2 Restaurateurs Part on a First-Name Basis

On their merry way. DickinsonWest closed last week because Derek Dickinson and Barbara West have dissolved their relationship. Dickinson has taken control of the place and is refurbishing it by adding a fireplace and a bar area. It should reopen Sept. 2 as Derek’s, with an a la carte menu enhanced by a five-course prix fixe menu that will change monthly. Chef Smith Roberts remains, running fish and game specials every day and blue-plate specials during the week. “This has been a very difficult year for me,” says Dickinson, “and now I get a chance to do it my way.” As for Barbara West, she retains control of the lunch and dinner spot at the Brewery, a downtown L.A. artist’s colony, but the name of that place will morph into Barbara’s at the Brewery. Nice of them to keep things clear for us.

The Piero Waltz. Primi, Piero Selvaggio’s West L.A. hatchling, has a new chef. Vittorio Lucariello, who comes from Aversa, Italy, worked most recently at Don Alfonso, the three-star restaurant on the Amalfi coast in Italy, but also did a short stage at Rex il Ristorante here in L.A. Says Selvaggio of his new young chef, “I like his background; I like what he’s doing right now.” Lucariello’s new menu reflects specialties from his southern Italian hometown. Meanwhile, former Primi chef Hector Lopez has gone back to Posto in Sherman Oaks, where he will eventually replace executive chef Luciano Pellegrini when Pellegrini leaves town to open the Valentino in Vegas.

Rebecca’s and James’. Daniel Samakow and James Evans of James’ Beach in Venice just bought the Rebecca’s location, also in Venice, from Capo and Broadway Deli dude Bruce Marder. Or actually from Marder’s wife, Rebecca, who ran her namesake restaurant. The Marders are looking for a location for a new Rebecca’s, maybe in Santa Monica, which might open for lunch as well as dinner. As for the Frank Gehry-designed space at 2025 Pacific Ave., the James’ Beach crowd will turn it into the Canal Club, serving international beach cuisine: ceviche, sushi and light, grilled stuff that goes well with alcohol, it says here. The atmosphere will be more highbrow than at James’ Beach, reminiscent of the Cotton Club. Billy Al Bengston, who designed James’ Beach, will supervise the redecoration. The Canal Club should be open by early November; as Rebecca’s, it will remain open until at least the end of September.

Is Alcohol Dead? All over town, bars are being turned into restaurants as one-time hawkers of alcohol and tobacco are turning to comfort food as a money-maker. Are American values changing? Has an entire generation given up smoking and drinking for dim sum and mashed potatoes? Witness the following metamorphoses:

Larry Pollack owns Dublin’s Irish Whiskey Pub on Sunset Boulevard. He recently took possession of the hard-rockin’ Roxbury Club on Sunset and changed it into Miyagi’s, so now he has a three-story Japanese restaurant replete with seven sushi bars and five liquor bars (OK, so he hasn’t segued entirely out of the alcohol trade). The first level is open-air dining with an outdoor patio that has its own stream and waterfall. The second level is for traditional Japanese dining with seating either in booths or around the sushi bar; tables have built-in teppan grills where the chefs can cook in front of you. The third level has Japanese gardens, another waterfall emptying into a stream and a pool table. A second room up there houses tables that overlook the city. In the manner of the best clubs, it’s open until 2 a.m. seven nights a week. Miyagi’s is at 8225 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, (213) 650-3524.

Dodd Harris and partner Clive Hurwitz, who are responsible for the Big Easy cigar lounge, are opening a Pico Boulevard restaurant called Flint’s, where smoking will be prohibited, as at all indoor restaurants in L.A. Flint’s rises from the ashes of the dead Alligator Lounge, another victim of the stampede from vodka to mashed potatoes.

But Flint’s will have alcohol--martinis and old-fashioned cocktails like Moscow Mules and Stingers, slid across a restored bar from the ‘40s. The food plays backup with old-time restaurant favorites such as beef Stroganoff and lobster Thermidor. The decor is described as “distressed elegance,” which evidently translates as chandeliers paired up with pressed tin ceilings, in the manner of Prohibition-era road houses.

Santa Monica’s restrictive signage laws will keep this place hard to find, but Harris doesn’t mind because it just furthers the speak-easy atmosphere he’s aiming for. No password needed at the door, however. Flint’s should be open around the middle of October.

Brent Bolthouse of the club Opium Den is opening a 24-hour coffee house, called (duh) Coffee House, right across from Chateau Marmont--smack dab in the swingin’-est part of Sunset Boulevard. Chef Phillip Weingarten comes from Good Food Catering, but the menu is very casual, focusing on breakfast and lunch with dinner specials in the evening. You can eat on the patio out front or in the main dining room. The coffee counter, in a separate room with a fireplace, is only for sipping coffee and snacking on baked goods. The place is meant to be very casual, with no liquor served and no reservations taken. “It’s like being at your grandmother’s house,” says Bolthouse. He hopes to open this den of innocence by the end of September.