You’d have to be born without a sense of wonder to resist the pull of the glass enclosure housing the BurgerBot at the rear of the dining room at Breaking Dawn Brunch in Los Gatos. It’s built to slice onions, tomatoes and lettuce and dispense condiments and pickles to top burgers coming on a conveyor belt from the kitchen.
Owner Elizabeth Truong spent seven years developing the mechanical wonder, though she said “everyone thought I was nuts.” Then she opened Breaking Dawn in 2024 as proof automation can work collaboratively with human chefs.
“I wanted to solve a problem in the industry,” she told San José Spotlight. “Chefs stay chefs and bartenders stay bartenders. But prep work, which most people don’t want to do, sees the highest turnover in restaurants. I wanted to take away the monotony.”
Grab a burger — Silicon Valley style! 🍔 Our next Biz Beat article showcases Breaking Dawn Brunch in Los Gatos, which features a BurgerBot machine. Stay tuned for the full story at SanJoseSpotlight.com.
♬ original sound – San José Spotlight
Truong knows that monotony firsthand, having spent hours slicing daikon and carrots at her first restaurant job at age 15. She then spent 23 years selling Vietnamese sandwiches at Lee’s Restaurant.
“When you start from the bottom up, you are a far different boss,” she said. “You respect every aspect of the job. I wanted to create an environment that I would have wanted to work in.”
Breaking Dawn’s menu fuses old favorites with Vietnamese flavors and ingredients in dishes that owner Elizabeth Truong said are her daughter’s favorites. Photo by Robert Eliason.
Truong initially thought robots could simply be purchased. However, she learned commercially available robots “don’t have a brain,” and she would need to build one herself. She focused on burgers, which she described as “probably the most standard food in the world.”
“The only difference is just that some are a little bit higher,” she said. “Or a little bit wider if you want more meat. But in terms of food, they have stability.”
Truong worked with a team of engineers to solve some of the more complex problems, including spending a year and a half developing the algorithm for tomato slicing.
“Tomatoes were the death of me,” she said. “You slice a tomato too hard and everything that’s inside goes splattering out. You cut it too thin, and they get crinkly. So for a long time, tomatoes and I just didn’t have a great relationship.”
For the moment, Truong is not looking to expand the BurgerBot’s versatility as she readies it for marketing to other restaurants.
But in-house, the burger menu is already diverse enough, with traditional cheeseburgers served on potato buns joined by items like the Bae Burger, with bacon, avocado and a sunny-side-up egg, and the Bánh Mì Burger made with a pork and beef patty and topped with the shredded carrots and daikons of her working youth.
The deep purple Ooh BAE pancakes are made with ube, topped with salted cream and fresh berries and served with a creamy coconut syrup. Photo by Robert Eliason.
Of course, Breaking Dawn offers more than just the fascination of the BurgerBot, with a menu that fuses old favorites with Vietnamese flavors and ingredients in dishes that Truong said are her daughter Chloe’s favorites. In the evening, the restaurant transitions to “First Born,” with a more formal dinner menu comprised of dishes favored by her son Brandon.
The appeal to youth is apparent in a dish like the RBF (Resting Brunch Face), which is regular customer Kinley Kang’s favorite — a pile of boneless fried chicken atop a Grinch-green pandan waffle, served with blueberries and Vietnamese Cafe Sua Da-hazelnut syrup.
The RBF (Resting Brunch Face) is a pile of boneless fried chicken atop a green pandan waffle, served with blueberries and hazelnut syrup. Photo by Robert Eliason.
“It kind of resonates with my culture,” Kang told San José Spotlight. “There’s the crunchiness of the chicken and the chewiness of the waffle. You definitely get the aroma of the pandan and the coffee syrup just kind of blends and melts everything together. It’s wonderful.”
Not into green? Try the deep purple Ooh BAE pancakes made with ube, topped with salted cream and fresh berries and served with a creamy coconut syrup. Light and fluffy, the ube gives the cakes a hint of sweetness that the syrup deliciously amplifies.
The lunch starters are a mix of the experimental — like the Pho Poutine, with short rib gravy and pickled onions served over fries — and traditional dishes like the Bánh Xèo, crisp taco-like shells made from rice flour seasoned with turmeric and filled with shrimp, grilled pork and veggies with a Vietnamese vinaigrette.
The Bánh Xèo Tacos are crisp taco-like shells made from rice flour seasoned with turmeric and filled with shrimp, grilled pork and veggies with a Vietnamese vinaigrette. Photo by Robert Eliason.
Even the classic bánh mì sandwich gets a makeover, in a version using brisket, provolone cheese, caramelized onions, pickled onions and the usual crisp veggies. It’s served on a baguette that’s been pressed like a panini and accompanied by a briskly spicy green salsa and cup of beef broth.
“People say, ‘You’re a fusion restaurant, but the dishes taste so authentic,’” Truong said. “I think that’s what’s important to me, that authenticity. If you can leave with that, then I shared a piece of my family values and my memories. That’s the payoff.”
Contact Robert Eliason at [email protected].
Editor’s Note: The Biz Beat is a series highlighting local small businesses and restaurants in Silicon Valley. Know a business you’d like to see featured? Let us know at [email protected].
Breaking Dawn Brunch
Located at 160 W. Main St. in Los Gatos
(669) 297-8888
Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Monday
First Born hours:
Tuesday-Thursday 3-9 p.m.
Friday-Saturday 3-11 p.m.