Sushi Roku Owners Have Meat in Mind

But Will the Steak Be Cooked? The owners of the three Sushi Roku restaurants are opening an American steakhouse--yes, a steakhouse; no raw fish on this menu, in fact, nothing Asian at all--as part of a new hotel on Sunset Boulevard. They plan to replicate the suave atmosphere that draws moneyed young folks who dress in black to their Sushi Rokus in Santa Monica, Pasadena and Los Angeles. It will be “someplace with an ambience that young Hollywood wants to hang out at,” says Lee Maen, one of the four partners (the others being Craig Katz, Michael Cardenas and Philip Cummins). The working name of the place is Balboa. (Says Maen: “We wanted a name that didn’t mean anything specifically.”)

The menu will feature Prime steaks, Florida stone crab, Caesar salad made at your table and the like. The tab should run about $50 for an appetizer, entree, side dish and dessert. Japanese Kobe beef might show up as an occasional menu special. The dining room will seat 60, the separate bar with low-slung tables and couches another 60. Sushi Roku designer Dodd Mitchell is affixing old wooden letters from antique printing presses to the walls, and the table tops are polished steel, which will reflect candlelight onto the diners’ faces so Naomi Campbell and Prince won’t have to fuss around with any lightbulbs. Expect Balboa to open in the Grafton Hotel in West Hollywood in early June.

A Family Thing: Four brothers have opened a restaurant in Pasadena. Scampi is the brainchild of the Simental clan; Fernando Simental is the main owner, his brother Pedro is the chef. Although this is the first restaurant the Simentals have owned, they are not strangers to the restaurant biz. Pedro used to be the sous chef at Shiro, the Cal-Asian restaurant in Pasadena. Currently, he’s the chef at Scampi and simultaneously at Restaurant Devon in Monrovia. Two other brothers, Raphael and Ismael, support Pedro in the kitchen as sous chef and line cook, respectively. Together they turn out appetizers of sauteed crab cakes ($7), house-cured gravlax ($8) and shrimp and vegetable spring rolls ($6). For dinner they make deep-fried catfish with ponzu sauce ($11; a Shiro specialty), grilled Atlantic salmon with ginger sauce ($11) and a grilled half chicken with mustard sauce ($8). Scampi is open for lunch Monday through Saturday, and for dinner nightly.

* Scampi, 40 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena; (626) 568-4959.

April Fool’s Dinner: On April 1, Bob Blumer, whose nom de weird cuisine is the Surreal Gourmet, will help Fred Eric prepare a four-course edible trompe-l’oeil dinner at Vida. Expect to be surprised and puzzled by what Eric and Blumer put on your plate Sunday evening (we can’t tell you what it will be, and we wouldn’t even if we knew, because we’re such good sports). Eric has long been know for playful food creations, and with this dinner he’s promised to push the envelope. Blumer has published cookbooks titled “The Surreal Gourmet Entertains” and “Off the Eaten Path.” You’ve been warned. The price is $42.

* Vida, 1930 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz; (323) 660-4446.

One, Two, Over the Hill: A third Kung Pao Bistro is opening. The first of these slightly health-oriented Asian eateries opened three years ago on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. But its kitchen was so small, chef Jimmy Chi felt hindered. A year and a half later, the second Kung Pao opened down the boulevard in Sherman Oaks with a bigger kitchen. Now the third bistro, with the biggest kitchen yet, is open in West Hollywood. (The patio will be done in a few weeks.)

Owner Simon Wong says the new locale might give Kung Pao Bistro some respect from Westsiders. The menu is much the same, with the addition of some more elaborate dishes (listed as “chef specials”) made possible by the extra elbow room. The “famous filet mignon steak” is $12.95; the twinkle walnut shrimp runs $11.95, and the tea-smoked duck is $12.95. A full vegetarian menu uses soybean products and meat substitutes. Kung Pao Bistro is open every day for lunch and dinner.

* Kung Pao Bistro, 7853 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood; (323) 848-9888.

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