VALLEY WEEKEND : Jazzing Up the Menu : Restaurants Use Music as Their Draw, but Don't Call Them Clubs

By ROBIN RAUZI

Dec. 28, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

People used to like their jazz straight up.

Along Ventura Boulevard these days, however, jazz is mixed liberally with swing, blues and international music. And it is likewise served up with dishes ranging from pasta to barbecue.

Three new spots along the boulevard are using music as their draw, though all of them shun the “club” label.

If Michael Koren has his way, patrons will think of his place as a “joint.” And they may just call it that, too, if they can’t figure out how to pronounce its real name: Bjlauzezs.

The j is silent, so say it “blouses.” Close enough.

According to Koren, a joint is where everything--the lighting, the atmosphere, the music--is simply right. It is where patrons--starving college students and high-power CEOs alike--feel perfectly comfortable. And, though the chef might balk at the suggestion, it is a place where the food and the music are equal draws. Said Koren, “My intent was to have that balance.”

Bjlauzezs Newsstand Cafe, which opened in October at the hopping corner of Ventura and Van Nuys boulevards, reflects Koren’s goal. It has architectural attitude, with a brick and steel exterior and flashy neon signs. Koren, who spent 15 years in Washington as a general contractor, spent about a year renovating the interior. He joined two storefronts, put in a kitchen and gave it all an industrial feel with exposed brick and steel I-beams. The ceiling is corrugated steel, the walls are bold yellows and greens. You’d never guess that before the Northridge earthquake the building was home to a beauty supply shop and a shoe store.

Pianist Greg Kurstin--who happens to be Koren’s brother-in-law--has helped bring musicians into the club who are from outside the Valley-jazz clique. His quartet, which includes Bob Hurst, Ralph Moore and Marvin “Smitty” Smith of the “Tonight Show” band, plays there twice a month. The Bill Lynch Band provides blues on a regular basis, and Sunday nights are reserved for an open jam starting at 7.

At Smokin’ Johnnie’s, the menu declares that the place serves up “booze, blues and BBQs.” The first and last items you can get every day, but the blues are available only Wednesday through Saturday nights.

Earlier this month, Smokin’ Johnnie’s replaced Legends in a Studio City restaurant across from the CBS studio center. Trying to avoid one failing of Legends--itself a Hollywood transplant--owner John Ferris opened up the wall between two of the dining rooms so that more than a dozen people can see the musicians. The place is nothing fancy, with red-and-white checked tablecloths and a round fireplace, but who wants to be fancy with barbecue sauce all over your hands, anyway?

In its first month, Smokin’ Johnnie’s has hosted “jump blues” harpist Mark Hummel and West Coast swingers the Radio Ranch Straight Shooters. Scott Perry, who has been booking acts for Smokin’ Johnnie’s, says the whole place has a barbecue-cold-beer-type of atmosphere, perfect for the intimacy and immediacy of blues.

And, as Ferris said, “Music sounds so much better when you’re chewing on some ribs.”

On the other end of the jazz spectrum--and the other end of the Valley--is New York West. Tucked in the corner of Capri Plaza in Tarzana, New York West is unfortunately only blocks from its primary competition, the more easily spotted Monteleone’s West. Both places cater to the supper-club crowd, which makes sense, given that in Los Angeles supper doesn’t begin an evening out, it is an evening out.

New York West strives for sophistication. The main dining room has polished paneled walls, black lacquered details, a light-lined dance floor, and the swankiest red plush chairs this side of Z Gallerie. If Bjlauzezs is distinctly 1990s, New York West is blissfully 1930s.

The biggest draw so far has been the Gerald Wiggins Trio, though the place has also had good responses for Pocketwatch, the quartet that backed Natalie Cole. Lee Brown, who books acts for the club, says she’s trying to mix it up: some big band here, a little be-bop there, a bit of Latin jazz. An open jam on Sunday nights is hosted by Jack Sheldon, who was playing trumpet with the “Tonight Show” band when those kids at Bjlauzezs were fighting acne. Locals and legends join him to turn in their renditions of “What Is This Thing Called Love.” Otherwise, jazz acts perform Thursday through Saturday.

The New Year also will ring in the rebuilding of Cafe Cordiale in Sherman Oaks, which burned down in a fire caused by the Northridge quake. The restaurant, which had live music four nights a week until the fire, will be scheduling music--including jazz--on Friday and Saturday nights when it reopens Jan. 9.

Peter May, who owns the restaurant with his parents, Margaret and David May, said that he will eventually add music on other nights, but that he wants to ease into it. Cafe Cordiale is a restaurant, he said, and wants no part of that club label either.

“The instant reaction to the word club,” he said, “is bad food.”

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DETAILS

* Bjlauzezs

14502 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks

(818) 789-4583

* Smokin’ Johnnie’s

11720 Ventura Blvd., Studio City

(818) 760-6631

* New York West

19540 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana

(818) 758-3900