Greer's OC

Newport's premiere food and entertainment festival, the Taste of Newport, celebrates 24 years at Fashion Island today through Sunday.

The 3-day party is expected to bring more than 50,000 people who come to sample culinary delights from more than 35 local restaurants, to taste wines, cocktails and handcrafted beers, and to hear live bands perform throughout the event.

This year's main acts include Andy Grammer tonight, Blondie and Devo on Saturday, and Roger Hodson, from Supertramp on Sunday.Sample cuisines range from casual to fine dining choices. A partial list include’s Catalina’s Avalon Grille,  Casey’s Cupcakes, Clay Oven Indian Cuisine, Fit Foods 4 Life, Le Pain Quotidien, Marukome USA, Inc, Pizzeria Mozza, and Tamarind of London.

General admission tickets at the gate cost $25. A limited number of VIP concert tickets are also available. More information is available online at [url=http://www.tasteofnewport.com]http://www.tasteofnewport.com[/url]

Taste of Newport is open from 6 to 11 p.m. today; 4 to 11 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. 600 Newport Center Drive in Fashion Island. For more information, call 949.729.4400, or visit [url=http://www.tasteofnewport.com]http://www.tasteofnewport.com[/url]

Almond Party!

In Newport Beach, the place to go for fine hand-shaped custom surfboards—mostly longboards and retro-inspired shapes—is Almond Surfboards & Designs. The boards range from 5'2 Twin-Fin Fishes to 10' Noseriders, and they carry Almond-branded or co-branded products from friends’ companies such as apparel, skateboards, wetsuits and bikes.

Now that the shop has relocated to a new location, between A’Maree’s and Yoki Shop [url=http://www.yokishop.com/]http://www.yokishop.com/[/url] on the West Coast Highway, Almond Surfboards is celebrating with an open house at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Scotty (from Yoki Shop) will be grilling up his famous "Burger Wednesday" burgers for a $5 donation, and Almond will be premiering its film, "Whitecaps" on the projector in the store.

There will also be live music, new surfboards and products filling the racks of the new shop. You’ll definitely want to stop by Yoki Shop next door, each apparel item is like taking home a piece of history, The collections are mostly made from salvaged materials and many are one of a kind. Stop by the store to pick up a hoodie, tank top, hat, board shorts, tee’s, aprons, popular Fight On Fingers logo apparel and more ideal for USC Football games.

Almond Surfboards & Designs is at 2429 West Coast Hwy #101 in Newport Beach. 949.515.2102.