Downtown's Starry Kitchen to close this month

Starry Kitchen, the downtown cafe owned by wife and husband Thi and Nguyen Tran (she’s the chef, and he’s the mouthpiece), is closing this month. Nguyen Tran emailed an announcement, sprinkled with his usual expletives, Friday afternoon: “We are shutting down the current SK location on or around July 31."

The announcement alludes to financial difficulties but also says that the couple is negotiating another restaurant location in the same building at California Plaza on Grand Street.

In the meantime, Nguyen says, “we just happen to be launching an Asian family-style joint-venture Din-Dins (don't call it a pop-up, 'cause we want this to be permanent) between Team SK and Fred Eric at the Tiara Cafe that's going to have the possibly ‘confusing’ for some (but hopefully straightforward for others) name of Starry (Kitchen) Nights @ Tiara Cafe … prolly around Aug. 9.

"In the end, life is about learning (and hopefully avoiding creditors as much as possible … that's always nice too ;D).”

For Starry Kitchen catering, contact catering@starrykitchen.com or call (213) 814-1123.

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Royal/T in Culver City closes

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Photo: Thi and Nguyen Tran at Starry Kitchen. Credit: Krista Simmons / For The Times

Royal/T in Culver City closes this month

Royal/T, the Japanese maid cafe, eatery and art space in Culver City, is closing at the end of July.

Opened in 2007, Royal/T brought Los Angeles weekly Tokyo Nouveau Champagne brunches, waitresses dressed in playful maid uniforms and the cafe's signature milk tea, among many culinary- and art-related workshops, exhibitions and events.

The shop bids farewell with final events held at its space beginning this weekend. Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon, Royal/T hosts a tea workshop with Paper Architect. Learn tips and tricks for planning an ultimate tea party from Nancy Caldwell while munching on an assortment of sandwiches, scones, desserts and freshly brewed tea. Purchase tickets online at www.royaltworkshop.eventbrite.com.

A closing brunch will mark the final cafe service at Royal/T on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with live music featured throughout the afternoon. The cafe's last scheduled shindig is a pop-up dinner in collaboration with Cordero Negro from 6 to 9 p.m. July 26 and 27. The evening's 12-course tapas tasting menu is $45 per person and will include dishes like chorizo sausage with succotash and saffron corn veloute, herbed goat cheese, stuffed pequillo peppers with basil infused olive oil, and Spanish flan. Make reservations online at www.corderonegro.com/popup.

What's next? Royal/T's owner Susan Hancock plans to take the brand on the road with various events and pop-ups.

8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City, (310) 559-6300, royal-t.org.

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Photo: Royal/T storefront. Credit: Royal/T

Fraiche goes out with a bang

Who doesn't love a deal? How about a deal on great food? Fraiche restaurant in Culver City is going out of business, so it's putting its whole menu on sale. Hey, it works for rugs and clothes, why not oysters and agnolotti? The deal is good at both the Culver City restaurant, which is closing sometime in late June, and the Santa Monica location, which is staying open.

The "Secret Menu" (well, not so secret anymore) features a kind of greatest hits of Fraiche's dishes at prices that average about 20% off. Cheaper dishes, such as fried calamari (now $11) or the Fraiche salad of citrus, manchego cheese, walnuts and red onions ($11) are only a couple bucks less while pricier items such as steak frites ($18) and the great braised short ribs ($23) are roughly a third off.

The only catch is that you have to have a copy of the secret menu in hand when you go in. That's not that much of a hitch, actually, as you can find it on the restaurant's Facebook page.

Fraiche, 9411 Culver Blvd., Culver City, (310) 839-6800; and 312 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 451-7482.

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Photo: Steak frites at Fraiche. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Palate in Glendale closes, permanently

Last week, Palate Food + Wine in Glendale posted a sign on its door that it would be "temporarily closed for reorganization" (a photo of the sign was published on Eater LA). But on Monday came news from chef-owner Octavio Becerra that Palate, a well-received restaurant on a stretch of Glendale's Brand Boulevard otherwise populated by car dealers, would close for good.

"It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that I announce the closure of Palate Food + Wine," Becerra wrote in an email. "The spirit and essence of the dream that was Palate was no longer sustainable. Our sudden realization of this ... [has] left some feeling -- well, like us, shocked. Our goal now is to exit thoughtfully, carefully and graciously."  

Becerra, who had climbed the kitchen ranks at Patina Restaurant Group, opened Palate in 2008. Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila gave the restaurant three stars. "At this casual California-Mediterranean bistro and wine bar, it's fresh and direct, polished but not showy.... This newcomer entered the restaurant scene poised and firing on all cylinders," she wrote in her review.  

"I am super happy to have shared so many stellar times with all that experienced Palate," Becerra said in his email. "We give thanks to everyone who contributed to the life of Palate Food + Wine and look forward to the future." He could not be reached for further comment.

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Photo: Octavio Becerra at Palate. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Drago Santa Monica to close at end of January

Southern California will say arrivederci to another Italian dining institution when Celestino Drago closes Drago in Santa Monica after 21 years -- following on the heels of the shutting of Evan Kleiman's Angeli Caffe on Melrose Avenue.

Drago, who also owns Celestino, Drago Centro,  Dolce Forno, Enoteca Drago and Il Pastaio, says he is shuttering the restaurant at the end of January.

“I decided after a lot of thought to not renew the lease. The lease expired and I was thinking of doing some big remodeling, but it wasn’t making a lot of sense,” Drago says. “It was kind of a tough decision because it’s like my baby. The restaurant did a lot for my career. But I’ve got my hands full with so much.” 

Drago says he’d like to reopen the restaurant at a new location if it’s “the right place with the right deal.” But with Drago Centro “so busy, it’s good to have one less thing to worry about for now.” He also will continue to run Drago’s catering business. 

In the meantime, several dishes from the original menu will be offered through January, starting Monday. So, if you want to dine like it’s 1991 at Drago, there will be: polenta sandwich with wild mushrooms, fontina cheese and  truffle fondue; sautéed duck liver with aged balsamic glace and grilled endive; baked ziti with meat and cheese sauce, wrapped with eggplant; black and white tagliolini with bay scallop sauce; spaghetti with bottarga; sausage-filled quail and saltimbocca sauce; and pan-roasted lamb loin with potato tart and grilled mushrooms agrodolce. 

2628 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 828-1585, www.celestinodrago.com. 

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Photo: Celestino Drago. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha/Los Angeles Times.

Evan Kleiman to close Angeli Caffe after 27 years [UPDATED]

[This post has been updated. See note below.]

Evan Kleiman, the host of KCRW's "Good Food" and the owner of Angeli Caffe, says she will close her 27-year-old Melrose Avenue restaurant next week. 

"I was open for years when I probably should have closed," Kleiman said over the phone just after she'd told her staff about the closure. "It was my personal mission to get my employees past the worst of the recession, and I absorbed a lot of losses personally in order to do that and just can’t do it anymore."

PHOTOS: Evan Kleiman of Angeli Caffe

Some of Kleiman's employees have been working with her since Angeli opened in 1984, when it was 24 seats in a former screen shop, a restaurant inspired by food she'd eaten in the trattorias of Italy and remarkable as well for its modern, angular architecture.

Ruth Reichl wrote in The Times that it was among the restaurants bringing "a whole new character" to the restaurant scene, with its authenticity "filtered through such sophisticated sensibilities." 

At one point Kleiman had four restaurants: Besides Angeli Caffe, there was Trattoria Angeli in West Los Angeles, which opened in 1987 and closed in 1994; Angeli Mare in Marina del Rey, which opened in 1989 and closed in 1995; and the short-lived Angeli in the Rodeo Collection in Beverly Hills, which opened and closed in 1993.

Angeli's last day will be Sunday, Jan. 8, and it will be open every day until then (including New Year's Day and Mondays, when it's usually closed). [UPDATED: Kleiman announced Tuesday that the restaurant will stay open until Jan. 13 to accommodate the demand for last dinners.]

"We really want everybody to come by and say hi and need people to come so that I can pay my last bills," Kleiman said.

Kleiman, who said she is especially devastated on behalf of her staff, had been trying to sell the restaurant as a brand for a couple of years, but nobody came forward. "And you know, it’s a different thing buying the space and buying the brand. It has to be a pretty special person."

Kleiman said she will continue to cater, with more information soon at her website, www.evankleiman.com. "I’m gonna explore food products and try going down that road. It’s such a massive change that I don’t really know what it’s going to feel like. I'll also be speaking, teaching, helping, all the other things that will be open to me in terms of having the time that I normally wouldn’t have." 

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Photos: Evan Kleiman with Angeli chef Kathy Ternay, top, and Angeli's storefront on Melrose Avenue. Credit: Bret Harman

After Cabron: A new bar planned for Guelaguetza

After the closing of Cemitas y Clayudas Pal Cabron -- the K-town cemitas shop run by Bricia and Fernando Lopez -- the bother-sister duo now is focusing on the family's Guelaguetza restaurant on Olympic Boulevard. New menu items are being added and a new bar is in the works, designed by Ricki Kline, who also designed Cedd Moses bars such as the Varnish and Las Perlas (where you can still get Pal Cabron's tacos arabes). If all goes as planned, Guelaguetza's redesigned, mezcal-focused bar will be ready within the next several weeks. 

"I had to make a decision," Bricia Lopez says of shutting Pal Cabron. "I'm sad because I love that place so much. I had an emotional attachment to it.... It just wasn't the right location and the right demographic." She says she will be selling the space.

And, of course, Bricia also said she and her brother have a new restaurant concept in mind -- to be developed somewhere between her plans to attend graduate school and her new role as a spokeswoman for the Got Milk?/Toma Leche campaign. (See a recipe for her hibiscus passion licuado after the jump.)

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Pure Luck runs out for HelMel staple

If you've ever wondered about the many ways the humble jackfruit can be refashioned into meat-resembling foodstuffs, you're running out of time. Pure Luck Cafe, the vegan staple at the bustling cycle-anarchist corner of Melrose and Heliotrope, will shut its doors within the next month and a half. Soon, we imagine, its decaying sign, which at this point simply reads, "Uck," will disappear as well.

Vegan blog QuarryGirl, Blogging LA, and Eater LA are all lamenting the closure, which will herald the opening of a new wine bar soon thereafter. Between this and Madeleine's and Mooi's recent demises, L.A. animal-product-avoiders will be pouring one out for a lot of shuttered homies at the upcoming L.A. Vegan Beer Fest. 

-- August Brown

Photo: The orange jackfruit chicken over rice served at Mooi, another recently shuttered raw/vegan restaurant. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

When one door closes, another opens: Goodbye, I. Cugini; hello, Katsuya Laguna Beach

I. Cugini restaurant in Santa Monica will close after serving Father's Day brunch on June 19. Serving Southern California since 1990, the restaurant no longer fit with future plans, said owners King's Seafood Co. "It was a very difficult decision for us to make," says Sam King, chief executive of King's Seafood.  "We truly enjoyed operating I. Cugini over the past 21 years."

1501 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90401; (310) 451-4595.

Laguna Beach will be the home of Katsuya's sixth location in California with sushi chef Katsuya Uechi at the helm. Set to open in mid-June, designer Philippe Starck will go for a "welcoming aesthetic" to fit the O.C.'s vibe. Unique to the Laguna Beach location: a kid's menu. 

-- Emma Wartzman

Photo: Katsuya Uechi at Katsuya Hollywood. Credit: Damon Winter / Los Angeles Times

Jason Neroni is chef at Osteria La Buca; Perch lounge coming to downtown L.A.

La Buca, again: After focusing his efforts to revamp and expand Osteria La Buca, owner Graham Snyder has taken the restaurant's makeover a step further, hiring globetrotting chef Jason Neroni, whose résumé includes Spago in Los Angeles and Porchetta in New York. Both share a passion for simple Italian food, signaling that the new menu will sway diners with a return to basics -- such as house-made pasta, pizza and salumi and dishes such as porchetta. The latest design upgrade includes more expansion, a zinc-top bar and walnut tables and custom booths in the dining room. 

5210 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 462-1900, OsteriaLaBuca.com.

Going up: Rachel Thomas and Coly Den Haan, the duo behind the erstwhile Must, are planning to open the three-story, bistro-inspired Perch lounge at the top of the Pershing Square Building in downtown Los Angeles. Multiple entertainment venues will host DJs, live music and burlesque and cabaret acts. The news release emphasizes no dress code (diners only have to hold themselves to their own warped standards of what to wear). The executive chef will be Benjamin Udave, former chef at the Jonathan Club. Thomas and Den Haan expect a May opening. Meanwhile, the two will reopen the Must on the ground floor of the same building later this year.

448 S. Hill St., Los Angeles, PerchLA.com. 

-- Max Diamond

Photo: Osteria La Buca