Restaurant Halie Joins Its Big Sister

Hello Halie: Pasadena has a new kid on the Green Street block named Restaurant Halie. Greg Lukasiewicz, who co-owns Restaurant Devon in Monrovia, is responsible for this baby girl, named after his second daughter. (Devon is his eldest.) Smith Roberts will handle the kitchen fires. He’s worked at Dickenson/West in Pasadena and, most recently, To Dine For in San Marino. His small menu has 10 appetizers and 12 main courses (three vegetarian). A few appetizers: tuna tartare ($10), steamed mussels in lemongrass broth ($11) and quail eggs topped with osetra caviar ($14). Main dishes run from porcini-crusted halibut ($19) to roasted pork tenderloin in Calvados reduction ($21) to portabello mushroom, potato and fennel lasagna. ($15). The opening will be in the next couple of weeks.* Restaurant Halie, 1030 E. Green St., Pasadena; (626) 440-7067.

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Sunday Stuff: Here are a few ideas on what to do with your Sundays now that TV is all reruns. (And psst , Father’s Day is coming.)

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The Brunch Thing: The Beach House in Santa Monica will serve Sunday brunch now through July 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the dining room or on the shaded patio. Entrees include a lump crab meat and corn cake sandwich, smoked salmon and fish plate with cream cheese and bagels, ricotta and lemon blueberry pancakes, chanterelle mushroom and asparagus omelet and the Beach House Cobb salad. The Beach House, 100 W. Channel Road, Santa Monica; (310) 454-8299.

Chimayo at the Beach in Huntington Beach just began serving Sunday brunch every week. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it offers three courses with champagne for $24.95. Appetizers include chile relleno or shrimp and papaya cocktail; entrees run to crab and shrimp enchiladas topped with poached eggs, onion-crusted sea bass and roast pork with orange-honey glaze. Dessert includes cremes brulees and a chocolate souffle cake. Chimayo at the Beach, 315 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach; (714) 374-7273.

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The Dinner Thing: Aubergine French restaurant on the Balboa Peninsula has decided to open its doors on Sundays and let the cost-conscious in. Every Sunday night from 4:30 to 9 a different $39 four-course menu is offered. You’ll probably see two choices per course. Recent offerings included white corn soup with smoked ruby shrimp, Great Lakes walleye pike, Humboldt Fog chevre with yellow watermelon, pot roast of veal cheeks and a hot Valrhona chocolate souffle cake. Aubergine, 508 29th St., Newport Beach; (949) 723-4150 Alto Palato has created a light, Sunday family-style Italian dinner menu. It begins with a pizza Margherita (tomato, mozzarella and basil) and antipasto salad. The main course is a pasta (sometimes, but not always vegetarian), dessert is gelati. The price is $19.95 per person, plus tax and tip; for children under 10, $9.95. At least two people per table must order the menu. Alto Palato, 755 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A.; (310) 657-9271. Wine Dinner: Eric’s Restaurant & Bar in Thousand Oaks hosts a Clos Pegase wine dinner Friday. Winemaker Jan Shrem will give a presentation, “Bacchus the Rascal: A Bacchanalian History of Wine Seen Through 4,000 Years of Art,” at 6:30 p.m. A fruit, cheese and Schramsberg brut reception begins at 6 p.m. A four-course dinner follows. Clos Pegase wines to be poured with the meal of salmon gravlax, roasted quail and steak with Vidalia-onion marmalade include a Chardonnay, a Merlot and a Cabernet Sauvignon. The price is $79.* Eric’s Restaurant & Bar, 495 N. Ventu Park Road, Thousand Oaks; (805) 716-4100.

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