Alice Will Continue to Live in Malibu

It looked for awhile as if the story was going to be “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”

About a year and a half ago, Alice’s Restaurant, on the state-owned Malibu Pier, announced that it was going to vacate its longtime waterside site. The new holder of concessions for the pier had raised the rent, and the restaurant was planning to move to a new, unspecified location. Since that time, though, that concession holder has relinquished control of the facility--and Alice’s is still in its original location, with no further plans to decamp.

As a matter of fact, restaurant co-proprietor Peter Palazzo says he and his partners are in the final stages of negotiating a 20-year lease for the site--and simultaneously a deal by which they themselves would become concession holders for the entire pier. (Palazzo’s partners are Bob Yuro and Andre Guerrero, through their Japedemy Inc., which owns both Alice’s and Brio in Tarzana.) “We haven’t formulated all of our plans yet,” says Palazzo, “but when the deal is signed, there will be some necessary reconstruction of the whole pier, with new retail facilities out at the end of it, including sportfishing facilities of some kind.

“We’d also like to redo the restaurant, including the kitchen, and maybe add an outdoor deck overlooking the water. There’s been a restaurant on this spot since at least the 1940s, since long before Alice’s, and the structure has really taken a beating over the years. We’d like to get it back to a style of place that I think everybody would like to look at.”

TEA WITH A TWIST: Cucumber sandwiches and petits fours aren’t the only thing you can eat with your tea in Los Angeles these days. Two new teatimes in town offer some more interesting choices. City Restaurant on La Brea serves what co-owner/chef Susan Feniger describes as “an Indian teatime menu,” weekdays from 3 to 5:45 p.m. That means homemade pooris, samosas and other Indian delights--plus a large selection of teas, loose, with nary a tea bag in sight. . . . And Pane Caldo Bistrot in Beverly Hills serves tea Monday through Saturday from 3:30 to 5 p.m., featuring not only assorted Italian-style sweet cakes but also a selection of savory pastries flavored with walnuts, prosciutto, or anchovies.

CONSIDER THE OYSTERS: The “Oysters on Ocean” festival starts today at Ocean Avenue Seafood in Santa Monica, featuring the largest selection of oysters in Southern California. About 10 varieties of oysters will be served on the half-shell (Kumamoto, Olympia, Belon, Fanny Bay), plus several hot oyster-based dishes (i.e., Hangtown Fry and oyster stew). The festival will run through the end of the month.

DON’T CALL IT SPEEDO: San Francisco restaurant star (and proprietor of Stars restaurant) Jeremiah Tower has renamed his new restaurant, from “Speedo 690” to simply “690.” Although Tower had drawn the original name from the Speedo Carburetor Shop that used to occupy the premises, the Speedo swimwear company had filed a copyright infringement complaint against him alleging misuse of their trademarked moniker. Tower decided, he says, that he’d rather switch than fight.

GAME PLAN: Trattoria Toscana in Brentwood features a selection of wild game dishes, prepared Tuscan style, in addition to its regular menu, from Nov. 12 to 19.

CHANGES: Cafe Connection in Beverly Hills, which has featured some Brazilian dishes in the past, and has catered numerous Brazilian-themed banquets around town during the last two years, has gone 100% Brazilian--serving dishes from that country exclusively now, with live Brazilian music added on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. . . . David Cecchini, former chef at Genio’s in Burbank and at his own Cafe Casanova in Glendale, has gone into partnership with Leo and Jane Damian to open Jane’s Cucina Italia (which, somewhat strangely, means “Jane’s Italy Kitchen (or Cuisine)” at the Safari Hotel in Burbank . . . . Giancarlo Zaretti has sold his 8-year-old Pontevecchio in Santa Monica. The new proprietor is Mary Lou Barilla, whose family has owned several Italian restaurants in Pittsburgh. She plans to refurbish the place and introduce a new menu--but Pontevecchio will remain open while the changes are in the works. . . . Rex II Ristorante, downtown, has at least temporarily abandoned its longtime (and unusual) policy of not opening for dinner until 7 p.m. Service now starts at 6 p.m. Why? To accommodate diners who are going to see “Phantom of the Opera” at the Music Center, says Rex boss Mauro Vincenti.