How About a Drai Martini for Lunch?

When Patrick Terrail closed the original Ma Maison nine years ago, there was a lot of talk about where people would be heading for Friday lunch. Doing lunch at Ma Maison, or M.M. as the gossip columnists called it, was a ritual, and its tables were as sought after as a three-picture deal. Although many have tried--Chasen’s, Il Giardino, Picnic, even Terrail himself at Ma Maison Sofitel--no restaurant has come even close to replacing the old Astroturfed spot on Melrose.

But Victor Drai, the owner and near-constant presence of Drai’s--who opened his La Cienega Avenue restaurant for lunch on Fridays only--is giving it a try. He’s got the Rolls-Royces out front. He’s got former Ma Maison chef Claude Segal, who came to rescue M.M. after Wolfgang Puck left to open Spago. He’s got several surviving Ma Maison patrons filling his seats: Jackie Collins, Alan Ladd Jr., David Begelman, Sherry Lansing, Freddie Fields, Steve Tisch. And he’s even got Terrail working the room, kissing hands, kissing air, kissing up.

“Patrick was there for me when I opened the restaurant,” says Drai, “and last Saturday when I was off for Passover, he offered to work the door for me. He had such a good time, he’s going to fill in for me whenever I’m gone. I’m one of the people who like Patrick.”

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CHEFS MOVES: Christian Plumail (he was awarded a Michelin star in 1991 while at L’Abbaye in La Colle-Sur-Loup near Nice and was voted France’s best pastry chef in 1978) left Champagne Bis six months ago for Acapulco to open his own place. Now the chef is in Nashville cooking at the Wild Boar restaurant. . . . Charles Myers, the former chef/owner of the Gumbo Pot and Kokomo Cafe opened Big Sky Cafe last Monday in downtown San Luis Obispo.

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ANGEL DUST: Trattoria Angeli in West L.A. folded last Saturday, and now another Angel has had its wings clipped, too. Angel’s Flight, the high-end restaurant that opened last year in downtown’s Hotel Inter-Continental, has closed, and the tasteful beige-and-ivory third-floor space has been turned into a banquet room.

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GROWN-UP PASTA: 555 East has operated for 10 years as a New York-style steakhouse, but now its owners are changing the name and menu. In two weeks, the downtown Long Beach restaurant will close for a $350,000 remodeling job and reopen a week later as Dominick’s East Village, an Italian restaurant serving oversized platters of pasta, chicken, steaks and seafood. “The food will be served family-style,” says a spokeswoman for University Restaurant Group, “but that doesn’t mean they want a bunch of kids in there.”

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DRINKING AND DRIVING: Here’s an offer even MADD would approve of. During its Happy Hour weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m., City Bean Coffee in downtown Los Angeles offers coffee and espresso drinks for half price, which means a double latte costs $1.15.