Under New Management, Cannery Melds Old and New
EXECUTIVE DINING by Fifi Chao
It was a night for nostalgia and a night of surprise.
Everyone was buzzing about the fantastic makeover of the Cannery in Newport Beach by principals Ron Salisbury, Jack Croul, and Steve Herbert. The soft opening last week was a two-night affair that brought out a coterie of locals who know the history of dining in Orange County from way back.
One couple in attendance on the night I popped in had news of their own. Hans Prager, very fit and engaging, and his wife, Charlene, looking very beautiful indeed, were surrounded first at the upstairs bar by those who have watched Hans define fine eating in Orange County for four decades (with Charlene by his side for almost half of that).
Once downstairs to dine, a parade of people stopped by their table to chat. If there’s royalty in the restaurant business, then this couple has a prestigious title and people honor that. Their news, which most people still did not know and which they were not openly discussing, was that their showpiece restaurant, The Ritz, is definitely changing hands. The night before the money had been delivered and the deal sealed.
Hans and Charlene will be in the restaurant for three to four more months, then it will be taken over by Tim and Liza Goodell, who currently have Aubergine in Newport Beach and Troquet in South Coast Plaza, along with a bakery across the street from Aubergine. It took some bucks to purchase The Ritz and Fred Glusman of Las Vegas provided that part.
The media, this paper included, have commented in the past few months on the impending end of an era for Hans. Some of us hoped the deal would never go through, as it’s hard to imagine The Ritz without Hans and Charlene. It will be interesting to see the direction the Goodells take the legendary restaurant.
Now, back to the festivities at the “new” Cannery. The architects certainly did a fine job of preserving the old and imbuing the new. The exterior looks the same: the historical old canning factory look, which in fact was the lineage of this restaurant.
Inside, the new owners also kept the heavily trussed roof/ceiling, the dark wood look, the large paned windows overlooking the bay. John Wayne’s table in the front corner of the dining room,large enough for 10 people,is still there. The new infusion of d & #233;cor includes an open stainless steel kitchen, a full wall of mosaic tile that’s actually a waterfall, a sushi bar with just a few bar seats but sufficient table space, and a sexy wood bar anchoring the cocktail lounge. The sushi bar and cocktail lounge take up the top floor. One of the most smashing elements of all of this is the hand blown chandeliers. Downstairs, over the main dining room, they resemble giant seashells, while upstairs and over the stairway they are formed into colorful jellyfish.
We had just walked in when we came across Helen and Bill Hamilton, the former owners of the Cannery. They were dining alone and just getting started, so we decided it would be more fun to have them at our table than having two couples dining alone.
It was tremendous fun being able to poke into Bill’s background before he became a restaurateur. The three partners were there and I had another kind of food conversation with Ron Salisbury’s wife, Darlene, who has her own very successful catering business. I exchanged travel and wine information with Carolyn Vineyard (she and her husband have represented Jordan Winery and J wines since the inception of the winery in the ’70s). She was sitting with Eileen Doolan, who knows her way around fine dining. Tom Deemer (former president of the Balboa Bay Club and the person who purchased the Newport Beach Yankee Tavern from Hans a few years ago) and his wife were there. Karen Prager, who has been running the restaurants at her father’s side for years, was there. Still playing Johnny-Jump-Up, seeing Jenny Rosoff and her mother (Back Bay Rowing restaurant in South Coast Plaza) made me leave the table once more. If we’d had room for six at our table, I’d have reigned in Henry and Carol Schielein, who were seated next to us. We still managed good conversation with this special couple,he’s president of the Balboa Bay Club and she’s a gorgeous and cosmopolitan lady who loves food and wine almost as much as Henry does; however, I won’t deny his higher profile passion for it.
Finally, it was great fun seeing some servers we’ve known in other restaurants and chef Felix Salcedo, a guy I highly admire, who has been overseeing the kitchens of Ron’s restaurants for 15 years and is now heading up the Cannery kitchen crew.
The menu is made up mostly of seafood of the Pacific, with one corner devoted to meats. You might want to begin dinner with one of their signature cocktails,don’t forget Ron’s El Cholo restaurants are justly famous for their margaritas, but the bartenders here expand on that.
There are many shellfish appetizers and everything from pastas with seafood to king crab legs, scallops, fish and chips, many kinds fish and even Mexican white shrimp. Fresh lobsters are also on the carte. For meat lovers: steaks, rack of lamb, pork chops and roasted chicken.
I would definitely recommend the lobster, shrimp and scallop enchilada born of the El Cholo legacy. It’s called Enchilada de Mariscos and with its additional spinach, shiitake mushrooms and ancho chile lobster sauce lacing the hefty wrap, it’s memorable.
It is such a wonderful thing to have this restaurant preserved, and in such nice fashion, rather than torn down as was the agenda when Bill Hamilton first sold the building. Had it not been for the vision of Jack Croul and his respect for the history of the area and Ron Salisbury’s participation as a restaurateur who is highly admired in the industry already, this charming place would have faded from the scene.
AT A GLANCE: THE CANNERY
Address: 3010 LaFayette Ave.,
Newport Beach
Phone: (949) 566-0060
Hours: From 5 p.m. nightly. Lunch and brunch will be added mid-spring.
