LA’s Jimmy’s II Looking for New Digs; El Cholo Cantina Coming
Gone in pretty quick order is Speedway International Racing Bistro and Bar in Irvine’s Spectrum. The partners also closed the Speedway restaurant on Coast Highway in Newport Beach, which had opened in mid-’97. This was a concept that I perceived as totally uninteresting, anyway; thus, since I couldn’t grade it above average, I didn’t use column space on it.
Also history is Planet Hollywood. When it opened seven years ago in South Coast Plaza Village, I compared Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Caf & #233; and came to the conclusion that HRC was a real restaurant and would outlast PH. The latter had unmemorable food and came off as a movie set, the marquee of which, I surmised, could be dismantled in short order by a couple of grips on a ladder. The food never improved. Following the recent demise of the OC location, PH will be closing in Beverly Hills in two weeks. That will leave the San Diego and San Francisco locations as the California survivors. The bankrupt company’s shares, which at their high point were just under $30, are now hovering in the 7-cent range. I found it rather amusing that when the OC location closed, a sign on the door thanked people for seven great years. Guess they put that on the other closed venues as well. Great years, dying on the vine? I don’t think so.
Meanwhile, the 37 Rainforest Caf & #233;s, which also began traveling a bumpy road the last couple of years,we have one in South Coast Plaza,were sold to Lakes Gaming Inc., operator of two major casinos in Louisiana. LGI will soon make its presence known in California and Michigan with the unveiling of three casinos located on Indian tribal land.
And Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon Inc.,a casual dining concept in the mid-priced Outback Steakhouse genre,just closed 24 under-performing restaurants scattered across the nation. The two OC restaurants in Tustin and Laguna Hills were unaffected.
Outback, by the way, is doing fine with five OC restaurants under its belt.
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One of the legendary restaurants of Beverly Hills was just broadsided with a situation that forced its closing. Jimmy’s, at the corner of Little Santa Monica Blvd. and Moreno Drive, had been the seat of much power brokering for over two decades when Anne and Jimmy Murphy decided to retire in early ’99 and closed the restaurant.
The restaurant blood ran deep however and their children Sean, Jamie and Geraldine wanted to reopen it and run it themselves. Dad came quickly to the rescue by investing a reported $l million to revamp the space for the kids. Just last fall, I mentioned the reopened restaurant, now called Jimmy’s II, after having a meal there on a business trip to LA.
It appears the five-year lease agreement had some fine print noting that it could be invalidated if the building was sold, which of course in short order it was. The new owners opted not to have a restaurant on their ground floor. Jimmy and his children are now looking for another place to put the restaurant. Here’s hoping.
On the positive side of the coin:
Ron Salisbury and crew are really entrenched in the redo of the long-closed Mrs. Knott’s location in Irvine’s Woodbridge community. It will, within about six weeks, become the El Cholo Cantina. I’d mentioned several months ago that it was to be dubbed Caf & #233; Cholula. But, rethinking the situation, Ron decided that the El Cholo name recognition was probably worth trading on. There’s the decades old and nationally famous El Cholo on Western Avenue in Los Angeles, Santa Monica’s El Cholo (since 1997) and the longtime anchor of La Habra dining, Caf & #233; El Cholo, that have already set such a high standard for quality Mexican food at value prices. Ron also has the beautiful Original Sonora Caf & #233; in Los Angeles (Southwestern food) and one of my all-time favorite restaurants, The Cat & The Custard Cup in La Habra (serving creative California cuisine in an English manor house setting). I can tell you that the anticipation factor about the new cantina is running high around South OC. Several people who live in the area have asked me when, how long, what kind of food, the pricing? The location is the corner of Jeffrey Road and Alton Parkway.
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Another restaurateur who thoroughly enjoys the many facets of the industry is Mario Petillo, owner of Allegro Ristorante. I’ve been following the charismatic Mario on his career path for years. He opened the cute Allegro early in 1998, serving his unique Italian dishes that have enticed us over the years. Mario loves cooking up a recipe whose soul is tied to some historical little village or event, or is a beloved family-style dish rarely translated outside of Italy. Here, we eat a country-style stew of chicken with herbs over al dente pasta and cubes of eggplant and fresh tomato mingled with garlic, basil and onion in an elegantly clean sauce that we sometimes have over rigatoni, sometimes over linguine.
That aside for the moment, I wanted to let you know about Mario’s upcoming cooking class since he’s really entertaining in that arena. On Monday, Jan. 31, at 6 p.m., he’s teaching a class called “Salute to the Millennium,” featuring his signature foods prepared for a healthy and fit New Year. You will also be the first to sample a line of Italian gourmet food products that will soon be introduced in upscale markets here. Plus, Mario will gladly fill you in on his planned trips to Italy in which you are invited to participate. The class fee is $37.50 per person, which includes a sampling of the foods prepared, wines to accompany the menu, copies of the recipes and plenty of fun. Since there are many Mario followers like me, prepaid reservations are pretty much required.
Allegro Ristorante is at 1160 N. Tustin Ave., Orange; phone (714) 639-7921.
