Restaurant

Newport Beach police officers arrived outside the Blanca restaurant Wednesday morning as employees from two companies came to repossess kitchen items they said the restaurant hadn’t sufficiently paid for. About a dozen people from Chefs’ Toys, a food service equipment maker, and Hospitality Equipment Fabricators, which provides custom stainless steel, entered the restaurant about 10 a.m. and began removing plates, shelves and other...

COSTA MESA — Gourmet sausage and Belgian-style French fry restaurant Valhalla Table closed in the Camp earlier this month. The small restaurant with community tables, craft beers, organic and vegetarian sausages had occupied a space facing Bristol Street in the popular alternative shopping center. "Valhalla Table is closed because the economy wasn't good for us last year, and our lease is up," owner Ehrline Karnaga wrote in an email Thursday. "...We hope to be able to do something like Valhalla again in the near future.

South Coast Plaza announced plans for healthy, casual dining concept ZCafe to debut at the shopping mall in midsummer, according to a news release. Created by Sid Fanarof, the founder of ZPizza, the casual restaurant will focus on healthy and locally sourced menu items. "We're delighted to have Sid Fanarof create a new, fresh concept expressly for South Coast Plaza," said Debra Gunn Downing, South Coast Plaza's executive director, in a prepared statement. "Our shoppers will love to have a new dining spot for high quality, casual fare.

NEWPORT BEACH — Fans of Mozambique Steakhouse and Lounge in Laguna Beach will soon be able to partake in the African-inspired fare at a new eatery here, a company spokeswoman said Monday. The fast-casual concept, also called Mozambique, will open in late November at The Bluffs shopping center on Bison Avenue in Newport Beach. The restaurant will offer indoor and patio seating, spokeswoman Lisa Ende said. "One of the fast-growing trends, especially with the economy as it is, is the fast-casual dining segment," she said.

A Corona del Mar man's federal lawsuit alleging that racial epithets were put on his restaurant receipts has been settled, court records show. In his civil complaint filed last March, Mark McHenry says he found the N-word and variants of it on several of his receipts from the popular Landmark Steakhouse in Corona del Mar. Some of the receipts, according to the complaint, also included remarks like "Black is the new white" and indicated that...

The Newport Beach Planning Commission will consider at its Thursday meeting to extend evening patio hours for a harborfront restaurant known for drawing a loud nighttime crowd. The Bayside Drive restaurant, 3-Thirty-3, applied for a new conditional-use permit that would extend the exterior patio hours from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily to 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, according to a city staff report. The interior hours of the restaurant are from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily. The public hearing will occur during the commission's regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the City Council Chambers, 3300 Newport Blvd.

Freshii aims to bring healthy fast food to diners with the opening of its first Orange County location last week in the Bluffs shopping center, according to a news release. The Chicago-based franchise specializes in "Fresh food. Custom built," according to its website. Menu options include salads, wraps, rice bowls, yogurt parfaits and soups, with the choice of 70 toppings. Menu items include the Bangkok burrito, vegan wrap, spicy noodle bowl, antioxidant crunch salad, grilled steak salad or the choice to build a meal.

A man arrested by Newport Beach police on suspicion of carrying a loaded, unregistered gun and making threats is expected to be in court Friday for a pretrial hearing, records show. Henry Saxon Learmont, 36, of Castaic is accused of threatening a business associate while at Islands restaurant about 9:30 p.m. July 17, according to Sgt. Joe Cartwright. Upon arriving to the eatery at 1380 Bison St., police found Learmont in the parking lot in possession of a loaded gun and arrested him, Cartwright said.

Do you love all the home cooking for Thanksgiving, but don’t want to go through all of the hassle of cooking in a hot kitchen? Don’t worry, there are restaurants open on Turkey Day. So this week we thought we’d check in with Chef Vartan Abgaryan at A Restaurant at 3334 W. Coast Hwy. in Newport Beach.   We all know you’ve got to have turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potato and some pumpkin pie, but what do you have on the menu that’s new this year?

Organic egg dishes for breakfast, artichoke sandwiches at lunch and a flat-iron steak for dinner. Beginning today from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Newport locals and visitors alike can eat all day long at the Beachcomber restaurant in the Crystal Cove Historic District. It was supposed to open Tuesday, but operators pushed the big day back to work out a few last-minute kinks. The restaurant, owned by Doug Cavanaugh who also runs Ruby's, will feature California cuisine that complements this spot on the sand.

The Saddle Ranch Chop House and El Corazón de Costa Mesa, two new restaurants at The Triangle, held small ribbon-cutting ceremonies earlier this week. Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce employees, city officials and others posed for the grand-opening photos - complete with the big scissors - for the Western-themed steakhouse restaurant and Mexican food establishment Wednesday afternoon. Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger and representatives from the offices of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa)

One of two Orange County restaurants threatened with legal action by animal rights activists has decided to stop serving foie gras. Broadway by Amar Santana in Laguna Beach will no longer dish up fattened duck liver as a complimentary side to a $55 glass of wine. "We're calling it quits," Ahmed Labbate, Amar Santana's partner and director of operations at Broadway, said Friday. "I wish I had the money to fight PETA, but we don't. We're a small restaurant and we don't have the means.

A driver crashed through a Chinese restaurant in Costa Mesa around lunchtime Friday, authorities said. Firefighters responded to a report at 11:18 a.m. that a woman in a Toyota Camry drove about 20 to 25 feet into Golden Garden Chinese Food at 1505 E. Mesa Verde Drive, according to Battalion Chief Fred Seguin. The woman was pulling into a parking spot in front of the restaurant when she continued into the building, Seguin said. No one was injured in the crash. Damage was estimated at about $5,000.

Going out to eat is supposed to be one of life's pleasures. You don't have to cook or clean up afterward. Plus, servers take your order and bring your food. For just a little bit of money you can feel a lot of specialness, even if it's only for an hour or two. Unfortunately, sometimes the experience is lacking. As a coffee drinker, I expect to receive refills once my cup is near empty. So it is especially frustrating when one dines out and has a server who doesn't do that.

With the closing of Sage Restaurant in January, and the selling of the Villa Nova in February, and the planned closing of the Ritz at the end of the year, I felt that as the owner of a 51-year-old restaurant it was time to speak up and let people know what is needed if they want to keep some of these oldies but goodies around for their kids. Andy Crean, former owner of the Villa Nova, said in the Daily Pilot article (" Villa Nova bids arrivederci to Newport," March 5) that although everyone loved the Villa Nova, some have not been there in 15 years, and I can't say I don't know the exact feeling.

Andy Crean never really thought of himself as the owner of Newport Beach's historic Villa Nova restaurant. "I considered myself almost like a custodian," he said Tuesday of the Mariner's Mile hot spot he took over 20 years ago. "It's like a landmark. The employees and all that - it's like a family. " Villa Nova - whose original Sunset Strip location opened in 1933 and attracted the likes of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack - has drawn lovers of Italian classics and vino with an ocean view for since 1967 when the owners relocated to the beach.

After decades of serving area families, Coco's Bakery Restaurant on East Coast Highway in Corona del Mar is set to close March 10, a restaurant manager confirmed Tuesday. The closure, which had been on employees' radar for "more than a year," was announced to staff Thursday, said manager Gerry Bermudes. "They told us we have until [March] 15, so we have five days to move out our stuff," Bermudes said. "We've been getting a lot of people upset [about the closure]. " Bermudes said he hadn't been told why the restaurant is closing, and a corporate spokesperson could not be reached as of Tuesday afternoon.

A new restaurant in Costa Mesa with decor that's a modernized take on 1920s New York is having its grand opening Friday evening. The folks behind Arc Restaurant at the South Coast Collection, 3321 Hyland Ave., are calling their nearly 1,800-square-foot restaurant a new American roast house and classic cocktail bar. "We're looking more into doing right what we were doing in the '20s, kind of a happy period when we weren't overthinking things...

Classic moment on "The Office": At a barbecue at the home of paper salesman Jim Halpert, icy accountant Angela Martin stands in the queue before the grill and deadpans, "I'm a vegetarian. " Without missing a beat, Jim helpfully replies, "There's soda inside. " With a disgusted sigh, Angela storms away. Being that Angela is one of the show's least-sympathetic characters, I'm not inclined to empathize with her very often. But as a fellow member of the meatless masses who has put up with more than one limited menu over the years, I'm with her at that moment.

Twenty-five years ago, Wing Lam's hair was shorter and the fish taco restaurant he co-founded was brand new. These days, however, Wahoo's Fish Taco is a household brand, with 64 stores in seven states, that continues to spread its fins. All that started in 1988 in Costa Mesa's Westside. The founders of the first Wahoo's restaurant at 1862 Placentia Ave. had an idea: Combine Mexican, Brazilian and Asian cuisine, give it all a North Shore vibe, and get a hungry surf community involved.