New Possibilities for Valentine’s Day

A lot of new restaurants have opened lately, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Mojo Now Working: Mojo is the name of the new restaurant at the former Westwood Marquis Hotel. Starwood Hotels & Resorts bought the Marquis about three years ago and waited until now to convert it to W. W is the line of hotels billed as fun and modern that Starwood debuted in New York City in 1998. Each W hotel (there are now eight) has a different restaurant theme. In Westwood, the concept is Nuevo Latino, encompassing food from Latin cultures all over the globe. Chef David Slatkin used to own David’s restaurant in Redondo Beach. For the weekend up to Valentine’s Day (Feb. 11-14), he’s serving a four-course meal for $75 a head. Entrees include a choice of Yucatan roasted duck, Chilean sea bass or gaucho rib-eye steak. Mojo is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

* Mojo, in the W Los Angeles-Westwood, 930 Hilgard Ave., Westwood; (310) 208-8765.

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Does Cupid Work With Olives? Tancredi De Luca and Enrico Trova, the duo responsible for Amici in Beverly Hills and Amici Mare in Santa Monica, have opened a third place, their most casual yet (with cuisine much in the Amici style). This one’s in the Valley in the old La Casona space. (OK, it’s actually in half of that space. Think cute and cozy.) Murals adorn the walls of Oliva, and the food is brought out of the kitchen on either individual plates or family-style platters serving two or more--it’s your choice. So, if you’re dining with three others, you can share a salad platter but still get individual entrees. Or you can share two entree platters among you. The price varies accordingly. Oliva is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday and for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. On Valentine’s Day, however, Oliva will open for dinner with its regular menu. And the always affable De Luca will be handing out free desserts to all diners.

* Oliva, 4449 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks; (818) 789-4490.

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Valentine’s With a View: Santa Anita Park has added a fine-dining restaurant to its property. FrontRunner offers a view of the racetrack’s home stretch and finish line, and has a 9-inch television monitor on each table. The decor is subdued tropical with ceiling fans, rattan furniture, alabaster chandeliers and bamboo accents. Although it’s only open for lunch Wednesday through Sunday, FrontRunner is offering a Valentine package on Feb. 12 and 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Chef Tom O’Connor (who previously handled all the food venues for Universal Studios) is whipping up a three-course Cal-Asian menu for $70 per couple; that includes admission to the park, champagne and a photograph of the couple.

* FrontRunner at Santa Anita Park, 285 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia; (626) 574-7223.

Other romantic options for V Day include places you already know about but with some slightly new twists.

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A Different Face: Andy Nakano, who owns Jozu on Melrose, has hired someone to replace his opening chef, Suzanne Tracht, who made tracks in November to open her own place. Hisashi Yoshiara is the new man at stoves as of three weeks ago. He and Nakano worked together at John Sedlar’s Bikini back in the early 1990s. Then Yoshiara helped open Cinnabar in Glendale with partner Al Simon. After selling his share of Cinnabar to Simon four years ago, Yoshiara took off to Europe to check out some kitchens over there. Once back on American soil, he called Nakano to say hi, and you know the rest. “Finally, we hooked up together,” said Nakano. Yoshiara’s new menu debuts this week. For Feb. 13 and 14, he’s presenting a four-course menu for $50 per person that includes dessert.

* Jozu, 8360 Melrose Ave., L.A.; (323) 655-5600.

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New Talent: DC3, the Cal-French restaurant at Santa Monica Airport, has a new crew. Bret Thompson was the chef du cuisine at Pinot Bistro in Studio City, where Robert Fogarty was the general manager. At DC3, Thompson has taken over the kitchen and Fogarty runs the dining room. Together, they have developed a travel concept menu in addition to a regular menu. The travel menu highlights cuisine from regions of the world where the DC-3 airplane has flown (in other words, practically everywhere). Each month, a new culture is spotlighted. Thompson says the regular menu is more focused Cal-French. “The menu before was really scattered,” he said. For Valentine’s Day, there will be a four-course aphrodisiac menu with oysters and truffles for $45 per person.

* DC3, Santa Monica Airport, 2800 Donald Douglas Loop North, Santa Monica; (310) 399-2323.

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