Fires, Closures & Soup Comfort: Laguna Beach Buzz You Need to Know

On Monday, Jan. 13th, Best of Laguna Beach’s™ radio show started with a bang for this New Year. My “regular” guest, Ruben Flores, was back in the studio with me to talk about everything from fires to preparing for fires here in Laguna Beach … to Ivan Spiers’ abrupt closure of two popular restaurants … to soups that we love in restaurants all around town (because we all need some love and comfort these days). What we covered: Mon, Jan. 13th’s show notes:The easiest way to “harden” our properties against firesWhile greenery and a canopy of green is actually an ember stopper, here’s what we need to do with our trees and landscaping.Major items that have ben put in place since the City’s 2019 Wildfire Plan.Our “Farmer Leo’s” heroic action this past weekend to stop a fire at the edge of the Ranch grounds.Ruben mentions this week’s “unscheduled” panga boat arrival at Victoria Beach with a purported 30 interlopers coming ashore. What “deserves” notification from the City to the residents?I mention the “10 Navy Beans in Your Pocket” article I wrote in my “Golden Ticket” blog - DianeArmitageBlog.com - and how to more consciously deal with daily duress and trauma, especially as we deal with these fires and threats of fires. The “calm” our town is currently providing to L.A. evacuees and people just trying to escape the chaos. Patience, friends! I remind people about the generosity and support we received when we went through our own devastating fires in Laguna in 1993. Time to pay it forward!We review my story on the Ivan Spiers closure of Skyloft and Bodega with comments from him and the property managers who are based in L.A. We also talk about the former landlord, Sam Goldstein and our continued support of Ivan at Mozambique and Rumari. If you missed that article, it’s here: BestofLagunaBeach.comWe mention restaurants in Laguna that have specifically contacted me about hiring any of the 180 employees that were let go after the Skyloft/Bodega closure.Ruben talks about the push to plant “native shrubbery and trees” here and the even higher priority of keeping those plantings compatible with the environments they’re planted in.We talk about Jason Piggott’s new organic/biodynamic wine shop in town, A La Carte. It’s a block south of Penguin Cafe and across PCH from Laguna Coffee. Ruben and I review the wines we both purchased and talk about Jason’s immense knowledge on the “levels” of organic winemaking.We review our weekend’s Gu Ramen experience, our town’s noodle shop (Thalia and PCH). Then we wax euphoric on our favorite soups in town, including El Ranchito, South of Nick’s, Coyote Grill, 230 Forest, Lumberyard, NEA Pizza, Starfish, Mozambique and Evan’s Gourmet cornucopia of soups. See my more detailed “Best of Laguna Beach Soups” article (plus a fab gift from Chef Evan of Evan’s Gourmet - her quite famous Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe.) Also at BestofLagunaBeach.comRuben briefly mentions several specific “massive” trees that are struggling and dying in town. What can we do to stop this?We wrap with great meals at Rumari, the next expected “rush” weekend here in Laguna Beach, and Ruben talks about a fantastic Cabo San Lucas restaurant he and Nelson visited and why it was such a standout. Ruben ends with a café idea for the Laguna Art Museum (not a bad idea if I do say so myself).