O.C.’s hottest late-night sushi lounge is in Stanton

Stanton may not be the first Orange County city you think of when you picture a late-night luxury sushi lounge, but maybe it should be. There are some heavy hitters behind the recently opened Union Social at Rodeo 39 Public Market.

The upscale lounge concept comes from restaurateur Kiet Ma, owner of Tenori at Rodeo 39 on Beach Boulevard, and is helmed by executive chef Do Kyun Kim, the former head sushi chef at Katsuya in Beverly Hills. Julian Flores Torres, former bar manager at Mayfield in San Juan Capistrano, has been tapped as beverage director, and the team is working to create a unique sushi experience.

Sushi at Union Social at Rodeo 39.

(Won Ho Frank Lee)

“We wanted to create an elevated space that captures the trifecta of what people look for when going out: amazing ambiance, food and cocktails,” said Ma. “Union Social checks all those boxes.”

The interior is dark (but not too dark) and the music is loud (but not too loud) with deep booths and metallic tables in front of an illuminated bar. A DJ booth in the corner sits on an elevator platform that can rise above guests. The lounge is open seven days a week from 5 p.m. until midnight with resident DJs spinning on Friday and Saturday nights.

“Union Social is, at the moment for us, a social lounge with a modern Japanese take,” said Torres.

The interior of Union Social at Rodeo 39 in Stanton.

(Won Ho Frank Lee)

The opening menu includes a range of crudos, shellfish, sushi and sashimi, and it also features underutilized but equally delicious seafood like roasted yellowtail collars. A six or 10-piece Chef’s Omakase is also available, and uni or caviar (or both) can be added to any raw seafood, like oysters.

Torres’ drinks are specially crafted to compliment the menu, using Asian ingredients.

“One of them, for example, is going to be the pandan cocktail,” said Torres. “I wanted to incorporate pandan, which is not seen very much in cocktails in general.”

Pandan is a tropical herb with a fragrant flavor similar to vanilla and used in desserts and drinks in southeast Asia.

“As soon as you smell it and taste it, you know what it is. It is a very easy to recognize taste once you’ve had it,” Torres said.

Julian Flores Torres behind the bar at Union Social.

(Won Ho Frank Lee)

Torres uses a pandan syrup to make a cocktail that is a riff on a Long Island iced tea.

Other examples are the Tetsu Sour, which Torres describes as a combination of a whiskey sour and a penicillin cocktail.

“Penicillin cocktail usually has scotch, but we have took the scotch away from this, and it has ginger, lemon and Nikka Coffey grain whiskey,” Torres said. “And instead of using egg whites, we use aquafaba so it is vegan friendly.”

Aquafaba is a liquid made from legumes, usually chickpeas, that is starchy enough to resemble the creamy mouth feel egg whites can create in a cocktail.

A colorful cocktail at Union Social at Rodeo 39 in Stanton.

(Won Ho Frank Lee)

Torres said cocktails are an important element of the synergy Ma aims to create at Union Social.

“Everything matters and everything works in conjunction with each other,” said Torres. “Yes, we do have amazing sushi, but a lot of places that do offer sushi lack that balance between what you are eating and what you are drinking. What we are doing here is trying to have that cohesiveness.”

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