Best of Laguna Beach

著者： Diane Armitage
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  • From 25-year Laguna Beach Resident Diane Armitage enjoy fun, engaging interviews of our international chefs and the town's most creative people + my recommendations for THE best places to dine, drink and play in our famous SoCal seaside town.

    Also enjoy the monthly series, "Revenue Recipes: Cooking Up Profits for Restaurants" with me and my special guest, award-winning Restaurant Developer Bruce Russo.

    The Best of Laguna Beach™ podcasts are uploaded on Wednesdays every week by 12 p.m. PST/3 p.m. EST
    2024, Best of Laguna Beach™
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From 25-year Laguna Beach Resident Diane Armitage enjoy fun, engaging interviews of our international chefs and the town's most creative people + my recommendations for THE best places to dine, drink and play in our famous SoCal seaside town.

Also enjoy the monthly series, "Revenue Recipes: Cooking Up Profits for Restaurants" with me and my special guest, award-winning Restaurant Developer Bruce Russo.

The Best of Laguna Beach™ podcasts are uploaded on Wednesdays every week by 12 p.m. PST/3 p.m. EST
2024, Best of Laguna Beach™
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  • From Farro Bowls to Margarita Trucks – Laguna’s Got Layers

    From Farro Bowls to Margarita Trucks – Laguna’s Got Layers
    2025/04/09
    On this week’s episode of Best of Laguna Beach on KXFM 104.7, I sat down with Laguna Nursery and Visionscape Design owner Ruben Flores to chat about the amazing events, spaces, and stories that make Laguna special – and why strong, authentic, in-the-trenches marketing matters more than ever.I'm publishing this replay early to encourage you to attend tonight's meeting and add your voice.As someone who's been celebrating and championing “Laguna’s best” for nearly two decades from radio to podcast and blog to books — I believe we owe it to this incredible town to ensure that our many unique stories and personalities are told with heart, soul and substance.Here’s everything we covered in this Monday’s “Best of Laguna Beach” show:What I really do for a living (heh) and my two new podcasts - one launched 3 weeks ago - Mastering Restaurant Revenue with me and Bruce Russo (the G.O.A.T. of restaurant design and build for profit making ease). Then, this Friday, April 11th, The Catalyst Code launches! It’s my behind-the-scenes recipe for real momentum and mindset shifts, served up for anyone hungry for more out of life and business. Please go check both out here (this might ask you for another email subscription but it’s free):Mastering Restaurant RevenueThe Catalyst Code PreviewThen, Ruben & I discussed creative moments in Laguna Beach that you just can’t find anywhere else:Why the Laguna Achievement Festival two weeks ago was such a stellar representation of our townRuben’s famed (and kinda hilarious) Garden WalksRestaurateur Mario Melendez (Rasta Taco) and lightbulb moment several years ago that created the first “margarita truck” in the country. Now his “Rasta Rita” margarita trucks have bloomed to a whole fleet. We talk about the crazy events and receptions he does (and not a bad idea for Father’s Day, either!)Restaurateur Cary Redfearn’s insatiable love for creative food and the new dishes he and Chef Armando Ortega keep coming up with at Lumberyard, including my new favorite, a grilled shrimp and perfectly-done farro bowl. This photo does it NO justice - super tasty and amazing.Ruben talks more about the current Main Beach renovation and our city’s “Great Art vs. Blah Plants.”The renowned Laguna Beach Garden Club’s Gate & Garden Tour is coming up May 3rd and 4th - it seriously sells out in advance every year, so be sure to grab your tickets:Gate & Garden Tour TixOn the subject of Laguna Beach Garden Club, we talk about the monthly guests they bring in and the “jaw dropping” presentation Hollywood Production Designer Nelson Coates delivered a couple weeks ago … and of course we then have to talk about our favorite movies where Nelson has created entire forests, gardens and even a garden scene in the “Crazy Rich Asians” wedding that is now a frontrunner of “best cinematic weddings of all time.”HERE is where we talk about the City Council meeting tonight with our initial thoughts on the visitor' bureau.The recent Rivian event that reminded Laguna Beach that the ENTIRE CITY was deemed a “national historic treasure” in 1984.I mentioned that the Drake Laguna Beach is now setting up a second location - The Drake on Sunset - on Sunset Blvd. right at the junction between WeHo and Beverly Hills. And no - we’re not losing our beloved chefs, Chef Paul and Chef Nick to L.A. They’ve both elected to stay here in Laguna Beach. (That larger story is forthcoming.)A quick chat about incoming fast food “counter” service incomings - Board & Brew soon to be in the Wild Taco location on Ocean Avenue and Coast Highway, and Chela’s now in the former North Laguna Lost Bean/Zeytoon location.
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    52 分
  • Incoming Piatti restaurant: Why they chose Laguna Beach

    Incoming Piatti restaurant: Why they chose Laguna Beach
    2025/04/05
    On my Best of Laguna Beach show this week, a very special guest joined me – Matt Stuhl – to talk about all the plans for his company’s incoming restaurant, Piatti on 222 Ocean Avenue (previously Taverna/Ocean at Main/Suenos/Cabana). Listen in as he talks about what they have in play and what’s in the plan. What a great introduction between a locally-centric restaurant company and the residents and visitors of Laguna Beach!

    Go to: BestofLagunaBeach.com for ongoing news on events, restaurants, chefs, artists and more, more more! Follow in social media @BestofLagunaBeach

    Show Notes


    ✅ Why did the Founder Tim Harmon have an eye on Laguna Beach, this “very special new spot” per Matt?

    ✅ Why Palisades Hospitality Group grows from the concept of “intentional growth” and what that means to Laguna Beach residents.

    ✅ The hyper-local customization Piatti does in each of its communities.

    ✅ Admittedly, I have a love for this restaurant because my now-business partner, Bruce Russo, initially developed this property from a 1950s floor plan for a bank (which eventually becoming a Big Dog store and then a rug store before Taverna was constructed). Matt talks about the unique differences in this building and build-out that proved the winning decision. We talk about Bruce’s love for this patio and what he did to restore the one-of-a-kind fountain there. This leads to our discussion on one of Matt’s favorite storied concepts he developed, and why these occasional stories stick with you as you create the concept.

    ✅ Piatti’s intention to not just “fill a hole” but complement the restaurants around them while zeroing in on what might be missing in the town’s current food offerings. (They have some ideas.)

    ✅ Matt talks about his favorite food items on the Piatti menu but his anticipation of what their Laguna guests will demarcate as their favorites moving forward.

    ✅ Matt addresses their grandfathered night club permit at the 222 Ocean Avenue location … and what they’re going to do with it.

    ✅ We talk about their Piatti specially labeled wines and Matt’s initial skeptic’s alarm when he first came on board after enduring other restaurants’ private brand jugs of wine. He talks about the differences in their Piatti private label wine and the pride he takes in the special vintages they create.

    ✅ What’s their plan for Opening Day in May? They’re hiring now! They’re also honing in on their chef, and Matt talks about the process they go through with prospective chefs. Here’s where to go for applications:Apply to Work at Piatti: Careers

    ✅ Matt started in restaurants because he was an actor … and he did the stereotypical thing of “acting like a restaurant server” while working to be an actor. The decision to move into hospitality involved his physical move from Minneapolis to California … and here’s why.“I want to know the nooks and crannies of every operation. I want to be able to have a boutique experience where we get to know every guest and every guest is welcomed back often, and we build our experiences around what they want and invite them to be part of the hospitality experience.” - Matt Stuhl

    ✅ Before joining Palisades Hospitality, Matt worked with two boutique hotel groups in the Oceanside area in that redevelopment process. Here’s how he compares it to Laguna Beach. “You’ve got to be part of a community. You can’t just walk in and think you can take over a community no matter how much money you have.”

    ✅ Matt leaves us with his favorite Piatti dish … and why it’s his favorite.
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    51 分
  • Tearing Down Fences & Talking Restaurants with Ruben Flores

    Tearing Down Fences & Talking Restaurants with Ruben Flores
    2025/03/28
    On Monday, at “Best of Laguna Beach’s” radio show at KXFM 104.7, Laguna Nursery and Visionscape Design Owner Ruben Flores joins me for ALL sorts of discussion, from new restaurants to sorry construction fencing at Main Beach … to our dining in 12 restaurants last week and positive moves we’re seeing from the new City Manager and Planning Commission.

    Here’s a quick summary of this week’s newsy show:


    ✅ Last week’s launch of “Mastering Restaurant Revenue,” the podcast between me and restaurant industry GOAT Bruce Russo, was a happy and successful launch. Ruben says that he can’t go into any restaurant without now surveying “revenue pods.” We’ve done our job!

    ✅ All about Chef Maro Molteni - his departure years ago from Maro Wood Grill and his subsequent, multi-restaurant chef’s journey in Laguna Beach UNTIL he decided to leave us to build his own restaurant in Laguna Niguel. 😩 On Sunday, Ruben, Nelson and I got to check out Chef Maro’s almost-open digs as he rounds the final turn to his opening day. (More on that later.)
    Big brother Martin Molteni (left) flew up from Argentina to help Maro (right) finalize the kitchen prep and menu before Chef Maro’s grand opening of his own restaurant in April - in Laguna Niguel.

    ✅ Ruben asks me to put my restaurant consulting hat on to share my thoughts about Maro’s kitchen as well as the smart “revenue pods” Maro has in place as soon as the doors open.

    ✅ The huge marketing benefit of putting signage in place for your restaurant even BEFORE renovation begins. Ruben uses a similar example in his own landscaping world - what he puts in first.

    ✅ ALL the Laguna restaurants we dined in last week - TWELVE restaurants! I published that article review on Tuesday this week:Read: Last Week's Eats✅ Laguna Beach restaurants capitalizing on “take out” (yet another revenue pod that Bruce and I talk about).

    ✅ The more expensive dishes in town. Who eats these? (Because people ARE eating them.)

    ✅ Ruben mentions the “embarrassing” and “horrendous” construction fencing efforts at Main Beach. We offer several options for a better branding and luxurious feel for our town.Right now we have the shabbiest curtains on our Window to the Sea.” - Ruben Flores

    ✅ The new City Manager (Dave Kiff), who’s sending out “forward-thinking emails” about upcoming City Council agendas. This is an awesome move, particularly for residents who feel that the last few years have left them shut out of major city decisions. We bring up the positive changes we’ve also seen in the Planning Commission, and talk briefly about last week’s meeting where the commissioners and City Manager handled the rather woeful architectural design of the South Laguna new fire station.

    ✅ Ruben begs the City to trim a decades-old Carob tree before it fails completely. He then moves into talking about our parks as “jewels” instead of “just plots of land that sit there,” and what can be done there, too.

    ✅ We close with an invite to Ruben’s popular “Garden Walk,” occurring again this Saturday, March 29th.And that’s a wrap!


    “See” you next week at KXFM Radio 104.7, Laguna’s only radio station! Thanks for being my listeners!
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    50 分

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