Columns

I approached my next restaurant review with a sense of apprehension. How could the amalgamation of cooking school, deli and retail wine store be a place for great food? Twice before I patronized Laguna Culinary Arts, buying cheese and eating a student created lunch. It was during the latter experience I concluded I would not dine at LCA again. Why patronize a cooking school where upcoming chefs learn to hone culinary skills? As dining establishments go, the ambience in LCA failed to stimulate any excitement for my upcoming meal. A deli counter filled with prepared foods, a selection of cheeses and meats and retail wine store dominate the dining area. My enthusiasm was further dampened after a trip to the restroom, which is in need of a serious overhaul. What happened next is a textbook lesson in expectations gone happily wrong.

By Keith Curry In more than eight years on the Newport Beach City Council, the lesson I have learned is that effective governance involves a...

May the Force… News outlets across the country pulled our town over to look into our new police cruisers design. We used to have white...

A wave of disappointment enveloped our city due to the necessary cancellation of our 48th Patriot's Day Parade, scheduled for March 1. Meticulous planning...

Global Dishes Round Out Sapphire’s Menu   Well-known to Laguna Beach locals as the location of the old Pottery Shack, Sapphire Laguna has been offering cosmopolitan...

Art and Diamonds Stocks continue to churn about, building what appears to me to be a base for another substantial advance. Investors are still learning...

Laguna Playhouse is finishing up a production of Noel Coward’s “Fallen Angels.”  The cast did a superb job with this classic farce originally written...

Service Nurtures Loyalty for Local Merchants George Weiss wrote a letter to the editor last week that shared pertinent research and also let us...

Snowflakes Here we go again. The city council is looking for parking spaces. Geez, it feels like I’m a little kid again strapped into my...

An Infrequent Appearance So many seasons had come and gone since I was able to look down from my deck and see the goat herd...

Bedfellows Politics make for strange bedfellows. That’s why I keep waking up alone. I can’t fall asleep with all the jabbering. So, I read with...

Forgiving Fathers The Beautiful Wife and I are in picturesque Midway, Utah. Nearby is Park City, once a silver boomtown of miners, saloons and...

Family Movie Night (or Afternoon) My dad is old school in a big way. He goes to bed by 9 p.m. and wakes...

Code Blue? Policing the Police By Jean Hastings Ardell Columnists live to tell you what we think. We have opinions about whatever ails our society, our...

Forevers Are Not Just For Valentines Moving toward the midpoint of the first quarter, stocks continue to hold their course. With more days up than...