Trust (Santa Ana, CA) [3]
Trust DTSA: Trust Dinner Party
220 E 4th St, Santa Ana, CA 92701
714-732-0598
www.trustdtsa.com
Fri 05/15/2026, 06:00p-08:00p
"As for what's next, Trust's original chef/founder Jason Quinn will be taking the reins once again, which I'm excited to see, as he hasn't cooked regularly here in years."
That's what I wrote when I last reported on Trust last September. And indeed, Quinn did take over from departing chef Kyle McClelland, who had been running the show at the DTSA tasting menu spot for a year by that point. However, his return has proven to be short-lived, as it was soon announced that Quinn would be leaving Trust at the end of June 2026 and moving to Valencia, Spain (and he couldn't be happier about it). Thus, given my history with the restaurant and the team, I absolutely had to return for one final meal as part of the "Trust Farewell Tour."
Pictured above is the view from my seat at the 18-person tasting counter, tenth position from the right. This evening's Trust Dinner Party was priced at $260 a head, inclusive of tax/service/wine pairing, plus a 3% credit card processing fee. However, we opted out of the wine pairing, which resulted in a $60pp discount, and instead brought our own booze, paying a corkage fee of $25.
1: Super Green Salad
Dinner commenced with a "green salad" that featured only green ingredients. We're talking about pistachio, green apple, cucumber, avocado, green cabbage, sugar snap peas, and asparagus, all coming together beautifully in a bright, refreshing, nutty, crunchy, savory, juicy-sweet package that made for one of the tastiest salads I've had in a long while.
2: The Freshest Bread
Quinn referred to this as "the freshest bread," and that was no joke, as it was literally finishing up in the oven as he gave his introductory speech. What we had here was tender, fluffy, salt-pricked, subtly sweet housemade brioche, accompanied by a miniature quenelle of cultured butter.
We ended up going through two wines from my twentieth anniversary collection this evening, the first of which was the 2006 Didier Dagueneau Silex, perhaps the most iconic wine to come out of the Loire Valley's Pouilly-Fumé appellation. Initial aromas were ultra-tropical, with supporting nuances of earth, barnyard, and mixed nuts. Taking a sip, I found a crisp, mineral-backed palate brimming with lush pineapple. After 30 minutes, the Sauvignon blanc began smelling of waxy yellow fruit, while taste-wise, said fruit became commingled with spicy, citrusy, grassy elements, with undercurrents of stone and saline.
3: Duck Confit Tacos
I generally a fan of both duck confit and tacos, so it should come as no surprise that I quite fancied this marriage of the two. The duck was cooked in A5 wagyu fat and placed in the oven to finish shortly after we were seated, making for a falling-apart tender, super flavorful preparation of the bird that was further bolstered by all those bits of crispy skin. A fermented blackberry and black bean sauce provided a backbone of tart-fruitiness to the dish, while even more crucial was the wonderfully nutty crunch of a salsa seca. Finally, wrapping it all up was a grilled tortilla, made fresh from masa that was just nixtamalized that morning.
4: Sea Trout
Quinn looks to be quite the proponent of live fire cooking as of late, and he's jury-rigged a grill composed of pans containing whole almond wood logs atop binchotan, set underneath a "proprietary rack system." Earlier today, said rack was filled with chicken, sweet potato, corn, ocean trout, and ibérico pork, the ingredients slowly smoking for hours at low heat. The trout for this course was placed on the top of the rack and cooked nearly the entire day at just over 100°F. This imbued the fish with a wonderfully melt-in-my-mouth consistency and a delectable amount of smoke. Given the lusciousness of the trout, the crispness and bitterness of ember-grilled asparagus was crucial for balance, while an à la minute hollandaise offered a creamy tang that helped bind it all together.
5: Malawach
Served alongside the trout was a Yemenite flatbread that the Chef likened to a mash-up of a croissant and a pita. It was a fitting match, its flaky, buttery qualities working to moderate some of the stronger flavors going on above.
6: Shrimp and Ricotta Ravioli
Jesus "Chuy" Mejia has long been the guy at Trust if we're talking pasta, and tonight he presented shrimp- and ricotta-stuffed ravioli, set in a lemon beurre blanc, with brown butter panko. The key here was how well the sweet-salinity of the shrimp was conveyed, perked up by both overarching notes of lemon and the savory crunch of those breadcrumbs.
7: Piri Piri Chicken
Chef Quinn has recently taken on an interest in African cookery, and a game-changing dish of peri-peri chicken he had in Mozambique ended up being the inspiration for our next course. Chicken thighs were smoked skin side down for hours, then finished to get said skin shatteringly crisp. The end result was quite simply some of the best chicken I've ever eaten. The bird was delicious just by itself thanks to its spot-on texture and delectable amounts of smoke and savor. However, it was even better when taken with a dab of that chili sauce, which showed off a piquant, fruity heat that really did serve as the perfect finishing touch. Note that we were also served a plate of "burnt ends" (not pictured), which possessed their own charm and allure.
My second wine was the 2006 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins, crafted by one of the most acclaimed traditionalist vignerons of the Southern Rhône. A Grenache blend featuring fruit from the La Crau lieux-dit, this initially smelled of blue fruit intertwined with sweet iron, mineral, and a cool, soft salinity. In the mouth, I found plush tannins, exotic spices, and an almost candied presentation of black stone fruits, tinted with a trace of bloody meat. Half-an-hour in, the bouquet on this one became noticeably dustier, with earthier, leathery hints, while palate-wise, both tannin and spice were more pronounced, the fruit going in a more berried direction.
8: Sweet Potato and Yam
The preceding chicken was joined by smoked yams and sweet potatoes, combined with grilled corn, coconut milk, lime, crushed peanuts, and a raspberry spiced salt (à la Ikoyi). Thanks to its multifaceted sweetness, the dish functioned to offset some of the heavier flavors above, and boasted some nice textures, too.
9: Ibérico Presa
Ibérico de bellota shoulder was cooked without exposure to direct heat using Trust's aforementioned "proprietary rack system." It was a lovely piece of meat, arriving properly tender and toothsome and juicy, with a fantastic smoke that linked up swimmingly with the cut's level of fat and unmitigated porkiness. On the side were sugary slices of white wine-poached peach--a surprisingly effective counterbalance to the presa.
10: French Fries
The Chef's quite a French fry aficionado, hence this accompaniment to the pork. Made from hand-cut Kennebec potatoes, they were pretty flawless, with that crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside consistency I was hoping for, while that herby chimichurri served as the consummate condiment.
11: Tapioca "Cloud"
Our first dessert course was a not-too-sweet berry jam-coconut tapioca "cloud" topped off with some delightfully nutty, crunchy granola.
12: Kouign-Amann Ice Cream Sandwich
Last up was Kyle Romanowski's famed kouign-amann, and as always, the laminated dough pastry showcased the crispiness, flakiness, smokiness, and caramel-y goodness I wanted. But this time, it was stuffed with a sabayon-style ice cream that made it all the better.
This final meal at Trust was pretty flawless, with the team delivering hit after hit. I'm gonna miss this place. In terms of what's next, Quinn's leaving the country on July 29th. He won't be opening a restaurant in Valencia, but is instead planning on spending weekends cooking tailored meals for groups of four-to-six people, while his father Bob Quinn will be hosting wine tours. He feels that he's done all that he can with Southern Californian ingredients, and is excited to explore all of the new product available to him in Spain.
Trust will be turned into Lowlight, an "approachable fine dining," wine bar-ish spot from Mejia, who will also be taking over the old Dough Exchange storefront next door, transforming it into a pasta concept by the name of Bloom. Romanowski's fate is still up in the air, but he's toying with the idea of launching a specialist kouign-amann project, which I hope comes to fruition. As for the 12,000 square-foot space that formerly housed DTTN 2.0/Detention/Playground (shuttered in late '25), the 15-year lease is up, and sadly, there are no plans for it. It truly is the end of an era.
220 E 4th St, Santa Ana, CA 92701
714-732-0598
www.trustdtsa.com
Fri 05/15/2026, 06:00p-08:00p
"As for what's next, Trust's original chef/founder Jason Quinn will be taking the reins once again, which I'm excited to see, as he hasn't cooked regularly here in years."
That's what I wrote when I last reported on Trust last September. And indeed, Quinn did take over from departing chef Kyle McClelland, who had been running the show at the DTSA tasting menu spot for a year by that point. However, his return has proven to be short-lived, as it was soon announced that Quinn would be leaving Trust at the end of June 2026 and moving to Valencia, Spain (and he couldn't be happier about it). Thus, given my history with the restaurant and the team, I absolutely had to return for one final meal as part of the "Trust Farewell Tour."
Pictured above is the view from my seat at the 18-person tasting counter, tenth position from the right. This evening's Trust Dinner Party was priced at $260 a head, inclusive of tax/service/wine pairing, plus a 3% credit card processing fee. However, we opted out of the wine pairing, which resulted in a $60pp discount, and instead brought our own booze, paying a corkage fee of $25.
1: Super Green Salad
Dinner commenced with a "green salad" that featured only green ingredients. We're talking about pistachio, green apple, cucumber, avocado, green cabbage, sugar snap peas, and asparagus, all coming together beautifully in a bright, refreshing, nutty, crunchy, savory, juicy-sweet package that made for one of the tastiest salads I've had in a long while.
2: The Freshest Bread
Quinn referred to this as "the freshest bread," and that was no joke, as it was literally finishing up in the oven as he gave his introductory speech. What we had here was tender, fluffy, salt-pricked, subtly sweet housemade brioche, accompanied by a miniature quenelle of cultured butter.
We ended up going through two wines from my twentieth anniversary collection this evening, the first of which was the 2006 Didier Dagueneau Silex, perhaps the most iconic wine to come out of the Loire Valley's Pouilly-Fumé appellation. Initial aromas were ultra-tropical, with supporting nuances of earth, barnyard, and mixed nuts. Taking a sip, I found a crisp, mineral-backed palate brimming with lush pineapple. After 30 minutes, the Sauvignon blanc began smelling of waxy yellow fruit, while taste-wise, said fruit became commingled with spicy, citrusy, grassy elements, with undercurrents of stone and saline.
3: Duck Confit Tacos
I generally a fan of both duck confit and tacos, so it should come as no surprise that I quite fancied this marriage of the two. The duck was cooked in A5 wagyu fat and placed in the oven to finish shortly after we were seated, making for a falling-apart tender, super flavorful preparation of the bird that was further bolstered by all those bits of crispy skin. A fermented blackberry and black bean sauce provided a backbone of tart-fruitiness to the dish, while even more crucial was the wonderfully nutty crunch of a salsa seca. Finally, wrapping it all up was a grilled tortilla, made fresh from masa that was just nixtamalized that morning.
4: Sea Trout
Quinn looks to be quite the proponent of live fire cooking as of late, and he's jury-rigged a grill composed of pans containing whole almond wood logs atop binchotan, set underneath a "proprietary rack system." Earlier today, said rack was filled with chicken, sweet potato, corn, ocean trout, and ibérico pork, the ingredients slowly smoking for hours at low heat. The trout for this course was placed on the top of the rack and cooked nearly the entire day at just over 100°F. This imbued the fish with a wonderfully melt-in-my-mouth consistency and a delectable amount of smoke. Given the lusciousness of the trout, the crispness and bitterness of ember-grilled asparagus was crucial for balance, while an à la minute hollandaise offered a creamy tang that helped bind it all together.
5: Malawach
Served alongside the trout was a Yemenite flatbread that the Chef likened to a mash-up of a croissant and a pita. It was a fitting match, its flaky, buttery qualities working to moderate some of the stronger flavors going on above.
6: Shrimp and Ricotta Ravioli
Jesus "Chuy" Mejia has long been the guy at Trust if we're talking pasta, and tonight he presented shrimp- and ricotta-stuffed ravioli, set in a lemon beurre blanc, with brown butter panko. The key here was how well the sweet-salinity of the shrimp was conveyed, perked up by both overarching notes of lemon and the savory crunch of those breadcrumbs.
7: Piri Piri Chicken
Chef Quinn has recently taken on an interest in African cookery, and a game-changing dish of peri-peri chicken he had in Mozambique ended up being the inspiration for our next course. Chicken thighs were smoked skin side down for hours, then finished to get said skin shatteringly crisp. The end result was quite simply some of the best chicken I've ever eaten. The bird was delicious just by itself thanks to its spot-on texture and delectable amounts of smoke and savor. However, it was even better when taken with a dab of that chili sauce, which showed off a piquant, fruity heat that really did serve as the perfect finishing touch. Note that we were also served a plate of "burnt ends" (not pictured), which possessed their own charm and allure.
My second wine was the 2006 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins, crafted by one of the most acclaimed traditionalist vignerons of the Southern Rhône. A Grenache blend featuring fruit from the La Crau lieux-dit, this initially smelled of blue fruit intertwined with sweet iron, mineral, and a cool, soft salinity. In the mouth, I found plush tannins, exotic spices, and an almost candied presentation of black stone fruits, tinted with a trace of bloody meat. Half-an-hour in, the bouquet on this one became noticeably dustier, with earthier, leathery hints, while palate-wise, both tannin and spice were more pronounced, the fruit going in a more berried direction.
8: Sweet Potato and Yam
The preceding chicken was joined by smoked yams and sweet potatoes, combined with grilled corn, coconut milk, lime, crushed peanuts, and a raspberry spiced salt (à la Ikoyi). Thanks to its multifaceted sweetness, the dish functioned to offset some of the heavier flavors above, and boasted some nice textures, too.
9: Ibérico Presa
Ibérico de bellota shoulder was cooked without exposure to direct heat using Trust's aforementioned "proprietary rack system." It was a lovely piece of meat, arriving properly tender and toothsome and juicy, with a fantastic smoke that linked up swimmingly with the cut's level of fat and unmitigated porkiness. On the side were sugary slices of white wine-poached peach--a surprisingly effective counterbalance to the presa.
10: French Fries
The Chef's quite a French fry aficionado, hence this accompaniment to the pork. Made from hand-cut Kennebec potatoes, they were pretty flawless, with that crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside consistency I was hoping for, while that herby chimichurri served as the consummate condiment.
11: Tapioca "Cloud"
Our first dessert course was a not-too-sweet berry jam-coconut tapioca "cloud" topped off with some delightfully nutty, crunchy granola.
12: Kouign-Amann Ice Cream Sandwich
Last up was Kyle Romanowski's famed kouign-amann, and as always, the laminated dough pastry showcased the crispiness, flakiness, smokiness, and caramel-y goodness I wanted. But this time, it was stuffed with a sabayon-style ice cream that made it all the better.
This final meal at Trust was pretty flawless, with the team delivering hit after hit. I'm gonna miss this place. In terms of what's next, Quinn's leaving the country on July 29th. He won't be opening a restaurant in Valencia, but is instead planning on spending weekends cooking tailored meals for groups of four-to-six people, while his father Bob Quinn will be hosting wine tours. He feels that he's done all that he can with Southern Californian ingredients, and is excited to explore all of the new product available to him in Spain.
Trust will be turned into Lowlight, an "approachable fine dining," wine bar-ish spot from Mejia, who will also be taking over the old Dough Exchange storefront next door, transforming it into a pasta concept by the name of Bloom. Romanowski's fate is still up in the air, but he's toying with the idea of launching a specialist kouign-amann project, which I hope comes to fruition. As for the 12,000 square-foot space that formerly housed DTTN 2.0/Detention/Playground (shuttered in late '25), the 15-year lease is up, and sadly, there are no plans for it. It truly is the end of an era.
posted by kevinEats at
6:00 PM
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