More Than 200 Establishments Want to Land at LAX

The word’s gotten out. After voting last month not to renew the contract of Host Marriott, which has handled all food operations at Los Angeles International Airport for the past 34 years, the airport commissioners took out ads in newspapers and trade magazines asking for proposals on running the facility’s food and beverage concessions ranging from fast-food stands to restaurants, bakeries and sushi bars.

More than 200 restaurants and fast-food outlets have expressed interest in feeding the 46 million passengers who each spend an average $2.05 while passing through LAX every year: Wolfgang Puck Foods, Daily Grill, Tony Roma’s, California Chicken Cafe, Manhattan Bagel Company, Ocean Seafood, Uncle Robbie’s, King Taco, McDonald’s, Ruby’s diner, Silver Wings Restaurant and Bar, Panda Express, Citi Deli and Tea House of New Jersey Inc., to name a few. The group will meet at the airport Monday morning for a pre-bidding conference and a tour of the airport.

“It’s no longer going to be all the same stale food from Host and all the companies they have agreements with,” says Judith Sobject of the airport’s contract services bureau. “We have had calls from all over the country. I even had a call from a woman who is translating our ad into Japanese.”

Also up for grabs is the lonely, giant, space-like Theme structure that’s perched in the middle of the airport. So far, airport officials have talked to Daily Grill and Wolfgang Puck Foods about running the restaurant. “Nobody wants it because it’s a (money) loser,” Sobject says, “so we’ve packaged it with some other lucrative locations, hoping somebody will go for it.”

“I just got the bid form which is the size of the Los Angeles phone book,” says Daily Grill’s Bob Spivak. “The Marriotts and the ARAs are set up to bid on these sort of things. I just don’t know if we are going to be able to deal with the process. You need to hire a company just to put the bid together. Why not sit down at a bargaining table and negotiate a lease?

“There are a lot of good, casual dining places in Los Angeles right now, between the Chin Chins and Louise’s and California Pizza Kitchens and Wolfgang Pucks. Other airports have real food. Los Angeles is an embarrassment. But if they keep this bid process up, I just don’t see them getting anything but the same old thing in there.”

Proposals must be submitted by June 24, with the first restaurants to open by December. Another 25 restaurants and bars will be run by a general contractor. Host Marriott, currently operating on a month-to-month contract, has expressed interest in that job.

Was Host upset about losing the lucrative contract?

“Are you kidding?” says Sobject. “They buy up companies to get in airports.”

PRINCEDOM: Chef Robert Gadsby has packed up his knives at Olive on Fairfax to cook at Trocadero, the latest addition to rock star Prince’s empire (which also includes the hot Glam Slam club downtown on Boylston and 3rd streets). The 60-seat restaurant will open for lunch and dinner next month and feature lots of wines by the glass and things like rice-paper-wrapped salmon with polenta chop sticks, house-cured salmon and a vegetarian bento box. No entree costs more than $15.

“We want to be a place where everybody can go when they leave Roxbury or Glam Slam or places like that,” says co-owner Bambi Byrens, who used to manage the Divinyls, “so we’ve applied to the City of West Hollywood to be open after hours. We promised not to bother any of the neighbors and said we wouldn’t play any loud music . . . just some of Prince’s latest CDs.”

MORE OPENINGS: Francoli Gourmet Emporio has opened in the Newport Fashion Island, where Italian designer imports including glassware, cheese, prosciutto di Parma and pastas are for sale. According to a press release, the idea is to introduce Americans to “a true feeling of being in Italy and shopping as the Italians themselves do.” Those would be the Italians with money. . . . If you can’t get into Kevin Costner’s hot, 450-seat Twin Palms in Pasadena, there’s always the Fantastic French Fry Company two blocks away, which specializes in gourmet fries with hot and cold dipping sauces. Signature dishes include Catalina pizza fries, Creole frank-’n’-fry, spicy meatloaf fries, and fries Benedict. . . . Ready for more Rostis? Augustino Sciandri and partners Kathie and Michael Gordon, who also own the nearby Toscana in Brentwood as well as Terrazza Toscana in Encino, will open two more Italian take-aways, one in what used to be Mario’s Cooking for Friends on Beverly Boulevard, the other in Santa Monica.

CLOSING: You still have 14 more weeks to eat at Nicky Blair’s before the Sunset Strip restaurant closes.*