Ma Maison Welcomes Cigar Smokers

The after-dinner cigar is pretty much a thing of the past in American restaurants today. Some eating places, of course, ban smoking altogether. Others allow cigarettes, but forbid cigars and pipes as well--or, at the least, restrict the enjoyment of them to bar areas or lounges.

At least one Los Angeles restaurateur thinks this is a shame, and has decided to do something about it--once a month, at any rate. Starting Nov. 6, Patrick Terrail will institute monthly “Cigar Smokers’ Nights” at his Ma Maison in West Hollywood’s Ma Maison Sofitel Hotel. A special seven-course menu degustation (at $59 per person) will be offered in addition to the regular menu, and Dunhill will set up a “cigar buffet,” offering a large selection of cigars to smokers who have not brought their own. A newly enlarged selection of Cognacs and other after-dinner drinks will supplement the cigars.

“We have a lot of guests who enjoy a cigar after their meal,” Terrail explains, “and usually we have to ask them to move to the bar. But somebody who spends a couple hundred dollars on a good meal doesn’t necessarily want to be moved around the minute he’s finished. So I decided to have one night a month when the cigar smoker would have the right of way.”

But won’t the ghost of cigar smoke linger in the room for a day or two after the event, possibly offending later diners? Terrail replies that the entire roof of the restaurant opens, giving Ma Maison “wonderful ventilation.”

Cigar Smokers’ Nights will be held on the first Monday of every month at Ma Maison until further notice. Terrail stresses, in conclusion, that non-cigar smokers will be welcome on these evenings--”But, of course,” he adds, “they won’t be able to say, ‘Will you please put that thing out.’ ”

A NO-SHOW PLAN THAT MIGHT JUST FLY: Whenever the issue of charging restaurant “no-shows” for unkept reservations is being debated, supporters of the notion tend to point out that hotels do levy such charges; opponents counter that airlines do not. That latter point isn’t completely valid anymore. The government of Singapore now permits all airlines serving that tiny nation to charge the equivalent of about $80 to customers who buy tickets and make reservations in Singapore itself and then let those reservations lapse. The airline no-show problem is particularly dire in Singapore, as it happens, since local law prohibits overbooking or the resale of seats which are already theoretically sold.

NEW TABLES IN TOWN: Tara Govind, former co-proprietor of Gitanjali on La Cienega and proprietor of Shanta in Santa Monica, has remodeled the latter establishment and reopened it as British Raaj, featuring both traditional Northern Indian cuisine and a repertoire of Anglo-Indian dishes. . . . Other local restaurant newcomers include Hurry Curry of Tokyo in West Los Angeles, opened by the proprietors of the Famous Enterprise Fish Company in Santa Monica; the Star Cafe in Montrose, specializing in pasta and “gourmet pizza”; Manhattan West on La Cienega, said to be inspired by “New York’s famed SoHo loft district”; the Malibu Deli in Malibu (where--Celebrity Alert!--Pia Zadora reportedly has been seen buying cookies for her children), and Raphael’s Trattoria in Palm Springs, an offshoot of Raphael’s in Beverly Hills. WHAT’S COOKIN’: If you hurry, you might still be in time to find a place at tonight’s second annual anniversary-and-Hallowe’en party at Champagne in West Los Angeles. A six-course dinner (culminating with a dessert called Chocolate Fright) will be served for $85 per person. There will be dancing to a live orchestra and costumes are encouraged. . . . If you’re too late for the party tonight, you can catch up with Champagne proprietors Patrick and Sophie Healy when they join restaurant critic Larry Lipson, wine maker Randall Grahm (of Bonny Doon Vineyard), and wine educator Larry Tepper for an afternoon symposium on French food and California wine, next Sunday from noon to 3:30 p.m. at Champagne. The event, which costs $65 per person, is sponsored by the California State University, Northridge, extension program. Call (818) 885-2644 for details. . . . Also next Sunday, chefs Guy Gabriele and Ramon Cardenas from Cafe Pierre in Manhattan Beach join colleagues Michel Blanchet of L’Ermitage, Robert Bell of Chez Melange, Jean-Pierre Bosc of Fennel, Claude Alrivy of Le Chardonnay, and Jean-Luc Chassereau of The Cookery in Sacramento in a celebration of the bicentennial of the French Revolution at the Culbertson Winery in Temecula. The chefs will collaborate on a menu that will attempt to demonstrate “the evolution of French cuisine both in its native country, the U.S.A. and the world.” Music and dancing will also be featured at the all-day event. Call (213) 545-5252 for more information.