Beer

In a perfect world, parents can grab a beer, sit down to watch a game with friends while their children are perfectly entertained and well-behaved without them. Restaurateur Jeremy Foti can't guarantee a child's manners, but he is trying to provide the entertainment. Opening in about a month, Tapshack in Newport Beach and Taphouse in Huntington Beach will offer a wide array of draft beers, lunch and dinner menus, plasma-screen TVs and video game consoles. "It was sort of trial and error with my own three boys," Foti said of coming up with the concept behind the sports-themed bar and grill.

COSTA MESA — A gas station clerk was punched in the mouth when trying to stop three men from stealing two cases of beer from a Costa Mesa gas station, police said. The suspects, described as three white men between 20 and 30 years old, went to an Arco gas station in the 2000 block of Newport Boulevard about 5 p.m. Monday, and took two 12 packs of Corona before fleeing in a 1995 blue Chevy Suburban, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Phil Myers said. — Lauren Williams Twitter: @lawilliams30

Alicia Robinson Shawn Steele is living a beer drinker's dream. He gets to spend all day around beer, mixing the ingredients, brewing the beer, making sure it's ready, tasting it, and finally, kegging it. One of his beer-brewing playgrounds is Karl Strauss Brewery Restaurant at Metro Pointe in Costa Mesa, where he and fellow brewers from the San Diego-based company meet each month or so to make one of the...

The opening reception of "Art Since the 1960s" at the Orange County Museum of Art will feature a performance of Tom Marioni's "The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art." The artwork, on display beginning Saturday, focuses on the development of contemporary art from the 1960s to the 1990s. The exhibit includes artist's books, archival materials, and other documentation that launched the careers of such artists as Eleanor Antin, John Baldessari, James Turrell, Charles Ray and others.

A convenience store selling beer and wine would be added to the Arco gas station at 2100 Bristol St., if the Newport Beach planning commission agrees today. After a few changes were made to comply with commission requests, staff members recommend signing off on the project. But commissioners also will consider objections from the Santa Ana Heights Project Advisory Committee, which was concerned about the new store?s effect on existing traffic congestion. The Newport Beach planning commission meets at 6:30 p.m. today at 3300 Newport Blvd.

One retail center, two business partners and three restaurants opening - all within about four months. It would sound like a crazy plan to most, but for restaurateurs Noah Blom and Leonard Chan, it was opportunity calling. The three restaurants - a waffle sandwich and brew house, oyster bar, and a cocktail and classic American dishes eatery - are moving into the SouthCoast Collection shopping center on Hyland Avenue in Costa Mesa. "This is more about the center, and more about a collective effort of trying to create a culinary center in Orange County," Blom said.

People in Orange County and across the country on Saturday will honor the nearly 3,000 men and women killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In Santa Ana, county firefighters are going to remember fallen first responders, an Irvine beer festival event will donate part of its proceeds to a firefighter fund, and motorcycle enthusiasts will ride through the county in their memory via Coast Highway in Corona del Mar and Newport Beach. Costa Mesa firefighters will join others from Huntington Beach and the Orange County Fire Authority for a somber remembrance at 10 a.m. at Santa Ana's Civic Center, off Broadway and Civic Center Drive.

Nothing goes with the carne asada at Chronic Tacos on West Coast Highway like an ice-cold beer. But it doesn’t go down so well when it comes with a side order of outraged citizenry. Concerned with what they believe is a glut of bars in West Newport, a group of residents has blocked Chronic Tacos’ plans to expand its small take-out taco operation at 4525 W. Coast Hwy. to serve beer and include a sit-down dining area with 15 flat-screen TVs. “Chronic Tacos wants to paint it like, ‘Hey, we want to be this friendly neighborhood restaurant, but they want to serve pitchers of beer and have flat-screen TVs — people don’t just go to those establishments to get a taco and leave.

Laguna Beach prides itself on being an artist colony, where a spectrum of art genres thrive -- but who knew the performance art of beer pouring could fit into that category? This art form will be featured at 5 p.m. Tuesday when Brussels Bistro owner Alain Pauwels and manager John John McEvilly, both Belgium natives, compete to see who has perfected the art of beer pouring. They will represent Laguna Beach in the Orange County qualifier for the Stella Artois World Draught Master Competition.

-- Story by Deirdre Newman and photo by HE IS Helping people brew the perfect batch of beer BARLEY AND HOPS Walk into Shrine of the Brew God in Costa Mesa and high priest Keith Hinkle will greet you with a dizzying array of hops, barley and yeast -- three of the four essential ingredients for beer. Hinkle has been facilitating fermenting of the foamy brew for close to eight years now. His store in a converted bungalow is a one-stop shop for those brave enough to try making beer and wine at home.

A popular Eastside Costa Mesa restaurant has expanded into Newport Beach with a menu geared toward the grab-and-go surf crowd. Eat Chow's new location - described by owner Brian McReynolds as "modern Californian cuisine, like a gastropub with Mexican food" - on 62nd Street in West Newport is having an invite-only, grand-opening party Thursday to celebrate. The restaurant is Eat Chow's second, the first being at Newport Boulevard and 18th Street, which opened about four years ago. A soft opening in Newport was held April 23. So far, the response has been positive, McReynolds said.

One retail center, two business partners and three restaurants opening - all within about four months. It would sound like a crazy plan to most, but for restaurateurs Noah Blom and Leonard Chan, it was opportunity calling. The three restaurants - a waffle sandwich and brew house, oyster bar, and a cocktail and classic American dishes eatery - are moving into the SouthCoast Collection shopping center on Hyland Avenue in Costa Mesa. "This is more about the center, and more about a collective effort of trying to create a culinary center in Orange County," Blom said.

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday approved a $1,514 stipend for Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer and Councilman Steve Mensinger, who plan to attend the annual International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas later this month. The Costa Mesa Conference and Visitors Bureau will cover the other half of the cost. The trip is part of the city's effort to attract new commercial development, especially sit-down restaurants on Harbor Boulevard, council members said.

In a perfect world, parents can grab a beer, sit down to watch a game with friends while their children are perfectly entertained and well-behaved without them. Restaurateur Jeremy Foti can't guarantee a child's manners, but he is trying to provide the entertainment. Opening in about a month, Tapshack in Newport Beach and Taphouse in Huntington Beach will offer a wide array of draft beers, lunch and dinner menus, plasma-screen TVs and video game consoles. "It was sort of trial and error with my own three boys," Foti said of coming up with the concept behind the sports-themed bar and grill.

COSTA MESA — A gas station clerk was punched in the mouth when trying to stop three men from stealing two cases of beer from a Costa Mesa gas station, police said. The suspects, described as three white men between 20 and 30 years old, went to an Arco gas station in the 2000 block of Newport Boulevard about 5 p.m. Monday, and took two 12 packs of Corona before fleeing in a 1995 blue Chevy Suburban, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Phil Myers said. — Lauren Williams Twitter: @lawilliams30

COSTA MESA — Renowned pianist Ellis Hall will play at a charitable event benefiting the Mercy House this weekend at the OC Mart Mix. "He's really great," Allison Harvey, organization development director, said of the blind musician. "He gets a really good feel with the crowd and is just an incredibly soulful, talented musician. " The event aims to raise awareness of the Santa Ana-based nonprofit that helps the homeless as well as raising awareness of homelessness countywide.

A Riverside man was convicted Friday of four felonies stemming from a 2008 bar fight that involved a bartender being attacked with brass knuckles at Mutt Lynch's in Newport Beach. Bobby Angel Alvarez, 27, was found guilty of two felonies of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, felony battery with serious bodily injury and possession of a deadly weapon, according to a court clerk. Connected to the case was Richard Anthony Fuentes, 28, who was found not guilty on three similar felony counts.

People in Orange County and across the country on Saturday will honor the nearly 3,000 men and women killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In Santa Ana, county firefighters are going to remember fallen first responders, an Irvine beer festival event will donate part of its proceeds to a firefighter fund, and motorcycle enthusiasts will ride through the county in their memory via Coast Highway in Corona del Mar and Newport Beach. Costa Mesa firefighters will join others from Huntington Beach and the Orange County Fire Authority for a somber remembrance at 10 a.m. at Santa Ana's Civic Center, off Broadway and Civic Center Drive.

B ooze, barbecue, and '80s glam metal. What more could you ask for? Today, the second annual Orange County Beer Festival will take over Irvine Lake from 1 to 4 p.m. with more than 60 domestic and international brews flowing, including beer from a Newport Beach brewer. The event promises food trucks and entertainment from Metal Shop, a hair metal band covering the likes of Gun N' Roses, AC/DC, Motley Crüe and Twisted Sister. Beer festivals are not the time to drink the beers you know you're comfortable with, but a chance to embark on a new adventure with a new brewery, a new recipe or new flavors.