Commissioners display European flair

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- It actually never crossed anyone’s lips. But

“cosmopolitan” was definitely the word du jour.

Allowing an Italian restaurant owner to serve liquor and keep his late

hours, the city’s planning commissioners revealed sympathy for Newport

Beach’s international visitors during discussions that took place after

10 p.m. Thursday.

“Most of the time, we have European” tourists, Domenico Maurici, who

owns Cafe Il Farro on Balboa Peninsula, told commissioners as they began

debating his request.

“And Europeans like to eat late,” he said.

Soon, it became obvious it was the location of Maurici’s restaurant,

rather than his desire to add Campari and grappa to his drink menu, that

worried commissioners.

He feeds people in the city’s infamous high-crime area, bound by 38th

and 20th streets on Balboa Peninsula. Tightly packed with bars and

nightclubs, city officials have pointed to the area’s large number of

liquor licenses as reason for its skyrocketing rate of arrests for

driving under the influence and public drunkenness.

The Newport Beach Police Department, which refers to the neighborhood

as Reporting District 15, made 37.4% of all such arrests throughout the

city in the area in 1999. City Council members are expected to decide

Tuesday whether to shut down the Buzz restaurant -- partly as a result of

a record number of police calls to the establishment and its immediate

area.

District 15’s bad reputation -- it is one of more than 30 reporting

areas -- came up immediately when Commissioner Michael Kranzley explained

his desire to deny Maurici’s request.

“At some point, we’ve got to stop putting on [liquor licenses] in this

district,” he said.

Not that he didn’t hold Maurici and his cuisine in high regard.

“You need to try this restaurant,” he told his fellow commissioners

and audience members, who still filled the council chambers despite the

late hour.

“It is a terrific restaurant,” Kranzley said, adding that Cafe Il

Farro ranked high on his family’s list of favorite dining places.

Other commissioners could only back up their colleague’s praise.

“On Commissioner Kranzley’s recommendation, I’ve been to this

restaurant on a number of occasions,” Commissioner Larry Tucker said.

“And it really is . . . a really good restaurant.”

After Newport Beach Police Capt. Tim Newman told commissioners that

officers never had experienced problems at Maurici’s establishment, the

mood on both sides of the dais lightened up even more.

“I patronize this restaurant without Commissioner Kranzley’s

recommendation,” said Edward Selich, who chairs the commission. “It’s one

of a few places that you can get a late dinner. I understand the concern

that people from other countries eat late.”

Selich added that he’d had occasions for late dinners in the past

himself, possibly referring to the commission’s meetings that regularly

last until midnight.

Even Commissioner Earl McDaniel, who had originally proposed imposing

an 11 p.m. closing time on Maurici, decided to go along with leaving the

restaurant open until 1:30 a.m. from May through August and until 12:30

a.m. the rest of the year.

“The way we’re going [with the meeting], I might need a drink after 11

[p.m.],” McDaniel said to laughter from the audience.

In the end, Kranzley cast the only dissenting vote, followed by

lighthearted threats from his side.

Kranzley “will sit outside [at the restaurant] during the winter,”

Tucker decreed and had the room in stitches again.