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Editor’s Note: This is one in a series of stories about business lunch hot spots in Orange County. Got a tip? Email dining editor Nancy Luna at luna@ocbj.com.
For more than three decades, Bistango in Irvine has been a hotspot for business lunches and client dinners amid artful décor and elevated cuisine.
Bistango was founded in 1987 by restaurateur John Ghoukassian, who spent his life dedicated to the art of dining and pleasing all the senses. He also opened Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach in 1999.
Ghoukassian passed away in early 2021, but his daughter Karyn and son Marc – who have been involved in the family business for many years – have taken over the restaurants.
The menu does change somewhat with the seasons, although Karyn said there are many menu items (including the garlic soup) they can never remove because they have become so popular with their regular diners, of which there are many—including business executives.
Bistango, for example, is a frequent stop for Shelley Hoss, chief executive of the Orange County Community Foundation. Her go to order is an off-menu dish of salmon on spinach.
Business Journal Publisher Richard Reisman shares that he has lunched there in excess of 3,000 times.
“We have a lot of CEOs that bring their business clients with them,” Karyn told the Business Journal. “They always tell me that when they come here, they know they’re going meet somebody that they want to see. We go to sit them at their table, but by the time they get to their table, they have to shake hands at three tables.
“It’s a meeting place to see who’s who and who’s having lunch with who.”
And while there are no specific names assigned to tables, regulars have their fave spots.
“Anyone who comes here on a regular basis will always see the same person at the same table,” said Karyn. “It becomes kind of like a club. You know who’s who. You know where they sit. People enjoy it. They tell me that all the time. If you’ve been here a lot and you always like that table, we’re going to make sure that we have it in your name, that this is a table you like.”
Karyn has been remaking the patio into a botanical garden and plans to add live jazz concerts there over the summer.
Bistango Summer Jazzy Mondays features Joey and his Jazz Cubs every Monday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. starting June 16 through the end of August. Other live music programs in the garden will begin in July. Bistango has live music nightly in the lounge.
Karyn said that the garden is available for lunch Monday through Friday and is a perfect spot to escape the office.
“The flowers and the plants will hopefully make people relax and just escape whatever stress they have, whatever is going on in their lives,” said Karyn. “It can be lunch or just a cup of coffee. Come here and get away from the office.”
Bistango, 19100 Von Karman Ave., Irvine, (949) 752-5222, bistango.com