Fine-Dining Restaurant, Cooking School in One

Campus Eats: The California School of Culinary Arts is opening a fine-dining restaurant and cafe on its block-long Pasadena campus in which to train its students. The school has secured Grady Atkins (one of the opening partners of Perroche restaurant in the Valley) to lead the project. He’s got a group of teachers in charge of rotating students through the kitchen that serves both the casual cafe and the fancier adjoining restaurant. A few permanent cooks are employed to keep things running smoothly as the students come and go. Another teacher will serve as general manager and maitre d’ of the restaurant and cafe.

The casual food side, called the School Cafe, opened last week. The fancier restaurant, named five sixty one (after its address; and yes, it’s spelled without any capitals), will open in early November. Says Atkins: “Normally when schools do restaurants, it’s nothing special, but we’re aiming to be competitive in the marketplace as well.” Atkins wants to give other Pasadena restaurants a run for their money. On five sixty one’s lunch menu are halibut cakes ($13), a vegetarian lasagna ($12) and a cider-braised, free-range chicken leg ($14). For dinner there’s a warm three-beet salad ($9), tuna tataki ($13) and slow-roasted salmon ($22).

* The School Cafe, 561 Green St., Pasadena, (626) 683-7319; and five sixty one, 561 Green St., Pasadena, (626) 405-1561.

Let’s Do Lunch: Posto, Piero Selvaggio’s Italian restaurant in the Valley, has opened for lunch. The menu will feature grilled pizzas and piadina: grilled stuffed flat breads. Pastas include tortellini and lasagna. Chef Steve Samson also makes a Parmesan soup. Specials will change daily. Prices for lunch range from $9 to $15 for entrees. Lunch is served Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

* Posto, 14928 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; (818) 784-4400.

Let’s Dip and Glide at Lunch: In Orange, Cafe Tu Tu Tango is also doing lunch. The menu is all over the culinary map, bringing you bites of Louisiana (shrimp po’-boy with Cajun remoulade), the Southwest (blackened salmon tacos) and Jamaica (jerk chicken). The chicken gyro burrito is a lesson in multiculturalism all by itself. Dishes are all under $10 and include a nonalcoholic beverage. Lunch is served daily from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

* Cafe Tu Tu Tango, at the Block at Orange, 20 City Blvd. West, Orange; (714) 769-2222.

You Go, Sherry: Sherry Yard at Spago Beverly Hills was named Pastry Chef of the Year in Bon Appetit’s American Food & Entertaining Awards. The awards ceremony was held in September at Restaurant Daniel in New York.

Double Date: Cayo restaurant in Pasadena has two upcoming events almost back-to-back. The first is a fund-raiser for Childcare International at 5 p.m. Sunday. It involves five wines, five courses of food, live music, an artist presenting his work and a door prize. The tab is $125. Call Joel Porter for reservations at (818) 503-2838.

Then, Dennis Overstreet of the Wine Merchant will be stopping by on Wednesday to help Cayo celebrate its one-year anniversary. Chef Claud Beltran is making a five-course meal to be paired with six wines. The price is $80. The evening begins at 6:30 p.m.

* Cayo, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; (626) 396-1800.

JiRaffe Drinks Wine: Raphael Lunetta gets into the wine-dinner spirit this week by hosting Joseph Phelps Vineyards at his place in Santa Monica. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Razor clam tartare, roasted beet salad, potato-wrapped tuna, rack of Millbrook venison with sweet and sour red cabbage and pear tart with Calvados ice cream are on the menu. Six wines will be poured with dinner (two with the venison). The price is $110.

* JiRaffe, 502 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 917-6671.

Jackson and Phillips: McKeon-Phillips wines from Santa Barbara County will be featured at a dinner at Jackson’s Village Bistro Tuesday at 7 p.m. Peter D. Kerr and Ardison Phillips will be there to talk about the six wines being poured. Foodwise, the evening begins with baby crab cakes and stuffed ravioli in the pre-dinner reception. Dinner consists of an oven-roasted salmon with a Chardonnay-caper sauce, a mixed baby green salad, grilled lamb with Merlot-rosemary jus and chocolate souffle with a Cabernet-chocolate reduction. The price is $69.

* Jackson’s Village Bistro, 517 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach; (310) 376-6714.

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