Bello Chef's Table — Restaurant in Newport Beach

We have discovered another young incredibly talented chef that is very much flying under the radar. The chefs table is actually a bar looking into their open kitchen. in the middle of a strip mall Italian restaurant, Zach doesn’t really do menus as he likes to wing it as he goes along, like a sushi omakase where the chef sizes up his guests and their reactions and modifies it as he goes along. Drove me nuts as I was trying to do wine pairings ahead of time but he changed the menu way too many times to keep up. All the dishes are farmers market driven, with most incorporating ingredients from Chino farms. Meats and seafood are wild/grass fed and curated with care. His creative sauces and seasonings are what really stand out. The dishes are bold yet well-balanced. Zach is a chef savant who combines ingredients in an avant guard style , and it works. He uses buttermilk and yogurt instead of cream. Many of the ingredients are fermented. And all the plates are custom designed like what they did at Alinea so the presentations are artful and make the food look even more enticing. This guy is going places. Irvine is a hike, but his dinner is worth it. @schererzach, @bellochefstable and @woozface...

This is our second time dining at the Chef's Table at Bello. We had another fun-filled dining experience, which consisted of a 12-course meal with wine pairing. Each dish was beautifully presented with fresh, seasonal ingredients and layers of flavor to complement the main ingredient. The wine pairings also complemented each dish. Chef Zach did an excellent job using creative techniques to enhance flavors and showcase the ingredients. I highly recommend this dining experience for those who appreciate fine dining, meticulous attention to detail and are excited about trying new ingredients, new preparations and...

Best fine dining experience in OC! Zach is an incredibly talented chef who creates an unique, seasonal inspired 12 course menu with pairing wines and changes it every single week. He puts so much effort in it, drives to specific farmers markets only and picks the best ingredients he can find.

We love Bello Chef’s Table and joined multiple times already. Each time Zach comes up with dishes out of the box and surprises us with his creativity, passion and skills. His menus are outstanding and the whole event a memorable experience you would only find in Michelin starred...