Evan J. LancasterWhile Californians have been shuttered inside their homes for the greater majority of a year, Chef Anh Do, owner of the Orange County-based Sixth Sense Dining, has found a way to bring one-of-kind, global dining experiences into the homes of Irvine residents.
For Do, Sixth Sense Dining is a literal term. By curating each private dinner menu based on details of his client’s past experiences, Do is able to create nostalgic, palatable journeys, mapped out through a multi-course meal. Once equipped with his client’s culinary topography, Do cooks to create emotion within every bite.
“I really want my clients to be able to eat food and be able to have it evoke some memories within them,” Do said in an interview with Irvine Weekly. “Our senses – sight, touch, hearing, smell – helps us cope with everyday life. Those five senses accumulate to a sixth sense, which is emotion or memories. That’s where the Sixth Sense name came from.”
(Sixth Sense Dining)
Do, a resident of Westminster, said he moved to Orange County from Vietnam when he was six years old. Prior to the pandemic, Do worked as an event chef for Fundamental LA. As a self-trained chef, Do said he has been cooking for more than a decade, and started his small catering business in 2013, just as a side hustle, to sharpen his culinary talents.
“It allowed me to practice my creativity and to practice more recipes,” Do explained. “I’ve never gone to culinary school, or had institutional training for culinary techniques. It was all learned on the job and trained through 15 years of experience.”
With clients spanning from the Orange County coastline to the lush Hollywood Hills, Do and his Sixth Sense Dining business have spent the pandemic creating tasty, edible recollections of his clients’ emotions, allowing Southern California residents to take a flavorful journey into the outside world – without leaving their homes.
Dishes range from classics like beef wellington, to outside-the-box molecular concepts like lobster bisque soup spheres, which Do has named “Soup Squared,” made with lobster broth foam and a lobster ravioli.
“One of my actual signature dishes that I’m known for, and has been requested again and again – I call it Soup Squared – it looks like a green ravioli with a bunch of pearls all around it – those are soup spheres, so you have like two different type of soups that come together.”
(Sixth Sense Dining)
Irvine resident Russell Corrie spoke to Irvine Weekly about his recent Sixth Sense Dining experience on Valentine’s Day, which he received as a gift from a friend. Corrie emphasized that there is seemingly no limit to culinary creativity during a dining experience with Do.
Corrie explained that during a conversation to discuss the menu, Do was able to tap into personally specific details, by asking questions about the couple’s favorite travel destinations, fond childhood memories and favorite foods, all in order to create a completely unique menu – specific to Corrie’s preferences.
Corrie, a 16-year resident of Irvine, said Sixth Sense was his first private dining experience, and was overwhelmed by Do’s attention to detail, adding it was hard to believe this could be accomplished in his own home.
(Sixth Sense Dining)
Of note, Corrie said he obsessed over Do’s blissfully creamy burrata and grilled peaches appetizer, featuring a cumquat puree, followed by a memorable short rib dish.
“The fact that it was in our house was the weirdest thing ever – it was like this total gastronomical experience in our dining room,” he said. “Everything was put together in such a way – because we went to Europe and went to this gastronomic restaurant and it really reminded us of our trip to Barcelona.”
Despite Do’s ability to capture meaningful, sentimental value of memory within a dish, it does not take away from the fact that the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted aspects of the American dining experience in countless ways.
(Sixth Sense Dining)
Do, who has operated Sixth Sense Dining for six years, said with less than 1,000 followers on social media, his clientele has always been word of mouth.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” he said. “Even though I haven’t reached a four-digit following – or even up to 500 – the amount of people I have so far has branched off into hundreds and thousands of people because of word of mouth.”
For now, Do says he is getting by, even considering his lack of social media clout. For Do, word of mouth between clients has paid off, which Do credits to the exclusivity and uniqueness of his in-home Sixth Sense Dining experience.
With this, Do hopes that people will want to continue to allow his culinary creativity take center stage, regardless of the pandemic.
“My clientele base has skyrocketed. Most clients are like, ‘Oh, my gosh! I didn’t even know this type of cuisine can be available at home!’” he explained. “I feel like the relationships my clients and I have built together, I have gone to a level that’s trustworthy enough where they would still remember me on special occasion days, and my client base has grown large enough that those days will come often and consecutively.”
(Sixth Sense Dining)
Do said the debate regarding the best model of business for restaurants – from pop-up style, to brick and mortar, to food trucks – has been reignited by the negative impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the restaurant industry.
“This whole pandemic has changed [at least] my business mindset, because we see that all over the place that speciality restaurants, with only a single avenue to bring in revenue, have been destroyed – it’s been horrible for them – the only ones surviving have been in the right place at the right time,” he said. “It’s really sad to see that happen.”
Do’s Sixth Sense Dining experience will start about $100 a plate, depending on quality of ingredients and number of courses.
If a gastronomic trip down memory lane is something you would like to check out, the contact information can be found on the Sixth Sense Dining Facebook page.
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