Where You Stay Put for a Night out

Segal’s Sunset: Claude Segal, the last chef at Pagani on Melrose before it went under, has found himself another vessel. He’s opening a restaurant-nightclub concept he’ll call the Sunset Room at 1430 N. Cahuenga Blvd. in Hollywood. He has joined with Brad Johnson, who had a stake in the Southern restaurant Georgia in Hollywood until November 1998, and entrepreneur Chris Breed. Johnson and Breed used to own the Roxbury nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.

Segal and company have reworked an old film supply store, which has 35-foot ceilings. The new club encompasses two areas: the first, called the Sunset Grill, boasts a dining room, an open kitchen and a patio with its own bar and fireplace. The other area will be a bar and lounge for live music, most likely jazz and blues.

This space also has its own patio, but with cozy cabanas. The idea is for people to come in, have dinner, knock back some drinks, listen to some live music and do a little dancing--sort of one-stop shopping for an evening out. Says Segal, “I think more and more people want to have an evening of dining, but they also want something else.” The veteran French chef doesn’t have his menu completely fleshed out yet, but he says, “I will do what I know the best, meaning Californian with Asian . . . and French flair.” The Sunset Room is scheduled to open the second week of October.

A Mouse in the Kitchen? As if Joachim Splichal isn’t busy enough with his downtown steakhouse project (Nick and Stef’s Steakhouse, slated to open in October), now he’s decided to do business with Disneyland. That’s right, a Patina Group restaurant is planned for Downtown Disney, that strip of shops and restaurants that will be situated between Disneyland and the soon-to-be-built California Adventure. La Brea Bakery has a cafe going in there as well. Splichal’s place will serve Mediterranean fare, focusing on the food of southern France, Greece, Italy and Spain. The two-story dining room and patio will have an adjoining wine and tapas bar where Splichal plans to serve coffee and pastries in the mornings. But don’t worry too much about Splichal’s stress level; he does have a little time to get organized. Downtown Disney won’t open until early in 2001.

Ain’t She Sweet: There’s a new pastry chef over at the posh L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills. Jennifer Voss replaces Mauricio Guerra, who had stepped in for Angela Hunter when she departed in January. Voss comes from Kuleto’s, an Italian restaurant in San Francisco. Before that, she created pastries at Francis Ford Coppola’s clubby restaurant, Rubicon, up there. L’Ermitage chef Joseph Antonishek can’t say enough nice things about her: “Her desserts are wonderful; they’re a perfect complement to my food.” He’s talking about sweets like her cardamom peach napoleon and the lemon tuille wafers with honeyed-black cherry sauce.

* The Restaurant at L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, 9291 Burton Way, Beverly Hills; (310) 385-5307.

Catch That Wave: King’s Fish House--a cousin to downtown’s Water Grill, Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue Seafood and I Cugini, and Pasadena’s Clearwater Seafood--is opening a fourth location in Calabasas on Sept. 29. The casual King’s Fish Houses in Long Beach, Laguna Hills and Orange serve seafood, natch, cooked with Latin-American or Asian influences. Adjacent to each restaurant is a King Crab Lounge, where you can get highballs and oyster shooters while listening to live music. The Calabasas location will be in keeping with the rest, although a little larger, seating about 380 people in the dining room and bar and on three patios outdoors. Outside tables overlook a man-made waterfall. It will be open for lunch and dinner daily.

* King’s Fish House, in the Commons at Calabasas, 4798 Commons Way, Calabasas; (818) 225-1981.

A Sultry Night Near the Coast: Granita in Malibu becomes a supper club for an evening on Sept. 22. Some of the tables and chairs will be cleared away to make room for a large dance floor. At 7:30 p.m., dance instructors will strut their stuff and impress you with their tango skills. Afterward, they’ll teach you how to dance the Argentine tango. Chef Jennifer Naylor will serve an appropriate buffet dinner featuring (most likely) Argentine steak and paella. The price for the evening’s dance lessons and dinner is $60 per person. Drinks, tax and tip are not included. Show up early for the best seats.

* Granita, 23725 W. Malibu Road, Malibu; (310) 456-0488.

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Angela Pettera’s e-mail address is pettera@prodigy.net.