Villa Nova Gets Hand Up : Nostalgia Sparked Purchase of Newport Landmark

When Andrew Crean was growing up in Newport Beach in the late ‘60s, he knew the Villa Nova restaurant as a place where his folks hung out. The generation gap aside, he was fascinated by the place, now considered one of the toniest and most enduring landmarks in Newport Beach.

“I knew it was a first-class place all along,” said Crean, now 42.

This week, he yielded to nostalgia and bought it.

At a bankruptcy hearing Monday, Crean, the son of a wealthy builder of recreational vehicles, convinced a federal judge in Santa Ana that his $107,000 in cash will be enough to pull the beleaguered restaurant out of the hole. On April 1, he expects to become the new owner.

The first thing Crean wants to do with the place? “We want to keep it just the way it is,” he said.

Well, sort of. In an interview Wednesday, Crean, who now lives in Dana Point, said he will sink an additional $200,000 into the Italian restaurant to refurbish it. He will replace carpets, draperies, upholstery--the works. But, he added, the end product will look exactly like the restaurant did when Charlotte Dale and her late husband, Allen, moved it lock, stock and pasta machine from Los Angeles in 1967.

Indeed, the harbor-side restaurant on West Coast Highway near Newport Boulevard has seen better days. Though it has remained popular among locals, it has felt the ravages of time and the recession.

It is in dire need of a face lift in the dining room as well as in the kitchen. “The termites seem to be winning the war,” Crean said. Also, some of the original stoves and other kitchen equipment are still in use, even though they are outmoded. Replacing them will be done at night and early mornings so the restaurant can open for dinner.

What some expected to be the restaurant’s death blow came last April, when the Dales sought protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In the restaurant’s court filing, the family listed assets of less than $225,000 and debts of more than $5.8 million.

Crean, whose father is chairman of Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. in Riverside, which makes RVs and manufactured homes, said news of the bankruptcy filing rekindled his long-held belief that he would do well in the restaurant business.

“I sort of watched it,” Crean said of Villa Nova. “I heard they were getting behind financially and thought it would be a good opportunity.”

He contacted Charlotte Dale and began negotiating.

“Other people wanted to do a lot of new stuff like making it a steak house or something,” Crean said. “I wanted to keep it the same. I think she liked that.”

In any case, the deal was struck: Crean would rescue Villa Nova from bankruptcy, and the Dale family would continue to be involved in its operation. Although Charlotte Dale remains a partner, she is all but retired. Son Jim, however, will stay on as general manager.

In fact, there are no plans to let anyone go, Crean said. From chef Sonny Mergenthaler, who came to the restaurant in 1968, to longtime maitre d’ Gary Lundrigan, all employees will stay on.

“It’s like a family here,” Crean said, noting that the average employee has been at Villa Nova for eight years. “The employee base is fantastic.”

Though admitting that he has no experience in the restaurant business, Crean said he is confident that he will be able to make Villa Nova profitable because he has business sense acquired in founding his own RV dealership and working with his father, most recently as construction and fund-raising organizer.

“I don’t get intimidated with new projects,” Crean said. “It always gets kind of scary when you start, but don’t look at it like a forest. Take one tree at a time.”