And Kokomo Cafe, as the "Peach Pit"

In Los Angeles, even restaurants dream of stardom. The Kokomo Cafe, for example, has doubled as the new, 2008-era “Peach Pit” this season on “90210.” Above, the Kokomo is outfitted with the Peach Pit sign for a recent CW press tour party.

Another Way to Eat L.A.

Prospect Park Books’ Colleen Dunn Bates is the editor and publisher behind “Eat: Los Angeles,” a new book that looks at L.A.’s food neighborhoods, its influential restaurants, and, yes, its taco trucks.

Pat Saperstein, my Variety colleague who’s also behind the famed Eating L.A. site, is a contributor to the book and its companion blog. (Check out Pat’s round up of Boyle Heights eats here.

Colleen and Pat will sign copies of “Eat: Los Angeles” at the new Echo Park bookstore/café Stories this Thursday at 7 p.m. Bonus: The signing will include food samples from area restaurants including Andiamo, Stories’ own café, and the brand-new Allston Yacht Club.

Stories, 1716 Sunset Blvd., Echo Park

Looking for L.A.’s Most Nightmarish Kitchens

A casting agent for the Fox reality show “Kitchen Nightmares is looking for Los Angeles-area restaurants in desperate need of some TLC.

As you probably know, “Kitchen Nightmares” stars tough-love chef Gordon Ramsay as he takes over a failing or dysfunctional restaurant and attempts to whip it into shape. The casting agent explains:

We are currently casting in the Los Angeles area, looking for restaurants with great potential that need significant help to put them back on the right track, whether it’s issues with food, service, management, ownership, etc… We also love to incorporate the help of local restaurant enthusiasts and professionals who know the ins and outs of the LA scene.

Failing restauranteurs can download the application here.

What do you nominate as an L.A. restaurant most in need of a Gordon Ramsay makeover? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Rate-A-Restaurant #192: Tomato Pie

Restaurant: Tomato Pie Pizza Joint

Location: 2457 Hyperion (Silver Lake)

Type of restaurant: Pizza

We stipulated: As I continued to slowly creep through Friday evening traffic, I called up Maria and suggested that we meet somewhere for dinner. I’d been in the mood for pizza — and suggested one of the many newish joints that had popped up in Silver Lake and vicinity in recent times. We looked at Garage Pizza and Tomato Pie — but chose Tomato Pie, perhaps because of its nicer logo.

What we ordered: Evan got a slice of cheese pizza, while Maria and I split a medium Pesto Pie ($14.50) — fresh garlic pesto base, chicken, sundried tomato and artichoke hearts. Also: An order of 10 hot wings — baked, not fried ($6.50).

High point: Pizza was solid — and heats up well for leftovers. The baked wings were nice too, and boasted a decent spice.

Low point: Even though we were the only ones there, service was slow — so much so that the wings came out at the same time as our pizza, even though it’s an appetizer.

Overall impression: Tomato Pie makes a decent pizza, but I’m not quite sure it’s worth the slightly expensive prices.

Chance we’ll go back: Probably not any time soon. For economical pizza, we usually hit Crispy Crust… and for sit-down pizza, Casa Bianca.

For a complete list of our more than 190 restaurant reviews, check out our companion Rate-A-Restaurant site.

Mixed Verdict for Hugo’s Tacos in Atwater Village

It’s no Yuca’s, but Hugo’s Tacos stands on its own as a solid, slightly gourmet neighborhood taco stand.

A sister to famed brunch spot Hugo’s, Hugo’s Tacos just opened a second location — in Atwater Village. And considering it replaced a old real estate office that had appeared to be on its last legs even in the best of times, it’s a nice new dining alternative for area residents.

We’re familiar with Hugo’s Tacos, having dined at the Studio City location. The Atwater Village spot boasts later hours — until 11.

Like the other location, the new Hugo’s Tacos gives a choice of fillings — chicken, steak, carnitas, al pastor, grilled fish, zucchini/corn/string beans and soy chorizo/potato/zucchini — followed by more choices in the salsa department: Pico de gallo, jalapeno/tomatillo, salsa cruda, honey chipotle, salsa negra, salsa habanero and salsa arbol. I tried the fish with honey chipotle (which has a nice kick) and the soy chorizo with habanero (also nice kick) while Maria got the salad (Romaine lettuce, green beans, corn, zucchini, pico de gallo, cotija cheese and vegan spicy caesar dressing). On a separate visit, Evan got the salsa burger — but minus the salsa.

There’s something holding these tacos back from being better than they are, although I can’t put my finger on it. (I kinda feel that same way. In the meantime, it’s still a good fall back choice for lunch or dinner.)

Pasadena’s Bar Celona Gets a Menu Makeover; Plus, Mixologist Damian Windsor Needs Your Vote

The scene: Pasadena’s Bar Celona, which threw a tasting event Tuesday night to celebrate the four-year-old restaurant’s new menu.

As overseen by Chef Josef Centeno (Opus, Lot 1), the new menu is being hyped as offering “new excitement and a new attitude” to the restaurant. It’d been a few years since we last checked out Bar Celona… and since Old Town Pasadena is close to Franklin Avenue HQ, I decided to enlist my friend Tony and check it out.

Upon arrival, we headed straight to the bar, where famed mixologist Damian Windsor (above) was concocting his creation, “Montresor & Fortunato.” The sweetish drink includes sherry, Grand Marnier and vermouth (recipe below), and the olives are a nice touch.

Windsor’s drink is among the finalists in Travel + Leisure’s Beverage Arts Challenge, and it gets my vote. (Granted, I haven’t tried the others. But Damian was cool, and I love his former home — downtown’s Seven Grand.)

Meanwhile, the food passed around was heavy on the fried side; our favorites included the pork croquetas (above), which included goat cheese — which I’m normally not a fan of, but they work here.

Least favorite item, probably the breaded anchovies (above). But other tapas included peppers with sea salt; pork shoulder, chicken liver and salmon conservas; whipped salt cod and potato on grilled bread; grilled shrimp; chicken empanadas; and more. I only wish that we could have sampled off the restaurant’s new entree menu as well.

Meanwhile, we also got the rundown on the restaurant from co-owner Karen Huang, who told us that business was surprisingly good, despite the down economy.

Among those we chatted with or saw in the crowd: Ritz Bites’ Jessica Ritz; Eating LA’s Pat Saperstein; Eater L.A.’s Lesley Balla; Gumbo Pages’ Chuck Taggart; and Thrillist’s Jeff Miller, among others.

Bar Celona
42 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena CA 91105
626-405-1000

Happy 60th, Canter’s!

(Flickr pic by Practical Intuition.)

Didn’t get a chance to celebrate Philippe’s 90th anniversary the other week? Here’s a chance to celebrate another L.A. culinary institution: Canter’s Deli is celebrating its 60th anniversary on Fairfax by offering its corned beef sandwich on rye, pickle, a taste of potato salad and a chocolate rugelach for just 60 cents.

LAist has more details here. But hurry over — they’re celebrating today fron noon to midnight.

Mel’s Diner Reopens for Business

Now that my friend and one-time co-worker Melissa Grego has moved over to Broadcasting & Cable, she’s resurrecting her old Mel’s Diner blog.

Like she did back at TV Week, Melissa will take bigtime TV execs out to lunch and mi industry dish with restaurant info.

First up, Melissa takes Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly out to Blue on Blue at the Avalon Hotel. Discussion focuses on Fox’s fall, but the topic eventually turns to how unhealthy those top-level jobs can be:

Kevin also does his best to eat healthy. “You can shove a lot of stuff in your face out of the stress,” he says.

And booze?

“No, I drink as much as possible,” he says, laughing. “I try not to have hard alcohol before lunch. But I really do wonder about the old-school way of drinking. I don’t know how they ever did it—though I’m tempted some days. It’s fun till about 3:30 when you crash.”

With all this talk about not indulging, I was surprised that Kevin knew all about the desserts at this place. He orders chocolate chip cookies and a fruit plate with honey for us to share.

He has started coming here pretty often, though he didn’t know about it until he joined Fox last summer. The Avalon Hotel, at the corner of Olympic and Cañon in Beverly Hills, is a quick ride over from Fox in Century City.

“If you want some semblance of creative thinking, sometimes it’s just a matter of sitting by the pool for a couple of hours,” he says.

Next up, Melissa will be dining with “The Girls Next Door” exec producer Kevin Burns.

100 Years of Philippe’s The Original

(Flickr pic by mseratt99.)

Mark Oct. 6 in your calendar — it’s time to celebrate the centennial of one of L.A.’s oldest restaurants, Philippe the Original.

For the day, prices will be rolled back to TEN CENTS for a sandwich.

It’s gonna be a madhouse. But hey, you’ll be able to say you were there. Here are the details:

The historic Los Angeles restaurant will celebrate their 100th anniversary and for one day only, on Monday, October 6th, 2008 from 4-8pm, Philippe’s will offer its renowned French Dip sandwiches, available in delicious roast beef, lean ham, tasty turkey, succulent leg of lamb and juicy roast pork at the original price of 10-cents. A cup of their famous 10-cent coffee will sell for five cents.

Three generations of family members who own Philippe’s, famed Los Angeles Dodger peanut vendor Roger Owens, the USC Marching Band, Harpo the Clown, comedian Howard Dover, and the Perfect Gentlemen Accapella Group will all be in attendance to entertain and celebrate.

They are located at 1001 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Check out all of our posts on Philippe’s — including the debate over who invented the French Dip, Philippe’s or P.E. Cole’s — here.

Trader Vic’s Returns Next Year

Tiki-themed restaurant Trader Vic’s, which shut down its Beverly Hills Hilton outpost is making a comeback.

Reduced to just serving drinks and a small menu at the Beverly Hills Hilton’s poolside, Trader Vic’s will now be reborn as part of the L.A. Live complex, the L.A. Times writes:

Most of LA Live’s restaurants — including the Farm of Beverly Hills, Katsuya, Lawry’s Carvery, Yard House and Rock ‘n’ Fish — are scheduled to open late this year. The movie theater would open in 2009 and the project’s two hotels, a JW Marriott and a Ritz-Carlton, would open in 2010.

Representatives from the Valencia Group, which owns the Trader Vic’s chain, said the restaurant would open next year with Polynesian dancers, tiki-style drinks and what they described as Island-Asian fusion food.

Of course, it still won’t be the same as the Beverly Hills original (here’s our 2004 review). Knowing when you stepped inside the old, dark space that old Hollywood once sipped Mai Tais there — and knowing the tiki decor had been there during the height of the 1950s craze — was part of the experience. The new L.A. Live Trader Joe’s will probably look much more scrubbed down and chain-y, like other recently opened outposts. But still, it’s better than no Trader Vic’s at all. Welcome back, Vic!