Restaurant

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.

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.

Los Angeles-based healthy salads and sandwiches eatery Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop will expand into Orange County with the April opening of a Costa Mesa location. Greenleaf opens April 30 on East 17th Street, between Orange and Santa Ana avenues, in a 4,200-square-foot space reflective of the restaurant-meets-farmstand atmosphere signature to its Beverly Hills and Century City locations, according to a news release. Developers submitted plans for the project, which is the largest of the Greenleaf locations, to city planners in May, according to Daily Pilot archives . The restaurant will open at 8 a.m. daily and offer breakfast, lunch and dinner items consisting of a variety of salads, wraps and sandwiches.

The owners of Triangle Square are rebranding the struggling Costa Mesa shopping center as The Triangle, where an upscale restaurant, entertainment and retail will mix with late hours, alcohol sales and a 10-lane bowling alley. Newport Beach-based Greenlaw Partners, with the help of outside finance partners, is attempting to revitalize the commercial complex that has been suffering high tenant vacancies in recent years. The master plan for its project received city approval in March.

Thirty years ago, a good Indian meal in Orange County was hard to come by. "When we opened in 1982, there were no Indian restaurants in Orange County at that time," said Arun Puri, who owns Royal Khyber Fine Indian Cuisine at South Coast Plaza Village with his wife, Urmil Puri. Almost as a hobby - and to save commuting time - Arun Puri opened an Indian eatery on Jamboree Road and Bristol Street. It would later move to a smaller space near the Costa Mesa-Santa Ana border across from South Coast Plaza, at the invitation of the Segerstrom family.

Get those taste buds and appointment books ready. Starting Sunday, locals will have one week to enjoy the best bang for their restaurant buck as OC Restaurant Week rolls back into town. This year 100 restaurants from throughout the county will participate, encompassing an astronomical range of cuisines and ambiances — from Thai to tot-friendly. Fixed-price, multi-course menus will run $10, $15 or $20 per person for lunch, or $20, $30 or $40 for dinner. The event's website, in addition to offering the ability to view each restaurant's prix-fixe menu in advance and to search restaurants by name, city or price point, also features Q&As with top chefs and an interactive map showing all participating restaurants.

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...

Seeking to tame problematic restaurants and bars, the Newport Beach City Council may increase fines for noise, occupancy and other violations. On Tuesday, the council will discuss adding a higher level of fines — up to 10 times the current amount — for certain laws and for repeat offenders. In recent years, neighbors in Corona del Mar and on the Balboa Peninsula have complained about noisy bars and restaurants. City officials say they sometimes have to stake out the businesses late at night to document violations, and that their staff members' time is often wasted during lengthy investigations.

NEWPORT BEACH - When the building behind the Port Theatre became available in 2007, longtime Corona del Mar resident Ali Zadeh saw an opportunity. Nevermind that the lack of public parking, economic woes and other issues affecting the space had closed out a handful of previous owners. Zadeh, whose background is in computer engineering, had a plan for what became the Port Restaurant and Bar. "Since I lived here for years and watched all these changes, I thought to myself, 'What if I put something here that the area deserves?

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.