For those who remember, two years ago in May of '08, I reviewed a new Newport Beach restaurant which specialized in crudo, the Italian version of sashimi. The place was called Blanca — the first of many ambitious eateries in what was part of promoter Anton Posniak's MOR Project blitzkrieg. The plans included a restaurant called Fleur de L'Age at the Irvine Spectrum, the now-defunct Irezumi Sushi and turning Santa Ana's The Galaxy Theater into something called The Revolver.
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By October, Blanca as we knew it went kaputz. Irezumi Sushi shuttered. Plans for Fleur de L'Age was dead in the water. What we witnessed, in fact, was the spectacular flame out of Anton Posniak and his company. We even featured the sordid tale as a cover story. In the meantime, in the wake of it all, Blanca went on under new ownership, switching to doing Mexican coastal cuisine after head chef Nicholas Weber left.
Now even that slate has been wiped clean for good. Eater L.A. has the scoop on The Lido Deck, which has claimed the old Blanca space. They report that “The restaurant is owned and operated by chef husband-and-wife duo Don Schoenburg and Christi Carter who formerly were the executive chef and executive pastry chef for Tradition by Pascal also in Newport Beach.”
No crudo, but here's hoping this one lasts and with less drama.
CLICK HERE for the restaurant's website.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.