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In the war of Restaurant Row, Il Fornaio is having Prego's lunch.
That's the consensus after a turbulent year on OC's "Restaurant Row" that has seen the upscale eateries clustered along Von Karman Street in Irvine battling the recession, as well as each other.
The addition of upstart Il Fornaio last November has definitely pumped up the competition. Some restaurateurs say the new trattoria-style restaurant is actually a welcome addition, drawing more traffic to the area and keeping all the operators on their toes. But it has also forced them to compete harder for diners by cutting both prices and costs.
The result, according to the restaurant managers and industry observers: Il Fornaio is doing gangbuster volume. Bistango and Bistro 201 apparently are weathering the storm well, both reporting sales increases for the year. Prego Ristorante, while the best-established of the four, has experienced a drop in business (see chart). (Chart omitted)
An interesting sidelight to the Il Fornaio-Prego rivalry is the role of Larry Mindel. In 1970 Mindel founded San Francisco-based Spectrum Foods Inc., which opened Prego...