During his nearly two years at the...

During his nearly two years at the Pierpont Inn, Chef Louis Ludwig has experimented with dishes and collected thousands of customer comments in an effort to refine the cuisine at the Ventura landmark.

The results of his work will be unveiled next week when the restaurant’s new breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner menus make their debut.

“Out of the 20,000 comment cards we received, the one comment that really stood out was people wanting more menu variety,” Ludwig said. “We figured out a way to utilize fresh fish and fresh chicken dishes to really expand the menu.”

Ludwig said the new menus will offer about 30% more dishes than before, emphasizing freshness and a health-conscious, low-fat approach.

“The Pierpont Inn has its own taste, its own feel, its own look. It is classic California cuisine, dishes like a true Cobb salad, a classic Caesar, comfort food like schnitzel, hazelnut chicken and mashed potatoes,” Ludwig said.

“We’ve come up with more creative ways to keep a lot of the old favorites on the menu, and at the same time offer variations on classic California dishes in a healthy, fresh way.”

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Gooey is good.

So say the folks at Cinnabon World Famous Cinnamon Rolls. Earlier this month, the 282-bakery chain opened its first Ventura County outlet, at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks.

The Seattle-based operation, which now has 40 bakeries in California, reported about $100 million in sales for 1994.

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Trudy and Bob Shields, owners of the Shields Brewing Company restaurant and micro-brewery, are searching for an entrepreneur to take over and expand the food portion of the business.

“Bob and I are brewers of beer and we’ve been operating the place for five years,” Trudy Shields said. “We really need to focus our energies on the micro-brewery business.”

Shields said the actual specifics of the restaurant would, in large part, be up to the restaurateur. But she has her own ideas.

“We have a really good following now, and I can envision a new location along the 101 Freeway somewhere,” she said, “a 300- to 500-seat restaurant, with the brewery visible from the restaurant through glass doors. We could have tours of the brewery. It would be like what were doing now, but on a much larger scale.”