The best table? Try the bar

Eating at the bar used to be the last resort for most diners, but lately, it’s preferred seating. So much so that Citrine, the sophisticated new Melrose Avenue restaurant, not only placed its nine-seat bar in a prime position but also created a separate sushi menu for the spot. “It’s almost as if the bar is a different restaurant,” says owner Dean Mavrikis.

On the other hand, part of the appeal of dining at the bar at Grace seems to be that there’s no difference in menus. Barflies even order the five-course tasting menu, says general manager Amy Knoll. “We have 10 seats at the bar, and there are at least 10 people eating there every night.”

If you want to eat at the bar at Granita in Malibu on a Friday night, you’ll have to call ahead. “They’re quite coveted seats,” says bar manager Photios Kyriakoudis. “We provide the exact same menu. But there’s this different energy.”

Caroline Styne of Lucques and AOC says bar dining was “the whole premise behind opening AOC. One thing people get at a bar more than at a table is a communal feeling. You get into conversations with people around you.”

At Opaline, there’s a separate, lower-priced menu for what it calls “the Den.” At Jar, there’s an “off the cuff” bar menu Monday through Thursday in the early evening, with bar-only items as well as smaller portions of several regular menu dishes.

The bar is the place if you want to eat light at Alex. You can order appetizers or an entree and dessert, instead of the entire three-course prix fixe menu or five-course tasting menu, the only options in the dining room. “It’s a little-known, sort-of secret,” says chef-owner Alex Scrimgeour.

But not on Saturdays.

“On Saturday nights if we are busy, we don’t serve at the bar,” he says. “There’s only so much pressure the kitchen can take.”

Small Bites

* Since Aug. 22, Matsuhisa has a red C hanging in its window instead of a blue A.

Matsuhisa’s score of 78 resulted from points off in eight categories, including hand washing and food storage (Restaurants are graded on their compliance with state health and safety regulations; details are on the Web at www.lapublichealth.org/rating/).

The Health Department allows a restaurant to request a follow-up inspection to improve its score once a year, and Matsuhisa took advantage of this option in October, after a score of 84 (B). So it’s stuck with the C for the time being.

According general manager Mark Varouxakis: “Nothing’s really changed. Everything’s up to par. [The inspection results] just make us work harder.” Have reservations fallen off? When we called Thursday afternoon for an 8 p.m. reservation Friday, we were told it was “slim pickings,” but were offered a table at 7.

* Pearl opens tonight in the space that was most recently Moomba. Executive chef duties will be shared by Joseph Anderson, a veteran of the Roy Yamaguchi empire, and Cody Diegel, who has held positions at Tangerine, Patina and Moomba. Pearl, 665 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 358-9191.