Ken Frank

Ruth Reichl's much-awaited "new" Gourmet magazine won't debut until September, but the August edition on the newsstands contains at least one portent of things to come. For what might be the first time in her nearly 30 years at the magazine, West Coast restaurant critic Caroline Bates has written a negative review. The unlucky first? Bouchon, the lower-priced spinoff of Thomas Keller's universally acclaimed The French Laundry in the Napa Valley.

Spago. Can you hold? Spago. Can you hold? Spago. Can you hold? Hello. A table for 8 o'clock? I'm sorry, we're booked. Hello. Sorry, we're full. Hello. Sorry, we're full. Spago. Can you hold? * Groucho Marx once said he didn't want to belong to any club that would accept him as a member.

In Santa Ana, a city financial squeeze means that 90 positions are being eliminated from the city payroll. But the budget for tiny Villa Park, Orange County's smallest city, is rising 60% this year--thanks entirely to capital spending on road improvements. And in Irvine, last year's deficit crisis is nearly forgotten and 38 employees will be added to the city payroll. In most cities where spending is up, it is for increases in public safety personnel or road improvements.

Michael McCarty recognizes talent. When he opened Michael's in Santa Monica in 1979, he had a kitchen filled with young chefs who were destined to become the elite of new American cooking. He had hired Ken Frank (who now owns La Toque), Mark Peel (who now owns Campanile) and Jonathan Waxman (who opened Jams, Bud's and Hulot's in New York) as his chefs.

Bolsa Grande Coach: Michael Anderson 1998-99 record: 15-12 League record: 8-4 Coach Michael Anderson is high on his team's chances, predicting the Matadors will win the league title. "We are capable of knocking down threes, we'll pressure and trap all game, and rely on our team speed to force the tempo of the game," he said. Two starters return: swingman Jon James, a 6-4 senior who averaged 20.9 points and 11 rebounds, and guard Kevin Pham, a 6-1 senior who averaged 8.9 points.

A $2-million jury verdict in favor of a Long Beach man injured in a 1979 car crash probably will be appealed by the City of Laguna Beach, City Manager Ken Frank said Thursday. The verdict in favor of Nathan Blue, 35, found the driver to be 65% negligent for drinking and for driving about twice the 25 m.p.h. speed limit on a city street. The jury found the city 35% negligent for a poorly designed intersection that created a dangerous condition. Blue's attorney, Thomas V.

A $175,000 out-of-court settlement has been reached in a $2-million wrongful death suit filed against the City of Laguna Beach by the mother of a man who died four years ago while being held in City Jail. The suit, which was to have gone to trial Aug. 19 in Orange County Superior Court, alleged that the Laguna Beach police "failed to adequately protect" Robert Gary Wardman, who died of skull fractures on July 22, 1981, several hours after he had been placed in the police drunk tank.

The City Council voted to approve a housing-loan program for municipal employees, making Laguna Beach the first city in California to adopt such a plan. Under the proposal, passed by a 3-1 vote Tuesday night, any permanent city employee may borrow up to $25,000 in secondary financing for affordable housing units in south Orange County.

To pave or not to pave will be the question facing the City Council tonight during a special meeting and public hearing to decide whether to turn a large median on a residential street near Laguna Beach High School into a 33-space parking lot.