Dining Review

Kathy Mader

There, in bold print on Harbor Boulevard, is the Newport Rib Company, the

real reason this town bid adieu to Tony Romas years ago. You might be

asking yourself, Newport Rib Company on Harbor? Wait a minute ... I

thought they were on Newport Boulevard. You would be half-right. Newport

Boulevard was the old location, which is now home to Newport Noodle

Company, a restaurant run by a different branch of the same family.

I thought it might be incredibly unfair to the Rib Company to bring 10

people, including a vegetarian and a birthday boy, to do a review of a

restaurant that had been open for only six months. But knowing this was a

place known for hosting the local sports teams’ banquets and victory

parties, I expected they could handle it. And handle it they did. Our

waiter Daniel, who appeared not long out of high school himself, managed

to make it look easy.

And the ordering here is very easy -- get the ribs. But first, try the

onion brick ($5.50). That other rib house offered a skinny, pale version

of these with only the extra grease sticking in your memory. This brick

is big, with crispy and crunchy onions all intertwined to make it a

hands-on snack. The bonus is the vat of barbecue sauce served with it. If

you are going out for ribs, you are not going out to eat light, so order

a few other tasty appetizers, like the fresh grilled artichoke ($5.95),

deep-fried mozzarella ($4.50) or potato skins and buffalo wings (or any

combination thereof). These serve as a tasty warmup for the headliner.

Now I know that beef rib-eaters and pork rib-eaters are two different

types of humans. And, so it seems, does the Rib Company. Beef rib-eaters

hold one giant rib in each fist and want to see still more on the plate.

Newport Rib Company obliges with a huge pile of fat ones lying in wait

($11.95).

Pork rib-eaters are a shade more refined. They peel one or two ribs off

the rack at a time, hold each rib between the thumb and forefinger of

both hands and nibble, only periodically, when no one seems to be

looking, tearing off a large piece of meat. The meat fairly falls off the

baby backs ($11.95-15.95) at the Rib Company, making this unrefined,

carnivorous gesture moot.

Baskets of corn bread and down-home sides, which include coleslaw, onion

straws, zesty barbecue beans, fat steak fries, baked or garlic mashed

potatoes all work to authenticate this barbecue. But quite frankly, the

tangy, tender, and, yes, messy ribs do that all by themselves.

Newport Rib Company does offer several other options, including chicken

and steaks, prime rib, and a minimal selection of seafood. But go with

what they are famous for and that is not the pasta primavera. It was

tasty but slightly oily, and in comparison to a plate heaped with baby

back ribs, smothered in sauce and loaded baked potatoes, there really is

no choice. Confronted with these two plates, even the die-hard vegetarian

was tempted to change her ways. After much consideration, she didn’t, but

she ate the barbecue sauce on everything she could find.

The rebel in our group ordered the barbecued prime cut prime rib ($15.95)

and actually shared. It was a groupwide hit, cooked exactly as asked and

grilled in that same delectable sauce. No one ventured into the salads,

Chicken Caesar ($7.50) or the Cobb ($7.95) but they are available for

those who prefer to keep their meals restricted to the mouth area.

My only disappointment of the evening was the Original Hershey Peanut

Butter Ice Cream Pie. Sure, it tasted fine, but the name implies that it

should knock you out, and unfortunately I left still standing. The Mudd

Pie helped take the edge off, though.

Newport Rib Company is not a local favorite for the food alone. The place

is lauded for the generosity and support of local high school sports.

This restaurant is family-owned, open for 15 years, with an attitude of

“give back to the community.” And since the Ursinis are a sports-minded

family, the giving comes easiest to local sports teams. They won’t spill

who their favorites are, but since the family are all Estancia alumni, go

ahead and guess. But to prove they don’t play favorites, they host, along

with local Jim Scott, the Bell Trophy victory party for the Costa Mesa

and Estancia annual rivalry. And they will cater any other pre- or

postgame event for any game in town.

No wonder we said goodbye to Tony Romas. Newport-Mesa has a heavyweight

rib house, named after it no less, and the last thing we needed was a

lightweight contender. Newport Rib Company is the main event.

WHAT: Newport Rib Company

WHERE: 2196 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa

WHEN: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day

HOW MUCH: moderate

PHONE: (949) 631-2110