He’ll Offer a Tasteof New England

From the South to the North: Brad Johnson, one of the owners of the Sunset Room and a former owner of Georgia (the now-closed Southern restaurant), is putting another iron in the fire. He’s opening a New England-style restaurant in Marina del Rey with a couple of silent partners. The space at 822 Washington Blvd. used to be an Irish pub. Booths and banquettes in the dining room and stained cork on the walls will change the look. Johnson also plans to enlarge and enclose the outdoor patio, and add a fireplace there. The New England inspiration comes from his roots. Says Johnson, “I’m from New York, but I went to school in New England and grew up in Martha’s Vineyard.” He’s considering calling his new place Menemsha, after a small fishing village on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, but the name is not yet set in stone. The moderately priced menu will feature lots of seafood. A lobster tank will be installed in the kitchen to keep that New England staple live. Plans are to open near the end of August for dinner. Lunch on the weekends will follow.

Presto, Change-O: Los Feliz restaurant and Jazz Spot will close on July 31. Owner Rick Clemente explains why he’s selling, “Some people came along and asked if the place was for sale and we said, ‘no.”’ That didn’t deter the would-be owners, who promptly plunked some money down on the table. Clemente and his wife Debbie still demurred. Then the new folks added more green to the pile, enough to persuade the couple to change their minds. The Clementes plan to relocate their restaurant and Jazz Spot somewhere else in the city, but they don’t yet have a location. Chances are, it won’t be in or be called Los Feliz. The restaurant’s chef, Peter Keating, has already found another position--as the chef at Mistral in Beverly Hills. Meanwhile, the new owners of 2138 Hillhurst Ave. will turn it into a restaurant named Tangier. More details to come.

Presto, Change-O, Chapter 2: Atlantic restaurant at 8256 Beverly Blvd. in L.A. has hit a reef. Owner Bob Long explains, “We used to have after-dinner dancing. We were licensed to have small bands, but the dancing was incidental.” At the restaurant’s license renewal, the dancing caused a problem with the city and now Atlantic’s doors are closed. Long and his brother John are still using the space to throw private parties until they are able to sell it. Meanwhile the brothers and their partner-designer Christopher Ciccone (Madonna’s bro’) are concentrating on plans to open another bar and restaurant concept on the Sunset Strip soon.

Skewer Something New: Annette Escher of Skewers on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood redecorated (post-Santa Monica Boulevard construction trauma) with new floors, lighting and booths. She’s put butcher paper on the tables, complete with crayons for coloring fun, too. A new menu finishes the place off. Now you can get Thai mint chicken skewers ($9.95) in addition to the original skewers of marinated meats, fowl and fish; chicken satay ($6.50) and vegetable egg rolls ($4.50) as appetizers; and warm picante chicken salad ($7.50) in addition the cold salads. * Skewers, Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; (310) 860-1920.

Trash Night: The owners of the French bistro Mimosa, Silvio De Mori and Jean-Pierre Bosc, have decided to add another table outside. But this one’s in the back--where the trash used to be. It seems that visiting friends and other chefs naturally congregated out there, so the two thought, “Why not put a table back there?” So they did, after first moving the trash container and adding some greenery. Now this choice table is ready for prime time. Now anybody--chef or no, friend or foe--can sit back there (just specify you want the trash table when making reservations). It’s sort of a peasants’ chef’s table that seats up to 12. Advance notice is required for a custom menu served family-style. Even better, there’s no corkage fee for that table. Generally, chef Bosc serves you himself, Tuesday through Saturday nights.

* Mimosa, 8009 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; (323) 655-8895.

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Angela Pettera can be reached at (310) 358-7647 and at pettera@prodigy.net