A PALATE REVOLT IN ORANGE COUNTY

Orange County owes a heavy debt of gratitude to S. Irene Virbila for her review of Pascal in Newport Beach (“Comme Ci, Comme Ca,” March 27). Not only has Orange County been emancipated from Los Angeles, it’s also enjoying its own culinary identity, independent of the Westside L.A. sense of worldly self-importance.

We can only hope that Virbila’s mean-spirited review will stifle any compulsion on the part of the hordes of elite L.A. palates to journey southward. Pascal, one of the restaurant jewels in Southern California, was a hit long before her critique. Many thanks for your contribution to its preservation.

RONALD RUS

Irvine

Someone needs to remind Virbila that Times Mirror Square is not the center of the universe. Not all of us are an hour and a half from Newport Beach. Nor do we want restaurants to be judged by how long Virbila has to drive. The magazine’s previous reviewer three times included Pascal in her list of Southern California’s Top 40 restaurants.

My guests and I have found it to be excellent on every visit. It seems as though the long drive made Virbila grumpy and spoiled her appetite.

RANDY G. SMITH

Yorba Linda

I also enjoy going out of my way for a good meal. I don’t know what part of Los Angeles Virbila came from, or at what time of day she drove to get to Pascal, but I do know that I can get from my house in Newport Beach to Pino Bistro in Studio City in an hour and five minutes.

I find that I agree with the parts of her report that deal with the service and decor of Pascal. Her opinions on the food, however, seem a bit cavalier. Like the comment that the “risotto managed to be both mushy and undercooked.” In my experience, it would have to be one or the other.

No matter how good a restaurant is, a critique like this tends to make a restaurateur sit up and consider what’s being done right and what can be changed for the better. So the review is, in a way, one of the most useful Pascal has ever received; every business needs a wake-up call once in a while.

RICK BOUFFORD

Newport Beach