Mason’s Is <i> Not</i> Gone and <i> Not</i> Forgotten

Mason’s in Brentwood has not closed its doors, contrary to rumors and a report in the current issue of Los Angeles magazine. Management and administration of the restaurant have, however, been taken over by a new company, Hospitality Management Services--an offshoot of Kennard, Herbage & Associates, the Santa Ana-based architecture firm that designed the restaurant’s interior.

Robert Herbage, a Hospitality Management principal who said he’s always felt a vested interest in Mason’s, named Roger Mathys (formerly of A Fine Affair) as chef. Mathys, who has been in the kitchen since March 27, is about to unveil a new menu. Meanwhile, the two unrelated Masons who founded the restaurant--former White House deputy protocol chief Morgan Mason (a.k.a. son of the late actor James Mason and husband of singer Belinda Carlisle) and entertainment attorney John Mason--remain involved as partners.

ON THE FIRE: Mary Sue Miliken and Susan Feniger of City Restaurant and the Border Grill combine a cooking class and book signing for their new (and excellent) cookbook, “City Cuisine,” on Wednesday evening, April 26, at the Epicurean Cooking School in West Hollywood. The class fee is $60 per person, and books will be on sale at the school. Information: (213) 659-5990. . . . Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach feeds local chocolate lust with a “Chocolate Weekend” on April 29-30. For $164 per couple, the hotel will offer Saturday night accommodations (with 8 p.m. checkout on Sunday), cooking classes, a chocolate and champagne reception, and chocolate/champagne gift baskets. Also, eleven chefs from around the country will participate in a chocolate sculpting contest. . . . Opera in Santa Monica hosts a black-tie benefit dinner for the Westside Junior Philharmonic Committee on Sunday, April 30, at 5:30 p.m. Appropriately operatic entertainment is included in the $80-per-person ticket price. . . . The ordinarily private Regency Club in Westwood opens its doors to any and all local wine lovers who have formal garb and $175 per person to spend on Tuesday, May 2, for a Bordeaux wine dinner featuring first-growth wines from the 1986 vintage. Sponsored by Wally’s wine shop in West Los Angeles, the evening will include a multicourse repast prepared by Regency Club chef Patrick Jamon and discussion of the wines served. Information: (213) 475-0606 or (818) 505-6454.

NEWS AND NOTES: Craig Ashley, late of Morton’s and his own short-lived Ashley’s, is now the maitre d’ at Trattoria Angeli in West Los Angeles. . . . Scandia on the Sunset Strip features Baltic herring, Swedish pea soup, veal Oscar and cold lingonberry souffle, among other dishes, on its new four-course, $28-a-head “A Taste of Scandia” menu. . . . And South of Santa Fe in Orange has closed, but management hopes to reopen in a new location soon.