Pascal, Morton’s Star in Restaurant Ratings

Pascal and Morton’s of Chicago drew the highest ratings among Orange County restaurants in the 1997 edition of the Zagat Survey, a guide that ranks restaurants nationwide.

The highly respected guide, which each year offers bite-sized critiques of top eateries around the country, describes Pascal as offering everything to be found at a bona fide restaurant in France “minus the 11-hour flight.” Owner/chef Pascal Ohlats’ Newport Beach restaurant wins applause for “spectacular” French meals “with none of the pretense.”

Carnivores “never met a steak [they] didn’t like” at Morton’s, the Santa Ana-based steakhouse. Zagat describes the restaurant as “‘heavy on masculinity” with attentive service. The only drawback noted: noise levels that mean “‘you can’t hear a thing” on busy nights.

Five Feet in Laguna Beach and the Ritz in Newport Beach, which last year tied with Morton’s and Pascal for the guide’s highest ranking, both fell slightly, but still drew high ratings in the guide.

Antoine, the Newport Beach restaurant that closed shortly after Le Meridien Hotel became Sutton Place Hotel, fell from the list.

In individual categories, the Ritz-Carlton Dining Room in Dana Point drew the highest ratings for “top decor” as well as for “service,” and Ruby’s Diner chain topped the Orange County eateries for “top value.”

There should be no griping, Zagat Survey cautions, from Southern California diners who think they’re paying too much for their meals at top-ranked restaurants.

According to the guide’s authors, the average price of a restaurant meal dropped “a fraction” during the past year, to $23.72 in 1996 from $23.90 a year earlier, placing Los Angeles restaurants in fifth place overall when it comes to dining out around the country.

Southern Californians also are doing well when it comes to the most expensive restaurants.

Zagat reports that the average meal at one of Los Angeles’ 20 most-expensive restaurants cost $46.44. That’s less than an equivalent meal in New York ($65.08), Chicago ($53.52), Philadelphia ($51.98), Washington ($50.67), San Francisco (49.17) and Boston ($47.65).