Sonora Owner Spices Up Dining Deal

It’s not surprising anymore to be handed a frequent-diner card when you eat out. Just about every restaurant has its own version, say, in the shape of a pizza pie (fill in eight slices and then you get a free large pizza) or a computer program that keeps track of your eating habits (run up $2,000 in coq au vin and, voila, a VCR). Much like the free car washes and free plane tickets you earn for loyalty, restaurants use food to lure customers.

Now Ron Salisbury, owner of El Cholo, the Original Sonora Cafe and two other area restaurants, has come up with a new dining gimmick. He’s mailed out letters to his customers offering $1,500 worth of dining certificates for $1,000. There is no limit on their use and if the certificates are redeemed within six months, Salisbury promises to kick in a $100 bonus certificate. Plus, he’ll pick up the tab on a bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne if the certificates are used strictly at the new Sonora, which is moving from downtown to the La Brea Avenue space that was until last week City Restaurant.

“I get the cash up front,” says Salisbury, “and the record keeping is practically negligible. I don’t have to keep everyone updated or send out rewards.”

So far, Salisbury has received about a dozen calls in response to the letter, and four of his customers have purchased the certificates. “They are asking questions like, ‘Can they be used for catering?’ and the answer is no, ‘Can they be shared with a friend?’ and the answer is yes.” says Salisbury. “This may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done or it may be the brightest thing. Who knows?”

LEVELING FORCE: For 15 years, the French Laundry was known for its unique wine cellar and prix-fixe dinners that lasted all evening. The Yountville restaurant wasn’t listed in the Yellow Pages, and if you drove by the ancient, vine-covered building you’d miss it if you didn’t know where to look. Smoking was not allowed. No credit cards were accepted. And you’d have to eat whatever chef/owner Sally Schmitt had cooked. Yet customers waited up to two months for a reservation.

New owner Thomas Keller plans to keep the basic format when he reopens the 62-seat space in June. But he’s creating what he calls a “psychological edge with people coming in” by reducing the $55 dinner to $53, and offering several choices in each of the five courses. “I want them to leave with the impression that dinner here is good value,” he says, “that it’s a notch above what was here before, a notch below the next step.”

Keller, one of the pioneers of food as architecture at Checkers in downtown Los Angeles and before that at New York’s Rakel restaurant, won’t be using his plates as pedestals in the Napa Valley, though. “I don’t intend to pile food on the plate as high as I can get it. I’m going back to a more traditional, contemporary elegance. Everybody is doing architectural food now. When Wendy’s starts to do it, you know it’s passe.”

PIT STOPS: Sources say the owners of Olive may soon be pulling up the entry tiles that spell out the name of their Fairfax Avenue restaurant-cum-bar. Manager Jeffrey Best denies the rumors. “At the present time, Olive isn’t moving,” says Best. “Maybe somewhere in the future it might.” Meanwhile, Dale Payne, who closed his La Cienega restaurant last year, has taken over kitchen duties with the departure of Robert Gadsby.

But the Olive grove is expanding: Jones, a joint venture between Olive owners and Johnny’s Pizza (in various locations), will open in two weeks at the old Ports in Hollywood. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll pizza bar.

MORE OPENINGS: Louise’s Trattoria will take over the former the Rite Spot in Pasadena. But fans of the former restaurant’s Egyptian-themed bar can rest easy. The Mecca room and its painted ceiling will be preserved. . . . Pauline Parry who owns Good Gracious! catering on West Pico, has taken over the adjoining storefront and opened Parry’s on Pico, a coffee bar featuring espresso, fresh pastries, sandwiches and “pizzettes.”

ANNIVERSARIES: Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant, the Buena Park institution that has fed 20 million pounds of chicken to everyone from John Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor to Donny and Marie Osmond--is planning 60th anniversary promotions including mugs, T-shirts and 1934 prices. . . . Bagel Nosh in Encino celebrates silver anniversary by deducting $2 from cost of all entree salads at lunch time. . . . For its 20th, Ye Olde King’s Head Pub and Restaurant in Santa Monica is holding a drawing on Tuesday. The prize: tickets for two to London. . . . And the year-old Nature Club on Melrose now has an herbal happy hour. From 4 to 6 p.m., all freshly cooked herbal elixirs and tinctures are half price. *