It was widely reported that Celestino Drago, the acclaimed chef, was abandoning his plans for a Fashion Island restaurant called Osteria Drago.
Then as I reported a few weeks ago, another Italian eatery called Rustica was moving in in its place like an understudy. That, I thought, was that.
But today Eater LA has revealed a confounding twist in the narrative. Three days ago, a liquor license was activated in the Celestino Drago name at 1133 Newport Center Drive, which is at Fashion Island. Cue the Twilight Zone music.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.