Chef at Rix Whips Up a Little Coup

Chefs Walk: Chef Neal Fraser abruptly left Rix July 13, not exactly on the best of terms with the Santa Monica restaurant’s management. He took two employees with him: sous-chef Chris Goossen and pastry chef Darcy Tizio, who’d been slated to begin work at Rix that very day.

The mini-coup began brewing the week before, when Fraser’s girlfriend was relieved of her duties as assistant general manager. Although Fraser says that incident would not have prompted him to leave in itself, he felt the management was planning a preemptive strike against him, so he began talking to Goossen and Tizio.

General Manager Daniel Flores admits he wasn’t sure how Fraser would react after his girlfriend’s departure. But the two men never sat down for a heart-to-heart on the subject.

Leaving with the sous-chef and new pastry chef in tow probably wasn’t the most diplomatic way to handle the dispute, considering the latitude Fraser had been given during his tenure at Rix. His tasting menus were a regular feature, and the owners even gave their blessing for Fraser to serve a controversial dinner featuring hemp seeds and hemp oil in June.

Flores plans to replace Fraser with another up-and-comer. “We’ll support another young chef,” Flores tells us. “I like doing that.” As for the plans of the three departed toques, they’re going to work together as a team in some other restaurant in town. More details to come.

My Name Is Luca: Luca Loffredo, the chef who moved to Los Angeles from Prego in San Francisco to work at Chianti on Melrose Avenue, has opened his own place. He left Chianti in December: “I thought it was time for me to start traveling a little bit,” he told us. He spent the holidays in Naples with his family, returned to L.A. to help friends open the restaurant vermont on (what else) Vermont Avenue, then flew to Korea to consult for a pasta company. When he returned to L.A., he met with Mark Bates, owner of the West Hollywood Cal-Asian restaurant Ving.

Bates and Loffredo brainstormed about redirecting Ving and came up with the concept of Luca, an Italian-Mediterranean restaurant in which Loffredo would be a partner. They closed Ving for a bit and have reopened it as Luca for dinner Tuesdays through Sundays. Loffredo confides about his new baby, “This is my first restaurant on my own, and I even put my name out, so it’s really scary.”

His first big celebration at Luca will be when he pays tribute to a Roman harvest holiday Aug. 15. For inspiration, he’ll reach back about 1,800 years to Apicius, the first known cookbook author. Call the restaurant for more details on that $60, eight-course meal (wine included).

* Luca, 8865 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; (310) 659-2430.

And Then There Were None: The last Papashon has closed its doors, probably because of its owners’ recently publicized legal and financial problems. The Papashon in Beverly Hills was the first to close, in March. In April the Pasadena branch went under and the Encino branch closed after that. The recently deceased Long Beach branch was the newest, having opened just in September.

An Advertiser’s Dream: The Best of L.A. Festival happens again this year, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. You can try samples of food from the likes of Lavande, JiRaffe, Maui Beach Cafe, Le Chardonnay, Pagani, Tahiti, Cyrano and the Bistro Garden for between $1 and $5 each. Other vendors will bombard you with their products as you wander among booths for chocolates, wines, books, exercise equipment, video games and oxygen (we’re not kidding). For even more sensory overload, live bands will be playing on stage all weekend, and some chefs will perform demonstrations. Tickets, which can be purchased at the door, are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and $2 for children younger than 12. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, call (888) 237-8635.

A Pair of Prix-Fixes: Pagani (8800 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood) is now offering a prix-fixe lunch for $19.99 plus tax and tip Monday through Friday. For that price, you get soup or salad, entree, a dessert and coffee; the selections change daily. Call (310) 858-5801 for reservations. . . . Throughout the summer, Fabio Trattoria (2700 Manhattan Ave., Hermosa Beach) serves four-course regional Italian dinners on Wednesday nights: appetizer, pasta, entree and dessert. Dinner is $28, and dishes are also available a la carte. Call (310) 318-1556 for reservations.

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Pettera’s e-mail address is pettera@cwix.com