New in WeHo: Laurel Hardware, plus lunch starts this week

Laurel Hardware has opened on Santa Monica Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood, a newcomer already drawing the locals in droves. Think New American in an old hardware store (complete with vintage facade). 

Chef Mario Alberto (Gjelina, Lazy Ox, Chimu) is turning out a focused menu of share plates (confit pork belly with green barley, tomatoes with shiso and honey, grilled peaches with burrata) and a handful of pizzas (including one over the weekend with hatch chiles and anchovies). The bar seats a couple of dozen, and there's a roster of cocktails that go nicely with the view through floor-to-ceiling bay windows that look onto an alluring back patio. (There isn't service on the patio -- yet -- but diners can wander out there with their drinks.) 

The 3,500-square-foot space, designed by Sam Marshall, is divided into several areas. The front, with windows facing the blur of Santa Monica Boulevard, is bright and airy. In the back, the bar is flanked by communal tables. Elevated booths line one wall, and sofas and armchairs with cocktail tables are along the bay windows.

Lunch starts this week, Alberto says, with a menu of sandwiches (including the LH Burger), salads and pizzas. In a couple of weeks, there will be brunch: egg scrambles (such as with maitake mushrooms, pea tendrils and creme fraiche), oysters and fried chicken with biscuits or hanger steak with 64-degree egg.

7984 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 656-6070, www.laurelhardware.com.

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Photo credit: Betty Hallock

Bon Appétit Grub Crawl is set for July 13-15

After experiencing many a pub crawl abroad, the founders of Grub Crawl came back to the States with a business venture: to lead guided tours--not of bars--but restaurants. The company has been taking groups of foodies on a series of grub crawls around the Bay Area since 2009 and now brings the idea of food "crawling" to L.A.

The Los Angeles edition of the Bon Appétit Grub Crawl will be hitting up three delicious neighborhoods to dine July 13-15.

The tour starts on Friday in downtown L.A. with stops at Cole's, Umamicatessen, Las Perlas and Seven Grand. Next up on the tour, continued on Saturday, is Hollywood and West Hollywood with Mozza, Scuola Di Pizza, Pour Vous, Street, the Spare Room and Night + Market on the itinerary. Saturday's crawl will conclude with a live music performance by Vacationer at the Roxy. The final leg of the tour will include eateries on the Westside with visits to Father's Office, Sotto, Picca and Lukshon. Yum...

Attend the entire three-day event for $200 per person or pick one of the three-neighborhood food crawls for $80-$100. Tickets can be purchased online.

Bagrubcrawl.com.

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Bagatelle L.A. opens today in West Hollywood

Bagatelle, a New York City-based French bistro, opens a new location on the West Coast today. Located in the former Boudoir space on North La Cienega Boulevard, Bagatelle L.A. features a French- Mediterranean menu from executive chef Scott Quinn, formerly of Bouchon. Signature dishes include poire pochee au vin rouge (red wine poached pear), tartare de thon (yellow fin tuna tartare), terrine de foie gras and poulet organic roti et truffe pour deux (truffle roasted chicken for two).

The 2,700-square-foot restaurant boasts a Paris-infused-with-the-South-of-France appeal, indoor and outdoor seating, as well as a music program featuring DJs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The bistro is open for dinner every night.

775 North La Cienega, L.A., (310) 659-3900, bistrotbagatelle.com.

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Photo: Foie gras terrine. Credit: Ryan Forbes

IDG teaming up with Gino Angelini to open Italian restaurant

Innovative Dining Group says it has collaborated with chef and restaurateur Gino Angelini, of Angelini Osteria, to open a fine-dining Italian restaurant in West Hollywood that will debut in the fall.

The 8,000-square-foot restaurant will take over part of the space formerly occupied by Hamburger Hamlet at 9201 W. Sunset Blvd. IDG will divide the old Hamlet space into two ventures, one the new Italian restaurant and the other a Chinese cuisine concept.

The restaurant's name and menu specifics will be announced in the coming months but for now, Italian food aficionados can expect Angelini's menu to include pastas, pizzas and entrées incorporating classic Italian cooking techniques very much like those developed at his beloved Angelini Osteria.

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Photo: Gino Angelini at his restaurant, Angelini Osteria. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Mendocino Farms set to open in West Hollywood on Thursday

Mendocino Farms plans to open its newest location on Thursday in the West Hollywood Gate complex at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. It's the fourth location for the growing "sandwich market" mini-empire in as many years, with two Mendocino Farms downtown and one in Marina del Rey. Another is planned for 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue, across the street from the Original Farmers Market/Grove.

Meanwhile, Mendocino Farms owners Ellen Chen and Mario del Pero announce they will open Blue Cow Kitchen & Bar, a "sandwich think tank," in the restaurant that is currently Casa. Blue Cow, in the California Plaza on Grand Street, will feature sandwiches from Mendocino Farms chef Judy Han as well as guest chefs such as Jason Travi, who is creating the restaurant's "new school burger." Blue Cow's kitchen, which also will turn out dishes such as tofu tater tots with sweet red chile sauce and porchetta seasoned with wild fennel, will be helmed by Joshua Smith, formerly of Church & State. 

Mendocino Farms West Hollywood, 7100 Santa Monica Blvd., www.mendocinofarms.com.  

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Photo: Mendocino Farms West Hollywood by Betty Hallock/Los Angeles Times

Mercato di Vetro to open in WeHo in October. Here's the menu.

SBE hospitality group's Mercato di Vetro, an ambitious Italian eatery, marketplace and bar with corporate chef Danny Elmaleh heading the kitchen (actually, there are four kitchens), is set to open in early October in West Hollywood. 

The two-story Santa Monica Boulevard space is connected by a floor-to-ceiling glass wine case. The design, accented with gray marble and reclaimed wood, includes four kitchens: one for antipasti, cheese and charcuterie, which is lined with bar seats; an open kitchen with a wood-burning oven for pizza and a pasta-making area; a cocktail kitchen for in-house syrups; and a traditional restaurant kitchen for all the composed dishes.

Antipasti and starters include artichoke chips with lemon and rosemary; hen of the woods with aioli and parmesan; and caprese with buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomato. A raw bar features oysters, carpaccios and tartares. Primi pastas will be made with a vintage Rosito Bisani pasta machine:  carbonara with pancetta; ravioli with potato, ricotta and egg; squid ink spaghettini with bread crumbs and spinach. A dish of bucatini with shrimp, scallops, clams and mussels is prepared in a bag (pictured below), presented at the table and cut open to allow the steam and aromas to release.

And for secondi, there's branzino baked in a salt bread crust with grape leaves; pork osso bucco; game hen; lamb with rosemary honey; and roasted bone marrow with oxtail marmalade. Elmaleh also will be responsible for Mercato di Vetro’s pastry and mixology menus. And a retail area will sell olive oil, daily fresh pasta and jarred antipasti. 

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Rendering and photo: Mercato di Vetro 

Free food: Früute opens on Saturday in WeHo

Früute comes to West Hollywood on Saturday, with tarts gratuit for all who want to come and get 'em from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the shop's grand opening.

A family affair, Yolanda Santosa has collaborated with her mother and younger sister to open a pastry shop a la tart on Santa Monica Boulevard, creating edible works of art.

Their 18 signature tarts are hand-made from scratch daily. Featured offerings include the budino, with creamy butterscotch pudding in a chocolate crust, topped with a caramel-filled macaroon; the piña colada, a tropical burst of pineapple, coconut and rum in a coconut sprinkled crust, topped with a blackberry and gooseberry; the mont blanc, caramelized banana with a hint of rum in a chocolate crust, topped with caramel wafer, chestnut cream swirl and pistachio; and the araguani, with araguani chocolate in a chocolate crust, topped with rose petal and gold leaf.

Tarts are $3 each, $12 for a box of four or $24 for a box of eight.

8951 Santa Monica Blvd., Ste. A, West Hollywood, (310) 786-9983, www.fruute.com.

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Photo credit: Früute

4 Wine Events You Should Know About: City of Angels Wine Fest; Melville wine dinner at Providence; Grgich at the Belvedere; wine and cheese class at Little Door

Downtown wine festival: The Rotary Club of Los Angeles Foundation hosts its second annual City of Angels Wine Fest on Memorial Day at the Music Center Plaza downtown. Food and drink will be provided by California wineries and restaurants Nick + Stef’s Steakhouse, Café Pinot, Kendall's Brasserie, Zucca Ristorante and Tina Tacos. There will be a silent auction and live performances by Ours and the Family Crest. Part of the silent auction will be sponsored by Saatchi Online, featuring donating artists. Money goes toward fighting homelessness on behalf of L.A.'s Volunteers of America, whose transitional facility in downtown Los Angeles provides shelter and job opportunities for more than 1,800 homeless annually. May 30, 1 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $150, available online at www.cityofangelswinefest.com.  

Wine and cheese: Staci Miller, wine director at the Little Door, leads classes on boutique wines and artisan cheeses from producers around the world. Wines are paired with fresh and bloomy, washed rind and aged cheeses as Miller discusses cheese and wine pairing fundamentals. Classes take place at the Little Door and include six wine and cheese pairings, light appetizers and take-home handouts. The May 25 class spotlights cheese and wine from California, Oregon and Washington. 7 to 9 p.m. $68 per person (or $108 for two people in the same class). Sign up online at lawinetasting.com. 8164 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, www.thelittledoor.com. 

Melville at Providence: Providence will collaborate with Melville winemaker Greg Brewer for a special dinner on May 25 featuring some of the winery's Library wines. The menu: soy milk panna cotta yuzu, uni and salted cherry blossom with 2008 Viognier "Verna's"; charcoal-grilled spot prawn, spot prawn consommé and ginger with Chardonnay "Clone 76 Inox"; Japanese unagi brown butter whipped potatoes, nori,  lemon with 2002 Chardonnay "Estate"; roasted rack of Duroc pork, morels and cherry confiture with 2002 Pinot Noir "Carrie's Estate"; market cheese and petit fours. $135 per person. Call for reservations. 5955 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 460-4170, www.providencela.com. 

Grgich at the Belvedere: On May 19 and 20, the Belvedere at the Peninsula Beverly Hills will host a wine dinner with Napa Valley's Grgich Hills Estate. Executive chef James Overbaugh and sous chef Marc Bouchard are serving a five-course menu paired with Grgich Hills wines, such as roasted duck breast with rhubarb compote, cassis reduction and lentil fritter with 2006 Grgich Hills Merlot, and seared scallop carpaccio with green papaya salad with 2009 Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc. See the full menu here. Ivo Jeramaz, the winemaker of Grgich Hills, will be there to discuss the wines. $110 per person. Call (310) 975-2736 or e-mail diningpbh@peninsula.com for reservations. 9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 925-2736, www.peninsula.com. 

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: Melville Winery. Credit: Melville Winery

3 Food Events You Should Know About: Discount tickets for Taste of the Nation; Kulov tea festival at Royal/T; Maine lobster season at Water Grill and more

Pre-Taste of the Nation events: On May 19 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Sofitel L.A., a percentage of the sales of SimonLA's dish of scarlet sea scallop with yellow beet napoleon will be donated to Taste of the Nation Los Angeles. And if you buy a ticket to TOTNLA (which takes place June 12 in Culver City's Media Park), you'll be entered into a raffle to win a two-night stay at the Sofitel. Tickets will be available on this night only at a $15-off discount. On May 25 from 7 to 9 p.m., Hatfield's hosts a cocktail party for $50 per ticket, which will be donated to TOTNLA. A ticket includes passed appetizers and complimentary cocktail (cash bar also available). Guests can buy TOTNLA tickets on this night only at a discount of $25 off general admission and $40 off VIP. SimonLA at the Sofitel, 8555 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 278-5444, www.simonlarestaurant.com; Hatfield's, 6703 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 935-2977, www.hatfieldsrestaurant.com.

It's Maine lobster season: King's Seafood Co. is offering special lobster dishes at its restaurants between mid-May and early July, when it expects to sell more than 20,000 Maine lobsters, flown in from the East Coast twice a week. At Water Grill downtown: A weekly Sunday Clam Bake is a three-course lobster feast served family-style for $49. Also, its lobster roll (traditional or Connecticut-style) will be featured at lunch. At Ocean Avenue Seafood in Santa Monica they'll be serving eight sizes of live Maine lobster (steamed or clam-baked), as well as lobster roll. At King's Fish House locations, Lobster Festival will take place May 11 to July 5, with lobster bisque, lobster deviled eggs, New England lobster roll, steak and lobster Oscar, and whole live lobsters in various sizes. A 1 1/4-pound lobster meal with side dishes will start at $25.85. Water Grill, 544 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 891-0900, www.watergrill.com; Ocean Avenue Seafood, 1401 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 394-5669, www.oceanave.com; King's Fish House, for locations, go to www.kingsfishhouse.com.

Tea-mania: Celebrating all things tea, Royal/T in Culver City hosts Kulov's Annual Tea Lovers Festival from Friday to Sunday with film, food, shopping, live entertainment and workshops. Highlights include the Tea Lovers Pop-Up Shop: blends by master tea artist Steve Schwartz of Art of Tea and Royal/T's specialty lines of brews, tea candles and gift baskets. On Friday from 7 to 10 p.m., a screening of the "The Meaning of Tea" and a discussion with director Scott Chamberlin Hoyt; live music by KCRW's Tom Schnabel; and tastings by the Hankook Tea Co. On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., tea tastings, lectures and workshops will include a "Tea Patisserie" seminar on tea-infused sweets with chef Kristy Choo of Jin Patisserie. The Royal/T cafe will feature a menu of ochazuke: seaweed, sour plum or spicy cod roe served over rice and covered with hot green tea. Plus green-tea-infused desserts. 8910 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 559-6300, www.royal-t.org. 

-- Betty Hallock

Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Spring has sprung: April showers bring May ... cocktails

In the spring, some urbanites seek out wildflowers, and others, cocktails. Luckily, the latter are coming up like poppies. Here are a few: 

Cana Rum Bar: Bar manager Allan Katz has rolled out a spring menu with drinks categorized under "daggers, pistols and cannons." A "diabolically tasty" Pimm's Cup "remix" called the Bad Passenger has Beefeater, Amaro Lucano, fresh citrus, strawberries and bitter lemon soda. The Tennessee Isle is described as "what a Sazerac would taste like if the wicked witch of the West overtook Kansas and sent Tennessee to the Caribbean via flying monkey." It's Prichard's rum, overripe-mango-infused absinthe, coconut and Peychaud's. Don't forget the punch. 

714 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles; (213) 745-7090; www.canarumbar.com.

Red O: Mixologist Steve Calabro is putting the finishing touches on his spring menu at Melrose-meets-Mexican restaurant Red O. If you can get past the guy at the door, you might find an Oro Blanco Margarita: silver tequila, Torres orange liqueur, white grapefruit juice, limonada, gingercello and Aperol, garnished with candied grapefruit rind. The Red O Lemonade (Koval white rye, Veev acai berry liqueur, fresh lemon juice, lemongrass syrup, topped with soda water) has a red sanding-sugar rim, to look like a "red O." 

8155 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 655-5009; www.redorestaurant.com. 

1886: Marcos Tello, who along with Aidan Demarest creates the cocktail menus at the Raymond's 1886 bar in Pasadena, says the spring menu will be unveiled in the next few weeks. Tello says they're moving on from fat-washing (mixing fat or oil with a spirit, chilling or freezing it until the fat solidifies, then skimming and/or straining the fat) with peanuts to mixing with coffees and teas. Also, expect a barrel-aged version of a Caprice -- not the Chevy kind, the gin-vermouth-Benedictine kind. 

1250 Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena; (626) 441-3136. 

Villains Tavern: The spring cocktail menu at the L.A. River-adjacent watering hole Villains Tavern is being finalized by mixologist Dave Whitton. But he's already got a couple of bourbon-and-fruit refreshers lined up. The Astarte: Elijah Craig bourbon, fresh lemon and orange juice, cucumbers and strawberries. The Geryon: Elijah Craig bourbon, kumquats and fresh grapefruit. More to come.... 

1356 Palmetto St., Los Angeles; (213) 613-0766; www.villainstavern.com. 

-- Betty Hallock

Top photo: Poppies in the Antelope Valley. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times. Bottom photo: The Astarte cocktail at Villains Tavern. Credit: John Ales/courtesy of Villains Tavern.