Dee Nguyen

Dee Nguyen is the head chef and owner of Break of Dawn, a Laguna Hills based restaurant. In this interview he discusses his family’s immigration story, growing up in Long Beach, and COVID-19’s impact on the restaurant industry.

KEYWORDS: Vietnamese, restaurants, Sant Ana, American, Long Beach, hospitality industry, COVID, family,

Interview Transcript

Like most refugees who escaped from Vietnam, our seven days in the South China Sea [we] pretty [had] much no food or drink, went to Hong Kong detention camp [in] ’84. And took a year, stayed in the camp there for a year, and went to [the] Philippines—Palawan—for six, seven months. Kind of transitioned [to] English as a second language program over there before they were shipping [us] to America. So about a year, a little bit over a year and a half, in 1986 that’s when I landed in Long Beach, California. 

[Living in Long Beach]

My parents and I lived in pretty much the ghetto of Long Beach. My dad came from New Jersey, and we got sponsored and we landed in Long Beach. So my dad came to Long Beach and that’s where we stayed. But it was a rough life in that city. When you came from a third world country—you know Vietnamese and you speak in Vietnamese and all sudden you got thrown into this ghetto neighborhood where pretty much you[‘ve] got ten gangs within the same school. It’s like a mile block of the city, you have like ten-plus gangs within the inner city. 

[Reflections on Santa Ana]

For me Santa Ana is a rough city in the 80’s, 90s, and 2000s. It changed a little bit. now it’s very progressive. Still not as progressive as Orange, but it will get there. But Santa Ana, for me as a culinarian that’s where all the good stuff is. We all know that’s where all the tacos, all the South American, the Mexican good [food], all the grub and street food. That’s where it’s at.

[Path to Opening Break of Dawn]

[I] decided I can’t work this corporate job anymore because my son needed me. Because there’s a history why he needed me, because he got in an accident after his surgery that he had an anoxic episode and he was dead for 15 minutes. So it’s one of those things that I had to make a sacrifice. I can’t do the fine dining, hotel life anymore because I spend 14-hours minimum average a day working there. So I decided [to] open my own place but didn’t want to open a breakfast place, because Break of Dawn is a brunch place. I wanted to open something nice for myself but then I thought about it—”Okay, if I want to open something nice for lunch and dinner, it defeats the purpose right?” Because I’m going to be drowned in the restaurant business so I won’t have time for my kids anyway. So I have no choice but to open eight [A.M.] to one o’clock. So in the afternoon I can be with him and take care of him. That’s how Break of Dawn was born. 

[Impact of COVID on the Food Industry]

[It’s] pretty bad. Most of the restaurants [are] pretty much dead. It is the apocalypse for the hospitality industry. It’s bad. If you’re a mom and pop [restaurant] like I am, most of the restaurants I know, two of my friends did not open up because you can’t. Because basically you die. 

[Final Thoughts for the Community]

It’s important to understand your roots, your history. Most people don’t understand the history of Vietnam anyway. But you need to understand that. But more important [is] where are you going in your future? You got to move forward. You are in America, you have to contribute as an American. So most people now it’s going to be the third generation. They probably don’t remember them being Vietnamese anyway, because a lot of them are born here. If they’re in their teens or the early 20s—they’re born here anyway, so that they look at it as an American, but [with] Vietnamese blood. Just focus on being an American and contribute to our society in a[s] positive way as possible.

Interviewers: Tia Nguyen and Quynh Theresa Do

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