Govind Armstrong’s Table 8 is moving, 8 oz. to serve burgers in its old place

MORE burgers may be in your near future.

Table 8 is set to close May 31 and reopen at a new Melrose Avenue location (currently Chocolat) in late summer, according to chef-owner Govind Armstrong. He and co-owners Chris Heyman and Joshua Woodward will open a burger bar named 8 oz. in the original Table 8 space, planned for late June.

The old Table 8 “really ran its course,” Armstrong says.

At 8 oz., burgers -- six on the menu plus a build-your-own option -- will feature a blend of Black Angus sirloin, tri-tip, short rib and chuck, stored in a Himalayan salt-tiled meat locker until it’s grilled over a wood-burning fire. And the design? “I can tell you the space will be brighter and more casual and comfortable than it is at present,” a publicist says.

Meanwhile, Laurent Tourondel plans to open BLT Burger in Las Vegas this summer. (His ground-beef blend: sirloin, short rib, chuck and brisket.)

Table 8 (until May 31), 7661 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 782-8258, www.table8la.com; BLT Burger, Mirage Hotel & Casino, 3400 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas.

Movin’ on

CHEF Chris Kidder has left West L.A. restaurant Literati 2, along with his wife, pastry chef Kimberly Sklar. The couple hope to open a restaurant in the San Fernando Valley. Literati has hired chef Brian Thomas, formerly sous chef at Crustacean. “Kim and I really wanted to have our own place,” Kidder says. “We live in the Valley and want to stay closer to home. The Valley could use some good food!”

12081 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (310) 479-3400, literati2.com.

Piccolo vs. Zagat

ITALIAN restaurant Piccolo Ristorante is waging a campaign to be removed from the Zagat guide. In an e-mail to The Times (and to LA Weekly, Los Angeles magazine and KCRW-FM), owner Vittorio Viotti and chef-partner Roberto Ivan say: “We would like to be omitted from the 2009 Zagat survey . . . as well as from every future Zagat publication.”

The tiny Venice spot received a 27 in the 2008 Zagat survey for L.A. and Southern California, listed below Angelini Osteria in the Italian cuisine category of top food ratings and above Tuscany in Woodland Hills. “Their numbers just don’t add up,” Viotti says.

Angelini’s food rating was 27.0253, Piccolo’s 26.8831 and Tuscany’s 26.8325, Tim Zagat says. “[Piccolo’s] obviously a very, very good restaurant. We would hate to not include it.”

5 Dudley Ave., Venice, (310) 314-3222, piccolovenice.com.

In South L.A. . . .

THE Waffle Factory is open in the former Stan Kite restaurant, serving waffles “just about any way you want them,” partner Cassie Lowe says. “We’re the Waffle Factory, the General Motors of waffles.”

9131 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 777-1117.

-- Betty Hallock

and Amy Scattergood