The Playground — A Look at the New Eatery From Ex-Lime Truck Chef

Just a few months ago, Jason Quinn led the way as Lime Truck‘s lead chef, not only making a name for the truck in its hometown of Orange County, but branding the Southern California-based mobile food kitchen as one of the hottest trucks in the country.

After snatching $100,000 and the title of best food truck on the second season of Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race, it looks like part of those winnings went to fulfill his dream of opening up his own brick-and-mortar restaurant concept — The Playground.

The downtown Santa Ana location is flanked by a hodgepodge of art, music, fashion and eating/drinking destinations, an almost perfect compliment to the vibe Quinn hopes to achieve with his location —

I dreamed of taking what I started on the The Lime Truck and expanding it into a restaurant…I envisioned a big, beautiful building filled with character and style, an open kitchen and stunning bar, shiny new equipment and a team of passionate foodies to help me change how food and drink is prepared, served and appreciated. — Jason Quinn

No longer a part of The Lime Truck, Jason is hoping his charisma, passion and skill-set will port over to a brick-and-mortar concept. Early reports from our friends and colleagues spoke highly of the atmosphere and even higher about the food, some calling their staple ‘Playground Burger,’ one of the best burgers they’ve ever tasted. Those are huge claims, and you best believe we took a night out to test the waters.

Here’s what what we found:

[Exterior Photo Thx: FoodieInDisguise / All Other Photos: Phil Gorgeous]