Descanso Gets a Bit of Change in Taste

Caribbean food is a runaway hit in Florida. That’s why veteran restaurateurs Michael Franks and Robert Bell got the idea it would work in the South Bay, which also has plenty of sand, sun and surf.

Six months ago, South Bay residents followed the beat of the steel drums to Descanso, the partners’ tropical-themed restaurant in Hermosa Beach. The entrepreneurs, who have a great track record with Chez Melange, Fino, Misto, Depot--all in the South Bay--checked out dozens of restaurants in Florida before hiring chef David Slatkin from Yuca, a hot Cuban restaurant in Coral Gables. Unfortunately, his cooking was too exotic for the laid-back beach community and Slatkin is no longer around.

“Hermosa Beach is basically a bunch of guys and girls living in the suburbs, and that’s the sort of operation we are,” Franks says. “(Slatkin’s) style of food was too much for them.”

Christine Brown, who previously cooked at the partners’ Mediterranean bistro Fino in Torrance, has recently taken over Slatkin’s kitchen duties. She’s already changed the menu at the sprawling family restaurant, adding more Mediterranean and Mexican items and eliminating most of the Caribbean and Pacific Rim dishes. She’s also added a “bambino menu.”

“Those are the sorts of changes we wanted to make when David was here,” Franks says. “But it wasn’t going to happen. He wanted to go in his direction, and we needed to go in another.”

Slatkin could not be reached for comment.

And the Winner Is. . .: Chef Jean-Francois Meteigner of La Cachette, best tarte tatin maker in Los Angeles. At the second annual tarte-off, held Saturday at Lunaria in Century City, 12 local French chefs vied for the title for the best upside-down carmelized apple pie.

Meteigner, who was disqualified last year for adding a layer of chocolate to his caramelized apple creation, had to leave before the judging was finished. “I’m cooking for the mayor tonight,” Meteigner explained, hurrying out the door. “What’s his name. . . . He called me from his car phone and said he was having some guests for dinner.” Fortunately, Meteigner was still at his nearby restaurant when the winner was announced. So he was back in five minutes to collect his prize--a gift certificate to the Beverly Hot Springs spa.

Runners-up were Catherine Duchemin of Les Halles, a Venice catering company, and Cruz Mateo of Ma Maison Sofitel hotel. Chef Camille Crochet of Moustache Cafe, last year’s defending champion, took his tarte and went home. He was disqualified for showing up an hour late.

Deep Pockets: Could Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg be desperate to raise money for their new studio? The Hollywood honchos, who also own the successful submarine-themed restaurant DIVE! in the Century City Shopping Center, are rerouting customers to the bar to wait--and wait--for a table. “They give you a beeper that they say won’t work outside,” says one disgusted diner. “Then they send you over to wait in the bar, where the drinks are not exactly cheap. By the time you actually get to sit down, you’ve already spent a fortune.”

“The beepers really don’t work outside,” confirms DIVE!’s Karina Grotz. “Diners have to stay near the bar area in the nose cone of the ship. If they walk outside into the shopping mall, the beeper won’t transmit that far.”

Press Release of the Month: “Come to Pasion (Pass-eon), and experience Juan Enchanted Evening with celebrity chef, Argentine-born Juan Carlos. For starters, the succulent Portobello porcini mushrooms sauteed in sizzling garlic, white wine and balsam (sic) vinegar in a promiscuous pomodoro sauce is enough to make a steak lover renounce the flesh. For fish aficionados, the mussels provencal are a mandatory must. In praise of avocados, there’s a Pasion original plumbed to the nines with shrimps, mussels and scallops swimming in a sea of rare herbs garlic. . . . Couturier dressings are laced with garlic and Dijon mustard, zesty and delicious. Entrees par excellence include Salmon Rockefeller, richly char-broiled, butlered on a bed of spinach with Hollandaise sauce. Chicken a la Bared is not just more cluck for your buck but a breast of chicken in an aurora pink sauce with white wine, shallots and garlic in an inspired invention of T & A--Taste and Artistry.” The new supper club is in Studio City.

Relocating: Pine Tree, the popular Korean restaurant in Northridge that was smooshed in the January quake, has moved into the former Ga Ya space on the corner of Reseda and Roscoe boulevards. . . . Legends of Hollywood has relocated to Studio City. “We were lucky,” says owner Bob Marks, who took over the St. Moritz space on Ventura Boulevard. (St. Moritz has moved to the Toluca Lake Tennis Club.) “Two months after we left Hollywood, the street we were on sunk 9 inches.” Legends offers the same deli menu at lunch, but now specializes in prime rib at dinner.

Happy Anniversary: Dan Tana’s recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Owner Tana, who borrowed $5,000 to open the West Hollywood restaurant, still offers the chicken Florentine, lasagna and mozzarella marinara items that were on the opening menu in 1964. . . . Lincoln Bay Cafe in Santa Monica celebrates its fourth anniversary with a three-course Sunset Supper menu from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday for $15. Entrees include choice of lemon marinated chicken, trout, pork chop or fettuccine with spicy chicken sausage. . . .Big eaters can score at Vitello’s in Studio City. In honor of its eighth anniversary, the Italian restaurant is offering an all-you-can-eat pasta dinner for $8. The offer is good any time during the month and includes choice of soup or salad.

For more restaurant coverage, see Sunday’s Los Angeles Times Magazine and Thursday’s Food section.