, and pork steak with ginger-scallion salsa verde. The flavors were balanced and comforting without being too aggressive, emulating other modern diners like Little Goat and Dove’s Luncheonette in Chicago or perhaps even the long-gone Nickel Diner in Downtown LA…