Cuisine Fit for a Hell’s Angel

“You are looking at guys who spend $20,000 to $30,000 for custom Harleys,” says Michael Eisenberg, “extensions of their image.”

And those guys are looking for something to eat. So Eisenberg and his partner Max Hushahn are extending the image of their Sunset Strip bike boutique, Thunder Road. In May they plan to open the 4,000-square-foot Thunder Road House next door; it will be to the motorcycle world what the Hard Rock Cafe is to rock ‘n’ roll.

“One hundred years ago there were no motor vehicles,” explains Eisenberg, a former stockbroker. “Everybody had horses and they would pull up to a roadhouse on their horse. The modern horse is a Harley.”

Soon the modern rider will be able to pull up to the former Tuxedo Exchange for a bite. It will be an old Western tavern, replete with dark wood and leather booths. The bar stools will be made from motorcycle seats, the table lamps out of old motorcycle trophies. Pieces of motorcycle history (such as a neon sign from the Indian factory in Springfield, Mass.), and lots of old Harley and Indian advertising will adorn the walls.

Lionel Denaud (he was opening chef at Hollywood Canteen and will open Jackson’s this year) has been hired to consult on the menu. The cuisine? Roadhouse food--chicken-fried steak, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and sweet potato pie. “But with a nice touch,” says Eisenberg. “No slop.”

Future Thunder Road Houses are planned for Miami, Chicago and New York. “My uncle is a city commissioner in Miami,” says Eisenberg, “and he is begging me to re-create the whole concept there.”

MORE TOTAL EXPERIENCE: Jake and Elwood Blues--those brothers made famous by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi--live on at House of Blues in Cambridge, Mass. The blues-themed restaurant, opened by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe, uses the Blues Brothers as its logo. Aykroyd is even an investor (as are John Candy, River Phoenix and Belushi’s widow).

This is more than a restaurant: “The whole concept,” says Tigrett’s assistant Sandie Castille, “is to celebrate the African-American culture. We have a strong appreciation for their art as well as the music.” The celebration includes live blues music and a retail clothing store that sells everything from silk blouses to antique English sleeping gowns to rain coats that used to be worn by lobster fisherman.

Now there’s word that Tigrett and his investors will open an even larger version in West Hollywood in October, across the street from the Comedy Store. Sources say Tigrett has budgeted $8 million to build the three-story, 28,000-square-foot restaurant/blues club, and that the club will have pivoting bars. More Houses of Blues are scheduled to open in New Orleans in September and in Chicago in April, 1994.

The eclectic menu will feature everything from Mississippi fried catfish to tandoori chicken to dim sum to trendy pizzas baked in wood-burning ovens. Says Castille, “All cultures are sort of the same, a sort of oneness. So the menu is sort of an extension of all this. It’s all just food, when it comes down to it, right?”

LOVE PORTIONS: Is it because the restaurant is located in the site formerly occupied by Romeo & Juliet space? Is it because Valentine’s Day falls in February? Whatever the reason, 435 North in Beverly Hills is celebrating its first anniversary by offering a candlelight dinner for two for $28.50. The prix-fixe dinner includes three courses, coffee and a glass of wine. It will be available all this month.

OPENINGS: Cha Cha Cha No. 3 has opened in Long Beach. . . . Even further south, a Cheesecake Factory restaurant has moved into Newport Beach’s Fashion Island. . . . Meanwhile, they’re eating lots of steak in Las Vegas: Branches of noted beef palaces The Palm and Morton’s of Chicago have recently opened there.