Camille brings modern, French-Vietnamese, tasting-menu-only concept to Baldwin Park

A new restaurant concept has opened in the downtown Baldwin Park area. 

Camille, which took the place previously occupied by Ocean Poke on New Broad Street, will offer a modern take on French-Vietnamese fusion with an intimate tasting-menu-only concept.

The elevated eatery is owned by well-known chef Tung Phan, 31.

Phan is recognized for being the first resident chef at Domu Lab, located in the kitchen of The Neighbors, to host a pop-up on the second floor of Audubon Park’s East End Market.

He now will bring the chef-to-guest dining experience to Baldwin through Camille.

“What inspires me is the ability to kind of bring some ideas that I might have to life and share that and create a really nice experience for guests,” Phan says. “I think that’s the most fulfilling part for me. I love being able to share and highlight some of my heritage and learning more about the French culture and their ways when it comes to culinary. Every time I learn more about the food, I learn more about myself.”

CULINARY JOURNEY

Phan was born in southern Vietnam and moved in 1992 to Iowa with his family.

He moved in 2002 to Orlando, where he resided in Pine Hills before moving to the Gotha area.

Phan said he has been in and out of kitchens since he was young. Although he was not originally drawn to the industry, he enjoyed having the extra cash as a child. 

“When I was younger and my mom was cooking in the kitchen, I would actually avoid it and was never interested or engaged,” Phan jokes.

His first official job was at age 14, when he worked at a family restaurant in Winter Garden that served wings and fresh-cut fries. There, he washed dishes and completed simple food preparation.

After Phan graduated high school, he was unsure of what direction he wanted to go.

He remembers seeing a commercial on TV for Le Cordon Bleu, prompting him to work up the courage to visit the campus and see what it had to offer.

“From there, I was kind of intrigued about learning culinary the right way and maybe going to school for it,” he says. 

Phan attended the two-year program, marking the beginning of his culinary career. At Le Cordon Bleu, Phan learned correct terminology for culinary items and techniques. At the time, he was still cooking for other chefs.

“I was just a sponge — kind of soaking up a lot of knowledge from other chefs and mentors,” he says. “I was really still not 100% committed to the industry. It was kind of just buying time and seeing if there was anything else I wanted to do.”

Phan still was working on his first career choice — pursuing an interest in entertainment and performing — while he attended culinary school.

In 2016, Phan had an opportunity to open his first restaurant by the Florida Mall. He called it Phan’s, dedicated to his family’s last name. The endeavor was the first time running his own operation.

“I was very young, and we had just had our first baby,” he says. “I think I was 26 at the time and running a new concept. I didn’t know anything about the finances, didn’t know what kind of food I wanted to cook. … I never really got to exercise my own dishes because I had always cooked for other chefs.”

Phan had the restaurant for two years and says that was where he started gaining and developing a love for food  and decided to invest more time into it.

To learn more about fine dining, Phan visited Norman’s, which was at the Ritz-Carlton at the time, and spoke with the executive chef at the location. However, the restaurant could not offer him a job.

Phan then visited his next choice — Victoria and Albert’s at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

After speaking to the chef, he was offered a full-time job.

Phan stayed at Victoria and Albert’s for about 18 months and learned about the world of fine dining.

“After I acquired fine-dining experience — I had a taste of running my own shop already — I wanted to go out into the real world and share what I had learned while combining some of the flavors I grew up on to share with people,” he says. 

That’s when Phan had the inspiration for Camille.

Phan aspired to merge his favorite concepts from Phan’s and Victoria and Albert’s to bring a unique approach to the upscale culinary world.

THE CONCEPT

Phan was operating a pop-up at SUSURU, where his now current business partner, Johnny Tung, was in the crowd and tried Phan’s food.

The two met and had conversations about the possibility of opening a restaurant. 

Tung offered to help Phan open a test run eatery at East End Market, which opened in 2021.

Now, Phan will have the opportunity to share his love for food through the walls of his own brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Phan fell in love with Baldwin Park the first time he visited. He remembers saying he would love to have a restaurant location there; and now it’s happening.

“Baldwin doesn’t have anything like this right now, so it’s going to be something new for the area,” he says. 

Phan named the eatery after his first-born daughter, Leila Camille, 6, which translated from French means “perfect and pure.” 

The 2,500-square-foot restaurant, designed by Matt Kelly of Make Design Studios, opened its Phase One in June and was completely sold out for the month. 

Phan describes the menu offerings as dishes that are non-traditional Vietnamese plates through the lens of a fine dining European style.

There also is a bar area pouring a fine selection of wine, sake and beer all curated by in-house sommelier Derrick Goodman.

The Phase One concept is a chef’s counter with eight seats. The counter offers two seatings per night by reservation with 10 courses. 

The phase will be open by itself for two months before Phase Two is integrated slowly in.

Phan looks forward to sprinkling in his love for entertainment with showmanship through cooking.

“Just providing a nice time where those of us who are working are having a nice time as well and we’re translating that to our guests,” he says.

Phase Two will offer four booths in the main dining room that seat two to four people each. The experience will offer a shorter course menu with less expensive prices, allowing guests to get a taste of the main attraction experience.

After the other two phases have been perfected, Phase Three, a private dining room called The Lotus Room, will open. The room can hold six people and is more of a reserved and private space for guests. 

The interior design of the eatery is clean and natural with tall ceilings and minimal décor. Phan welcomes natural light and aims to give off a residential, modern house-type feel.

The restaurant’s team includes Phan’s sister, Trinh Phan, who is managing restaurant operations. 

The team will be led under the mentorship of James Beard nominated restaurateurs Johnny and Jimmy Tung.

Phan says he would not have been able to open Camille without the support of his family, including his wife, Carolyn, his sister, the Tungs and his four children: Leila Camille, Emma, 5; Jaxson, 4; and Lucas, 3.