Bar Pinxto: This fall, Joe Miller of the eponymous Joe's is opening an upscale tapas bar in a space across from Ye Olde King's Head (109 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica).
Brooks: Further proof that Ventura is more than just a convenient place to stop for gas on the way to Santa Barbara is this New American (545 E. Thompson Blvd.) opening by late spring. It's the first restaurant for chef Andy Brooks, who's cooked under Carrie Nahabedian at Naha in Chicago and Bradley Ogden at Lark Creek in Northern California; Tom Nahabedian, also of Naha fame, will design the intimate indoor-outdoor space.
Gonpachi: After years of construction delays, this shogun's palace of a restaurant in Beverly Hills (134 N. La Cienega Blvd.) will finally open on March 31st – with the pounding of taiko drums and a martial arts demonstration – marking the latest concept from Global Dining Inc. (La Boheme, Monsoon).
La Grande Orange Station Cafe: Del Mar Train Depot, the venerable train station across from Central Park in Pasadena, has been extensively remodeled to accommodate the Gold Line, the Archstone Apartments above and now this cafe, due to open in late spring, with plans to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with a Cal-Eclectic flavor.
Marche Moderne: After nine years as executive chef at Pinot Provence, Florent Marneau moves across the street to Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza (3333 S. Bristol St.) to open in April this farmer's market–driven French bistro on the third floor of the Nordstrom wing, with some three dozen wines by the glass and a wood-burning oven in the exhibition kitchen.
SuPreez: Suzanne Tracht (Jar) is planning this casual noodle eatery with her sous-chef, Preech Narkthong, in a site that's still being sought.
X Bar: No doubt hoping to attract the movers and shakers from nearby CAA, this forthcoming Eclectic in Century City's Hyatt Regency Century Plaza (2025 Ave. of the Stars) comes with fire pits, an extensive list of exotic cocktails, sundry dishes from Asia and Europe and late hours (for the neighborhood) – till midnight weekdays and 1 AM weekends; opening in late spring.
Mark Peel (Campanile) has taken over the former Oasis space (611 N. La Brea Ave.) for a project that remains shrouded in mystery, though the assumption is that, in the wake of his former wife, Nancy Silverton, opening Pizzeria Mozza, it probably won't be a pizza shop.
Some three years after his departure from Bastide, Alain Giraud is joining the owners of such trendy destinations as Pearl Dragon, Falcon and Voda to open a classic French brasserie in the 1929 Santa Monica "Crocker" Clock Tower building adjacent to the Third Street Promenade (225 Santa Monica Blvd.) this fall; the name is still undecided, though it will likely nod to Giraud.