Grief for new cafe resurfaces

Newport Beach City Councilwoman Nancy Gardner has appealed a decision by the Planning Commission to approve a popular restaurant’s relocation to a crowded block.

The commission voted 6-1 in September to give the Panini Cafe, which has resided on East Coast Highway since 1995, the green light to move several doors down to the building vacated earlier this year by the Orient Handel rug shop.

A number of residents petitioned the owners’ application, saying another restaurant on the block would cause traffic and alcohol problems in the neighborhood.

Gardner, who held meetings with residents before the Planning Commission’s vote, asked the City Council to review the Panini decision at its regular meeting Nov. 13. The council can uphold the ruling, modify it or disapprove it in whole or in part.

“A number of residents were distressed and felt that they didn’t think things had been completely discussed,” Gardner said. “I thought, given that, we could look at it again and see that all the T’s were crossed.”

She added that she had no personal opinion on the Panini issue and had talked with the restaurant’s owners as well as residents and other business leaders in the area.

“I try not to go in with too preconceived a notion of how it should come out,” she said.

Panini Chief Executive Mike Rafipoor said he was frustrated by the ongoing concerns about his restaurant and that the appeal process would cost him both time and money. He added, though, that he respected the council’s decision to review the issue.

“It’s obviously disheartening that I have to do that, but if something is the law, you have to do it,” Rafipoor said.

In the weeks before the Planning Commission voted on Panini’s application, dozens of residents wrote to the city both praising and protesting the move.

Defenders said the new location would allow Panini to serve customers better in a choice location, but opponents said another restaurant would worsen congestion on a block that already housed the Bungalow Restaurant, Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt and other eateries.

Resident Lila Crespin, who circulated a petition urging the Planning Commission to reject Panini’s move, said she was most concerned with another restaurant serving beer and wine on the block.

“There are lots of family restaurants, and his [Rafipoor’s] is a good one, but I don’t think we need that kind of impact, that concentrated impact, of alcohol-serving places in one area,” she said.

Rafipoor said that while Panini served beer and wine with meals, drunkenness was hardly a problem there.

“I don’t even have a bar,” he said. “You can only get served beer and wine when you’re seated and you order food. Only 6% of my gross is from beer and wine. I don’t sell hard liquor.”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.