4 diamonds for 4 Newport restaurants
Christine Carrillo
Four of the city’s restaurants have been awarded top billing from
the Automobile Club of Southern California.
After reviewing more than 2,000 hotels, motels and restaurants
throughout Southern California, the auto club selected 58 hotels and
28 restaurants to represent the top 4% of the properties reviewed and
receive the AAA 2003 Four Diamond Award. Once again Five Crowns,
Aubergine, The Ritz Restaurant & Garden and The Pavilion at the Four
Seasons Hotel were among the 28 restaurants.
“[The standards] haven’t been static,” said Jeffrey Spring, a
spokesman for the auto club. “What was required 25 years ago isn’t
what we require now. Using those standards ... improving the industry
as a whole is our objective.”
The objective of those restaurants submitting for review and
looking for the auto club stamp of approval serves another purpose.
“Millions of people get our TourBooks, and from their perspective
it’s a marketing tool,” Spring said. “From our prospective, it tells
our members what they can expect from these properties. We want to be
able to tell them categorically what they need to improve.”
Having received the award for the last 13 years, officials for the
Five Crowns restaurant believe that the auto club’s recommendation
helps the restaurant on many levels.
“The AAA rating is known nationally and respected internationally
to be a very fair and reliable source of information,” said Chris
Szechenyi, general manager for the restaurant. “I think for travelers
it gives them some assurance and comfort. For the local clientele,
they already know us, but I think it certainly reassures them that
we’re able to make it every year.”
For Aubergine, a sophomore recipient of the award, the effect of
the auto club’s rating has yet to be determined, but nonetheless
officials there remain hopeful.
“We hope that business will benefit from [the rating],” said David
Haskell, maitre d’hotel for the Aubergine restaurant in Newport
Beach. “We’re happy about winning the award again because ... as a
manager you always want to be involved with the best of the rating
scales.”
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