![\"Little](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sut-l-dine-littlefawn3-01.jpg\")
Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar owner Jon Rhinerson, left, and head chef Seth Tuma. (Alex Malik)<\/p>\nEarlier in his career, Jon Rhinerson was a fashion designer in L.A. who enjoyed the creative side of the industry, but he never got the satisfaction of interacting with the customers who purchased his T-shirts, jackets and other apparel at retail stores in the U.S. and Japan.<\/p>\n
Seventeen years later, Rhinerson is still creating new brands and concepts, but as a restaurateur. And at his just-opened Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar in Oceanside, he\u2019s delighted at the opportunity to see and hear the responses of customers at the rustic, Mediterranean-style eatery and bar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I see the customer\u2019s reaction to what we\u2019re doing is good, there\u2019s nothing that feeds my soul more,\u201d Rhinerson said. \u201cI feel like food and serving people is my love language.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Fawn opened Sept. 2 in the former Switchboard restaurant-bar space at Oceanside\u2019s Hilton-owned Fin Hotel on South Coast Highway. It\u2019s open seven days a week for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. and for brunch from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
As of now, the restaurant\u2019s dining area is limited to 20 seats, but Rhinerson plans to grow the seating to 60 over the next year.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll do this by taking over the hotel\u2019s former coffee bar next door and adding more table seating in the hotel\u2019s lobby. He\u2019s also planning a full interior makeover that includes revamping the bar and installing walnut tables, tufted leather benches and brass accents to create the vibe of a 1970s-era coastal beach house with midcentury influences.<\/p>\n
Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar owner Jon Rhinerson, left, and head chef Seth Tuma. (Alex Malik)<\/p>\n
Little Fawn\u2019s menus were created by head chef Seth Tuma, who spent five years cooking for the Flower Child restaurant chain, where he cooked for up to 800 diners a night. Originally from Louisiana area, Tuma moved to San Diego for the lifestyle and enjoys surfing every morning before work, often with fellow waverider Rhinerson.<\/p>\n
Some of Tuma\u2019s top-selling dishes at Little Fawn are the roasted butternut squash with salsa macha and honey Greek yogurt, the steak frites with house Bernaise sauce, the mushroom pappardelle pasta, the green chile Wagyu burger, the yellowtail crudo dish and the fileted branzino with tomato confit and castelvetrano olives. The brunch menu includes a Spanish-style French toast with whipped ricotta, a farro bowl with house garlic tahini dressing and a fried chicken sandwich with lemon garlic labneh and harissa honey.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sut-l-dine-littlefawn-cocktail.jpg\")
The One The Owner Likes, a cocktail made with Silver Rum, Fernet liqueur and Cynar ap\u00e9ritif, on the menu at newly opened Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar in Oceanside. (Alex Malik)<\/p>\n
Little Fawn bar manager Tony Prosper formerly worked at the rooftop Cococabana bar at the nearby Brick Hotel. His 14-drink cocktail menu at Little Fawn includes a lineup of classics, as well as some of his own creations, like The Old Fawn, made with Buffalo Trace bourbon and Nonino Amaro liqueur, and The One The Owner Likes, with Silver Rum, Fernet liqueur, Cynar ap\u00e9ritif, brown sugar simple syrup and lime. Little Fawn also serves organic wines by the glass and a handful of local beers on tap. Rhinerson said he\u2019d like to cultivate a late-night cocktail scene after the kitchen closes, from 10 p.m. to midnight.<\/p>\n
![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sut-l-dine-littlefawn4-01.jpg\")
Chef Seth Tuma\u2019s top-selling dish at Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar in Oceanside is his roasted butternut squash with salsa macha and honey Greek yogurt. (Alex Malik)<\/p>\n
Rhinerson lives in Encinitas, where he was the co-founder of \u00c9chale, a restaurant that started out as a taqueria pop-up in 2021 and evolved into a full-service restaurant at the Lumberyard shopping center in downtown Encinitas in 2023. Due to lease-related issues, \u00c9chale closed permanently last March, and Rhinerson decided to make a fresh start in a new city with a new concept and a new name.<\/p>\n
He came up with Little Fawn\u2019s unique name because it sounded like the cocktail bars he recalls from his native Boston, and it\u2019s also a play on words \u2014 meaning it\u2019s a baby deer that\u2019s both fresh in the world and small, and it means a little bit of a crush, as in fawning over someone or something.<\/p>\n
Rhinerson ended up a restaurateur as a result of the Great Recession. After 20 years of slowly building his fashion business in Los Angeles, the economy collapsed in 2008, deeply impacting the retail industry that supported his brand. The downturn was so severe, Rhinerson said he lost his home in Silver Lake and paid his bills by bartending at L.A.-area restaurants.<\/p>\n
![\"Spanish-style](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sut-l-dine-littlefawn2-01.jpg\")
Spanish-style French toast at Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar in Oceanside. (Alex Malik)<\/p>\n
That experience opened his eyes to the idea that he could still be artistic and creative, but in the food and beverage world. Without any investor funding, he and a former partner started out modestly. \u00c9chale (a Mexican slang word meaning \u201cgo for it\u201d) sold gourmet braised meat tacos from a pop-up cart in the Venice neighborhood of L.A., and later at the Shanty lounge in Cardiff by the Sea among other spaces, before finally moving into a brick-and-mortar space.<\/p>\n
During the two years \u00c9chale operated at the Lumberyard, its menu gradually evolved from tacos to a more California-Mediterranean style of food. Rhinerson is half-Lebanese and said Med-style cooking is not only in his heart, it also proved to be very popular with \u00c9chale\u2019s regular diners.<\/p>\n
Rhinerson said Tuma\u2019s Little Fawn menu has been a success with diners from day one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just loving what\u2019s coming out of the kitchen right now. It\u2019s the kind of food I want to eat and I\u2019m proud to put on the table,\u201d Rhinerson said. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing Michelin-style artwork plates. It\u2019s just good old-fashioned rustic food, done really well with thoughtful ingredients and preparations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar<\/p>\n
Daily hours:<\/strong> 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (brunch) and 5 to 10 p.m. (dinner)<\/p>\n Where:<\/strong> Fin Hotel, 131 S. Coast Highway, Oceanside<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/sut-l-dine-littlefawn5-01.jpg\")
The fried chicken sandwich with lemon garlic labneh and harissa honey, on the brunch menu at Little Fawn Kitchen + Bar in Oceanside. (Alex Malik)<\/p>\n