What would make a successful restaurateur close his popular L.A. eatery after nearly five decades and move to Orange County to start a new culinary venture?
Blame Hans Prager.
Piero Selvaggio—who bid farewell to his Valentino restaurant in Santa Monica last December after 46 years—said a friendship with the famed food master led him here.
“There was a famous restaurant called The Ritz, the owner was Hans Prager,” Selvaggio said. Prager had been “GM at two major restaurants—Scandia and Lawry’s—[and] started Gulliver’s.”
Selvaggio and Prager “went to the same awards dinners … sat at the same table. [Prager] was a good talker. We became friends. [He] also became friends with Ron Salisbury,” then launching The Cannery.
One day, Prager said to Selvaggio, “I am going to introduce you to a guy with a bigger ego than mine.” Then Selvaggio and Salisbury “met and became friends.” Selvaggio said when he “moved down here, we became better friends, and now partners.”
Bay Side
The duo’s Italian steakhouse Louie’s by the Bay bowed in February where The Ritz Prime Seafood briefly stood—it closed two years ago after just 17 months in business—on Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Between them, they have more than a century of restaurant history.
Selvaggio is 72; Salisbury, 86.
Salisbury’s family opened the first El Cholo restaurant in 1923. A half-dozen are open, including locations in Corona del Mar and Anaheim Hills. The current iteration of The Cannery came in around 2000.
Selvaggio had the Santa Monica Valentino and another in Las Vegas, with other noted restaurants. Valentino was known for an award-wining wine list exceeding 100,000 bottles.
Three years ago, Selvaggio’s then-wife, Anna, moved to Orange County for work and her husband began to make that painfully long drive from OC to Santa Monica.
“The commute on the 405 [freeway] got to me,” he said. “I went back and forth wondering what to do. Ron came to me” with a good deal on the former Ritz Prime Seafood site.
Originals
They gutted it and emerged with a warmer, more inviting design than the previous occupant—no relation to Prager’s classic Ritz, which had closed at Newport Center in 2014 after a 37-year run.
Selvaggio invited me and two fellow food writers to dine at Louie’s, and was there to greet us at the door. He’s a charming host, floating from table to table to check on his guests and share a laugh or a smile.
He wanted us to sample several dishes, so Chef Antonio Orlando, came out first with appetizers.
Selvaggio’s choice for chef was serendipitous. Orlando worked at Valentino and left after 10 years to open his own successful series of restaurants. He retired several months ago but heard Selvaggio was vetting chefs for the new venture.
He called Selvaggio, said he lived local and was interested. Selvaggio told him, “You’re hired!”
Orlando brought out two dishes: a beautiful prosciutto di parma aged 18 months with fresh buratta and gnocco fritto then finished with extra virgin olive oil, along with il crudo with sashimi of tuna, hamachi and salmon with citrus essence and avocado.
The buratta and prosciutto were perfect together, and the crispy gnocco fritto added texture. The crudo plate’s color resembled an artist’s palette and the fish practically melted in my mouth.
“We sell 25 to 50 pounds of prosciutto a week,” said Orlando, whose menu philosophy starts with originality. “Do not do flowers, or small dishes. People here want gnocchi, lasagna and meat. We have a daily fish special. Most of our fish is imported. The branzino comes from Europe. And of course, we have pasta. I will send out a sample.”
The sample plate included a house special of ravioli with ricotta and buratta in a tomato sauce, and mandilli, or handkerchief pasta, with layers of lasagna noodles dipped in a creamy pesto sauce. The sample made me want more, but beef was on the way in the form of osso buco with risotto, so tender I barely needed a knife.
Dessert was canoli, and a trio of tiramisu: lemon, pistachio, traditional.
Naming Right
What about the restaurant’s name?
“Ron is a sentimental guy,” explained Selvaggio. “There are two shadows over this restaurant. One is Hans Prager. The other is Louie Zamperini,” a WWII POW, Olympic runner, and subject of two recent films.
Zamperini became friends with the Salisbury family and ended up being Ron’s babysitter. Zamperini died in 2014, and Salisbury wanted to honor him by naming the restaurant Louie’s.
“He told me the story and it became an emotional thing,” said Selvaggio.
Based on how crowded Louie’s was on the Wednesday night I dined, the restaurant is already fast becoming an emotional thing for fans of fine Italian food and wine.
2801 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach 92663, (949) 720-1800, louiesnewport.com
Il Barone’s Family Ties
Two nights later I found myself at Il Barone Ristorante in Newport Beach, another favorite Italian locale. A friend had shared photos of her dinner at Ti Amo in Laguna Beach, owned by Il Barone founders Franco and Donatella Barone, and it made me hungry for more.
I took a seat at the bar, where Donatella herself was waiting on her customers like they were family. She handed me a menu and poured me a glass of Super Tuscan wine. The nightly pasta special got my attention: ravioli stuffed with black and white truffles along with ricotta cheese, laced in a mascarpone cream sauce and shaved black truffles.
The dish tasted as decadent as it sounded. I mopped up the sauce with small slices of Italian bread. I finished my evening with Franco Barone’s signature limoncello tiramisu.
Louie’s may be the hottest new Italian restaurant in town, but Il Barone is still making its clientele happy.
900 Bristol St. N., Newport Beach 92660, (949) 955-2755, ilbaroneristorante.com
‘Top Chef’ Comes to OC
This column appears April 1 but this is no joke: celebrity Chef Brian Malarkey, who rose to fame on Bravo’s “Top Chef” series, plans a new concept in Irvine this summer.
Malarkey owns five restaurants in San Diego with two more opening this year. His latest is Herb & Wood in Little Italy. I dined there soon after it opened and based on the menu and décor it deserves every accolade it has earned.
You can bet there will be accolades for Herb & Ranch, a “micro-food hall” and chef’s market concept at UCI Research Park, the office park near University of California-Irvine.
Malarkey is no stranger to Orange County. He has presented chef demos at the Newport Beach Wine and Food Festival and Pacific Wine and Food Classic, and has been waiting for the right time to bring his talents here.
Herb & Ranch will offer indoor and outdoor dining from five stations, as at a food hall, along with meeting and event space.
I asked Malarkey about the “micro” moniker.
“I eat out a lot, so I know what works and doesn’t work,” Malarkey told me. He said food halls abound but they’re inefficient, with each small location requiring its own kitchen. His will have one.
“We’ll have five to seven items on the menu at each station, and the food is ready in front of you. We’ll be open for breakfast and lunch, and happy hour dinner” along with takeout.
This is his first but certainly not his last OC restaurant from Malarkey, who hinted at a concept similar to his Herb & Sea restaurant, opening in Encinitas later this year, coming to a coastal community locally.
Keep an eye on him at brianmalarkey.com.
Old Vine’s New Home
Another new restaurant recently opened. Make that an old restaurant reopened in new digs.
Old Vine Café spent 11 years at an intimate location at The Camp in Costa Mesa and in February moved two doors down to the larger space previously occupied by Ecco Pizzeria & Bar.
The new Old Vine Kitchen & Bar reflects the expanded offering. I was invited to the grand opening party but it was so packed—hundreds of loyal customers—I couldn’t get a sense of the new venue or menu.
I returned last Saturday for a late breakfast, sat in the lounge and surveyed the renovations: an art installation by San Clemente designer Mark Gerardi custom-commissioned to separate the bar and dining room spaces, the living room lounge with cozy love seats, and the dining room which showcases abstract paintings by artist Paul Kole. The Ecco patio seating is still there, and looks to be the most popular place to hang out.
I ordered an Old Vine specialty: Rabbit Mole, with braised rabbit, eggs, pasilla and cashew mole, queso fresco, and fresh-baked cornbread. The rabbit was perfectly prepared with the mole adding an additional layer of flavor.
Old Vine Kitchen & Bar will continue to serve its award-winning breakfast and lunch seven days a week with unique brunch offerings including the Rabbit Mole, Torta de Lengua with tender beef tongue, and porcini mushroom mac & cheese with a blend of four cheeses. And of course, it’s open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday.
2937 Bristol St., Suite A-103, Costa Mesa 92626, (714) 545-1411, oldvinekitchenbar.com
100 Acres of Luxury
There are winemaker dinners, and then there’s the Hundred Acre affair with winemaker and owner Jayson Woodbridge at Pelican Hill’s Andrea restaurant on Friday, April 26.
This event includes Hundred Acre cult classics including the opulent cabernet sauvignon that made the label famous. Wines will be paired with six seasonally inspired courses from Andrea’s Chef de Cuisine.
During dinner, Woodbridge will discuss the art of winemaking and how he achieved the rare distinction of receiving 100 points for a dozen of his wines in only eight years.
The cost of this exclusive wine dinner is $795, a hefty price but then again, we’re talking Hundred Acre and Andrea. That itself is a perfect pairing.
Reservations: (877) 563-5102
