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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あらすじ・解説

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™
続きを読む 一部表示
エピソード
  • Sawdust Artist Baruch Kaufman's Scoop on Winter Fantasy Fest - Opens Friday!

    Sawdust Artist Baruch Kaufman's Scoop on Winter Fantasy Fest - Opens Friday!
    2024/11/20
    In this podcast, I introduce my TOP TWO favorite holiday events and one of my favorite artists (and humans) at the Winter Fantasy Sawdust Festival – my in-studio guest, Baruch Kaufman.The Winter Fantasy - my #1 favorite event in Laguna Beach all year long – begins this Friday, Nov. 22nd, and we’re here to talk all about its extreme uniqueness. Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust is every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Nov. 22nd through Dec. 22nd 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. 935 Laguna Canyon Road. Pay and park on the street or at nearby city lots. Tickets are available online and at the ticket offices onsite: $12 for adults, $10 for seniors over $65, $5 for kids ages 6-12, and free for kids under the age of 5. Locals are free on Fridays!Show Notes: We talk Baruch’s family custom jewelry business at the top of Legion Avenue since 1996, and Baruch’s first entry into the Winter Fantasy in 2011. Baruch explains the extended weekend Winter Fantasy season, from Nov. 22nd through Dec. 22nd, 10 am - 7 pm every Friday,Saturday and Sunday. Baruch offers multiple great pointers as to why this is such a “holiday Christmas magic vibe” including 180 unique artists, “biodegradable snow from the sky,” roving carolers and three live music stages every weekend day. I chime in with the differences between the Summer Sawdust Festival vs. the Winter Fantasy show and the focus on gifts. (Baruch actually created several individualized gifts for my own clients while I was standing there at the Winter Sawdust.) Baruch explains his upbringing in Seattle - one of 7 kids who participated in the family’s longtime jewelry business, and their eventual move to Laguna Beach. We talk about the gift Baruch brought me before our radio show, a “Laguna Wave” patented ring his Dad engineered. (It’s only sold at the Gem Mountains Studio at the Legion location). We then talk about Baruch’s own designs based on calligraphy and treble clefs with wire designs that showcase the hand-chosen gems. I mention the ability to talk with the artists at more length during the Winter Fantasy, and how I can ask Baruch anything about any gem … he knows the backstory on every one he displays. This leads to a most interesting explanation of how Baruch personally shops for and hand chooses the gems he selects. Baruch explains the increased variety of artists at the winter show. Turns out the Summer Festival is consistently always Laguna Beach Artists, but Winter Fantasy allows for about 50 Orange County artists. More variety! I then provide a litany of gift ideas that I always purchase for my own friends and clients. I mention the winter menu shifts that happen, too, in the restaurants on the Sawdust grounds. And on that note – I’m ordering a few dishes for Thanksgiving dinner, so I’ll remind you again, too! While uber-popular Chef Evan of Evan’s Gourmet is back in play for the Winter Sawdust Festival, she’s also offering Thanksgiving dinner to go - the full dinner or a la carte pick-and-choose for pickup at her restaurant (Evan’s Gourmet, 860 Glenneyre Street) the day before Thanksgiving. Order online at EvansGourmet.com) Baruch and I talk about the fabled “Lottery Pick Day” when Sawdust artists actually choose their booth locations. Baruch explains that, in the last lottery, he had 12 years of tickets “in the hopper” and waited until his first ticket came up at “Position #165” out of 180 artists. Baruch offers his perspective of the Sawdust grounds’ transformation from an empty, dirt Eucalyptus grove to a rabble of constructed (and approved fire department) customized, quirky, artsy booths. To add to the engaging “holiday village feel,” several Laguna Beach non-profit groups decorate their own holiday themed trees for the Winter Fantasy. The community tree lighting ceremony is this Saturday at 5:00 p.m. for the “auld lang syne” moment. Very uniquely Laguna Beach in our artists’ community. Then, I mention my 2nd most favorite holiday event in Laguna Beach - Ruben Flores’ Annual Holiday Decor and Wreath Making Workshop. This Friday, Nov. 22nd, 3:00 p.m.This workshop is an absolute hoot with Ruben Flores at the helm in the back lot workshop of Laguna Nursery. It’s this Friday, Nov. 22nd. It starts at 3:00 p.m. at 481 N. Coast Highway at Myrtle and North Coast Highway. Call (949) 494-5200 to let Ruben know you’re coming on Friday. It’s just $30 a person. (Bring your pruners, he says.) Then … back to my in-studio guest, Baruch We dive back into Baruch’s personal life as a world traveler. He talks about “the magic and cultures of the world” as he shares this year’s early autumn travels into Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, etc. along with Michelin restaurant dining and the most amazing art installation he’s ever seen, “teamLab Borderless.” After a brief return to Laguna Beach, he then popped over to Dubai, then over to India’s Uttar Pradesh (where he’s working with ...
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    52 分
  • Monday's hectic, crazy-funny radio show

    Monday's hectic, crazy-funny radio show
    2024/11/14
    If you saw my 5-minute video in yesterday’s "Best of Laguna Beach" post about my crazy radio show this past Monday, you know it was NOT the standard fare I usually offer. I pulled Ruben Flores in to help me contact friends and raise money for our nonprofit radio station’s KXFM’s annual “Community Takeover” fundraiser. But we had such an inundation of calls, it looked and felt a lot like Lucy and Ethel in that famous "I Love Lucy" episode of their frantic efforts in the chocolate factory. Despite the chaos, it was a funny, heartwarming hour with many lovely voices popping in to support.And here are the Show notes/summary of Monday’s show: The show starts hot and heavy with three phone lines ringing in, the first of which is a major contributor and longtime board member to the South Laguna Community Garden, Sally Coffee.Ruben, Nelson and I were invited to Sunday night’s “OTO Sushi Friends & Family” trial run. I’m able to briefly mention this as calls keep popping in and Ruben spills the beans on what he promised the new OTO Sushi management. We chat briefly about OTO Sushi’s new look and feel, and I mention Bruce Russo’s take on acoustic tiles.Ruben explains his attendance at the Academy-only audience invited to see the new “Wicked” movie. We talk Ruben and Nelson’s opinion about the “extravaganza.”We talk OTO Sushi’s “Friends and Family” event with all the food we ordered and the cool cocktails we tried. Ruben continues with his opinion on the service as I scramble to answer phones.Ali North, Surf and Sand’s Lead Concierge calls in, so we chat a bit about the great progress at the Surf and Sand Resort.Ruben talks about the fun Garden Walk he hosts every other Saturday from his Laguna Nursery and what he considers the greatest element of these unique walks. As I madly answer calls in the background with pinch hitter station chief Jonathan, Ruben talks about the poor, giant Italian Stone Pine tree at Anita Carmen Park that’s currently dying that CAN be saved. Stone Pines typically live for 300 years and are extremely resilient, but this one is in big trouble. Ruben has ideas for its salvage … but it has to happen FAST.Chef Antonio Rua joins us to chat about Tango, their happy hour and his favorite menu item.We chat about Chef Evan at Evan’s Gourmet who’s prepping for the Sawdust Winter Fantasy, multiple catering and group dining events AND her restaurant busy-ness.We get Chef Nick from The Drake BACK! He talks about “the transitional season” and how that works so beautifully for locals. I mention my favorite cocktail that Nick busts into song about, and we talk about his work with his very experienced “Euro, old school” Dad and the great combo they’ve created as a result.Ruben and I talk about our love for KXFM Radio and why it’s such a special element for our special town.Then, Chef Evan Lewis from Evan’s Gourmet (Thalia and Glenn Eyre) pops back in and we talk about the Sawdust Winter Festival beginning on Nov. 22nd (she has a restaurant there) and the Community Garden decorating one of the holiday trees there. We talk further about her group dining options, especially for families and businesses up to about 30. She’s also offering an a la carte Thanksgiving feast. Get your entire feast or purchase any a la carte items you please, including pumpkin pie pre-orders.We return to the beleaguered Italian Stone Pine tree issue - seriously, this tree has an 80-foot canopy; it is majestic – at Anita Carmen Park, and the ONLY white Jacaradana tree we have in all of Laguna Beach in the same park.Ruben explains how his Garden Walk begins with mimosas … a report on what’s happening in Laguna Beach … what’s happening in Hollywood (our special connection) … what do do with your garden NOW, based on seasonality … and, then, we go for a WALK.Bruce Russo, the country’s most successfully prolific restaurant developer, calls in and we talk about our last radio show episode together, “The 3-Second Scan,” and why the restaurant needs to “date” the clientele.And then … I accidentally lose Bruce. OK. So moving on … (so, so sorry Bruce!)Napa Valley calls in from the great Auberge Resort with (also the great) Andrew Bennett. He talks about the multifaceted “layers” of Laguna Beach and how the same applies to Napa Valley. It’s a fabulous viewpoint from Andrew until … we accidentally lose him, too.Nelson Coates calls in from filming of “The Morning Show” in Hollywood to express his support for this show (awww).One of my dearest buddies calls in (Lisa), friends to both Ruben and me. We make group plans for dining as she donates.We talk about my upcoming interviews on “Best of Laguna Beach” - Chef Erik from Oliver’s Osteria, Chef Nick from The Drake and a surprise nationally revered chef guest from The Hamptons of Long Island, NY, will also be blessing our “Best of Laguna” show.As I answer more calls, Ruben talks ...
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    51 分
  • New Laguna Dining Announced + The Best Kind of Bars with Bruce Russo

    New Laguna Dining Announced + The Best Kind of Bars with Bruce Russo
    2024/11/09
    This week at my “Best of Laguna Beach” radio show at KXFM 104.7, Bruce Russo returned to chat with me about another host of restaurant topics, from the new incoming restaurant group to “his” former restaurant in Laguna Beach … to restaurant training that goes MIA … to what Bruce creates in restaurants to woo diners … to a single woman’s take on sitting in restaurant bars.
    Show Notes
    :30 We talk about the difficulties and wins Bruce had in developing the 222 Ocean Avenue restaurant “Taverna” in Laguna Beach.

    11:50 I announce the newcomer restaurant group to 222 Ocean Avenue and what Bruce would change for this new restaurant concept (if given a magic wand).

    17:03 The location of your bar can change your revenue significantly.

    18:14 The 3-second scan every patron does when he or she enters a restaurant.18:52 The 3-second scan from a single woman’s point of view (me) and the faux pas I endured at one of my favorite restaurants last weekend.

    22:22 Easy fixes in training and physical, foundational elements to help your patrons feel like the Golden Egg Gift that they are to you.
    24:33 The most important job in the front-facing part of a restaurant.28:40 Bruce’s story on Maestro’s restaurant in Phoenix … 17 years ago.

    30:43 Our combined advice on “Opening Day” and the immediate weeks that follow – including soft opens, menu options and more - for both restaurant owners and the patrons who visit in those precarious first weeks.

    35:30 Who Bruce primarily designs his restaurants for and why.

    37:30 The most important room in your restaurant and why.

    44:04 The worst of restaurant solutions … and Bruce’s solutions in the exact, opposite direction.

    47:17 The introduction of Bruce’s “4 kitchens in one” concept that he’s inserting in more and more of his designs AND a teaser into the 18-concept strategic Food Hall he designed and created for immediate revenue success.

    To contact B. Russo Designs for restaurant concept and development: https://BRussoDesigns.com

    To contact Diane Armitage for restaurant consulting, including "Secret Shopping," restaurant reviews and refined branding and public perception: https://Armitageinc.com or schedule: https://ChatWithDiane.com
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    51 分

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