Felt Fills Void With a Midnight Brunch

The Fuzz Concept: A new restaurant called Felt opened Saturday. For $1 million: What’s the primary fabric used in the decor? You’re right: felt--brown, orange, persimmon and celery. Felt-covered cube light fixtures, nine huge felt doughnuts (as part of a wall), booths covered in chocolate brown felt (and some leather). Owner Adam Alper thinks of his place as having a chic New York bar feel. “But what makes us so great is that we serve midnight brunch every night from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m,” he says. The guy cooking that midnight brunch, as well as dinner every night, is William Gumport, who most recently was a chef de partie at Payard Patisserie in New York. He says of his cooking here, “It’s basically a vegetable-driven menu.” Witness tagliatelle primavera with fiddlehead ferns, ramps (a rustic member of the onion family), shiitake mushrooms and snow peas ($13). He also sends out seared filet mignon with sour cream-potato ravioli, pink oyster mushrooms and red wine sauce ($20). On that midnight brunch menu is a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough with applewood-smoked bacon and homemade pickles ($11), a Beluga caviar service (market price) and banana cream pie ($6).

* Felt Restaurant & Bar, 8279 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; (323) 822-3888.

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Lobster Night: Stevie Joe’s Lounge and Supper Club is open for dinner Sunday and Monday nights. To make Sundays special, owner Stephen Joseph Plache sells a 1 1/2-pound lobster with drawn butter for $16.95 a la carte. There’s also a lobster martini (a fancier cousin of the shrimp cocktail) at $10.95. In case you need a catchy name to remember all this by, Plache calls this deal “the Lobster Lounge.”

* Stevie Joe’s Lounge and Supper Club, 10433 National Blvd., West L.A.; (310) 837-5245.

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Italiano Time: Il Tiramisu in Sherman Oaks is showcasing six Italian wines at 7 p.m. May 4. Accompanying courses include gnocchi with mussels in a light pink sauce, polenta with porcini and herb-roasted New York steak. Each wine (two white, two red, one sparkling and one sweet) is from a different region of Italy. The $60 price includes tax and tip. (The dessert is not actually a tiramisu but an Italian grandmother cake.)

* Il Tiramisu, 13705 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; (818) 986-2640.

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El Cinco: May 5 is a perfect occasion for anybody to celebrate the food and drink of Mexico. Here are a few places that can help you do so.

Juan Dominguez, chef of Derek’s in Pasadena, never misses Cinco de Mayo. His May 5 prix fixe dinner includes a canape, chicken tostaditas, jicama and orange salad, achiote pork chops, and Kahlua bread pudding. The price is $35 per person. Derek’s, 181 E. Glenarm St., Pasadena; (626) 799-5252.

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Tequila Jack’s, next to the Yard House in Long Beach, has plenty of menu specials for the occasion, including tamales, tacos de nopalitos and arroz con leche (a rice pudding). The place stays open until 2 a.m. so you can make a decent dent in the tequila menu, which lists more than 120 varieties. Tequila Jack’s, 407 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach; (562) 628-0454.

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Rebecca’s in Santa Monica is giving away a trip for two to Cabo San Lucas. Fill out the entry form in the bar any time until May 5, but you must be present at the drawing (11 p.m. May 5) to win--which shouldn’t be too hard to hang around for because this place is known for its margaritas. There will also be drink specials, dinner specials and salsa music. Rebecca’s, 101 Broadway, Santa Monica; (310) 260-1100.

OK, so a Pan-Asian eatery isn’t the first place to pop into your mind for Cinco de Mayo celebrations, but Typhoon is dishing up a Latin lunch buffet anyway. Owner Brian Vidor asked his Latino staff members to bring recipes from home, and he’ll serve them from noon to 3 p.m. The dishes include Guatemalan enchiladas, a Oaxacan chicken mole, El Michoacan-style caldo de albondigas (beef meatball soup), Salvadoran tamales and a Peruvian ceviche. It’s $10 a head. Typhoon, at the Santa Monica Airport, 3221 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica; (310) 390-6565.

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Angela Pettera can be reached at (213) 237-3153 or at pettera@prodigy.net