Crafty Cats : Wharf Felines Have Standing Reservations at Posh Dockside Cafe

At the docks in Lido Village, Newport Beach, where scores of sleek, white motor yachts are tied up in front of the brokers’ offices, the homeless wharf cats look great: slick coats, full bellies, arrogant expressions.

The reason? While the typical wharf cat struggles through life licking tar from its fur and battling dock rats, the Lido Village cat’s struggle is more mellow.

Kill a rat for dinner? No need--the Lido Village cats have standing reservations at George’s Camelot Restaurant on the waterfront, which has a pricey menu out front but a soft touch in the kitchen. “I always had a soft spot in my heart for stray cats,” said George Ristich, the restaurant’s Yugoslavia-born owner and chef. “They’re so smart. I always had the respect for the cat. They’re the only animals that manage to train human beings. They want something, you jump and get it for them.”

The Lido Village cats are hardly strays anymore. They “belong” to no one, but they arrive at Ristich’s kitchen door nearly every night as darkness falls, waiting for Ristich to jump and bring dinner.

And Ristich, who has been a chef at the Bel-Air Country Club, Scandia, Escoffier and other big-name locales, jumps.

“I usually prepare the easiest thing--some seafood Newburg,” he said. “I can use all the little pieces you have left over from cutting fish. Then you add some shrimps and some sea bass and snapper and sole.

“Then, once in a while, some beef stroganoff--real Russian beef stroganoff with beef filet.”

On this particular Friday night, it was the Newburg. In went the fish, shrimp, shallots, cream and the spices that Ristich won’t specify, saying only, “They like it spicy.” If a customer ordered the dish, it would cost “about $15,” he said. After cooling the skillet on a bed of ice, he dished out the Newburg, along with a mound of tuna salad, some bay shrimp and slices of turkey and ham. “I usually feed them a little assortment of things,” he explained.

Such a plate isn’t good enough for Jalapeno, the big, tough tomcat who dominates the local cat community. Ristich named him Jalapeno because the cat eats jalapeno peppers. But he also has a fondness for Cranshaw melon, Ristich said.

“I made a test. He prefers it to any other food. That can get expensive, but he’ll settle for honeydew, cantaloupe and bananas,” Ristich said. “He’s the smartest cat around here. I don’t know whether it’s because he’s vegetarian.”

Ristich has operated his restaurant and catered to its neighborhood cats for six years. There have been as many as 15 cats around the Lido Village docks, Ristich said, but unless you wait until dark, you may never see one.

They are born and raised, and spend most of their days, under The Warehouse, another waterfront restaurant, which is built on a raised foundation. The space between the ground and floor is a nearly perfect cat dormitory, Ristich said.

When the shops and offices close for the night, the cats take over the area, he said.

“I used to worry about them; where do they sleep?” Ristich said. “But a lot of boats have the windows slightly open, and I see them coming out. They go in and sleep on the sofas.”

Only About Five Now

There are only about five cats at the docks now, Ristich said. Other cats have to be tough or crafty enough to avoid Jalapeno because “he chases away all the cats he can,” Ristich said.

He has heard no complaints about the cats’ presence, he said. One feline delivered her litter in the attic of a yacht brokerage last year, but the kittens were brought out and relocated.

“They have it pretty good,” Ristich said. “I got about a dozen people around the village, they want to be one of these cats in their second life.”