A Split Along the Border

Superchefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken have split with their longtime la Eyeworks partners Barbara McReynolds, Gai Gherardi and Margo Willits. Feniger and Milliken will keep the two big restaurants, City on La Brea Avenue and Border Grill 2 in Santa Monica. The partners’ original restaurant, once City Cafe and now called Border Grill Melrose and located next door to la Eyeworks, will go to McReynolds, Gherardi and Willits.

“It was very amiable,” says Milliken. “I think we all just realized it was the best thing for everyone involved. Susan and I have always been the chefs and for years our mentors were really big restaurateurs who made every decision about the business . . . people like Patrick Terrail and Jovan Treboyevic who were incredibly passionate about food but still very strong leaders and business people. So for Susan and me it’s a personal growth.”

At the moment Milliken and Feniger plan to concentrate on strengthening their two restaurants. “But I don’t think we’ll go the rest of our lives without opening another restaurant,” says Milliken, who admits that the two have talked of one day opening a vegetarian place.

And what now for the Melrose Border Grill? Well, Gherardi says that the restaurant will remain the same--for now. “The location on Melrose as always been a testing ground for us,” says Gherardi, “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t continue to be that.”

POWER PASTA: “We find the kind of customer that likes to come shop at Emporio Armani also likes to have food,” says Gabriella Forte, vice president of Giorgio Armani International. “Armani has a history of opening eateries with Emporio Armani clothing stores.”

So in November, the designer will launch Emporio Express in Costa Mesa next door to his Emporio Armani boutique at South Coast Plaza. Executive chef Stafano Colaiacoma will cook trattoria dishes such as antipasto and pasta. They say the prices will be reasonable.

But lower food prices don’t necessary translate to tacky polyester uniforms. The waiters will wear off-white jackets and black pants in a traditional cut by . . . who else?

CHAINING: “Think of El Torito on the top of the scale and Taco Bell on the bottom, and put us somewhere in the middle,” says Steve Snyder, vice president of operations for California Mexican Patio Cafe, which is about to open a chain called Two Pesos Mexican Cafe. Tiny Naylor’s son Biff and partner Joe Johnston are about to break ground on the first of the 24-hour drive-through, fast food restaurants in La Habra. Although the Cafe’s roots are in Texas, they plan 10 Cafes in California: A Stockton site has already been selected and negotiations are in progress to lease the old Mattel Toy Company lot on Rosecrans near the 405 Freeway in Hawthorne.

Prices will range from 89 cents for a breakfast burrito to $10.95 for a double skillet of fajitas, their specialty. Beer, wine and gold tequila Margaritas will also be served. One feature of the restaurant will be glass roll-up garage doors. “So when it’s nice out, “ says Snyder, “we will just roll up the walls and enjoy the weather.”

ON THE TABLE: “The roast chicken dinner has been on the menu for 64 years,” says chef Mel Denny of Taix Restaurant on Sunset, which is celebrating its 64th anniversary. “It was so popular, they used to line up outside the restaurant to get it.” . . . Another anniversary celebration--Dan Tana’s, a celebrity hangout on Santa Monica Boulevard, known for its red sauced food, red leather booths and checkered table clothes. As for those Chianti bottles that have been hanging overhead since the restaurant opened 27 years ago, you’ll be glad to know that they are washed and dusted weekly. . . . Richard and Michael Condon (former owners of the Wave restaurant and currently of the Pink nightclub in Santa Monica) have opened Speedway Cafe in Venice, and hired Chad Hendrickson (formerly of City Restaurant, Mi Piace and Trumps) to cook salads, sandwiches, pizzas and blue-plate specials. . . . L.A. Nicola Restaurant is doing a monthlong “Salute to Baja” menu. “We’ve been doing a lot of research in Mexico and are trying out recipes,” says owner Larry Nicola, adding that so far it’s been a success. “We are doing stuff like big bowls of posole. No tacos, no enchiladas.” He adds “the menu is in Spanglish --half English, half Spanish--like steamed camarones con cervesa y chipotle chiles, so we’re seeing how people react to the menu.” . . . Delhi Palace in Canoga Park is about to expand into an adjacent space, which, at 8,000 square feet, will make it the largest Indian restaurant in the Valley. . . . Monsoon chef-owner Bruce Cost writes that he wants to lay to rest the rumors of the San Francisco restaurant’s demise. “I’ve formed a corporation with two principals of the Pacific Union Company. . . . It’s a new start as substantial funds are being put into the restaurant. Since Pacific Union also happens to be our landlord, there will be validated parking, new signage, interior renovation and, most importantly, I’ll beconcentrating on the food,” says Cost.