Aubergine Two

Tim and Liza Goodell will be closing their Newport Beach restaurant, Aubergine, for remodeling and expansion Nov. 1; it won’t reopen until after the New Year. Not to worry, though. If you’ve developed an addiction to their braised veal cheeks with truffle oil, you will be able to go to South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa for it. As of Nov. 17, Aubergine will be open for business in the old Piccola Cucina space. Decked out with tablecloths and crystal, the second Aubergine will be “the nicest place in South Coast Plaza,” boasts Liza Goodell.

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Ash Comes to the Peak: Saddle Peak Lodge chef Josie Le Balch has invited fellow gamester John Ash to do a little cooking at her place Oct. 13. Both chefs like to play with game, so items such as quail, ostrich, rabbit, pheasant and venison will show up on the prix-fixe menu. Since Ash (in addition to hosting a show on the Food Network) is the culinary director at Fetzer Vineyards, the three dinner courses will be paired with Fetzer wines, natch. Le Balch says she’ll be putting a flatbed grill on the Lodge’s outdoor patio for grilling the rabbit and quail. The dessert, by Gael LeColley, is nougat glace “cigars” served in an “Ash Tray” (ha ha). The $125 price includes wines, tax and tip. Dinner begins at 7 p.m., Monday. There’s a dress code: Men should wear jackets, no jeans allowed.

* Saddle Peak Lodge, 419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas; (818) 222-3888.

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Planks in Their Platform: Also on Monday, Gerri Gilliland is having a special dinner at Jake and Annie’s in Santa Monica. The place features a Regional American menu the second Monday of every third month; this one will showcase Native American food. The menu includes Pueblo fried squash blossoms with Cherokee corncob jelly, Pawnee honey-roast prairie chicken, Pueblo beef stew and Haida cedar-plank roasted salmon with red chile honey glaze.

To cook the salmon, by the way, Gilliland is flying in cedar planks from Seattle. The planks are soaked in water, the marinated fish is put on them and the whole thing gets inserted in the oven to roast. You can actually do all this yourself, Gilliland assures us, with run-of-the-mill (to coin a phrase) cedar planks from Home Depot. If you’d rather go to her place, the price of the prix-fixe dinner per person is $22.95, which includes tax and tip.

* Jake and Annie’s American Cafe, 2700 Main St., Santa Monica; (310) 452-1734.

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One Dinner, Six Chefs: La Cachette’s Jean Francois Meteigner has invited five of his colleagues to serve a course each at a dinner benefiting the James Beard Foundation Oct. 19. So what’s for dinner? Jean Pierre Lemanissier (Le Chardonnay) will serve a cappuccino of wild mushrooms; Bruno Lopez (the Ritz Carlton, Marina del Rey) will make a lobster salad; Meteigner himself will serve a salmon purse with leeks; Peter Roelant (Four Oaks) is dishing out a roasted quail; Pascal Olhats (Pascal, Newport Beach) is making a Provencal custard; Akira Hirose (Towers, downtown L.A.) is finishing up with chocolates and cookies. Each course is served with a wine. As at all James Beard Foundation dinners, a speaker will be on hand to wax eloquent about the foundation. The price of this affair is $95 per person, which includes all wine, tax and tip. If you are a Beard Foundation member, you pay $80. Champagne cocktails begin at 6:30 p.m., dinner begins at 7 for the fashionably late.

* La Cachette, 10506 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.; (310) 470-4992.

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Pinot Is 5: Pinot Bistro in Studio City, determined not to be left out of this month’s evident special dinner craze, is having a fifth anniversary dinner Oct. 20. Chef Octavio Becerra has invited four chefs who know their way around the inside of Pinot Bistro’s kitchen to cook for the event. All four guys have either worked for chef-owner Joachim Splichal at one time or another. They are Sean Knight of Pinot Blanc, Napa Valley; Neal Fraser, formerly of Boxer, L.A.; Christian Shaffer of Pinot at the Chronicle, Pasadena; and Walter Manzke, sous chef of Patina. Price is $49 per person, food only.

* Pinot Bistro, 12969 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 990-0500.

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Eh? Come Again?: You may have noticed just now that we listed Neal Fraser as “formerly of Boxer”; Friday was his last day there. Fraser has decided to open his own place, yet unnamed. He and 10 investors are looking for the perfect location, which they hope will be in roughly the same area as Boxer on Beverly Boulevard. Fraser tells us his new venture will have to have more space than Boxer, and he will push the menu more upscale. Mostly though, he will still be serving the food you’ve gotten used to. Fraser & Co. are also shooting for a beer and wine permit.