Chef Damon Cho's Osen Hospitality Group will open two Japanese dining concepts at OCVIBE, the 100-acre mixed-use development surrounding Honda Center in Anaheim, California, marking the group's most significant expansion since it opened its Irvine location in 2022.
Osen becomes the first culinary partner to secure space both within Katella Commons — OCVIBE's 50,000-square-foot, two-story market hall — and as a standalone restaurant in the district's Urban Park. The deal adds two concepts to a food-and-beverage roster that Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked as one of the more ambitious mixed-use culinary buildouts in Southern California.
The Two Concepts
Osen Urban Table will operate as a full-service, all-day restaurant in OCVIBE's Urban Park, designed to transition from lunch through dinner service. The format refines the approachable izakaya DNA of the Silver Lake flagship into a more focused, casual environment suited to the district's pedestrian traffic. Osen Handroll, sited within Katella Commons, targets the fast-casual and pre-event occasion — positioned to capture guests arriving before concerts or arena events at Honda Center. Both concepts draw from the contemporary Japanese and pan-Asian culinary platform Cho has built since founding Izakaya Osen in Silver Lake in 2017.
"We're excited to bring Osen Handroll to Katella Commons and our standalone concept Osen Urban Table to the district," said Chef Damon Cho, founder and chief executive of Osen Hospitality Group, who trained at Nobu, the Four Seasons, and Tao after graduating from Le Cordon Bleu California. "It gives us the opportunity to share our approach to Japanese dining in two different ways while becoming part of a new community in Orange County."
Market Context
The signings reflect a broader operator strategy at OCVIBE to pair regional culinary names with nationally recognized chefs. The Katella Commons lineup already includes concepts from Danielle Duran Zecca and Alessandro Zecca of Amiga Amore, Alberto Bañuelos of Burritos La Palma, and Chef Zach Scherer of DARKROOM Restaurant and Wine Bar, who will introduce two additional concepts — OC Pizza Cult and Wanderfowl. Beyond the market hall, Chef Roy Choi is slated to open a Best Friend restaurant as part of the district's standalone restaurant collection. OCVIBE's backer, the Samueli Family, has committed $5 billion to the privately funded project, which represents one of the largest private investments in Southern California's development history.
For foodservice operators, the OCVIBE model illustrates growing developer appetite for chef-driven, multi-format F&B programming within large mixed-use districts — a format that analysts covering entertainment-district dining have noted can drive higher per-visit spend and return frequency compared with traditional retail-anchored food courts. The handroll bar format in particular has gained traction in urban markets as a scalable, lower-overhead vehicle for Japanese cuisine concepts, requiring less kitchen infrastructure than a full-service build-out while commanding premium average checks. Operators and restaurant real estate professionals are watching OCVIBE's leasing pace as a barometer for Southern California's post-pandemic appetite for destination dining.
Opening Timeline
OCVIBE is scheduled to begin welcoming guests in March 2027 with the opening of its 5,000-person-capacity concert hall. Katella Commons and the first phase of parks and public art are expected to follow shortly thereafter, with standalone restaurants — including Osen Urban Table — targeted for the end of 2027. The full district, which will ultimately include more than 35 dining experiences, over 2,000 residences, 20 acres of open space, and three entertainment venues, is projected to reach completion in 2033.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
