Since joining Roger Keller’s Restaurant in Ojai...

Since joining Roger Keller’s Restaurant in Ojai in February, chef Philippe Berger has been getting comfortable with the menu, taking it kind of slowly. But watch out, things are about to change.

“We wanted Philippe to learn what we’re doing and be successful and then he can experiment. He can do whatever he wants,” Keller said. “We usually change our menu every seven or eight months and it’s about that time. We’ll be working it over pretty soon.”

So far the 30-year-old chef, who most recently was executive chef at El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara, has added one main dish to the menu. It’s an angel hair pasta with roma tomatoes, roasted garlic, fresh basil, kalamata olives and grilled tofu. He has also lent his French training to the dessert list with some French tarts.

Roger Keller’s has been closed for weekday lunches while undergoing earthquake retrofitting, and Keller expects it to remain that way for another couple of months. But the restaurant is open for dinners every night and lunch on the weekends, and Keller said a shift toward Saturday and Sunday brunches may be in the future.

And don’t be surprised to find some fried chicken on the menu. “I have this chicken fryer and I was thinking of Mondays through Thursdays doing that and selling it kind of reasonably,” Keller said. “It’s not a French thing or anything, but you know. . . .” Roger Keller’s is at 331 E. Ojai Ave.

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A couple of quick updates: Mario’s Bistro, located at Oxnard’s Shopping at the Rose complex, opened June 23 (a tad behind schedule), with chef Neal Rosenthal in the kitchen. Meals are served beginning at 11 a.m., seven days a week.

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And as for the Glen Tavern Restaurant at Santa Paula’s Glen Tavern Inn, things are pretty much on hold. Inn manager Sungshil Kang has plans to reopen the restaurant, which has been closed to the public for two years. He said he would like the restaurant to be up and running soon, but at this point there’s little progress to report.