The years glide by too quickly. It doesn’t seem like The Cannery,Seafood of the Pacific in Newport’s Cannery Village should be celebrating its fifth anniversary under restaurateur Ron Salisbury.
It’s true. To commemorate, diners are in for a bargain on the nights of Feb. 7 and Feb. 8,if you make reservations now.
The two evenings, with dinner starting at 5:30 p.m., will feature five choices of lobster and meat. You get to select your own surf and turf for only $24.
In keeping with the feeling of the good old days, there will be Big Band music, servers in retro attire and vintage automobiles belonging to Jack Croul (owner of the property).
After Bill Hamilton sold the property, after 25 years as hands-on operator of The Cannery, it was inches from being torn down for condos. Jack was more interested in preserving the historically significant building. He and Ron met and came up with a plan to keep it as a restaurant.
Ron has a track record with several El Cholo restaurants, Sonora Cafe (a contemporary Southwestern restaurant) in L.A. and the contemporary California cuisine restaurant, The Cat and the Custard Cup, housed in an English manor in La Habra. At The Cannery, he honors freshly caught seafood in modern presentations.
For these two nights, we are back to some really retro prices and the nostalgia of surf and turf as an entree. So, make that reservation now or you may not be able to make it at all. Slip $48 into your budget,you are taking someone with you for dinner, aren’t you?,or perhaps a little more for a bit of wine. Call (949) 566-0060. The Cannery is at 3010 Lafayette Road in Newport Beach.
Coffee Klatch
I’m not into bashing places. If I don’t find a restaurant to my liking, I walk away and then give it another try, and perhaps even one more after that. Then I either leave it to its own clientele because it survives on a different culinary concept than I appreciate, or, if I think it’s finally on an upward swing and my readers will find something worthwhile, I write about it.
It’s the same with coffeehouses. Beans roasted every day and used as they are roasted in little family-run businesses are the soul of a heavenly cup of coffee.
I’m not adverse to the global coffee culture that’s grown so. But I’m not into coffee beans that are roasted well ahead of time, and, when I buy them, are dull looking with no trace of the essential coffee oils.
That brings me to K & #233;an Coffee on Westcliff in Newport Beach, a special place where the beans are being roasted in full view,the aromas alone are enthralling,and used immediately behind the bar. K & #233;an is a singular coffeehouse opened by Martin Diedrich, a legend in the coffee world known for years as head of his family’s group of Diedrich coffeehouses.
Martin’s been a master coffee roaster for more than two decades and recently was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Specialty Coffee Association.
His father, Carl, learned roasting in Europe. It involves a chemical transformation from the cherry of the coffee tree and its bean inside to roasted perfection that is probably more complex than wine making. Carl and the family came to Orange County in 1972, setting up shop in a small space where he made his own coffee roaster and became a merchant of prime beans.
Martin ended up majoring in archaeology and then decided to open a tiny coffeehouse, the first Diedrich, in 1984 on 17th Street in Costa Mesa. He opened several more in the next decade. Then the company went public in what seemed a good idea at the time.
For the next seven years, Martin found he wasn’t geared to tracking stock prices and the industrial nature of a large chain. Meanwhile, Starbucks came to dominate the business.
Three years ago, he left and never looked back.
Today, all is right in Martin’s world again. He has come full circle. K & #233;an Coffee, which is just more than a year old, is a lovely and inspiring coffeehouse whose front windows overlook a neighboring strip mall that once housed the first tiny Diedrich coffee bar.
Sometimes, you can catch a glimpse of Martin, wife Karen and their son, for whom the coffeehouse is named. Martin is there every day, roasting beans for hours in the shiny roaster, made by brother Stephan in Idaho. He’s taken two days off in the past 14 months.
Just in case you don’t drink coffee, other drinks such as fresh juices, artisan chocolate drinks and teas are on hand. One of the must try coffees is the Turkish latte with just a hint of cardamom. It has just the right dash of personality. I mostly indulge in one of the coffees served black, because I love the nuances of the beans from various countries.
My coffee klatches and meetings are finding a home at K & #233;an. Taking home a bag of those pristinely roasted and fresh beans,mostly organic and fair-trade,brings excellent coffee into my home. There’s nothing else like it in OC. To overlook it is to miss the finest coffee mingling with real community spirit.
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Diedrich, roaster: smell alone is enticing |
AT A GLANCE: K & #233;an Coffee
Address: 2043 Westcliff Drive, Suite 100 (at Irvine Ave.) Newport Beach
Phone: (949) 642-5326
Hours: 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday;
6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday, Saturday
