It’s out with the southwestern eatery, in with the French

Paul Clinton

Owners of the southwestern-themed Chimayo Grill will close the

Newport Beach restaurant at the end of the year to open a

Parisian-style bistro at the same location.

Laguna Beach restaurateur David Wilhelm and his colleagues will

close the popular Chimayo after New Year’s Eve. Three months later,

Wilhelm plans to unveil Rouge in its place.

“It made sense to do another upscale restaurant in that

neighborhood,” Wilhelm said Wednesday. “It will be more of an

everyday bistro.”

David Wilhelm’s Culinary Adventures Inc., a consortium of private

investors, runs five other restaurants in Orange County, including

Chat Noir in Costa Mesa, French 75 in Laguna Beach and Chimayo at the

Beach in Huntington Beach.

The new restaurant will go into a city that counts only two major

French eateries within its borders: high-ticket Aubergine and Pascal.

“There aren’t that many French restaurants in Newport Beach,” said

Richard Luehrs, the president of the Newport Beach Chamber of

Commerce. “I’d love to have something that complements Fleming’s

[Steakhouse].”

Despite the obvious comparisons, Wilhelm said he didn’t model

Rouge on either French 75 or Chat Noir, a jazzy, upscale French diner

geared to the arts crowd.

He decided to close Chimayo even though it has been successful.

Wilhelm invented Chimayo when he worked for Taco Bell in the early

1990s.

“We’re going to focus on expanding one concept, that being the

French bistro,” Wilhelm said. “One of the things I don’t want to do

going forward is be off-concept.”

Wilhelm went to the Irvine Co., his landlord, with the idea, which

was an easy sell.

“David approached us with the idea and we embraced it,” said

Jennifer Heiger, a company spokeswoman. “We’ve seen the success with

French 75, and frankly, we’re thrilled that he wants to bring French

food to Fashion Island.”

Wilhelm will spend about $1.4 million to convert Chimayo to the

French bistro, Wilhelm said. He hired Hatch Design Group to develop

the concept. And he’ll retain Luis Flores, as the executive chef.

He’ll serve traditional French dishes such as foie gras and rabbit

routard. The wine list is expected to be about 30% French wine, with

the remainder coming from in-state.

The 5,700-square-foot Rouge will seat 170 at capacity.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

paul.clinton@latimes.com.