Burnt.... isn’t exactly the word you’d want to describe your food or restaurant. But that didn’t stop childhood friends and business partners Paul Cao and Minh Pham. The two co-own restaurants, Burnt Crumbs, Burntzilla, and a food truck called, Burnt Truck, among many of their other food vendors.
Burnt Truck
In 2010, Paul and Minh started their luck in the food truck industry with Burnt Truck and Dogzilla. A few years later, they opened their first brick and mortar restaurant, Burntzilla. This past year, with all the success from their various businesses, they opened Burnt Crumbs in Huntington Beach, at Pacific City in Lot 579 as well as in Irvine at the Los Olivos Center.
Dogzilla Truck
Burnt Crumbs @ Pacific City, Lot 579 in Huntington Beach, CA
Burnt Crumbs is their latest venture where they specialize in gourmet and handcrafted sandwiches that are all, pretty much made from scratch. This includes their vast selection of breads, from rye, sourdough, ciabatta, biscuits, to their meats, hand cut fries and potato chips, and all down to their special mayos and sauces. Also, let’s not forget their special garlic aioli sauce which I’ve begged both Cao and Pham to sell in a jar…yes, it’s THAT GOOD. If I could, I would spread and dip that aioli on EVERYTHING!
Crispy Pork Sandwich
Let’s start with the Crispy Pork Sandwich served on their house ciabatta bread. The pork shoulder is perfectly cooked, chopped up and mixed into their own version of salsa verde sauce. They definitely stack up the sandwich with plenty of crispy pork and the chili lime mayo they lightly slather on the sandwich adds a nice and refreshing kick to the meal. The cracklings, or what I call, chicharon (which is also made in-house) tops the sandwich. I love chicharon so that didn’t last. I went straight to eating those crispy little things. They didn’t stand a chance.
11 day Pastrami Sandwich
The Pastrami sandwich was one of the best pastramis I’ve tasted in quite some time. Very moist and tender. It just melted in my mouth. I only got a chance to snag a half a sandwich because it turns out, everyone loved it as much as I did. And we were all racing to grab a piece of it.
Southern Fried Chicken
The Southern Fried Chicken. Who doesn’t love Fried Chicken? And Gravy? Burnt Crumbs do not skimp on their ingredients. They give you a huge piece of Fried Chicken. It is like a dinner instead of a lunch portion. Their house biscuits are made from scratch and you can tell by how fresh it taste and how soft it feels. This ALSO melts in your mouth. That Sriracha Honey sauce is tasty and not too spicy so that it doesn’t override the rest of the flavors in the sandwich.
Spaghetti Grilled Cheese
Spaghetti Grilled Cheese. First off, the picture does not do this meal justice. This sandwich is what they’re pretty much known for. Google or youtube Burnt Crumbs and the first thing that comes up is this sandwich. It looks and smells amazing! I was so excited to taste it. I did get an order of the sandwich. However, after eating the previous 3 meals (and their hand cut fries and hand cut chips) I was completely full! I was planning on taking it home. But, one of my other friends beat me to it and walked out with it. Not cool! I’m not even going to complain. I was going to do the same thing.
Without getting a bite in, what I CAN tell you is that it smelled amazing! And if the smell means anything, then it’s definitely a must try! The aroma of the garlic, marinara and mozzarella just filled me up. I was watching others eat it and the cheese just spreads and is oh so gooey. That’s the sandwich most people seemed to order while I was there. Just writing about it now, my mouth is watering. Looks like I’m going to have to head back to Burnt Crumbs sooner than I thought.
For those that prefer a lighter, and not so meaty meal, they do have other choices including the PBJ which is a homemade pretzel peanut butter, blueberry jam, and sliced banana sandwich. They also offer a variety of avocado toasts, salads including a kale, wedge and Caesar. They also regularly add new items to their menu. For more info and to check out their latest meals, you can head to their website at www.burntcrumbs.com
In the meantime, check out my visit to Burnt Crumbs below: