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EARLY BIRD: Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill

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Restaurant Critic

Wolfgang Puck is moving east with the new Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at L.A. Live. Look for the tall turquoise lacquer doors center stage on the plaza directly across from Staples Center. The position commands a killer view of the neon and glitz through floor-to-ceiling windows that open out onto a terrace in front.

When an event at Staples or the Nokia Theatre next door lets out, hundreds of people stream across that plaza, and Puck captures a good many of them, in waves. There’s plenty of space at the long carved walnut bar for anybody in the mood for a beer or a cocktail and maybe a burger or a salad. There’s also a tall communal table to one side of the bar. And though the dining room seats 140, it manages to feel inviting and, if you’re sitting at one of the banquettes, even cozy. At least, it seems so from the number of couples snuggled up against each other slurpling oysters and feeding each other bites of Maryland crab cake.

Puck has always had the uncanny ability to divine just what people want to eat, and here he’s not going for the cutting edge. The menu is mostly familiar, accessible fare with an amusing twist or two. Under chef John Lechleidner, the kitchen sends out crispy calamari and rock shrimp with gremolata aioli, spicy tuna tartar with sesame chips and a lovely butter lettuce “Caesar” embellished with goat cheese and white anchovies. He’s got some terrific pasta dishes too, which come in half or full orders. Hand-rolled garganelli with wild mushrooms should make any pasta lover happy. And if not that, then the pappardelle with Sonoma rabbit ragù and spring peas.

I was thrilled that the menu has pizza -- wild and domestic mushrooms with spring ramps, thyme, Taleggio and Comté cheeses, for example -- but they’re not the same as Spago’s signature ones. It’s the crust, but that could change as the kitchen gets up to speed.

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From the grill comes a fine prime sirloin burger with Vermont cheddar, wonderful little lamb chops with a mint-parsley pesto, steaks, of course, and a big Kurobuta pork chop, all sure crowd pleasers. One sleeper, though, is the calves’ liver with pancetta and honey-roasted spring onions, which he knocks out of the park, surpassing most other such dishes in town.

Portions are generous. We didn’t make it to dessert, but we did eye the Donut Pops at the next table, which looked like doughnut holes on a stick wearing a halo of “vanilla sugar dusted with yuzu fluff,” from pastry chef Sherry Yard. Fun.

Instead of jumping into your car after an event, you can now head to Wolfgang Puck’s new place for a bite. Just be forewarned: if you’re going for dinner all by itself, parking is pricey, even with the $5 off that the restaurant’s validation gives you. Depending on how long you stay, you can rack up $15 or $20 in parking charges, in which case the only thing to do is to ask everybody in the car to share the pain. Remember this: Park in the East Garage where it’s $5 for the first 90 minutes plus a $5 service charge, then $5 for each half-hour thereafter, up to a maximum of $20.

virbila@latimes.com

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