Puck Plans to Move Spago to Beverly Hills

Pioneering restaurateur Wolfgang Puck said Wednesday that he plans to move his flagship Spago restaurant from its longtime Sunset Strip location to the site of the Bistro Garden in Beverly Hills sometime this summer.

Puck told The Times about the move in a phone call he made while on a flight to Hong Kong on Wednesday. His assistant, Patricia Samuels, confirmed that Puck had obtained the space.

Christopher Niklas, son of Bistro Garden owner Kurt Niklas, said, “We’re not aware of Wolfgang Puck moving his restaurant here. But we do have plans to move our restaurant elsewhere in the next six to eight months.” He declined to name the new location.

Though Spago’s back room and bar were recently refurbished, Puck had been considering entirely renovating the restaurant for some time. “But then this opportunity came up and I decided I’d rather move Spago than renovate,” the Austrian-born chef said in a phone message he left with The Times. “And with the [Bistro Garden’s] outdoor area, it will be much more California.” Because it will be in the heart of Beverly Hills, close to the offices of the Creative Artists Agency and ICM talent agencies, the new Spago just may do lunch.

Since the popular West Hollywood restaurant opened in 1982, Spago has been the power dining spot in the Los Angeles area. Intended to be a simple pizza joint, the casual restaurant quickly evolved into the hottest reservation in town, featuring Puck’s sophisticated dishes that came to define California cuisine in the 1980s. Hometown superstars and visiting dignitaries rubbed shoulders with gawking tourists from around the world. Paparazzi still line the street in front and Puck is known to pose for pictures with star-struck admirers. Even now, with restaurants--and the economy--in a slump, Spago is packed every night, seven nights a week.

Puck, perhaps the most famous chef in America, has built an empire that includes Chinois on Main in Santa Monica and Granita in Malibu, as well as many Wolfgang Puck Cafes--basically Spago knockoffs at people’s prices. The entrepreneur has also capitalized on the concept with numerous Wolfgang Puck Express pizza outlets and several Wolfgang Puck-to-Gos in Gelson’s supermarkets. There is also a Spago in Las Vegas and another on the way in Chicago.

That would be entirely fitting. The Bistro Garden, which will remain open at least through May, has been the ultimate rendezvous for the ladies-who-lunch crowd for 18 years (though it also was open at dinner). The Bistro Garden in Studio City will remain open.