Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong

How many times have you tried -- in vain -- to get a waiter’s attention?

Ogamdo, a new Chinese-Korean restaurant on La Brea, has the problem all worked out: At each table is a doorbell-type buzzer. Want to order some sake? Ring the doorbell. Instantly, a waiter, dressed in a jaunty Laotian sailor hat, appears tableside.

Hmm. Need, er, more kimchi? Ding-dong! Here he comes running over again.

How convenient. But aren’t people tempted to ring the bell over and over again, just to see if it keeps working? “Yeah, many times,” says co-owner Junho Lee. “But it’s OK -- it’s service time!”

Ogamdo’s kookiness doesn’t end there. The 112-year-old brick building that Lee says was once the offices for Ozzy Osbourne’s production company is decorated to the max with kitschy antique railroad and nautical gear -- stuff that Lee, an interior designer, has been collecting for a decade. One of the dining rooms has a monumental brass chandelier. In the backyard, Lee says, is “a real ship. The weight is almost 15,000 pounds.”

The music alternates between blasting ‘50s songs you wish you had forgotten and blasting ‘60s songs you wish you had forgotten, with an occasional Louis Armstrong standard thrown in. That’s because Lee doesn’t like hip-hop.

And the food? It’s “70% Chinese food and 30% Korean food,” says Lee. Or, to look at it another way, two pages of Chinese dishes and one page of Korean dishes. I wondered why, considering both Lee and co-owner Michelle Chang are Korean-born. “Chinese food is better,” explains Lee.

In any case, he says, Ogamdo is the transliteration of three Chinese characters that mean “five,” “sense” and “dish,” referring to the five senses and the five flavors each dish might have.

Not sure which ones? Ring the buzzer.

Ogamdo, 842 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 936-1500.

Small bites

* The venerable Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica has moved one door north. Co-owner and chef Richard Irving says the late April move happened because in the new spot, “We’re in our own free-standing building, and we’re able to have a dream kitchen with a wood-burning pizza oven and a wood- and mesquite-burning grill that we couldn’t have in the other place because of the three-story situation.” The restaurant, co-owned and decorated by Lynn von Kersting, has about the same capacity and a similar look.

Ivy at the Shore, 1535 Ocean Ave., (310) 393-3113.

* Dimitri Dimitrov, maitre d’ at Diaghilev for almost 20 years, left recently to join Raffles L’Ermitage Beverly Hills. Since May 1, he has been supervising operations at the hotel’s Writer’s Bar and Jaan restaurant. He functions as food and beverage director, but his title -- food and wine ambassador -- reflects the fact that he’ll be visible in the role he’s known for, working the floor and greeting guests.

Jaan, 9291 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, (310) 278-3344.