Eatery Transforming From Red to Opaline

David Gives Up Red; David Takes It Over: After seven years of operating Red restaurant on Beverly Boulevard in L.A., David Reiss decided it was time to give the place up. “It needed a face-lift, and I wasn’t into doing it,” he says. Instead, he found someone who would: David Rosoff. Most recently the general manager of Michael’s, Rosoff had wanted to open his own restaurant for the last year. (He took part in initial talks to open Jar with Mark Peel and Suzanne Tracht.) Along with partner Jonathon Horne and minority partner Kristin Gulcher, fresh from her position as dining-room manager at Patina, he will remodel the Red space and rename it Opaline. The name was Oscar Wilde’s pet name for absinthe, but no mind-altering substances but alcohol will be served there. Really, it better describes the color palette of the dining space, which runs from yellow to green, than anything else. “I wanted a name that didn’t mean anything,” Rosoff tells us. Chef David Lentz, from the Delano Hotel in Miami Beach and China Grill in Las Vegas, will help execute the casual-dining concept. He’ll use flavors from the Mediterranean, North Africa and the East Coast. The food is meant to be eclectic without being precious, sort of European comfort food with American touches. Look for Opaline to open around July.

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Dude, Where’s My Meatloaf?: David Slatkin left his roost at Fenix in the Argyle Hotel to take over the kitchen at Morton’s in West Hollywood. “The Argyle had never taken off,” Slatkin explains. The management at the hotel also wanted to create more of a nightclub scene with their restaurant space, which Slatkin wasn’t interested in promoting. But Morton’s, long known as a power dining spot, hasn’t been what one might call innovative with its menu. Owner Pam Morton has focused on comfort food in the casual setting. She hired Slatkin to bring the menu into the 21st century with such dishes as grilled Chilean sea bass with fava bean, fennel and white corn fricassee ($28). Morton’s, 8764 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood; (310) 276-5205.

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Thai Food Gets Franchised: Randy Schoch, a restaurateur who owns three Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses in Hawaii and three Roy’s restaurants (two in Arizona and the one in Newport Beach), is making Thai food more accessible. His new restaurant concept, called Thaifoon, opens in the Irvine Spectrum on Friday. The first Thaifoon is already operating in Scottsdale, Ariz., but Schoch says the new spot takes his idea “to the next level.” It presents slightly Americanized Thai food in a large, pretty setting, complete with a 30-foot water wall and glass sake locker. Cocktails, wines by the glass and specialty sakes will be served, and live music will be offered on weekends. Together, the dining room, patio and bar area can seat 285. Traditional Thai curries ($10.50-$12.95) have been toned down, chile-wise, but you can ask for them to be spiced up. Some fusion dishes, such as lemongrass-crusted halibut ($12.50), are also on the menu. Appetizers run from beef satay ($6.95) to shrimp and pork dumplings ($7.95) to crispy calamari($8.50). Thaifoon is open for lunch and dinner daily. Thaifoon, Irvine Spectrum, 85 Fortune Drive, Irvine; (949) 585-0022.

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Extravagant Entree: On Monday nights, the Grill on the Alley is serving farm-raised abalone to those willing to part with $55 for a taste of this now-rare shellfish. It’s fried in lemon-butter sauce and served with wild rice risotto and shiitake mushrooms. The Grill on the Alley, 9560 Dayton Way, Beverly Hills; (310) 276-0615.

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Paperless Survey: The Zagat guides, for which diners choose and rate the restaurants, won’t be conducted on paper this year. Instead, those who want to fill out a survey for Southern California must visit www.zagat.com. If you complete a survey by May 5, you’ll receive a free copy of the 2003 Zagat Survey, to be published in October.

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