Here’s a Secret About Concierges’ Clout

There’s this old notion that you have to be a powerful agent or a studio chief to get a reservation at a decent hour at a dozen or so Hollywood-heavy hot spots. And concierges at certain hotels allegedly are never turned down when requesting tables at a prime time. The rest of us, however, are at the mercy of the owner or worse, a temperamental maitre ‘d.

The hot restaurant hype is so heavy that Conde Nast Traveler recently put up a writer for one night at each of four different L.A. hotels to test and compare concierge clout. Each night, the concierge was asked to book reservations at several top restaurants during peak dining hours. The writer was floored when one concierge booked her into Mortons on Monday night.

It seems no one ever writes about Monday night at Mortons without mentioning the crowds of table-hopping insiders, and how impossible it is for non-celeb types to get a table. But the reality is: If you want dinner at Mortons on Monday, it’s yours. I know. I called on a recent Friday at 4 p.m. and made a reservation for the following Monday night in the name of Robinson and was given a choice of dining at 7:30 or 8:30.

In fact, if you had wanted to eat out that Friday, you could have called at 4 that afternoon and gotten a reservation for two in any popular restaurant in town. After calling Mortons, I tried 25 other places, including Drai’s, Eclipse, Patina, Pinot Bistro, the Ivy, Campanile, Citrus, Matsuhisa, Parkway Grill, Locanda Veneta, Toscana, Cicada and all of Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants.

True, some places were not prepared to feed us at 8. Citrus, Shiro, Drai’s and Le Chardonnay had nothing until 9:30. Matsuhisa could accommodate me at 6:30 or I could, “walk in and sit at the sushi bar.” Spago and Chinois wanted me to wait until 10--which, granted, is almost the same as a brush-off. Eclipse could “fit me in” at 8:45.

Then a former maitre ‘d, who has worked at some of the hippest spots, spilled the beans and suddenly everything made sense.

“I used to make people think I was doing them a favor,” he said. “The real trick is to make everyone think everyone else has been excluded and if you are real good at it, nobody catches on.

“But everybody gets in.”

*

Spice of Life: Just a few weeks ago, David Slatkin was cooking his spicy Caribbean cuisine at Descanso in the South Bay. Descanso’s owners, however, wanted to take the food in a different direction, so owners and chef parted ways. Slatkin, who hasn’t given up on his style of cuisine, is now negotiating to open his own place on Melrose in Hollywood. He hopes to have the 80-seat restaurant open by February and already has a name: Spice Coast.

“It’s going to be very exotic,” Slatkin says, “a mixture of everything I’ve learned, flavors from California, Hawaii, the Caribbean.”

Slatkin also added that there were no hard feelings when he left Descanso. “I got a handshake and a nice letter of recommendation. They are fine restaurateurs and hopefully someday I’ll have five restaurants of my own.”

*

Sweet Charity: There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but breakfast is another matter entirely. The Daily Grill chain now provides local charities with a meeting place and continental breakfast free of charge at many of its restaurants. Participating locations include Brentwood, Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Encino, Studio City and Palm Desert.