Restaurateurs See Green in the Valley; Doin’ the Chinois-Spago-Eureka Shuffle

For Sale: One used gazebo, to the highest bidder.

Patina’s Joachim Splichal has signed a lease to open a French-style bistro at the now-shuttered La Serre in Studio City. He will keep the La Serre phone number, the equipment and the liquor license, “but we will redo the facade and the whole interior, and the gazebo will definitely go,” he says. He has hired Cheryl Brantner (she also did Patina and Bikini) to design the bistro.

Splichal compares La Serre to Le St. Germain, which he leased to open Patina. It too was a landmark restaurant with a good location and strong clientele.

“People who ate at La Serre 20 years ago,” he says, “were vice presidents like Mr. (Brandon) Tartikoff. Now he is CEO of Paramount. Robert Redford used to go there. There are a lot of good memories. It’s good to go with tradition--and L.A. has so little.”

Splichal says the food will be straightforward, with a Mediterranean flavor. There will be an oyster bar and a wine list featuring accessible wines, “a lot of Rhone wines and little Chardonnays.” Octavio Becerra, head chef at Patina, who has been with Splichal for seven years, will run the bistro. They hope to open in November.

Originally Splichal had planned to call his place Socca, after the thin, flat cakes that are a specialty of Nice. But he’s changed his mind and challenged some of his best customers to come up with a new name. “They came up with some very good ones like Pastis, the drink, or Bisque, or Grand Cafe. Roti was also suggested, and I like the name, but it’s already a restaurant in San Francisco,” he says. “They did a really good job, but the names didn’t catch. It has to click. The name is very important.”

Splichal had planned to open his bistro on 3rd Street in Los Angeles but opted for the Valley instead, citing the heavy traffic on 3rd as a drawback.

“Not a lot of restaurateurs really look at the Valley, but I see tremendous potential,” he says. “And when I see our reservation book, and how many people we already have from the Valley, I think we will really do well out there. Actually it’s not out there , it’s 10 minutes from Patina, on the freeway, no traffic.”

MORE VALLEY NEWS: Prakis Yenbamrong plans to open a Studio City branch of Talesai, his Sunset Strip Thai restaurant, in April.

The Broadway Deli in Santa Monica also plans to clone itself in the Valley. The reduced version of the restaurant should be installed in the Encino Courtyard Shops shopping complex by the end of the year, next to the as-yet-unnamed restaurant being opened by Silvio De Mori and Bob Morris. “We don’t have that much square footage available, so we will cut back a bit in our market area,” co-owner Marvin Zeidler says. “We’ll have the bakery, we’ll have the deli-takeout, and we’ll have about a 200-seat restaurant.”

Meanwhile, Tribeca is rumored to be scouting the Woodland Hills area in hopes of opening a Valley version of its Beverly Hills California-American sports bar-restaurant. “It’s a possibility,” says Tribeca’s Chris Bower, “but no lease has been signed.”

SHUFFLING THE DECK: Now that chef Kazuto Matsusaka has left Chinois on Main to open his own Santa Monica restaurant (in the space now occupied by Fennel), Makoto Tanaka, head chef at Spago, has moved over to be head chef at Chinois. Tanaka’s former sous-chef, Francois Kwaku, takes over as head chef at Spago. Kwaku’s sous-chef will be Mark Valiani, from Eureka. No word yet on who will replace Valiani at Eureka.

WHOA WHOA: When Tadatomo Kato became managing partner of Noa Noa last month, after the sudden departure of Kenji Seki, he spoke about an alternative plan he had for the restaurant in case business didn’t pick up. He would change Noa Noa’s name to Brasserie Beverly Hills and change its format to a brasserie -style restaurant with a more casual, less expensive menu. He also talked of adding a late-night supper menu, some music and a dance floor.

Now Kato says he has approval from his partners to go ahead with his plan. One part of his plan has changed, however: The restaurant will be named Cafe Noa Noa. Kato will invite guest chefs to cook. “We are particularly proud of our unique and interesting special dining festival plan,” he says, “where we will be featuring world-famous guest chefs from the world’s most prestigious restaurants.”

CHAPTER 11: The Golden Monkey nightclub-restaurant, which opened last year on Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade, has filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana.

Randy Larscheid, the Golden Monkey’s general manager, would not comment on its plans. “I have been instructed by the attorney not to say anything in regards to this (Chapter 11 filing), especially to the papers,” Larscheid says. “It’s not something we planned. We plan to be open for a long time, I can just tell you that.”

In October, the Santa Monica City Council denied the 334-seat restaurant’s request to open a 2,600-square-foot coffeehouse serving alcohol in the basement of its building. The ruling was due, in part, to chronic noise problems at the club.

CLOSINGS: Say goodby to the Belle-Vue in Santa Monica, which opened in 1937. The Belle-Vue was for many years considered the best French restaurant in Santa Monica, but last year the aging restaurant underwent a face lift and reopened as a French brasserie . The operation was not a success: The old-time regulars were offended by the music, the food and the loss of privacy at their favorite booths, and abandoned ship.

Mille Rose, the cozy Provencal restaurant with the funky faux interior that opened on Melrose about six months ago, was closed by the County of Los Angeles Department of Health Services. “During a routine inspection we spotted a sewage problem inside the restaurant,” says Tom West, an environmental health staff specialist. “We shut them down immediately, and they still haven’t called to see if they can get it reopened.”

And in case you haven’t heard, the Hollywood branch of Gorky’s also closed its doors last month. And the original Gorky’s, downtown on 8th Street, is on the verge of closing its doors as well.

GOING PLACES: The Grill is famous for having some of the best waiters in town. It’s also known for no-nonsense food, basic American fare such as a spectacular Caesar salad, fine grilled meats and huge baskets of sourdough bread. Now the Beverly Hills restaurant has a new feature: It will come to you. All you need is an outdoor location for cooking; the waiters and cooks do everything else. But such service doesn’t come cheap. The price is $75 a person, with a 10-person minimum.