Sharkeez to hit Surf City shores

Dave Brooks

Shark attacks are not much of a worry in the waters off Huntington

Beach, but a new cantina onshore could create a feeding frenzy among

Surf City’s pub crawlers.

Manhattan Beach-based Sharkeez is opening a new restaurant in

Huntington Beach where Momos is now housed on Main Street. Known for

its inexpensive surf-and-turf menu and anything-goes vibe , Sharkeez

has become the hub the nightlife in several Southern California

cities, including Hermosa Beach and Newport’s Balboa Peninsula.

Owner Ron Newman will make the new club’s focus on sports

entertainment. He and his son and business partner Greg Newman, plan

to sink about $150,000 into a high-definition on-demand sports

television package that would allow patrons to watch any live game in

the world.

“If it’s being played somewhere, we’ll be able to get it,”

restaurant manager Jordan Cressman said.

For now, Newman will run the restaurant under name Momos until all

his permits have cleared, but by early spring, Sharkeez will be

equipped with about 40 flat-screen plasma televisions hooked up to

myriad of specialty satellite packages like NBA Season Pass and ESPN

GamePlan. If the games are televised somewhere, they’ll be able to

tune them in, Cressman said.

“And the way it’s set up, the bartender can manage the entire

system from behind the bar,” said Cressman, who expects many

nonnative Californians to use the bar to root for their favorite home

teams. Judging by its current crowd capacity, there would be slightly

more than one television available for every two patrons, but

Cressman said he hopes a remodel will convince the Fire Department to

raise the capacity, moving the ratio closer to one television for

every four patrons.

“We want a repeat crowd,” Newman said. “We want this to be a place

where people can come in and know that if they want to watch a

certain sporting event, we’ll be able to get it for them if it’s

possible.”

The bar will also have a full-service kitchen and DJ station,

although city law prohibits dancing on first-level of restaurants on

Main Street. Despite the regulations, Surf City was a good fit for

Sharkeez to expand in Orange County, Cressman said.

“It’s in a beach community like all our other stores and it’s

really laid-back,” he said.

The small chain was started more than 11 years ago after Greg

Newman graduated from USC and was looking to get in the restaurant

business with his father, Ron. Sharkeez originally began as a simple

restaurant staffed and patronized by USC students who didn’t want to

spend a lot of money to have a good time.

“The problem was that everyone was leaving at 10 p.m.,” Ron Newman

said. “It was like a siren would go off, telling everyone to go to

the bars that were open. It was ridiculous. We had all this business

together and we’d lose it all at once.”

And from that, Sharkeez the bar was born. In the four cities it

serves, including Santa Barbara, the restaurant is one of the most

popular night spots, famous for its wild singles scene and powerful

margaritas.

Momos will close after Christmas for a 60-day remodel, Newman

said. He hopes to have Sharkeez open by February or March at 211 Main

St.