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Koi’s a Hit, With Food From All Around the Pacific Pond

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Getting Pan-Asian on La Cienega: Koi, which opened in the former Drai’s location in May, is attracting crowds with its fireside lounge and bamboo-decorated patio. On weekends, some wait up to an hour for bite-sized crispy rice with spicy tuna (Koi sells 80 to 100 orders a night) and other pan-Asian offerings (there are five sushi chefs). Executive chef Rod Aglibot was the sous-chef under Joyce Goldstein at E & O Trading Company in San Francisco. Nick and Dipu Haque, the brothers who own Koi, have invested in other Los Angeles restaurants (Atlantic, El Dorado), but this is their first place of their own. Nick Haque says, “I have only one problem here--people won’t leave.”

* Koi, 730 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 659-9449.

Bastille Day Partying: A number of restaurants will have special dinners for the French holiday Sunday. Pascal (1000 N. Bristol St., Newport Beach, [949] 261-9041) will celebrate early, on Friday and Saturday, with a five-course menu and accordion music for $66, including wine.... Chinois on Main (2709 Main St., Santa Monica, [310] 392-9025) will have can-can dancers and Broadway star Dana Meller (“Les Miserables”) singing through the night on Sunday. It’s $85 per person ....Spago (176 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, [310] 385-0880) will feature a three-course tasting menu along with entertainment by the Frank Marocco quartet, with singer Angela Carole Brown. It’s $60 per person.... At Vert (6801 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 411, Hollywood, [323] 491-1300), enjoy classic French dishes cooked by executive chef Lee Hefter accompanied by live cabaret music.... Celebrate the third anniversary of Melisse (1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, [310] 395-0881) as well as Bastille Day with a very French five-course tasting menu including the restaurant’s famed egg caviar.... Pinot Bistro (12969 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, [818] 990-0500) will have a four-course menu for $39 per person.

Fund-Raiser: Campanile will host “Grazing Dinner Made of ‘Taste,’ ” a fund-raising dinner for the Coleman family, owners of an organic farm near Santa Barbara who lost their home to a fire. The restaurants joining in the effort are Angeli, Axe, Bastide, Campanile, Chadwick, Clementine, Jar, Joe’s, Josie’s, Les Deux Cafes, Little Door, Lucques, Michael’s, Pace, Spago, Bon Appetit at the Getty, Water Grill and Little Flower Candy Company. It’s Sunday at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $100; call Lydia at (310) 440-6213.

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Campanile, 624 S. La Brea Ave., L.A., (323) 938-1447.

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