It Pays to Be There on the Right Night

Times must be tough: The owners of some of the Westside’s trendiest and most expensive restaurants are cutting their prices. The group, which includes Michael’s, Opus, La Famiglia, Da Pasquale and Orleans among others, have come up with this deal: Come dine with them on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night and they’ll take 20% off the total food bill. However, there is a hitch: You have to join their Westside Gourmet Dining Club and pay the $13.50 annual fee. Membership forms are available at any of the 39 participating restaurants.

“It’s like a community thing,” says Orleans’ Mary Atkinson. “We are all trying to help each other and keep the money on the Westside.” For more information or a complete list of participating restaurants, call the Westside Gourmet Dining Club at (310) 393-0601.

LE PETIT CHECK: “I want to show the American people they can get some good food out there without having to empty their wallets,” says Dominique Besson, former sous chef at Tulipe on Melrose. So Besson, who will be chef at Le Petit Bistro, opening next month on La Cienega Boulevard at the site of the former Pennyfeathers, will cook the food he ate as a child.

The menu will be simple, with some country French food, some bistro food, even a few dishes from the island of Reunion, near Madagascar. The people of Reunion (the meeting island), Besson says, are descendants of French, Chinese, African and Indian people, all living together on a tiny island. “So you have a mix of everything.”

Two of the partners in Le Petit Bistro owned the former Cassis and Entourage; the other is a former maitre d’ at Four Oaks. They plan to compete for the customers of the busy Cafe Maurice down the street. “With our price range and type of food,” Besson says, “we will be right in there.”

FLEUR DE WILTED?: A year ago the couple who owned Fleur de Vin restaurant in Old Town Pasadena separated. Now Melinda Katzman and Patrick Gruest are getting a divorce.

The restaurant, which had unexpectedly closed about a month ago for three weeks, reopened last Tuesday night as Fleur de Vin Bis (bis means again in French). It has new owners, a new chef and a slightly different menu. If you think you’ve heard this story before, it’s because you have: When the owners of Champagne divorced last year, that restaurant reopened as Champagne Bis.

There are differences, however. Champagne Bis is run by Sophie Healy, the ex-wife and ex-partner of former chef, Patrick Healy. But in Pasadena, Katzman is definitely not involved with the new restaurant. James Allen, a partner in the new restaurant, says that Gruest is no longer involved either. “I’d like him to come back as a host,” Allen says, “but nothing has been finalized.”

Sous chef Alexander Kramer has taken over the kitchen duties since the departure of chef Ron Baker, who is now cooking at Bruce Marder’s West Beach Cafe in Santa Monica. One other similarity: This divorce, like the one at Champagne, has been bitter. “Patrick has gone into a lot of convolutions to remove me from the business,” Katzman says. “Hopefully it will all be handled in divorce court.” Gruest did not return calls.

WASTE NOT: “I’m always upset to find out food is still going in the trash,” says Bruce Rosen, a director of PATH (People Assisting the Homeless). The 10-year-old Westside organization operates two homeless shelters and a food distribution center that provides groceries to 700 families every month.

The homeless problem on the west side of town, Rosen says, is second only to Skid Row. And it’s getting worse. “The political climate is difficult,” Rosen says, “the economy is bad and donations are drying up.”

But Rosen has found that bad news for some can be good news for others. “When restaurants close,” says Rosen, “people are really scrambling to get out and clean up and they don’t want to bother about food.” He’s found that if he gives them a call, he gets the food for PATH. Got some food that’s going to waste? Rosen can be reached at (310) 459-2818.

STOCK POT: OK, it’s not exactly Final Jeopardy, but if you answer the trivia question of the day correctly, it’s worth a free appetizer (or a pizza if you’re with a crowd). Launched by Melrose Place restaurant, the “Food for Thought” program runs Mondays through Wednesdays during dinner. . . . Breadworks Bakery on Third Street in Los Angeles is now open on Sunday mornings (while the supply lasts). . . . The 10th Louise’s will open next month on the site of the old Michael’s Los Feliz Inn (which also happens to be the site of the legendary Brown Derby). The new Louise’s will include a 5,000-square-foot trattoria and a 7,000-square-foot Derby area with horseshoe bar, dance floor and banquet facilities.