It’s my first time at Woofpak, and everything on the menu sounds scrumptious.
Thanksgiving Feast.
Hawaiian BBQ.
Salmon Poke Bowl.
Peanut Butter Gelato.
Too bad none of it is for humans.
Woofpak is a take-out dog cafe. Everything on the menu is made with natural ingredients by in-house chefs.
“Take a whiff in the kitchen,” says customer Mimosa Tran. “It smells delicious.”
Tran is a regular, dropping by Irvine Spectrum Center nearly every day since Woofpak Pet Kitchen opened last October to pick up a treat for her cockapoo, Charlie. The house-made lamb, bison and venison liver chips are his favorites.
“We make everything from scratch in small batches, and that’s what we pride ourselves on,” says Jennifer Hayhurst, Woofpak’s event marketing manager.
The cafe even makes its own bone broth. One of the hashtags on the @woofpakpetkitchen Instagram account is #farmtobowl, a play on the farm-to-table restaurant trend.
Customers can pop in to pick up Bowls and Meal Toppers to go or have menu items delivered through DoorDash.
You can also book a party for your pooch on the enclosed patio at the cafe, a cheery blue-and-white affair with feel-good jams on the playlist, refrigerators filled with gelato and camel milk and a bakery case featuring fresh-baked doughnuts.
Tran threw Charlie a reggae party at Woofpak in July for his eighth birthday. Guests included Charlie’s best friend, a Havanese named Kopol, and Kopol’s girlfriend, Penny.
All the dogs got rice flour Maple Bacon Donuts and goodie bags that included dried cod twists.
OK, so there are a few things on the menu that don’t sound that awesome if you’re human, but all menu items are human grade, fit for human consumption, according to Hayhurst.
Tran, a pharmacist by trade who lives in Irvine, admits to eating the Seasonal Egg Tarts, an egg custard filling in a coconut flour shell that is sweetened with coconut nectar.
