Paradise Found Near Busy Freeway Interchange

The San Diego Freeway isn’t exactly Restaurant Row--especially not the part that stretches down into Orange County, south of LAX. But that part of the freeway is a high traffic area in more ways than one. Surely, reasoned developer Howard Mann, there ought to be enough commerce in the area to produce a substantial clientele for a high-quality restaurant. Thus, in constructing his Andrex Point complex, a 50-acre business park at the intersection of the San Diego and Harbor freeways just east of Torrance, he decided to install an eating place among the office buildings--an “oasis,” he said. And what better name for an oasis than Paradise?

Paradise it will be, then. Mann has hired chef-consultant Debbie Slutsky, who helped open such restaurants as the Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe, China Moon in San Francisco, and Opera in Santa Monica, as menu consultant for the place. She promises “California eclectic” food, with assorted Asian (or, as they say nowadays, “Pacific Rim”) accents. A beachy theme will be carried out in the decor, which will include, for instance, wash basins in the restrooms made out of old surfboards. Scott Johnson is architect on the project, with Vince Kikugama as management consultant. Mann expects to open Paradise in September.

REVOLUTIONARY DINING: All the Bicentennial Bastille Day Activities Fit to Eat: Champagne in West L.A. observes Bastille Day on July 14 with a special seven-course dinner (including such dishes as le saumon Robespierre and a dessert called l’extase du bourreau --”the executioner’s ecstasy”). Tariff for the first seating, from 6 to 6:30 p.m. is $70 a head . . . or rather, per person . For the second seating, between 8:15 and 8:45 p.m., the price goes up to $90 per person, and black tie or period costume is requested--there will be dancing to a live orchestra. . . . Two days later, on the 16th, the non-profit July 16th Committee hosts a gigantic Bicentennial festival in the infield at Hollywood Park. Among the attractions will be French-style street entertainers (jugglers, fire-eaters, musicians and the like), races involving both French waiters and French and American horses, a petanque (bowling) tournament, and food and drink provided by such Gallic and not-quite-Gallic establishments and purveyors as Antoine’s (in the Newport Beach Le Meridien Hotel), the Bistro Gardens, Cafe Pierre, Chez Sateau, Camelions, Citrus, Dar Maghreb, Emilio’s, Fennel, L’Ermitage, Le Dome, Ma Maison, Patout’s, Rebecca’s, Koutoubia, Le Chardonnay, Michael’s Waterside Inn, Perrier-Jouet Champagne, Evian Water, and that old French favorite, Coca-Cola. The event runs from 9 a.m. to midnight, with tickets priced at $5 per person in advance and $7 per person at the door (with food and drink samples extra). The event will benefit the Starlight Foundation and the Pro-Musicis Foundation. Call (213) 472-9645 for further information.

Ma Maison in West Hollywood observes Bastille Day on both the 14 and 15 with food and live music. An a la carte menu and a five-course, $60-per-person prix fixe menu will be featured. . . . And if you still haven’t gotten the Bicentennial out of your system, Salisbury Manor in Los Angeles brings up the rear with a commemorative seven-course post-Bastille-Day wine dinner on Wednesday, July 19, at 7 p.m. Price is $50 per person.

COMINGS AND GOINGS: Award-winning chef Jean Banchet and his wife Doris, owners of Le Francais in Wheeling, Ill. (near Chicago), have sold their landmark restaurant to Roland and Mary Beth Liccioni--former chef and pastry chef, respectively, of another noted dining establishment in that area, Carlos’ in Highland Park. The Banchets say they plan to rest for a while and might consider opening another place. Meanwhile, Jean plans to consult on several restaurant projects. . . . Don Dianda, owner of the resolutely old-style Doro’s in San Francisco, has sold the establishment to Albert Bourla, owner of the Mao’s Palace restaurants in Milbrae and San Carlos. Dianda plans to retire, as does longtime Doro’s chef Paul Bermani. Neither the terms of the sale nor Bourla’s plans for the place have been revealed. . . . And Rick O’Connell has resigned her post as executive chef for Rosalie’s and RAF, two popular San Francisco eateries of a more modern bent. Both restaurants are operating under Chapter 11 protection. O’Connell was also in charge of the kitchen at the short-lived Los Angeles version of Rosalie’s, which opened for a few months on the site of the old 385 North on La Cienega.

BORN AGAIN: Bruno’s Chartreuse, which closed last year at its Cheviot Hills location because the pretty little red brick building it occupied didn’t meet city earthquake codes, has reopened in Santa Monica--on the site of the recently shuttered Tosh. (Tosh owner/chef Jeff Vinion is reportedly going to open a new place in Santa Barbara. . . . The popular Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino has spawned a casual offspring, The Brickery, next door. The simple menu includes nothing but salads, pizzas (cooked in a wood-burning brick oven) and desserts . . . . . . Stratton’s, long a popular restaurant in Westwood, has opened a new branch in Encino. . . . And Peony, a Hong Kong-style seafood restaurant in San Gabriel, has sprouted a second location, this one in El Monte.

NIBBLES AND BITS: From Paris comes world that chef Alain Senderens has introduced a new bargain-priced luncheon menu at his notoriously pricey three-star Lucas-Carton on the Place de la Madeleine. The cost of the new so-called “business lunch,” offering a choice of four appetizers, four main courses, and four desserts? A mere 350 francs--about $55 at the current exchange rate! Come to think of it, though, that’s really not so bad: Another Parisian three-star, Jamin, now gets 350 francs apiece for several of its main courses. . . And, while you might think it’s a given that Italy has better restaurants than Spain, the Guide Michelin doesn’t necessarily agree. In their 1989 guide to Spain and Portugal, just out, they have awarded Arzak in San Sebastian a third star. With Zalacain in Madrid, which earned its third star last year, that gives Spain two top-ranked Michelin restaurants; Italy still has but one, Gualtiero Marchesi in Milan. . . . Piero Selvaggio’s Primi in West Los Angeles has introduced a new summer menu, featuring such unusual Italian dishes as snails with polenta, orange-cured salmon with eggplant and zucchini, and frogs’ legs risotto. . . . Joe Patti has opened Piccola Alley behind his La Famiglia and Piccola restaurants in Beverly Hills. Chef is old-timer Henri Broussard, who ran Broussard’s Patio Orleans on the Sunset Strip in the 1950s. . . . Fama in Santa Monica has opened for lunch on weekdays, and Cha Cha Cha in Los Angeles now serves brunch both Saturday and Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. . And the Foodsource Hotline, a good number to call for restaurant information, has a new phone number: (213) 653-8585.