A Cookout on the Rocks

They’re serving rocks with the rolls at the Century Plaza. In fact, their Garden Pavilion Restaurant, 2025 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, (213) 551-3302, has become a veritable rock garden where diners sit before sizzling stones, cooking their food for themselves.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do it. Here’s how it works: You get a list of dishes that includes the Oriental (skewers of chicken and shrimp with shiitake mushrooms, scallions, zucchini and so forth), the Midwest Duo (a steak and lamb chop combo), one with giant shrimp, another with veal. The waiter takes your order. Pretty soon he reappears with a big plate of raw food and a small flat rock for each person. This is very hot (it has been heated to 500 degrees). You put the meat on the rock. You wait until it’s cooked. You eat.

Some people think this is a lot of fun; you’ll see rock hounds all over the room. Our waiter, on the other hand, considered the whole idea a rather rocky road. “If I wanted to cook for myself,” he said pointedly, “I’d stay home.”