La Cienega Boulevard Is Really Cooking

Despite hard times for some operators and frequent changes of ownership, name and/or “concept,” La Cienega’s Restaurant Row is apparently still a hot location for eating places.

The high-quality Mark’s and Pazzia have opened there recently. And now, Jeff Carlis, president of Gold/Carlis Inc., announced that his L.A.-based real estate and investment company, which specializes in restaurant sites, has closed four new deals on La Cienega Boulevard.

All are mass-market oriented: A 24-hour sit-down-plus-drive-through Mexican place called Taco Cabana (part of a San Antonio-based chain) in the space of the old Fish Shanty; another, more upscale Mexican place called El Paseo Cantina, where 385 North and (briefly) Rosalie’s once were; an unnamed Italian restaurant-cum-comedy club on the site of Alan Hale’s Lobster Barrel; and the Osko’s space (does anybody here remember the Millionaire’s Club?) will be converted into a branch of Chevy’s Restaurant/Lounge of New York, positioned to compete, Carlis says, with the Hard Rock Cafe and Red Onion restaurants.

Meanwhile, the ever-expanding Bice chain (the name, pronounced “BEE-chay,” comes from a legendary Tuscan-style restaurant in Milan), whose elegant New York outpost has been one of that city’s biggest success stories, will open a casual, trattoria -style unit called Bice Pomodoro--also on La Cienega. As has been previously announced, a more formal Bice is under construction at Dayton and Canon in Beverly Hills--the chain also plans to open in Chicago and Tokyo next year.

UP FROM DODGER DOGS: A survey of major-league baseball stadium food service operators published recently in Nation’s Restaurant News reveals some interesting things about the eating habits of just plain folks (i.e., baseball fans) around the country: At Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox, fans may order Italian sausage, bratwurst and Mississippi mud pie; the Minnesota Twins’ Metrodome expands on the sausage theme with bierenbrat , Chi-Town hot dogs (whatever those are) and bagel-cheddar wurst (whatever that is); there’s kielbasa at Yankee Stadium and knishes, shrimp cocktail, raw oysters, fresh-cut French fries topped with cheese and Steve’s ice cream (ah, cosmopolitan New York!); the Houston Astrodome serves fajitas , of course, and also frozen margaritas; San Francisco’s Candlestick Park presents chips with salsa, barbecued beef sandwiches and frozen yogurt served in a miniature replica of a Giants’ batting helmet; our own Dodger Stadium does a brisk business in tamales, nachos, burritos and, of course, sushi (ah, cosmopolitan Los Angeles!); and Exhibition Stadium, where the Toronto Blue Jays nest, proposes Big Smokies and Egg Buns, Arctic Chipwichs and Chiquita Pop. A curious people, the Canadians.

TIME TICKING AWAY: Another Hollywood landmark is about to close its doors. Tick Tock--where a person could get a turkey dinner, plus fixin’s, all year round--serves its last home-style meal Aug. 29. “People aren’t eating out like they used to,” said owner Arland (Buzz) Johnson. Fans of the 58-year-old family spot can participate in an auction for the restaurant’s famous antique clocks at a date to be announced. . . . And time’s not up yet for the venerable Le St. Germain. Although the restaurant is in the process of being sold (Restaurant Notebook, August 7), it will be open under its present management until at least October.

WHAT’S NEWS: St. Barth’s Market & Grill in Pacific Palisades has a new chef and a new summer menu: Carol Wallach, formerly of the Darwin and Camelions, serves up such dishes as ahi tuna burger with Maui onions, and ginger-lime chicken with island fries. . . . Tom Sunnanon is the new owner of Rama Thai Cuisine in Van Nuys. . . . The Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco has inaugurated a seasonal menu of regional American beers--including August Schell Pilsner from New Ulm, Minn., and Pete’s Wicked Ale from Palo Alto. . . . The Rangoon Racquet Club in Beverly Hills offers an ample complimentary buffet--Scotch eggs, pizza, mini-burgers, quiche, etc.--all night long at the bar. . . . Sostanza in West Los Angeles serves an all-you-can-eat antipasto buffet luncheon weekdays for $7.95. . . . And the quintessentially ‘60s Maxwell’s Plum in New York, which had in recent years tried to upgrade and modernize itself by hiring such noted young chefs as Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton (as a team), and (for a few weeks) Kathy Casey, has closed.