My Favorite Weekend: Craig Kilborn

It’s been six years since Craig Kilborn walked away from TV’s talk-show jungle, but the hiatus officially ends Monday with the premiere of “The Kilborn File,” airing weeknights at 6:30 p.m. on Fox. The former host of “The Daily Show” and “The Late Late Show” says the focus of the half-hour “File,” scheduled for a six-week run, will be on comedy, not politics.

“I’ve never been one of those guys who have politics in their blood, although I do follow it privately,” said the Hollywood Hills resident. “As a child, I used to smoke a pipe and sit in my dad’s lap watching ‘Firing Line’ with William F. Buckley Jr. But as much as I admired him as a political pundit, I also recognized at an early age that politics divides people, so my new show is going to be almost a no-politics zone, and some people tell me that will be refreshing. There’s more than enough political voices out there. We want to be the first comedy show in the dinner hour.”

Hey bro, let’s go

When my brother visits from out of town we always like to stop at the Father’s Office in Santa Monica. They have an amazing beer selection. We’ll get the IPA (India Pale Ale), sometimes it’s the hefeweizen, and we’ll get the burgers — the best around — medium-rare, with sweet-potato fries.

And I love Italian food too, and Vivoli’s is a great place. I’ll order the eggplant parm appetizer and the salmon, and they have a good spinach salad with crumbled blue cheese, red onion and beets.

Hoofing it

One of the sad things is that I often drive from Hollywood to Santa Monica to walk. Off of San Vicente and Montana is a great residential neighborhood, and you can walk from 26th all the way to Ocean. That’s a good, healthy walk.

And I like to go hiking in Runyon Canyon when my doctor tells me that I haven’t been getting enough smog.

A weekend drive

Sometimes I’ll jump in my car and drive up to Santa Barbara, listening to my bossa nova music along the way, and have lobster tacos on the pier. Or I’ll keep driving north to Carmel, about six hours. I got my start up there on television in the Salinas-Monterey- Santa Cruz market, and I lived in Carmel. It’s my favorite place in the world.

Healthy, not so healthy

There’s a little place called Beverly Hills Juice Co., where I’ll get an apple-lemon triple ginger juice — all fresh, non-pasteurized juices. And when I want to go real inexpensive and healthy, I’ll go to Poquito Mas. I used to get fish tacos, but now I order what they call Nature’s Grill, which is grilled vegetables, and some pinto beans. If I’m being unhealthy I’ll go down to Greenblatt’s and have a Reuben sandwich and an Amstel Light. That’s heaven.

Belly up to the bar

Over the years, I’ve always enjoyed eating right at a restaurant’s bar instead of a table, if possible. I used to go to Madeo on Beverly, but now it’s a big scene, and I try to avoid scenes, so now I’ll go to Lucques and get the short ribs and horseradish mashed potatoes. Campanile has a great grilled-cheese sandwich night on Thursdays. And a good place for both brunch and dinner is Ammo on Highland. They put crème fraiche in their eggs and it’s really tasty. Their buttermilk biscuits with jam are really good. And at night I’ve had really tender pork chops.

Craig and company

If I’m having people over for dinner, we’ll start with martinis, and I’ll cook fish stew and have cheese, oysters and red wine available. Then we’ll watch Hitchcock movies — I’m obsessed with Hitchcock, so it might be “North by Northwest” or “Vertigo” or “Strangers on a Train.” Or we’ll play Password.

mark.sachs@latimes.com