When in Doubt, Name It After Mom

When The Lipp opened on Melrose last summer, in what used to be the coffee shop Mel ‘n’ Roses, consulting chef Fred Eric put together a menu featuring American classics at recessionary prices. No entree--even the Thanksgiving turkey dinner with fixings--cost more than $10.

Customers hoped that when Eric left to open his own restaurant in Los Feliz, the place would survive. The Lipp hung on another three months after Eric’s departure, but has now closed. “It got to a point where it wasn’t worth keeping open,” says Eric. “I think it was a combination of the high rent and the earthquake.”

Now, Eric’s Los Feliz restaurant is almost ready to open. One of the toughest parts of the process for Eric was coming up with a name. The chef-owner had planned to use three horizontal dots, an ellipsis, to denote the restaurant he is opening next month. But symbolism didn’t do much for rock star Prince’s career--and he was already rich and successful. Fellow chefs encouraged him to give the place a real name--”What do you say when you call information for the number?,” they asked.

After thinking it over, Eric named the restaurant Vida, after his mother. “It seemed like a nice thing,” says Eric, “and my mom’s happy.” He’s keeping the dots too--they’re under the name.

Vida is located in the space that used to be Duplex restaurant. Eric has installed live fish tanks in the kitchen and also plans to use the giant smoker that came with the place. Dishes will include things like noodles with whitefish, smoked chicken with tortellini, and pressed sandwiches.

“The food’s great, the design’s great, the kitchen’s great, the crew’s great,” says Eric. “(Vida) is going to be a real boost for the culinary scene.”

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MORE CLOSURES: Two more Melrose Avenue restaurants have called it quits. Bruce and Katherine Veneiro, creators of the L.A. Garlic Festival, have closed their restaurant/jazz club Nucleus Nuance. In the ‘60s, the place was famous for its health food, but the cooking evolved with the times. Eventually angel hair pasta and duck with cranberry-papaya sauce co-existed on the same menu with a burger called Ra, The Untouchable and the Oak Grove cheese-and-walnut loaf. No word yet on the status of the Garlic Festival. . . . Former private chef Gaetano Patrinostro--his clients included Dino De Laurentiis and Tina and Nancy Sinatra--has closed his three-month-old Lupo Ristorante.

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THIS SPUD’S FOR YOU: Realtor Steve Karch who owns Carlos and Pepe’s in Malibu has divided the restaurant in half (and, some customers complain, wrecked the panoramic ocean view). One side continues as Carlos and Pepe’s, a Mexican restaurant; the other half has been remodeled and turned into Alanna’s On The Beach, co-owned by Karch’s fiancee, Alanna Kelly, a model and former “Bud girl.” Alanna’s chef is Guillaume Burlion, who has cooked at Chaya Brasserie and L’Orangerie, and before that he was chef to Francois Mitterrand. At Alanna’s he’s cooking things like filet mignon with a crust of golden potatoes, paella Alanna, duck Guillaume and angel hair pasta with seafood.

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MORE OPENINGS: The Pasta Shoppe’s Maria Teresa Endara, who brought fresh pasta to Los Feliz 11 years ago, has opened a second Shoppe in Montrose. . . . The Biltmore Hotel has opened a European-style cafe with take-out lunches in Pershing Square. Biltmore Executive Chef Roger Pigozzi is in charge of the menu. Open for breakfast and lunch, Pershing Square Cafe offers salads, gyros, tacos, Italian pressed sandwiches and more.*