Sedlar Hoping for a Hit With New Billboard Live

After John Sedlar left his post in February as consultant and executive chef at the Santa Monica restaurant Abiquiu, he turned up at fusion at pdc in West Hollywood, where he signed on as consulting chef for four months. Now, the chef-for-hire has taken on what could be his biggest challenge: to develop a menu for Billboard magazine’s new interactive restaurant-disco-club-bar. The three-story entertainment complex called Billboard Live is scheduled to open Aug. 4 at the former site of Gazzarri’s, the Sunset Boulevard club that launched the careers of Van Halen and Guns N’ Roses.

The techno-friendly temple of live music will have four bars, a private members-only board room, mezzanine-level 70-seat restaurant, tequila library with 40 varieties and a taco bar. Anyone for a barbecue ostrich taco?

When he hired Sedlar, Jerrold Pressman, chairman of Billboard Live, urged the irreverent chef to create a menu that would be contemporary yet classical, sexy and, at the same time, health-conscious--and devoid of any regional or any period bias.

“It was harder than I thought,” Sedlar says. “The menu had to reflect the bible of the music industry, a 100-year-old heritage that tracks jazz, rock, country and classical [music] around the world, yet is based in L.A.”

Sedlar has been busy knocking out dishes, editing and pruning his eclectic menu. Among the items on his final cut: a healthy chili relleno (unbattered, un-fried stuffed Anaheim chile), Oaxacan shrimp tamale, “Rock Lobster Dog” (a takeoff on the hot dog with Maine lobster and rock shrimp in a sourdough-like roll), foie gras with extra-thick French toast, Thai black mussels, duck stew with water chestnuts, tequila creme bru^lee with lime and a banana split made with chocolate chile ice cream.

Designer Thomas Mahler of the Last Design Co. in Santa Monica has been pushing the envelope in his sphere too. The club will feature high-tech audiovisuals, state-of-the-art video equipment, theatrical lighting and reflective wall panels mixed with quilted velvets in red and royal blue. He calls the look “low-tech industrial plush.” In the restaurant, small computers at every table will enable patrons to surf the Internet, listen to a favorite CD or order a drink without having to wait for a waiter--now there’s an idea.

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Unplugged Cuisine: Grits, fried chicken and hush puppies will get a run for the calories in Atlanta Saturday when the California Cafe Restaurant group, which includes Cafe del Rey in Marina del Rey, introduces California cuisine to athletes and visitors at the Olympic Games.

The fare will include Oriental Chicken Salad and California Panini Sandwich layered with artichokes, cucumbers, roasted peppers and sprouts. The restaurant group hopes to feed 20,000 daily during the 14-day fest. Warm entrees, however, are out: Ovens aren’t provided. But couldn’t somebody round up a few barbecue pits?

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Bastille Blitz: When Patrick Healy was working in restaurant kitchens in France, Bastille Day meant a long day at the range. But when the dinner service was finally over on July 14, that’s when the Champagne corks popped, and the kitchen brigade sallied into the streets to join merrymakers.

“For the French, Bastille Day is just an occasion to get together,” says Healy, the chef of Xiomara in Pasadena and the Buffalo Club in Santa Monica. “There are no traditional foods served, like the hot dogs and corn on the cob we have in America for Fourth of July. Small towns celebrate with music and dancing in the streets.”

Not every French restaurant around town has room for dancing. But quite a few are celebrating Bastille Day with special dishes or menus. Reservations are a must.

At Xiomara, regional cooking from Landes, Provence and Bordeaux flavor the four-course menu of seared foie gras with raisins and mashed potatoes, grilled sea bass with artichokes, veal medallions with leaf spinach in red wine sauce, Bing cherry crepes with Kirschwasser, and chocolate truffles. Price is $45 per person. (Xiomara, 69 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, [818] 796-2520)

Pinot Bistro and Cafe Pinot each will offer a four-course menu for $35 per person, which includes puff pastry with Lyonnaise frog leg’s ragout; ravioli Co^te d’Azur with braised beef, pine nuts and tomato basil sauce; warm cheese tart with peppered figs; and oeufs a la neige. Menus vary at each restaurant. (Pinot Bistro, 12989 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, [818] 990-0500; Cafe Pinot, 700 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, [213] 239-6500)

Citrus will celebrate Bastille Day on Saturday (it is closed Sunday). The four-course set menu ($55) features goat cheese tureen with baby greens, sauteed salmon with fresh asparagus, roasted rack of lamb with baby artichokes and carrots, and fresh berry tart with ice cream. (Citrus, 6703 Melrose Ave., L.A., [213] 857-0034)

At Four Oaks in Bel-Air, chef Peter Roelant pays homage to traditional French cooking with specials such as Burgundy snails in puff pastry with summer vegetables, Dover sole and salmon mousse with lobster in asparagus sauce, roasted sweetbreads with country ham sauce and potato galette, and profiteroles with chocolate and raspberries. (Four Oaks, 2181 N. Beverly Glen Blvd., Bel-Air, [310] 470-2265)

Tim and Liza Goodell at Aubergine in Newport Beach offer a six-course menu for $48 per person: onion tart with frisee salad in buttermilk vinaigrette, sauteed New Bedford scallops, sweetbread salad with balsamic vinegar dressing, roast squab, French cheeses and a dessert plate. (Aubergine, 508 29th St., Newport Beach, [714] 723-4150)

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Up the Coast: Fans of Square One had better get to the airport--Joyce Goldstein has decided to close her 12-year-old San Francisco restaurant Saturday. After hitting a landmark birthday, the 60-year-old chef, who didn’t step into a restaurant kitchen until she was 44, signs off in order to travel, consult, write (she already has 11 cookbooks), continue her community activism and play with her granddaughter. . . . Stars’ Jeremiah Tower, who is planning to open a Stars restaurant in Singapore in mid-October, has now set his sights north. He’s just signed a three-year contract to consult on the design, menu and wines for 900 West, the new restaurant in Hotel Vancouver in British Columbia, slated to open mid-September.

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Deja Vu, Soupy Sales: Pie is a big deal at Fatty’s Row House Restaurant on La Cienega, named for silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, who made film history in 1913 by getting a custard pie thrown in his face by actress Mabel Normand in “A Noise From the Deep.”

At Fatty’s, the three-course Early Bird Special ($13.50) concludes with a choice of coconut cream, banana cream and apple crumble pies. All come with a warning against pitching practice. Available between 6 and 7:30 p.m. daily. (Fatty’s Row House, 829 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, [310] 657-9220)

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Openings: There’s more to New Zealand than bungee jumping and Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Three residents from Queenstown extend some of New Zealand’s laid-back hospitality at Red Rock, a 2-week-old bar-restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. The two bars serve an array of tapas (not exactly a local specialty) along with wines from Morton Estate, Oyster Bay and Cloudy Bay, among others. On tap is Newcastle, one of the dozen beers; so is a wicked peach cider with 6% alcohol.

In the kitchen, Chris Mitchell rotates specials like New Zealand mussels in lemon grass, lamb shanks and “lamburgers,” grilled cervena (a type of venison from the south island), duck satay and Sunday roast lunches. For dessert, there’s fresh berry crumble and peach semolina upside-down cake. (Red Rock Bar & Eatery, 8782 Sunset Blvd., L.A., [310] 854-0710)

Kinko’s isn’t the only place that never shuts down. The UCLA/Westwood/Wilshire area has a newcomer: the 24-hour food machine of 700 items known as Jerry’s Famous Deli. (10925 Weyburn Ave., Westwood Village, [310] 208-3354)

Please send information for this column to Restaurant Notes c/o Margaret Sheridan, Times Mirror Square, L.A., CA 90053; call (213) 237-7991 or fax (213) 237-7355.