Local Restaurateurs at Annual Award Gala
Owners of the Summit House Restaurant and Zov’s Bistro Receive Top Honors
 
Newport Beach, Calif. – The California Restaurant Association (CRA) Orange County Chapter last night hosted its third annual Restaurateur of the Year Awards Dinner at the Island Hotel. More than 250 fellow restaurateurs and guests turned out to honor Gary Parkinson, owner of the Summit House Restaurant in Fullerton and Zov Karamardian, chef and owner of Zov’s Bistro in Tustin as Restaurateur of the Year award winners.
 
Gary Parkinson has more than 23 years of experience in the foodservice industry and has been the proprietor and managing member of the Summit Restaurant Company since 1999. Parkinson is also an Adjunct Professor of Business at Biola University and the current director for the St. Jude Heritage Foundation. He is a past director of the CRA and a past president of the CRA Orange County Chapter. He has been married to his wife LuAnn for 26 years and has two daughters, Natalie and Nicole.
 
Zov Karamardian opened Zov’s Bistro in 1987, providing the Tustin area with a full-service restaurant featuring a contemporary Eastern Mediterranean menu. Zov’s Bistro continues to be a family-owned and operated restaurant with Zov’s husband Gary as general manager and their son Armen as director of operations. As a nationally renown and award-wining culinary expert Zov has received numerous awards including being named Restaurateur of the Year by the Southern California Restaurant Writers in 1998 and Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women’s Business Owners, Orange County in 2003.
 
Assembly member Mike Duvall (R-Yorba Linda) presented Gary Parkinson with a resolution in recognition of his work in the industry. Duval also presented Zov Karamaradian with a resolution on behalf of Senator Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine) and Assembly member Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) who could not be there in person.
 
Recipients of the Restaurateur of the Year awards are nominated and voted on by the California Restaurant Association Orange County Chapter Board of Directors.