Alen Lin, 12/1/07

Now that it's officially open (at least for lunch), here we have a nicer Inside look at Paperfish, Joachim Splichal's chic new Beverly Hills seafood spot. The space kind of flows---it has waves and curves a la the ocean---but a reserved, contemporary look designed by Clive Wilkinson, the firm that did Google's headquarters. The bar is pretty swank, serving a shortened menu from 2pm to 8pm until the restaurant goes full throttle on January 7. December is rife with holiday parties, so they're keeping business low profile for now; although we hear the happy hour is rockin' already. More about the chef and menu here.

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Just a reminder, folks: We love digital images of all things Plywood, Dish, Inside, funny signage and sneak peeks. Any and all snaps, right this way.

Here we have another huge gaping hole of a building, this time it's 6,000-square-foot LA Food Show (perhaps a contender for Worst Restaurant Name in 2008?) taking over the RJ's Barbecue space on Beverly Drive. From our on-the-street photog: "Walked by to get a yogurt at Sno:LA and the door was open. Thought of you and snapped a picture of the inside. It looks like they've got a ways to go..." The website says an "early 2008" opening, but it depends on what your definition of "early" is.
· Plywood Report: LA Food Show [~ELA~]

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There's nothing like a good dose of Plywood to start the week off right. See something boarded, papered, signaged? Let us know.

BEVERLY/FAIRFAX: This here is what we call tag-team Plywood watching, friends. From an Eater reader: "While walking my dog tonight I noticed that a sign for Babycakes NYC has gone up on the former Jewish temple on the corner of Beverly Blvd. and Spaulding. Babycakes is a vegan bakery owned by Erin McKenna. I have made one of her brownie recipes before and I loved it, even though I am most definitely not vegan. I think I may have to beef up my exercise routine, since this will be approximately 2 1/2 seconds from where I live." If it's not frozen yogurt, it's a bakery. The pic comes from a Curbed fan who noticed the same thing. [PLYWOOD]

WEST HOLLYWOOD: We stopped by One Sunset last week and talked to owner Erica Cohen about the One Group bringing yet another NYC restaurant to town, their uber-hip steakhouse STK. Since we broke the news a few weeks ago, Cohen decided it was OK to give us more deets. She tells us that they hope to open STK (located in former Bridge spot) by November, "but ONE opened about seven months behind schedule, so we'll see." Also confirmed: Design is by iCrave, but not much has to be done since the paint on Bridge was barely dry. [PLYWOOD]

OF COURSE there's more than just Osteria and Craft this week. Here then is The Dish, a smattering of other recent debuts. Know of something that just opened in your neck of the woods? Let us know.

BEVERLY HILLS: The family behind the Gaylord Indian restaurant have finally opened Tanzore, which looks very sensual, rich colors, tapestries, hand-carved wood accents. We're not going to do it justice without repeating the press release verbatim, so we'll just leave it at that. But there's no better time to check it out than this month: For the next two weeks a "preview menu" will be discounted by 30%. So eat cheap now, see the space, go back with an expense account later. [50 N. La Cienega Blvd., 310.652.3838, www.tanzore.com]

HIGHLAND PARK: Two emails were dropped in our inbox about The York, which took over the Wild Hare and opene don 7/12. One tipster was in for friends and family previews and says: "It looks and acts like a true gastro pub...had the catfish which was great, they had already run out of the fish & chips. Looks like martinis will be under the $10 mark unlike the $12 3oz Ketel pour up the street at Marty's." Gabe Byer owns the spot with Ryan Ballinger, a couple of one-time bartenders at Edendale Grill. Check out the menu on the website. [5018 York Blvd., 323.255.9675]

When you have something as grand as multi-million dollar, 11,000-square-foot Japanese restaurant, there's bound to be some drama involved. Doing a little damage control about last week's mass exodus at Gonpachi, the restaurant's publicist Joan Luther told us that some initial hirings didn't work out, there was a little disorganization in the beginning, and yes, people quit: "Let's just say that east didn't meet west very well." But she tells us owner Kozo Hasegawa has already hired new people, including new GM Kiyoshi Sagawa, which is more a promotion (he's been there since the beginning). They're still looking for a few more servers, but "everything's smoothing out."

Now that the fire's out, is it wrong to add fuel to the glowing embers? A new rumor hit our inbox today that there's some competition between the new restaurant and the longstanding Matsuhisa across the street, and it may have started way back in Japan. But that's a whole other story, one which we know nothing about. It does sound intriguing though.
· Gonpachi: Staff Walks, Mother's Day "Catastrophe" [~ELA~]

SOUTH PASADENA—There was a mention in yesterday's LA Times that Steven Arroyo's new French wine bar/bistro, 750 ml, will open this weekend. We just went by the space and noticed paint cans on the sidewalks, workers washing down tables, and some installation still going on. The head worker bee told us it will open "hopefully next week." [EaterWire; LAT]

MALIBU—Providence isn't the only restaurant offering a deal for diners who sit in the worst seat in the house. At Gladstone's, if you request "the worst table in the house" you'll get 30% of your meal. If you're seated there because no other tables are available, you get a complimentary piece of cake. Remember folks, we want to hear about your experience with LA's worst tables. [EaterWire Inbox]

BRENTWOOD—The Pinkberry invasion continues: "Coming soon to what used to be the Terra building (furniture store, previous to that, flower place) across from Starbucks at Barrington near San Vicente." [EaterWire Inbox]

The former Yi Cuisine space (catty-corner from the Farmers Market at Fairfax and Third) quietly transformed into Celadon late last year (we're told December, but Hounds were tail-wagging as early as November); we'll call it a Med-Asian restaurant and lounge. The look was completely overhauled: the long outdoor patio/corridor is now a covered lounge with Chinese day beds and paper lanterns overhead; the dining room is lined with candles and filled with antiques and deeper hues; the chef's table is history. The press release tells us that executive chef Danny Elmaleh created an eclectic "small-plates" menu inspired by his Japanese, Isreali, and Moroccan heritage, and that he previously worked with Josiah Citrin at Melisse and Lemon Moon, and Beacon's chef, Kazuto Matsusaka.

By the looks of this picture taken last weekend, construction for Terroni is in full swing in the former Authentic Cafe space. Chowhounds took note a couple months ago and disclosed that Terroni is a Toronto-based Italian restaurant with "the best thin crust pizza in North America." Why Toronto pizza? We can't even get good New York-style pizza. We dug a little deeper, and found out that the owner is Shereen Arazm, the sole female in the Dolce Group boy's club. Along with Terroni, rumored to open this March, Arazm's opening an intimate Japanese restaurant, Davina, near Hollywood Boulevard and Las Palmas Avenue. She tells the Los Angeles Business Journal that it's all about small restaurants vs. the Geisha Houses of the world right now:

"Everybody wants to be a nightclub, a dance club, to be Sam Nazarian. Right now, I want to do restaurants and less of the mega-club. We don’t need another 10,000 people coming into Hollywood for another nightclub.”

Thanks to global warming, it was 80 degrees yesterday. Made us think ice cream. Then again, we could always eat ice cream. Cue MILK, which opens later this month in the former Richard Tyler boutique on Beverly Boulevard near Grace, BLD, El Coyote, Angelini, and others along Beverly's restaurant row. The man behind MILK is Bret Thompson, most recently the corporate executive chef for the Patina Group. He, along with pastry chef (and fellow Patina alum) Richard Yoshimura, will offer homemade frozen treats like bon bons, ice cream cakes, crunch bars, and ice cream sandwiches, all made from their ice cream. Savory breakfast, lunch and dinner items, pastries, made-to-order specialties for parties, and cooking classes are all a part of the game plan. We were in the neighborhood over the weekend and snapped some pics. Click through for a peek inside. 7290 Beverly Blvd., 323-939-6455.

One more after this, folks. Stay with us...

(5) WHAT NEIGHBORHOOD DID YOU WANT TO TAP IN '06? WHAT ONE IN '07?

Lonny Pugh, editor in chief and dining guru, LA.com: Koreatown and Little Tokyo remain, for me, shamefully underexplored. In 2007, lots of ink will continue to be spilled on cities Culver and Century.

Anne Alderete, Tuna Toast, or as some might know her, Tokyoastrogirl: I'll say Hollywood. So many new restaurants sprung up and I haven't had time to try them all. I've been to Dakota, 25 Degrees and Magnolia but have yet to try Citizen Smith, Lucky Devils, Hungry Cat, eat or Memphis.

Rosie O'Neill, Colleen Cuisine: 2006: West Hollywood (3rd/Beverly/Melrose) or Little Toyko. 2007: Little Ethiopia (Fairfax)

Pat Saperstein, Eating L.A.: For 2006, Downtown. I still haven't checked out Royal Clayton's, Blue Velvet, Tiara or all the other places that opened this year, but it looks like there might be life in the old central city yet. For 2007: Can the San Gabriel Valley be considered a neighborhood? If so, the communities of Monterey Park, San Gabriel and Arcadia offer an array of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants that would take years to thoroughly explore.

LB: The same answer for both questions. Any neighborhood that's flush with ethnic eateries: Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Sawtelle, Little Ethiopia, San Gabriel Valley, etc.

· The Year in Eater LA Part 1: Top Newcomers [Eater LA]
· The Year in Eater LA Part 2: Top Standbys for '06 [Eater LA]
· The Year in Eater LA Part 3: Favorite Meal [Eater LA]
· The Year in Eater LA Part 4: Biggest Surprise [Eater LA]

LX.TV quietly launched (or relaunched: it used to be called Code.TV) a couple months ago, the web TV channel full of lifestyle content, including restaurant and nightclub reviews for NYC and LA. We'll try not to hate on the perky hosts (just one bite shy of Rachel Raydom), but in today's segment for BLD, chef/owner Neal Fraser sounds utterly thrilled to be taking the time out for this interview.
· BLD: All-day tribute to comfort food [LX.TV]
· Name is new, content still douchey [Gawker]

Gonpachi

And we're not at Eater LA, either. Our brother-in-law Curbed LA doled out chain restaurant news for some of the B neighborhoods: Beverly Hills, Burbank and Beverly/Fairfax. To note: Gonpachi, opening in the old Ed Debevics space, will multiply faster than Famima! and Pinkberry put together, Burbank gets Granville's, and the Grove gets a sushi bar that "reeks of chain restaurant desperation" in its Craig's List ad. Hopefully none will get as desperate as the Cheesecake Factory, whose execs had to give back $1 million each for misreporting stock info.

· Cheesecake Factory faulted [Eater LA]
· Cheesecake Factory execs to repay $1 million [LA Times]
· Famima! the McDonald's of Pinkberrys [Eater LA]
· Another (yawn!) Pinkberry to open [Curbed LA]