On Tap

If you love beer, keep an eye open for the opening of the Country Club Brewery and Restaurant in Northridge just after Thanksgiving.

Joe Tremonti and his partners Joseph Vogel and Lynne Love ran a similar place in Simi Valley for two years, and they have taken over the site of the old Hamburger Hamlet on Nordhoff Street in Northridge for their new restaurant.

Hard at work now getting it ready, they hope to open the first week of December.

And you’ll know you’re in beer lovers’ heaven when you see the 10 300-gallon vats of fermenting beer in the restaurant’s main room. Along with six more big vats in back, that’s double the capacity they had at the Simi Valley place.

Tremonti, Vogel and Love have scores of beer recipes, so patrons won’t run out of brews to try.

They will have eight beers on tap at any one time, including two for which they have won regional awards--their Stoney Mountain Stout and Red Madness beers. The first, of course, is a dark beer, the second an amber ale.

They also will have a big menu put together by chef Scott Evans, who has worked the kitchens of several big chain restaurants in the past.

“The menu will have more seafoods than the Simi Valley place, and we’re getting away from pub items to the more creative side of food,” Evans says.

“For me it was time to branch out and be creative. I take ideas from all over--things I see when I go out to eat, things I see in trade publications. I’m not too proud to say that I take ideas for dishes or presentations that I see on television.

Among the entrees:

* Jumbo shrimp dipped in beer batter--of course--and fried.

* A grilled breast of chicken marinated in oil, balsamic vinegar and roasted garlic and topped with garlic sauteed mushrooms and spinach.

* Baby back ribs basted in Evans’ special barbecue sauce.

* Tuscan grilled pork chops rubbed with herbs and garlic and flame-broiled.

Evans will also offer up a host of salads, pastas and pizzas. Entree prices will run to $14 or so, pastas to $13.

* The Country Club Brewery and Restaurant will be located at 19530 Nordhoff St., Northridge, (818) 773-4677.

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The seasons don’t change much in Southern California--as anybody can tell you who hails, say, from Kansas City--so if you want to know whether time advances, pay attention to the changes in your favorite restaurant’s menu.

Take Cosmos Grill & Rotisserie in Calabasas, for example. Chef Bruce Boyer doesn’t redo it wholesale, but as the cool weather and the short days of winter approach, he usually adds some hearty meat dishes to his offerings.

Accordingly, as November begins you can expect him to serve a rotisserie leg of lamb in a cabernet and rosemary sauce, and maybe a new cheese steak wrap.

Boyer worked the kitchen at Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabasas, so he knows what he’s doing when it comes to cooking game. This year game prices are more variable than usual, however, so he will do some of his trademark dishes as specials when he can get supplies--a venison flank steak; scaloppine of venison in a sauce of winterberries and wine; buffalo burgers and pheasant.

Prices at Cosmos are reasonable; most of Boyer’s rotisserie dishes go for $10 or less, including a marinated skirt steak, a stuffed meat loaf and calf liver and onions.

Boyer’s pasta dishes include sausage and rigatoni and three fettuccine dishes--tequila chicken fettuccine with tomatoes, peppers and cilantro; fettuccine with duck, shiitake mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes in a marsala sauce; and fettuccine with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach.

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

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Meanwhile, at Bacio Trattoria, just across the parking lot from Cosmos in the same shopping mall, chef Tom Space is about to do some menu revising of his own in the next two weeks.

Look for him to offer such new items as a salad of arugula and smoked trout, sauteed risotto cakes with mushrooms and marsala, and fettuccine with sweet peas and a Fontina cheese cream sauce topped with smoked mozzarella.

Also in the offing: individual pizza slices with ground sausage, peppers, garlic and smoked mozzarella.

Prices at Bacio Trattoria--which, like Cosmos, is owned by Marty Braverman--are moderate; most items go for well under $10.

* Bacio Trattoria, 23663 Calabasas Road, Calabasas, (818) 591-1355.

CORRECTION: The telephone number for Sisley Italian Kitchen, 15300 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, appeared incorrectly in last week’s column. The correct number is (818) 905-8444.

Juan Hovey writes about the restaurant scene in the San Fernando Valley and outlying points. He may be reached at (805) 492-7909 or fax (805) 492-5139 or via e-mail at JHovey@compuserve.com