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.”