BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENT A new place to...

BUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENT

A new place to chow down in Balboa Pavilion

There’s not a bad seat in the house for diners at the Harborside

Restaurant and Grand Ballroom, which opened last week at the former

site of the Tale of the Whale restaurant in the Balboa Pavilion. The

new restaurant, operated by brothers David and Doug Salisbury,

features a harbor view from floor-to-ceiling windows running the

length of the building and an upstairs ballroom that can seat 500

guests. The building will be 100 years old next year and over the

years has housed a bowling alley and bingo hall, the Newport Harbor

Art Museum and a ballroom hosting big band greats such as Benny

Goodman.

* Newport Beach-based Defend the Bay and the Natural Resources

Defense Council on Monday demanded the Santa Ana Regional Water

Quality Control Board adopt a plan to reduce pollutants in San Diego

Creek and Newport Harbor. The demand came after a warning of

contaminated fish in the harbor issued by the Orange County Health

Care Agency the previous week.

The health care agency’s warning was based on a not yet completed

study that found two common contaminants, PCB and DDT, in five fish

species from the harbor. The environmental groups asked the water

board to take formal action by July 30 on a plan to reduce pollution.

* Tree roots blocking a sewer pipe in Costa Mesa caused a sewage

spill Tuesday that led to the closure of the beach from the Newport

Boulevard Bridge to Riverside Drive in Newport Harbor. Officials

estimated about 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of sewage may have leaked,

some of which went onto a storm drain leading to Newport Harbor.

The beach closure was lifted Thursday after tests indicated

bacteria levels in the water were below state standards, but a

long-term posting for high bacteria levels in the harbor marina at

Newport Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway remains in place.

-- Alicia Robinson