New Founain Valley Naugles a Smashing Success

An Orange County web designer’s dream of reopening a favorite taco restaurant from his youth was realized this week, but the reaction from customers has been more than he bargained for, he said today.

Christian Ziebarth, who is also a well-known Mexican food blogger locally, took on the Del Taco chain over the trademark to Naugles, a restaurant chain started by a former Del Taco employee Dick Naugle, and won.

The new Naugles had a “soft opening” Tuesday at its 18471 Mount Langley St. location in Fountain Valley.

“By 3:30 were so cleaned out and the staff was so stressed out by the demand I put up a sign saying ‘temporarily closed,’ “ Ziebarth said. “And then we reopened two hours later after they could regroup.”

Today, it was more of the same with long lines and customers who can’t find parking, Ziebarth said.

The co-owner said he was on another supply run when he was being interviewed by City News Service.

“Earlier when I drove up with 600 more tortillas, everybody started cheering,” Ziebarth said.

Naugles was a favorite hangout of Ziebarth’s as a teenager, but after Del Taco took it over it eventually faded. Ziebarth was under the impression that when a company or individual owns a trademark they don’t have to do anything to keep it.

Then he got “tipped” that wasn’t the case, and further research showed him the company had to be actively using the trademark in some way to maintain it. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board eventually sided with Ziebarth over Del Taco.

Customers have been sharing anecdotes about their Naugles experiences back in the day, he said.

“When I speak with them they all have very vivid memories that don’t seem to have diminished over time,” Ziebarth said. “And they’re all very ready to talk about the locations they went to, the menu items they liked to get. I just remember the flavors were really appealing.”

--City News Service