{"id":632721,"date":"2026-09-22T19:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632721\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T19:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:02:09","slug":"darkrooms-zach-scherer-reveals-four-upcoming-new-concepts-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632721\/","title":{"rendered":"Darkroom\u2019s Zach Scherer reveals four upcoming new concepts \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zach Scherer<\/a>, co-chef and co-founder at Darkroom<\/a> and Chrysalis<\/a> in Santa Ana, has a lot on his plate.<\/p>\n

The noted chef is preparing to open four new concepts in Orange County, including an Italian restaurant in Irvine, an Orange County-inspired eatery and bar in Costa Mesa and two spots headed to OCVibe<\/a> in Anaheim.<\/p>\n

Hungry? Sign up for The Eat Index, our weekly food newsletter, and find out where to eat and get the latest restaurant happenings in Orange County. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First up is Three Eye Tiger, which Scherer said he hopes to open in early December or at least before year\u2019s end, coming to The LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa.<\/p>\n

While the restaurant was initially conceived as a Southeast Asian concept, Scherer said it evolved into something more personal: an \u201cOrange County heritage restaurant and bar\u201d built around the region\u2019s food, art, music and assorted subcultures.<\/p>\n

ALSO READ: Inside Chrysalis, one of Orange County\u2019s most personal dining experiences<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a bunch of music, like Avenged Sevenfold and Offspring, we have an awesome lowrider culture, surf culture,\u201d he said. \u201cThese things that you don\u2019t necessarily automatically associate with Orange County.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fare will follow suit with what Scherer described as a diverse, multicultural menu paired with a serious cocktail program. The goal, he noted, is to reflect the county as it actually exists rather than the more limited version outsiders sometimes imagine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just seafood restaurants by the ocean,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re a lot more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scherer is also taking over the former Monaco space<\/a> at Eighteen Main in Irvine for Tifosi, an Italian concept centered on comfort food with a California point of view. He said the name refers to \u201cpassionate fans\u201d in Italian, a nod to the relationship he wants the restaurant to have with its customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand that the guests are a big part of what we do,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to make food we\u2019re a fan of and have people that are fans of us hanging out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than hew to one narrow version of Italian fare, Tisofi will pull from several, from red-sauce joints to authentic Italian cuisine.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have Italian Italian, you have New York Italian and then you have whatever else,\u201d said Scherer. \u201cWe want to be a homage to true Italian, have some New York Italian comfort that we love, and then put our very California perspective on the food as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Expect New York-style pizza, including slices during lunch along with rotating lunch and dinner offerings. An opening date has not yet been announced.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Scherer has two more concepts planned for OCVibe<\/a> in Anaheim: OC Pizza Cult and Wonder Fowl.<\/p>\n

OC Pizza Cult will operate as a slice shop during peak hours, with whole pies available during slower periods.<\/p>\n

And Wonder Fowl, a play on \u201cwonderful,\u201d will revolve around fried chicken inspired by preparations from around the globe. Sandwiches will be named for countries, cultures or regions, with toppings and flavors to match. For example, an Italian version will riff on chicken parmesan and vodka sauce, while a Thai-inspired sandwich will feature chicken with fish sauce-lemongrass glaze and green papaya salad.<\/p>\n

The projects fall under Scher LLC, Scherer\u2019s restaurant group, its name taken from his surname minus the final \u201cer\u201d and pronounced \u201cshare.\u201d The name also fits his larger ambition for his projects, which is to get Orange County\u2019s restaurant community to think highly of itself and not second fiddle to our metropolises to the north and south.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want us to take ourselves seriously, too,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have some really cool produce, talent and heritage here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zach Scherer, co-chef and co-founder at Darkroom and Chrysalis in Santa Ana, has a lot on his plate.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[225655,307,304,305,306,811,234004,308,93,61,60,43715,43716,6339,120464,6490],"class_list":["post-632721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-anaheim","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-california","tag-costa-mesa","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irvine","tag-orange-county","tag-restaurants","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}