Inside the kitchens of Wahoo’s Fish Taco, one size doesn’t fit all.
“For us, everything comes in its raw form, and we tend to slice and dice and marinate ourselves. It requires a little more knife skills,” said Wing Lam, co-founder of the Tustin-based chain with his brothers Ed and Mingo Lee.
To improve the cooking process, Wahoo’s Fish Taco is renovating its kitchens as well as freshening up its dining rooms.
“The most important thing we’ve done is change some of the cooking equipment,” Lam said in a phone interview.
Kitchens are being equipped with high-tech ovens from a brand called Rational that Lam said are a combination convection oven, steamer and grill.
“If you go to any of the hamburger guys, the hamburger patty or the fish filet or the chicken whatever is always the same size. Our chicken is not cut to size and our filet of fish is sometimes a little thinner, sometimes a little thicker. So by upgrading to Rational ovens, we’re able to maintain the quality at a much higher level.”
Restaurants that have been updated include Tustin, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. The chain has more than 60 locations in California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, New Jersey and Japan.
Work is being done after hours, but changes upfront are more noticeable to customers. The chain has had a beach and BMX theme since it was founded in Costa Mesa in 1988, and it celebrates those lifestyles with memorabilia displayed in the dining rooms.
After a paint job, the displays go back on the walls, only more organized.
“It gives us an opportunity to curate, make sure everything fits in a nice orderly fashion. In the old days, it just went up. Now everything is more curated,” Lam said. “I love that word. Like a museum, all the pieces tend to go together.”
Wahoo’s is still adjusting to the new normal following the COVID-19 pandemic shut down businesses four years ago, Lam said. Since then the chain has stepped up its charitable activities and made minor adjustments to the menu.
“During the pandemic, because there was a lot of takeout, we came out with potato tacos, and that’s been fun. So much of the menu now is takeout. We’re going to play around with some items that are more what I call travel better,” he said.
“Anything that’s in a bowl we’re going to play up. We’re going to add maybe a few more burritos. We became the king of delivering burritos during the pandemic.”
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People working at home instead of offices has made it harder to figure out how to staff restaurants.
“Take any one of our friends’ offices. Most of them the mandate is maybe three days a week. When you have a place like Fashion Island or South Coast Plaza, the question for us is which of the three of those five days are going to be heavy and which two are going to be light. I’ve been to offices where normally there are 50 people. There’s five. And I’ve been to other offices that are 100%. I think the middle is about three days. If I could figure out which three of the five days they were coming, I’d be so much happier.”
Still, Lam is looking forward to a good summer with a new lease at John Wayne Airport and the return of seasonal events such as surfing and the Summer X Games Ventura, sports that are part of Wahoo’s brand.
“All the fun events are back. Super-duper excited to be part of it.”
Information: wahoos.com