A New Identity

Lawrence Casperson changed the focus of his Sherman Oaks place in recent weeks, along with the restaurant’s name and its menu.

What used to be Kings Road 818 is now Bistro 818, and although Casperson still draws a nightclub crowd for late-night entertainment on the weekends, he also brings in a casual family crowd for dinner earlier on.

“When we opened as Kings Road 818 last March,” Casperson says, “I have to tell you we didn’t have a clear idea of our own identity--and we didn’t have a beer and wine license either.

“It took us four and a half months to get that, and those two factors almost made us shoot ourselves in the foot.

“So we reassessed. You wouldn’t believe how hard it was to get the beer and wine license, but we finally did. And we changed the name to Bistro 818--because people know when they see the word bistro, it means restaurant.

“They probably didn’t know what Kings Road 818 meant,” Casperson adds with a laugh.

When he first opened, Casperson went after an upscale crowd looking for fine food. His revamped menu remains inventive, but its offerings go at reasonable prices.

“We weren’t completely savvy about doing business in the San Fernando Valley at first, and we just rolled the dice,” Casperson says. “But I think we figured it out, and now we’re going great.”

Casperson serves up such items as salmon glazed with ginger and honey for $12.95; potato-crusted sea bass with a butternut squash puree for $13.95; a roasted game hen with candied yams and a mushroom-fennel risotto for $11.50; and pepper-garlic shrimp in a Cajun butter sauce for $11.95.

He also offers six pasta dishes, all for $10.95 or less, including ravioli stuffed with chicken, roasted tomatoes and ricotta; penne with wild mushrooms, spinach and Parmesan; and linguine with shrimp, grilled zucchini and oven-dried tomatoes.

Bistro 818 serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday; brunch Saturday and Sunday. It is located at 14502 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 789-9044.

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Today being Thanksgiving, your plans are set, right? Big dinner today, the gym Friday morning, leftovers Friday night, the gym again Saturday morning, maybe leftovers again Saturday, the gym again Sunday morning. Thanksgiving is fun, but you gotta pay for it.

What about Sunday night?

That’s the last day Cha Cha Cha Encino offers a special three-course dinner to celebrate its sixth birthday--and if Thanksgiving has caused you suddenly to cut, shall we say, a wider swath in the world, one of your choices is a meatless plate of grilled vegetables with saffron rice and black beans.

Cha Cha Cha Encino began offering the deal every night except Friday and Saturday earlier this month, and since Dec. 1 comes on Monday, Sunday is your last chance to take advantage of it.

You can choose three other entrees too--jerk chicken, potato-crusted salmon or a huge paella with mussels, clams, jumbo shrimp, jumbo scallops, tuna, swordfish, chicken and andouille sausage.

The dinner includes wine, bean soup or a Caesar salad, plus dessert, and it goes for $19.97.

Cha Cha Cha Encino is at 17499 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 789-3600.

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Joe Tremonti and his partners Joseph Vogel and Lynne Love hope to get their new place, the Country Club Brewery and Restaurant in Northridge, up and running the week of Dec. 9--only a week or so behind schedule.

The place promises to be a beer lovers’ haven, with big vats of fermenting beer in the main room and eight specialty brews on tap at any one time.

The restaurant, featured in this space a month ago, will also offer a big menu put together by chef Scott Evans, with offerings from seafood to baby back ribs at prices ranging to $14 or so.

The Country Club Brewery and Restaurant will do business at 19530 Nordhoff St., Northridge, (818) 773-4677.

* Juan Hovey writes about the restaurant scene in the San Fernando Valley and outlying points. He may be reached at (805) 492-7909 or fax (805) 492-5139 or via e-mail at JH[email protected]