A Melrose Pastiche--and Proud of It

Sophie Healy, who ran the front of the house first at Champagne and then at Champagne Bis, is back in business again. She’s traded in sleepy Little Santa Monica Boulevard for a livelier Melrose Avenue address. And this time around, she’s not setting her sights quite so high. Her new restaurant is much more casual and not entirely French. She’s called it Pastiche because its menu is a pastiche of cuisines, namely, French, Italian, Moroccan, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.

She’s inherited a pizza oven from the previous tenant, so naturally pizza--and pasta, of course--are the Italian contribution to the menu. Daube cooked in a cast-iron casserole, cassoulet and coq au vin are classically French. Vietnamese cooking is represented by an exotic fondue, Spanish by paella, Thai cuisine by coconut soup. Instead of a fragrant couscous or tajine, Morocco gets only kebabs. Looks like she’s trying to cover every possibility, vegetarian included, with her “pastiche of seven different potato preparations.” Take a couch potato out to dinner.

* Pastiche Restaurant, 7966 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 658-8884. Open Tuesday through Sunday for dinner only. Major credit cards accepted. Valet parking. Appetizers $3.50-$7.75, entrees $8.50-$22.