On Food: Bayside Restaurant celebrates 20th anniversary

Staying in the competitive culinary business for 20 years is certainly a feat, and in that time, Newport Beach’s Bayside Restaurant has distinguished itself with its unique motto: “Dining as art.”

“We are a restaurant and gallery,” owner Marc Ghoukassian said.

In addition to culinary favorites on your plate, Bayside displays new artwork every quarter and regularly features live music — two elements of the restaurant that have long made this waterfront locale stand out.

“It’s art all the way around,” said manager Cameron Mealey. “On the walls, in the air and on your plate.”

Bayside opened in November 1999. Its site at 900 Bayside Drive, across the street from Newport Harbor, had a restaurant before that, but it was torn down.

“We built the building from the ground up,” said Ghoukassian, whose family also owns Bistango in Irvine.

The result was a contemporary American establishment focusing on steaks and seafood that also embraces good design and architecture.

One can dine in the outdoor dining patio, an energetic bar with live music, or in a main dining room that’s a little set off from the action but close enough to where you can still hear it.

Once inside Bayside, diners will notice the impressive wine tower built in Venice behind the bar. Above all that are beams spanning the ceiling that are actually Italian gondola oars.

“I think the look here is very timeless,” Ghoukassian said.

Bayside’s Alaskan halibut, crusted with mushrooms and served alongside a potato puree, green asparagus and Riesling sauce, has been a favorite since Day One. When the halibut is out of season, Bayside switches it up with a Chilean sea bass that’s prepared the same way.

For Bayside’s 20th anniversary, the restaurant is offering a special through November. For $20, you can get a glass of Rodney Strong chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon paired with one of the following: a 6-ounce New York minute steak (served with mushroom diane sauce and wilted spinach), a 6-ounce yellowfin tuna tataki (with soy sauce, ginger, wasabi and avocado) or shrimp scampi (served with white wine sauce, chili flakes and garlic parsley pesto rosso bruschetta).

Bayside will also donate proceeds of a $12 chocolate lava cake dessert to diabetes research nonprofit JDRF.

IF YOU GO

What: Bayside Restaurant

Where: 900 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach

When: Sunday brunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; daily happy hour 4 p.m. to closing (bar and lounge only); dinner Sunday through Wednesday 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Information: (949) 721-1222; baysiderestaurant.com

Bradley Zint writes about food for TimesOC. Follow him on Twitter at @bradleyzint

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