Food by Design at Astra

Charlie Palmer Hits the Blue Whale: Charlie Palmer of Aureole restaurant in New York plans to open a West Coast version of his catering operation known as Astra. Managing partner Spero Plavoukos and chef de cuisine Dan Shannon, who founded Astra with executive chef Palmer five years ago, gave up New York life for the next couple of years to open Astra West and the Lounge at Astra, both in the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.

Says Plavoukos of this new operation: “Same formula, same team. We had success in New York and wanted the same thing here.” These are catering operations, not restaurants. As Plavoukos puts it, “our kitchens are built for events,” not day-to-day restaurant dining. Both Astra West (on the third floor of the blue building on Melrose Avenue) and the Lounge at Astra (on the ground floor of the green building, where Fusion was), will serve lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. but won’t do dinner. Nighttime is reserved for private parties.

Plavoukos hopes to have Astra West and the Lounge at Astra open by the end of November.

Go Downstairs for Dinner: Urbanites who dream of living above a Cold Stone Creamery or a Betsy Johnson have the chance to do so in Paseo Colorado, a new living and retail complex in Pasadena owned by TrizecHahn real estate company. Paseo Colorado takes up three blocks along Colorado Boulevard bordered by Green Street, Marengo Avenue and Los Robles Avenue. Pacific Theatres anchors one end of the complex which includes Amadeus Day Spa, Equinox Fitness Club, Macy’s, Gelson’s, Harry & David, and 60 more retail shops. Above the retail space, four levels of apartments, lofts and office spaces are being leased.

The restaurants in the complex include P.F.Chang’s China Bistro, Border Grill, Island’s Burgers, Cafe Med, Bice, and Tokyo Wako. P.F. Chang’s and Border Grill are open; the other restaurants will open in mid-November.

Like Some Feng Shui With That Chicken? A two-story shrine to Asian culture and Latin/Filipino food has opened in Venice. Dubbed ZaZen, this restaurant designed with Feng Shui principles in mind serves dinner and cocktails nightly. Owners Clabe (from Panama) and Thea (from the Philippines) Hartley own the coffeehouse next door, the Cow’s End. Chef Rodelio Aglibot turns out such dishes as pork or chicken adobo ($17 each), Chilean sea bass glazed with miso, ginger and Mirin ($19), wok-seared beef with a lime-peppercorn sauce ($22), and a seafood chowder with chorizo in an achiote-coconut curry ($19).* ZaZen, 30 Washington Blvd., Venice; (310) 305-4010.

Now Open: We’ve mentioned these places before, but wanted to give an update on their status.

Lucky Duck, the latest hatchling of Phillip Chiang (the Mandarin, P.F. Chiang’s China Bistro) is open. Some unlucky ducks are on the mostly Chinese menu roasted ($16), shredded ($14), and as Szechuan sticks ($14). Lots of appetizers and small salads make for easy noshing at lunch Monday through Friday and dinner Monday through Saturday. Lucky Duck, 672 S. La Brea Ave., L.A.; (323) 931-9660 ....Angelini Osteria, Gino Angelini’s new somewhat casual restaurant, has opened. It’s not as fancy (or as expensive) as Vincenti, where Angelini cooked since its opening. The Osteria caters to families with a children’s menu ($15), pizzas ($11.50-13.50), pastas and risottos ($7-12.50). Adults might prefer the Branzino with sea salt ($27), one of the cheese courses ($7.50-8.50) or the four-course tasting menus with wine ($65) or without ($45). Angelini Osteria serves lunch Monday through Saturday and dinner nightly. Angelini Osteria, 7313 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; (323) 297-0070.

One More Windows Fund-raiser: Josiah Citrin of Melisse restaurant in Santa Monica called some of his friends together to help him prepare a seven-course meal with wines to benefit the Windows of Hope Family Relief Fund. One of Melisse’s servers lost a family member who worked at Windows on the World, so Citrin has been helping as much as he can. Joining him will be his pastry chef T’ai Chopping, Joe Miller of Joe’s, Ludovic Lefebvre of L’Orangerie, Michael Cimarusti of Water Grill, Raphael Lunetta (chef) and Artemio Sanchez (pastry chef) of JiRaffe. The dinner takes place on Monday from 6-10 p.m. The tab is $105 plus tax and tip.* Melisse, 1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 395-0881.

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Reach Angela Pettera at (310) 358-7647 or pettera@prodigy.net.