Sushi Roku Team Seeks Meat Lovers

Attention Carnivores: Balboa, an American steakhouse from the team who brought you the Sushi Roku chain, is open in the Grafton on Sunset hotel in West Hollywood. The chef is Gabriel Morales, who has put in time as sous chef at both Rix and Fenix. Big meat eaters can choose from a bone-in Kansas City filet ($34), Porterhouse ($40), double-thick pork chop ($24), ostrich filet ($28) and veal chop ($29). The meats can be ordered with a variety of rubs (i.e., blue-cheese crust, tri-peppercorn) and/or sauces (Cabernet reduction, truffle butter, sage-cider sauce, for example). Vegetable sides include creamed spinach, garlic green beans and sauteed mushrooms at $6, while horseradish potato gratin, roasted Yukon Golds and mac ‘n’ cheese will set you back $5. Balboa serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.* Balboa, in the Grafton on Sunset, 8462 W. Sunset Blvd., West. Hollywood; (323) 650-8383.

Not ones to rest on their laurels, the same restaurateurs have another restaurant in the works. It’s conveniently across the street from Balboa in the Miramax building on Sunset Boulevard. Called Katana, the concept is robatayaki (which means, roughly, “from the fire” in Japanese). The basic idea: Diners will wander up to a raw bar stocked with Kobe beef, chicken, lobster and vegetables, and point to what they want. The chef then threads their choices on skewers and cooks them over an open fire. There’s also a separate sushi bar. Restaurant designer Dodd Mitchell (who did the three Sushi Rokus and Balboa) is creating a Roman temple look for Katana. Say what? All will be revealed when Katana opens in late September at 8439 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Sunset Tricks: The owners of the Sunset Room in Hollywood and chef Claude Segal have parted ways. Segal plans to spend some time in France to recharge his batteries. His replacement is Andrew Pastore, formerly of Michael’s restaurant in Santa Monica. Says Pastore, “What I want to do is bring new life and energy to the Sunset Room.” We were under the impression it already had plenty, but read on. Pastore will cater to the relentlessly hip with Caesar salad and Scottish smoked salmon on blinis with caviar. So far, nothing radical. Maybe this fills the bill: pot stickers filled with duck and foie gras in a blueberry-ginger glaze. If that sounds too over-the-top, how about white salmon with a whole grain mustard reduction?

* The Sunset Room, 1430 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 463-0004 .New Digs: The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop has been filling out change-of-address cards. It’s moved from the Best Western Hotel on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood to a free-standing location on Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. “We lost our lease, which is the best thing that ever happened,” says the coffee shop’s owner, Susan Moore. Now she has a full liquor license and more space. To highlight the changes, she’s dubbed the new place the Hollywood Hills Restaurant. Seating is English-pub style with channel-back red booths. The entire staff has come over to the new location. So has the menu--and breakfast is still available all day long.* The Hollywood Hills Restaurant, 1745 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; (323) 661-3319 . Open from 8 a.m. until midnight daily. He’s Got Game: Grady Atkins is teaching his cooking students at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena a thing or two about how to cook game. He brings it in from France and Scotland and puts together a tasting menu at Restaurant 561. That’s the fine-dining venue next to the school where students learn to cook and to serve in a fine-dining atmosphere. The game menu is part of a program of tasting menus, usually four to five courses at $40 to $50, available Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tonight’s four-course game menu ($40) includes a rack and loin of hare with licorice and rhubarb.

* Restaurant 561, 561 Green St., Pasadena; (626) 405-1561 and the School Cafe, 561 Green St.; (626) 683-7319 .

*

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