Splichals Ready to Unveil Their Fifth: Pinot Hollywood

Pinot Hollywood Restaurant and the Martini Bar debuts sooner than reported last week. Joachim and Christine Splichal’s fifth restaurant opens for lunch Thursday. The following day, dinner service begins at the new Parisian-style brasserie. Weekdays, the kitchen will also be serving a small bar menu throughout the afternoon. And the Martini Bar will be dispensing cocktails until 1:30 a.m.

Meanwhile at Patina, Michael Otsuka, who was chef de cuisine at Pinot Bistro in Sherman Oaks, replaces Jon Fernow as executive chef. (Fernow is moving to Pinot Hollywood as executive chef and partner. He’s also transferring Patina Catering operations there.) Otsuka began his career with Splichal at the late, lamented Max au Triangle in Beverly Hills. He later went to France where he worked under two-star chefs Jacques Maximin at Hotel Negresco in Nice and Michel Bras at his eponymous restaurant in Laguiole. In addition to the chef’s seasonal menu and the vegetarian menu, Splichal and Otsuka are adding two new prix fixe menus: a lobster menu and, beginning the first week of October, a game menu.

Patina’s new sommelier, Christopher Meeske, comes from the Inn at Spanish Bay on the Monterey peninsula. Before that, he was sommelier Larry Stone’s assistant at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago.

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Muscle Beach: First Michel Richard divided his Los Angeles restaurant Citrus in two, transforming half of it into a more casual, inexpensive bistro. Now Claude Cevascoof Claude’s in Pasadena is splitting his restaurant in two. In the main dining room, you can order off a new fall menu of Provencal fare. The adjoining room will be what he calls a bistro a moules. Now this we haven’t seen before. Oyster bars, yes. But a “mussel bistro” featuring 20 different mussel dishes with modest wines to accompany them?

“In fact, I have some mussel lovers here in Pasadena,” he says, “and I wanted to create a special menu for them.”

He’ll have a few appetizers such as feuilletee of mussels or a salad of the East Coast mollusks with cantaloupe and greens, plus a dozen steamed mussel dishes and a few other entrees. Almost everything will be under $10. Claude’s bistro a moules opens Tuesday for lunch and dinner.

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La Toque Sold: Since Pasadena restaurateur Yujean Kang’s aborted bid to buy La Toque last year, there haven’t been many nibbles for the Sunset Strip space where Ken Frank manned the stoves for almost 15 years. Now Frank, who is cooking at fenix at the Argyle across the street, has finally sold his old restaurant. “It’s going to be turned into a bar for Chateau Marmont--a bar with no windows,” says Frank, ruefully. Philip Truelove, general manager at Chateau Marmont, confirms: “Basically, it’s going to be Bar Marmont.”

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Credit Cards Not Accepted: Summer is just about over and it seems one Malibu restaurateur wants to cash in the chips. What “one-of-a-kind fine dining restaurant” near the famous Malibu colony “catering to world leaders, industrial giants, stars and executives of the entertainment industry” and boasting “an emotional dining area, with undulating curved ceilings and state-of-the-art lighting, exhibition kitchen, sushi bar, cocktail bar, a charming patio for dining under the stars” is for sale? The description comes from a “business opportunity” listed with a Los Angeles realtor. Asking price? Under a half million--cash.

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Small Bites: Primi in Los Angeles turns 10 this month and celebrates with a new menu. . . .Friday Seafood Feast is making a comeback at the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey’s Terrace Restaurant. For $32 (not including tax and tip), you can load up at the seafood buffet, salad and dessert displays. Entrees, however, are rationed: only one per person. . . .L’Audeon, a 3-month-old French bistro on Beverly Boulevard near Crescent Heights is now serving dinner as well as lunch. . . . Rustica in Beverly Hills has closed.