A stretch of downtown Huntington Beach that spent more than 26 years as an IHOP now belongs to Champagnes Kitchen, a Newport Beach bistro and deli that has expanded into a 3,950-square-foot space at 200 Main Street, right at the corner of Main and Olive Avenue. The new location brings full dinner service, a cocktail bar, and an espresso partnership to a corner longtime locals mostly associate with pancakes.
The move marks the biggest expansion yet for a restaurant that has been part of Orange County's dining scene since 1989, according to the City of Huntington Beach. Champagnes Kitchen was founded by Rand McDevitt and Tina Voso, who ran the original bistro and deli in Newport Beach for decades before retiring and selling the brand in 2021 to restaurant operators Matt and Winnona Tobey, as reported by the Newport Beach Independent. The Tobeys have since built on that foundation while keeping the family-owned identity intact.
Winnona Tobey is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and now oversees the restaurant's culinary development, while Matt Tobey brings executive operational experience from stints at Urth Caffé, Wild Goose, and Starwood Hotels, per the Los Angeles Times. That combination of pedigree in the kitchen and on the operations side appears to have shaped how differently the Huntington Beach location is set up compared to the original.
A Bigger Menu and a New Bar Program
Where the Newport Beach flagship built its reputation on counter-service breakfasts and deli sandwiches, the Main Street location adds a full evening cocktail bar, a six-seat liquor bar, full-service dinner, and an espresso program built around local roaster Moon Goat Coffee, according to the Orange County Business Journal. The Huntington Beach spot now offers breakfast, brunch, dinner, and craft cocktails, along with indoor and outdoor dining, according to the city's Facebook post. It positions the restaurant as a venue for family meals, date nights, happy hour, weekend brunch, and celebrations, serving fresh, made-from-scratch dishes drawn from more than 35 years of hospitality experience behind the brand.
The expansion wasn't a cold entry into a new market. Matt and Winnona Tobey originally relocated to Huntington Beach back in 2015 to help launch a restaurant at Pacific City, and the Los Angeles Times notes they chose Main Street for this latest project in part because their children were born and raised in Surf City. That personal history helps explain why the couple picked this particular block for the brand's most ambitious rollout yet.
Locals Got First Crack Before the Ribbon-Cutting
Before its formal ribbon-cutting on May 22, Champagnes Kitchen held a two-day locals soft opening on May 13 and 14, offering 20% discounts on food and coffee to anyone showing a Huntington Beach ID, according to a post on the restaurant's Facebook page. The restaurant had already introduced itself to residents a month earlier by participating in the Taste of Huntington Beach food and beverage fundraiser at the HB Sports Complex in April, per the event's Facebook page.
That local courtship carried into the restaurant's opening in the following weeks, and the city has kept the spotlight on the business since. Champagnes Kitchen is now part of the Surf City business community in downtown Huntington Beach, an area represented by the Huntington Beach Downtown Business Improvement District, an organization established in 2004 that oversees marketing, maintenance, and events for more than 250 local businesses along Main Street, according to Visit Huntington Beach.
City Hall Gives the New Spot Its Own Spotlight
Municipal leaders featured Champagnes Kitchen on the city's broadcast series Minute with the Mayor this month, with Mayor Casey McKeon joined by Mayor Pro Tem Butch Twining, Councilwoman Gracey Larrea-Van Der Mark, and owner Matt Tobey to spotlight the new Main Street destination. McKeon and Twining were appointed to their council leadership posts in December following a council reorganization vote, according to the Orange County Tribune.
Whether the elevated, full-bar concept can hold its own against the steady churn of foot traffic along Huntington Beach's tourist-heavy Main Street remains to be seen, and how customers who knew Champagnes Kitchen as a quick-service deli respond to its new dinner-and-cocktails identity is still an open question. For now, the restaurant has swapped a decades-old pancake house for a bet that Surf City has room for a homegrown, full-service alternative.
