COSTA MESA:

RESTAURANTS: New openings abound in OC

Chef Jeoffrey Offer’s long road to opening Butcher’s House at SoCo

French native Jeoffrey Offer is lucky to be in America, lucky to have worked as the executive chef at locally-based and critically-accaimed Moulin for six years, and now lucky to have opened his own restaurant: Butcher’s House—a Modern Brasserie, at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Collection/OC Mix.

Butcher’s House ranks among the more anticipated restaurant openings in Orange County of late, several of which are highlighted this week on pages 16 and 17.

Opening Butcher’s House has been an eightyear odyssey for Offer, whose new restaurant has been open barely a month. His dream of plying his culinary craft in the U.S. at times seemed like a nightmare, with hurdles thrown in his path. The challenges made him all the more passionate about finding ways to make his dreams a reality, he said.

“It was a longtime dream since I was a kid to come here,” Offer said during a recent meeting at Butcher’s House last month. “What we see in movies and on TV triggered that dream. I am still dreaming.”

Monastery to Airbus

Offer’s culinary inspiration began at home, shadowing his mother in the kitchen as she prepared Sunday dinners and family-style meals. His father was a local butcher and taught him the precision and attention to detail involved in preparing different cuts of meat.

At 19, Offer attended culinary school in his hometown of Toulouse, France, where he advanced to the top of his class, completing the curriculum and an apprenticeship in just one year. During his studies, he began working at Le Cercle d’Oc, under the tutelage of Chef Raymond Serres, who—impressed with Offer’s work ethic—invited Offer to join him in opening a new restaurant, Le Patio de St. Jory, as one of just two chefs in the kitchen.

Offer then saw an opportunity to bolster his résumé and accepted a chef-educator position at a new culinary school and restaurant in Burma, Myanmar in 2011. He was responsible for teaching a group of young Monastery students the technical skills of classic French cooking.

The following year, Offer returned to France, accepting a corporate sous chef position at Sodexo Co.’s The Sky, a fine-dining restaurant reserved exclusively for Airbus executives. It was here that he developed the technical and operational skills required to run a restaurant.

By October 2013, he had five years of experience and a well-rounded résumé. He obtained a two-month tourist visa and boarded a flight to Los Angeles.

“When I came here, I had a backpack, two chef coats, one pair of pants,” Offer said.

Baker’s Experience

Within a few days of arriving in Southern California, he began working as a cook at Monsieur Marcel, assisting with catering jobs for Hollywood’s elite.

Offer returned to France and then came back to Southern California in March 2014. Through friends, he made a connection with noted OC restaurateur Laurent Vrignaud, who at the time was building his first Moulin in Newport Beach.

After experiencing issues obtaining a visa, Offer arrived at Moulin a few days after it opened, but because they had to hire another chef, he was assigned to be a baker’s assistant.

“It was good to be in the bakery, I added to my résumé,” Offer said.

After six months, Vrignaud promoted Offer to executive chef. “Things were moving fast. Laurent was really excited for me, I was feeling like I was living my dream.”

Soon, Vrignaud—named the Business Journal’s Restaurateur of the Year in 2019—expanded Moulin to Laguna Beach, then San Clemente, and then Costa Mesa’s SoCo, a few feet away from where Offer opened Butcher’s House.

A Dana Point location was planned, but then COVID hit.

“It is terrible for some, but for me it made me go home, have some time for myself, look around, observe, and have a clear vision of the bigger picture.”

The Finished Item

That vision became Butcher’s House. Offer took over the space vacated by Spanish tapas restaurant Pueblo, and began working on his concept. Originally, he wanted to focus on gourmet burgers, then expanded his vision to embrace various cuts of beef, all prepared on a wood grill.

Rather than a fine dining experience, Offer decided to open a restaurant that provides, as he explained, “a good product prepared the right way, things we can all share and enjoy. You can have different cuts of meat, you can age it, grind it. We have a wood burning grill, we go back to the classics. Add some sides and some sauces, do everything in house. That was my vision.”

The menu highlights wood-fired cuts of meat, dry-aged and butchered in-house. During dinner, guests can enjoy premium steaks like a 30-day dry-aged bone-in ribeye, filet mignon, and New York. A selection of house specialties such as Toulouse sausage, country-style pork paté, and duck confit pay homage to Offer’s upbringing.

During lunch, Butcher’s House serves sandwiches, salads, and dry-aged beef burgers.

At 1,420 square feet, Butcher’s House offers seating for 75—30 seats in the dining room, 10 seats at the bar, and 35 seats on the courtyard-facing patio overlooking SoCo’s central fountain. ■