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AT A GLANCE
ROY'S OF NEWPORT BEACH
Address: 453 Newport Center Drive
Phone: (949) 640-7697
Open: Dinner only.
Prices: Appetizers $4.50 to $10.95; pizzas and salads $5.95 to $8.50; entrees $16.95 to $27.95
There's no denying that the thoroughly modem place with a slight Hawaiian feel called Roy's of Newport Beach is a hot restaurant. Since it opened in July, it has been reeling in the trendy crowd, the curious crowd, and the foodie crowd that migrates around the Newport restaurant scene. It is one of the restaurants where making a dinner reservation is highly recommended if you want to be seated upon arrival. However, should you like to hang at the bar for a drink before dinner, as we sometimes do, you'll find the wait quite tolerable in these lovely surroundings.
We've had some very interesting dinners here with some very interesting dining companions. There was the evening with Leo and Virginia Zlaket of Garden Grove, our longtime friends, and their neighbors Curt and Lexi Pringle (he's the former Assembly speaker), who have become our dining buddies of late. There was a delightful evening with businessman Bill Ferdi and wife Miriam. There was a girls' evening, too, in a comer booth for a stroll through the menu, a sampling of a couple of bottles of wine and an abundance of laughter.
Then, there was the rather amazing dinner a couple of weeks ago with the most intriguing winemaker of all, Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon. Further discussion of the latter is held in abeyance for an upcoming column, since Randall and Roy's in one article would he just...