Now, that’s a soft opening

ATTENTION restaurateurs: If Daily Candy announces you’re open, you’d better be open.

Last Wednesday the Internet newsletter proclaimed that City Bakery, the new West Coast branch of Maury Rubin’s “legendary” New York City takeout spot, had finally opened in the Brentwood Country Mart (“ ... yes, for real this time,” Daily Candy wrote).

Oh, really?

The message boards at Chowhound.com lit up. That’s because at a time when it seems delayed openings have become the rule rather than the exception, City Bakery has been an extreme case.

Back in June -- that’s right, last summer -- one Chowhound user started a thread titled “City Bakery -- Any progress???” In October, Rubin told The Times he was hoping for an early December opening.

But December came and went. So did January, a month during which Brentwood Country Mart vendors observed would-be customers routinely peering in the windows.

Finally, on Feb. 8, came the Daily Candy announcement. Could it be true? Would Angelenos at last be able to get the cold hot chocolate and lemon tarts the New York shop is famous for?

I called that morning to make sure. They’d be open by 12:30, the perky person who answered the phone told me. That’s what a handwritten sign on the door said too.

I stopped by at 1. The salad bar was laid out and manned by more aproned workers than Willy Wonka had Oompa Loompas -- but the lunch counter wasn’t serving lunch yet.

“We’re still kicking the tires,” said Rubin, reached by phone that afternoon.

Gwyneth Paltrow showed up on Thursday to buy scones -- at least according to a Chowhound post.

By Saturday morning, the lunch counter was serving breakfast; an abbreviated lunch menu followed on Monday. And dinner? “I hope next week,” said Rubin.

Tom Hanks, who wandered in early Monday morning, was simply looking for a cup of tea, to go. No pretzel croissants, no cold hot chocolate, no baker’s muffins.

He took a spin around the gleaming 5,000-square-foot space, assuring the servers, “It’s terrific!” then ambled out into the Brentwood sunshine.

And though celebrity sightings are “sooo what City Bakery is not,” according to New Yorker Rubin, I counted as all five of his staffers got out their cellphones to report their Hanks sighting to their pals.

The City Bakery is open seven days a week. The hours? Well, “I really don’t know yet,” Rubin said.

Just let us know when you decide, Maury.

City Bakery, in the Brentwood Country Mart, 225 26th St., Brentwood; (310) 656-3040.

Amy Scattergood

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Small bites

* Ben Ford’s highly anticipated Ford’s Filling Station was slated to open in Culver City last night. Ford, who was last seen cooking at Chadwick, the Beverly Hills restaurant where he and Govind Armstrong (now of Table 8) were co-chefs, will be turning out American fare such as fried Ipswich clams with spicy remoulade, brook trout with wild mushroom salad and smoked Berkshire pork chop with braised cabbage and roasted turnips. Verite Mazzola, Table 8’s former pastry chef, does double-duty as pastry chef and sous chef.

Ford’s Filling Station, 9531 Culver Blvd., Culver City; (310) 202-1470.

* Michael Owens, former pastry chef at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel, has changed hats: He’s now head pastry chef at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, where former Peninsula executive chef Bill Bracken recently took over as executive chef.

The Island Hotel Newport Beach, 690 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach; (888) 321-4752; www.theislandhotel.com.