Cooking Up Subtle Changes

Victor Colucci, founder of the plush Boccaccio’s on the edge of Westlake Lake, sold his 31-year-old progeny to a pair of restaurant newcomers who are determined to build on the dining institution’s legacy.

Since taking control of the restaurant in August, Jim and Kathleen Emmons have maintained the status quo while acquainting themselves with a restaurant that has attracted a generation of clientele. The staffs--kitchen and waiters--remain virtually unchanged.

The menu, until now, was not altered either.

“For the first six months we’ve basically been the eyes and ears, questioning why do we do this, why do we do that,” said Jim Emmons, a former city manager and two-time mayor of Westlake Village.

Emmons, too, has a history at Boccaccio’s.

He built a busy property management company and over the years the restaurant has served as a surrogate office, where Emmons “used to joke that Boccaccio’s was the company cafeteria.”

When Colucci decided it was time to pursue other endeavors, he enlisted his friend Emmons to help in the sale negotiations.

“We had meetings with various people who were interested in acquiring the restaurant,” Emmons said.

“Basically, in listening to their plans and ideas, everything involved wholesale change.”

This approach didn’t make sense to Emmons, who asked, “Why would you dismantle it after a 31-year track record and an established clientele?”

Emmons floated the idea that he and his wife, Kathleen-- who at the time was a pharmacist in Fountain Valley--would consider buying the restaurant.

“Essentially, when we closed escrow all we did was change owners,” Jim Emmons said.

“There hasn’t been any turnover, and all we’re doing is trying some new additions but leaving it the way the public wants it.”

Enter Kathleen, who has taken a leave of absence from her career to devote time to the restaurant.

She is the primary force in the drive to give Boccaccio’s a contemporary tweak. She reads restaurant magazines, relishes a variety of Asian foods and is in tune with the popularity of healthier, lighter cuisine.

As a result, Boccaccio’s will now prepare seven or eight seafood dishes, where there used to be four. The popular Dover sole remains, just like all the other big movers, including steak frites, lamb and filet mignon with Roquefort cheese.

Kathleen’s penchant for Asian influences emerges in seafood, salad, pasta, pita sandwiches and other new items.

They all were conceived and/or inspired by existing recipes and were updated and altered after several taste test free-for-alls.

Accompanied by her chefs, Kathleen would randomly recruit strangers who worked in neighboring offices, along with friends and associates. Samples were passed down a long rectangular table and the dish would be analyzed. Thumbs up, thumbs down. Needs some of this, a pinch of that.

Some of the dishes made it to the expanded brunch, lunch and dinner menus, but many more concoctions were simply exploratory.

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Many patrons have long considered the staunchly expensive Boccaccio’s worth the price for the setting alone.

Over the years, the restaurant--where patrons dine by candlelight and gaze out giant arched windows to affluent Westlake Lake--has been a favorite home to formal moments: wedding proposals, prom nights, anniversaries, cupids, mom and dad days and garden variety special occasions.

Splurge city.

And now comes outdoor patio dining. The Emmonses figure that by April 1, they will be ready to offer seating for 40 to 50 diners on a revamped terrace overlooking that picture-postcard view.

Inside, the walls will continue, for the time being, to be a gallery space for paintings by Victor’s wife, Marlena Colucci.

As for Victor Colucci, he still has deep ties to the restaurant.

He witnessed his clients’ offspring grow up, from diapers to graduations, for three decades. He still has a key to the place and often helps himself to morning coffee. Yet, he trumpets that he doesn’t miss the day-to-day operation.

“The restaurant business is out of my bailiwick now,” said Colucci, who travels more often to New York, where he has always maintained a home.

He administers to stock market interests and does some restaurant consulting.

“I like the idea of not having the pressure of that business,” he said. “It just came time to move along.”

Colucci also likes the way the new owners have chosen to help move along Boccaccio’s.

“It’s got a good future,” said Colucci, who is now and again called on by the Emmonses for advice.

“I think Jim and Kathy are going to be able to do some things that I didn’t care to do. They are in a position to break out with something better than what I had.”

DETAILS

Boccaccio’s is at 32123 W. Lindero Canyon Road, Westlake Village. Dinner: 5:30-10 p.m. nightly, except Sun., till 9 p.m. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily, except Sat., closed. Brunch: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. Call (818) 889-8300.

Rodney Bosch writes about the restaurant scene in Ventura County and outlying points. He can be reached at 653-7572, fax 653-7576 or by e-mail at: rodney.bosch@latimes.com.