Nicolas Drop L.A., Aren’t Dropping L.A.

“You get to a point in your life where you want to move on,” says Melisa Nicola, “and that’s just what we are doing.” So on Aug. 28 she and her husband Larry will close L.A. Nicola, their 12-year-old Silver Lake restaurant, to move into a new high-rise at Figueroa and Wilshire in downtown Los Angeles. The restaurant, which will open at the end of October, will simply be called Nicola.

“The owners of the building came to us and said, ‘We want you in our building,’ ” Nicola says. “We said, ‘No, no, no, we are happy where we are.’ Then they came back, they came back, they came back. And so we finally decided we would look at the space and listen to what they had to say.” Construction begins next week.

The Nicolas’ plan includes outside seating, a hot-dog stand and a tamale stand. Inside there will be a more upscale dining area. “There’ll be 4,000 people in that building,” she says, “and we are hoping we can get everybody.”

The Nicolas have been dreaming about moving downtown for a long time; they wanted the old Fred Harvey restaurant space in Union Station. “We tried every possible angle and they were just not ready to develop it,” she says. “It’s just sitting there and being wasted. We don’t like to think about it.”

COME SEPTEMBER: Meanwhile, back in Silver Lake, Joel Kessel, former general manager of the Authentic Cafe, and Kirk Psenner, former maitre d’ at Asylum and general manager of California Pizza Kitchen, have plans for the L.A. Nicola space. They plan to paint it blue, call it Cobalt Cantina and serve Cal-Mex food. Everything on the menu will be under $10: blue and red corn nachos with black beans; queso anejo with chipotle sauce; sweet potato and corn tamales. They also will offer a line of gourmet pizzas for takeout and delivery. They say Cobalt Cantina will open on Sept. 14.

Psenner says they plan to keep the Martini Lounge. The casual L.A. Nicola bar is a popular spot for lunch during the day, appetizers at night and late-night drinks later on. “We are not going to keep the name,” Psenner says, “but we want to have a place where people enjoy waiting for a table.”

SEEING RED: Clothing/restaurant magnate Jerry Magnin and his partners have sold the 17-month-old Red Car Grill in West Hollywood to their landlord, RWH Holdings (the Ramada Inn group). “If Jerry Magnin and his group weren’t going to pay their rent,” says Kevin McCarthy, general manager for Ramada, “we just looked at our options and figured we may as well take it over ourselves.”

“We had a lease with the previous landlords,” says Ed Kasky, a partner with Magnin in the Red Car Grill and downtown’s Engine Co. 28, “and the original concept of the hotel did not come to fruition. They wanted a restaurant like Engine Company 28 because it was supposed to be an upscale Ramada for businessmen. That never happened. It turned into a bargain-basement hotel, which meant that the covers we were anticipating from the hotel never came through the restaurant.”

Kasky says they subsequently asked for a reduction in the rent, but couldn’t come to terms. “Jerry was nearly in tears the last night we left Red Car,” says Kasky. “He ate there three nights a week. He loved that restaurant.” Magnin is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

McCarthy says his company has no plans to make cosmetic changes to the $1-million restaurant, but will make a few menu changes. “We are going to do some real health-conscious things, fish being one of them,” says McCarthy, who has kept the former staff and hired a new food and beverage director. “So we are just doing it a little bit better. I hope.”

THE K TEAM: Why is Thomas Keller, the chef without a restaurant, on the L.A. a la Carte chef roster as “Thomas Keller presents Team Keller”? “Thomas Keller is opening his own place and this is his team,” says a spokesman for L.A. a la Carte, the new Los Angeles Food & Music Festival held this weekend and next on the grounds of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. “In fact, he is holding a contest to pick the name of his restaurant. There will be an entry form at his booth, and the person that comes up with the winning name wins 24 free meals at the new restaurant.” Keller would not return calls.

“This is very surprising,” said a source, when told about the contest. “As of one week ago Thomas was looking for a job. He told me he owed it to Los Angeles to remain in this town.”

RUN FOR THE BORDER (2): “We have probably had 20 calls from people asking whether we were in business or not,” says Susan Feniger. Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken own City Restaurant and Border Grill 2 in Santa Monica; until last year they also owned the original Border Grill on Melrose Avenue, which closed last month.

“As a business decision,” says Feniger, “it was probably stupid for us to ever let our original partners keep the name in that location, but we were at a point where we wanted the separation done. We never thought they would last that long. . . .”

Feniger says that Border Grill 2 is still going strong. “Mary Sue and I are even talking about opening a third restaurant.”

DRESS REHEARSAL: Patrick Healy, former chef/owner of Champagne, will be appearing in Pasadena for a week beginning Monday. Healy, who plans to open a place of his own on the Westside, says he will be at Xiomara, cooking some of his signature dishes and trying out selections from his upcoming menu. “Xiomara will basically be running the front,” says Healy, “and I am going to be running the show. It’s my week at Xiomara.” Says owner Xiomara Ardolina, “It will be great for Pasadena to have someone like Patrick come here for a week to cook.”