Diane Armitage
21-year Laguna Beach resident &
absolute devotee of this amazing town.
Here our thousands of insider tips and
recommendations
for all the best places
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LAGUNA BEACH
Best Food & Drink
New Craft Cocktails, Pizza Kits & … Spin Bikes?
Welcome to another week of imaginative cookery and cocktailing from our Laguna Beach restaurants! First, thanks to all of you out there who stepped up and ordered your Easter Sunday dining fare from one of our Laguna Beach restaurants. It buoyed many of our...
Easter Restaurant Options in Laguna Beach During COVID
I love celebrating Easter, but this year has almost gotten away from me. (Seems I've had other things on my mind. You, too?) Several restaurants are reporting special menus for Easter Sunday. Keep in mind that just about all of these restaurants offering Easter...
Upcoming Events & News
Watch What You Do With That Tree!
The City of Laguna Beach recently adopted a Tree Removal Ordinance to establish protection of the urban forest in the City by requiring a permit be issued before the removal of private trees in three categories. This ordinance is in effect starting Thursday, July 26,...
Wine and Chocolate Tastings at Festival Each Thursday
My favorite weekly event at the Festival of Art? Easy. Thursday evening’s “Art, Jazz, Wine & Chocolate.” It's a great evening of wine and chocolate tastings, with great music to boot! I’m not sure that this event needs a lot of salesmanship. When you have art,...
Get to Know OC & LA Chefs
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Best Food & Drink
Chef Profile – Casa Laguna’s Sarah Keenan
Initially, when Casa Laguna's Executive Chef Sarah Keenen told me she was raised by "militant hippies," I thought we had a classic oxymoron in play. As it turns out, Chef Sarah is all about the healthiest organic food you can find. Raised by both a grandmother and...
Chef Amar Santana Triumphs on Esquire’s Knife Fight
Congratulations to The Broadway's Chef Amar Santana for triumphing over L.A.'s Dolce Chef Mirko Pademo in last night's televised Knife Fight on the Esquire Network. Given a limited quantity of ingredients to work with, the chefs both came up with very similar dishes...
Wine Dinner at The Broadway Restaurant Featuring Justin
Honestly, I'm not sure that there will be any seats left at the time of this publication, but I'm giving it my best shot for you! (I'll write this really quickly so you can get to the action step fast.) Chef Amar Santana and his lovely team at The Broadway Restaurant...
Update on Cafe Zoolu – Happily, Still Spectacular
So, if you've seen my Laguna Beach "Best of" book, you know this guide for residents and tourists alike devotes 129 pages to restaurant reviews alone. So . . . ehrm . . . I happen to like a LOT of restaurants here in Laguna Beach. But, when people ask me to name my...
GG’s Bistro a Quiet Euro Breakfast
This Sunday, on recommendations from friends, I decided to drop into GG's Italian Mediterranean Bistro for breakfast. For more than 9 years, this husband/wife team has managed to keep the life in the main level of this 540 South Coast Highway complex. The House of Big...
Laguna’s House of Big Fish Happy Hour Changes Significantly
While most restaurateurs in Laguna are changing up their Happy Hour menus now to accommodate the re-emergence of us locals, the House of Big Fish & Ice Cold Beer has created a significant change in their already popular Happy Hour menu. Unlike the old days when...
Upcoming Events & News
Montage Adds Bistro Menu, Live Music in Laguna Beach
This week, a few of my readers had me looking for live music in Laguna Beach that didn't necessarily involve a "club" scene. Granted, the Laguna Beach Music Festival debuts next Monday, Feb. 3rd, and that's a whole LOT of music … and GG's Bistro seems to have a...
OC Animal Med Center Offers Down-Home Southern Vet Love (and Specials!)
I love it when someone in a timeworn industry shakes it up a little bit. The OC Animal Medical Center in Laguna Canyon (about 100 yards east of Ganahl Lumber) has done some serious shakin’ and stirrin’ with the recent partnership of two great vets, each of whom...
Upcoming Witte Lectures Feature Fantastic Speakers
Every now and then, I hear about such a great event that I have to write about it even if it IS outside the city limits of Laguna Beach. (Thankfully, in this case, the event is the brainchild of a particularly philanthropic couple who lives here in Laguna Beach, so it...
The Official Travel Guide for Laguna Beach
Initially released in 2013, the Official Travel Guide for Laguna Beach is a 4-color, 270-page book on all the best food, drinks, places and events in Laguna Beach. Written from a local's perspective, Laguna Beach's Best is an objective, insider's travel guide to...
Kids’ Art Studio Premieres Sunday at Laguna Art Museum
Yesterday, I had the most interesting conversation with the one-man marketing wizardess of the Laguna Art Museum, Marni Farmer. We got together to discuss her upcoming year's events and it started with three or four events, and then she remembered another three or...
Laguna Playhouse’s “Ring of Fire” Tributes the Man in Black
In my review of the Laguna Playhouse’s “Ring of Fire: The Songs of Johnny Cash,” I have just two initial comments: First, although I imagined myself an avid and eclectic collector of all sorts of music, it wasn’t until I was in Hob Childer’s spin class in 2001 that I...
Get to Know OC & LA Chefs
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