Under Wraps

Marty Braverman’s popular Cosmos Grill & Rotisserie in Calabasas adds a handful of tortilla “wrap” dishes--something like a gussied-up burrito--to the menu this week.

Chef Bruce Boyer has been experimenting with a cold wrap stuffed with cream cheese, sprouts, roasted garlic, roasted red peppers, and tomatoes and onions.

He also has in mind a wrap featuring chicken chorizo with red beans, red onions and a sharp white cheddar cheese, and another with grilled chicken or steak with black beans and the same sharp white cheddar.

Prices will go to $8, says Boyer, who learned to cook at his father’s elbow in the Philadelphia diner owned by his family.

“When I was 5 years old, I made the mistake of asking for an allowance,” Boyer says with a laugh. “Instead, my dad gave me my first job.”

The Cosmos menu offers such standard fare as grilled chicken--and such unusual items as salmon in paper and a fettuccine with roast duck, shiitake mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in a Marsala sauce.

* Cosmos Grill & Rotisserie is at 23631 Calabasas Road, Calabasas, (818) 591-2211.

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New Bites at Bacio’s: Just across the parking lot from Cosmos, Bacio’s Trattoria has some new items on its menu, too.

“Cosmos is an American-eclectic grill,” says chef Tom Space. “We opened a year ago in May, and we tweak the menu as we go along. We make all our own pastas fresh here . . . and we serve things like veal piccata and veal Marsala.”

Space also makes a black linguine dyed with the ink of either a squid or a cuttlefish and topped with scallops, roasted red peppers and arugula ($10.50), and an antipasto with pepperoni, salami and prosciutto topped with romaine lettuce and marinated mushrooms and artichokes ($8.95).

* Bacio’s Trattoria is at 23663 Calabasas Road, Calabasas, (818) 591-1355.

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Munch Brunch: You can get Sunday brunch now at the new Mi Piace Italian Restaurant in Burbank, just like you can at the original location in Pasadena.

Partners Armen Shirvanian and Takis Markoutsis opened up in Burbank in May. Their Pasadena Mi Piace opened seven years ago.

On the brunch menu in Burbank are such items as eggs Florentine, and omelets with sausage, peppers, spinach and tomatoes, at prices from $5.95 to $9.95.

* Mi Piace is at 801 N. San Fernando Road, Burbank, (818) 843-1111, and 25 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (818) 795-3131.

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* Juan Hovey writes about the restaurant scene in the San Fernando Valley and outlying points. Call (805) 492-7909, fax (805) 492-5139 or e-mail JHovey@compuserve.com