Our mission is to create memorable food experiences for all of life's special occasions. All our food is made in-house from scratch with the freshest seasonal produce and highest quality of ingredients. We strive to enrich lives through passion, creativity, collaboration and excellent service.
From our family to yours, we hope to make your next event a special one.
As Seen On
Owners Paul Cao, Phi Nguyen, Minh Pham and Martin Tse have an intense passion for comfort foods through which they are able to add their own personality and interpretation. Childhood friends Paul, Minh and Phi have fond memories of their parents’ home cooking, which have inspired many of their culinary creations. Martin was exposed to the restaurant industry at a young age as he helped out at his family's restaurant. With The Burnt Truck and Dogzilla's growing reputation for delicious fare, together they formed The Burnt Group, opening their first brick and mortar, Burntzilla, followed by Burnt Crumbs and Burnt Catering.
Chef Paul is classically trained in French cuisine but more often than not, enjoys imprinting his cultural roots as is often displayed in his use of Asian flavors and ingredients. He got his start as Chef de Cuisine at Marc Cohen’s Opah Restaurant in Irvine when it opened in 2004. He then moved on to become Sous Chef at Michael Mina’s Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point, CA for 2 years and then was cooking at Jason Niederkorn’s Café del Rey in Marina Del Rey, CA. Paul is the founder of the Burnt Truck and the "Burnt" name is a tribute to his UCLA dormitory reputation for the guy who made spaghetti with the edges perfectly pan fried to a burnt crisp. To this day, his "Burnt Spaghetti" is still a favorite and often requested by his close friends and family.
Chef Phi Nguyen shares a similar cooking lineage with Paul. They both attended the Art Institute of California and like Paul, he too was top of his class. Phi started his cooking career at the Loft at the Montage Hotel. He then made his way to Michael Mina’s Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point, before starting the Burnt Truck. He enjoys pulling inspiration from his childhood memories when cooking today. One of his favorite memories are waking up Saturday morning to the smell of a perfectly simmered pot of Pho that his mom had been tending to all night. "I just want to cook and create the same memories for others like my mom has done for me."
Minh Pham, after graduating college dreamt the prestige and perks of a corner office in an executive suite but after working at various financial institutions, couldn’t shake the entrepreneurial itch of starting a business venture of his own. With generations of entrepreneurs in his family and occasionally working at his parent’s jewelry store, he witnessed firsthand his family’s pride of building something of their own and knew it was his calling. Poker nights with neighbor Paul Cao was where ideas of opening a food truck stewed and soon became a reality. Although risky, he knew this experience would teach him more in 2 years than sitting in a cubicle for 20 years.
Martin Tse remembers the days of bussing tables and helping cook at his parent's restaurant in the bay area. Although it consumed his childhood, he wouldn’t want it any other way. He considers those years as instilling values and is appreciative of the knowledge and experience he gained to give him the confidence to start up his own business. In college, he known for the guy who loved experimenting with fusion food and later became the mastermind behind Dogzilla, the culinary evolution of a classic American Staple, the hot dog. Fused together with ingredients only imaginable to the adventurous palette, Dogzilla quickly became a favorite among the local food truck crowd.
Together, the four partners like keeping things simple with a twist of innovation, and most importantly quality. The Burnt Group provides a lingering taste of satisfaction that will remain on the tip of everyone's tongue!
