Splichal Wants to Double His Pleasure Downtown

Joachim Splichal is hoping to take the culinary-starved office denizens in downtown Los Angeles by storm. The chef of Patina on Melrose and Pinot Bistro in the San Fernando Valley, will open Cafe Pinot, a California-French bistro with a chicken rotisserie and takeout box lunches. Located adjacent to the L.A. Public Library, the restaurant will open in September for breakfast, lunch and dinner; dinner check prices should be in the $18-$20 range. “There are not very many good restaurants in downtown Los Angeles,” says Splichal, “and I know the quality of food we can deliver is above what other people do.”

He also knows that there are more than 100,000 people working in the all those skyscrapers around the area and most of them eat out. That’s why he’s planning another downtown project: He’s negotiating with the Museum of Contemporary Art to open Patinette, an upscale snack bar, in the courtyard beneath the museum. Splichal had originally planned to open the offshoot of Patina next door to the restaurant. “It never happened,” he says. “The neighbors gave us a lot of hassle over parking so we decided not to pursue it.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Splichal has been high on downtown L.A. Ten years ago, he left the very exclusive Regency Club to become opening chef at the Seventh Street Bistro. Developer Wayne Ratkovich eventually sold the place to chef Laurent Quenioux and then attorney (now mayor) Dick Riordan. (The restaurant closed two years ago)

“When I was downtown before there wasn’t that much competition,” Splichal says. “Now there are quite a few new restaurants, but we will have an edge. Cafe Pinot has access to the Maguire Garden. Where else can you go downtown and sit between two olive trees and eat lunch?”

MEATY ASSIGNMENT: Roland Gibert has taken up residence at 72 Market Street, but this time the chef was cautious before he accepted the job. His friend, Michel Richard, chef/owner of Citrus in Los Angeles, had already approached him about possibly cooking at Bistro M, the brasserie he is opening in San Francisco. To hook Gibert, 72 Market Street celebrity-owners Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli and Tony Bill offered Gibert a partnership in the Venice outpost. “The owners want to take the place to a different level,” says Gibert, “and we are working on it.”

The French-born chef is once again working on a meaty menu. “Full blast,” he says. When he closed his critically acclaimed restaurant Tulipe for financial reasons in June, Gibert was just getting into cooking haute health cuisine (meatless, sugarless and dairyless) at Luma in Santa Monica. Two months later, that restaurant closed for financial reasons.

Money might no longer be a problem, but now Gibert, who plans to introduce his new menu next month, has other things to worry about. “This is an established restaurant,” he says, “and I want to make sure my style won’t scare people away.” That’s one of the reasons why he won’t take some of the long-time faves such as the “kick ass” chili off the menu. That, and because, says Gibert, “I very much enjoy ‘kick ass’ chili.”

BEACH, BEACH, BEACH: Michael Franks and Robert Bell have just returned from South Miami Beach, where they’ve been scouting for a chef for Descanso, the huge restaurant/bakery set to open in May in Hermosa Beach. South Miami Beach is hot right now. According to experts, the area has experienced more recent growth per square mile than anywhere else in the United States. “We went to see that Ocean Drive scene,” says Franks. “L.A.’s too serious now.”

STAR GRAZING: Michel Trama, the Michelin two-star chef of Les Loges de L’Aubergade in the town of Puymirol in Bordeaux, prepares dinner at L’Orangerie on La Cienega for six nights, beginning Tuesday. But imports don’t come cheap: a prix-fixe, four-course dinner costs $105; three courses, $85.

CHEF MOVES: Katsunori Shimbo, who cooked with Claude Segal at Picnic and then at Drai’s, is now in charge of the kitchen at Melrose Place on La Cienega. . . . Claude Cevasco, who left Chef Vous (now closed) in Pasadena to start Claude’s Fine French Catering, has opened Claude’s Restaurant & Bistro in Pasadena.*