SPAGO DOES IT AGAIN

There’s apparently something about working at Spago that makes people want to run off and get married and then go into the restaurant business on their own. It happened to Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton, who got hitched while they were that establishment’s chef and pastry chef, respectively, and then went east to take over the kitchen at Maxwell’s Plum in New York (a post, or pair of posts, they have recently vacated). And now it has happened to former Spago waiter Michael Anapola and his wife, just-ex-Spago chef Lisa Stalvey.

Stalvey, who is also a veteran of Pastel, Morton’s and L’Orangerie, and Anapola (once maitre d’hotel at Mangia and at Les Anges and today, temporarily, a waiter at the brand-new Rebecca’s) plan to open a 7,200-square-foot, 170-seat restaurant to be called J. Paul’s at the Beach in Pacific Palisades this September. This restaurant will be ensconced on the second floor of the new Fox Entertainment Center at 17352 Sunset Boulevard, at Pacific Coast Highway, and is backed primarily by the owners of the building, architect Jim Paul Fox (for whom the restaurant is named) and builder Gary Polizzi, both of Malibu. “It’s a real nice place,” says Anapola.

The food at J. Paul’s will reportedly be a mix of classical French and California cuisine, with some Italian and Southwestern dishes worked in--”a combination of the things that Lisa can do,” as Anapola puts it. He adds that there will be “lots of down-home dishes and lots of things you can’t get anywhere else.” Such as? “Honey-roasted turkey salad, oven-roasted hens with basmati rice and sun-dried tomatoes in oyster mushroom sauce, a macaroni-and-cheese of the day. . . .”

EVENTS ‘N’ STUFF: Jacqueline Cohan has begun a series of cooking demonstrations and special luncheons under the rubric “What’s Cooking in L.A.” Bent Thomsen of the Tivoli Garden in Encino, Sunil Vora of Gaylord in Beverly Hills, and Roger Lee of Abacus in West Los Angeles are among the participating chefs, and full price for the demonstration, a set of recipes, and lunch is $15 per person. Call (818) 789-5150 for more details. . . . Emilio’s in Hollywood celebrates its 18th anniversary this month . . . And Tommy’s (yes, that Tommy’s) was 40 last Thursday. . . . A whole passel of San Diego County restaurants are participating in Rancho Bernardo’s First Annual Food Festival, next Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in (strangely enough) Rancho Bernardo. . . . And Arnold Leland launches a workshop entitled “Restaurant: Art/Profession/Dynamic” aimed at restaurant owners, employees and customers, on Monday evenings beginning June 2. Call (213) 462-2237 for information.