Is Orange County Ready for Roxbury?

On Saturday nights, traffic on the Sunset Strip is sometimes backed up for blocks as celebrities and celebrity wanna-bes jostle for space in the parking lot at Roxbury. There’s about to be an alternative: They’ll soon be able to head south to Orange County and the other branch of the big restaurant/jazz bar/dance club. The way the traffic’s been, it might even be quicker.

“It looks like the second restaurant’s a go,” says Brad Johnson, who owns the L.A. Roxbury along with Elie and Demitri Samaha, and Chris Breed. “We got approval by the commission down there to license the space for what we were trying to do.” David Wilhelm, the energetic chef/restaurateur who brought Diva, Zuni Grill, Kachina, Bistro 201 and Barbacoa to Orange County, conceived the menu at the original Roxbury, and he says he will be a partner in the new Roxbury.

Johnson refused to elaborate on the newest Roxbury. He acknowledged that the location will be Santa Ana. “There’s a chance that a few of us might get involved in that,” says Johnson, “and a few of us might not. I am probably one of the ones that will not.”

The big question is: Will regulars Julia Roberts, Arsenio Hall and Mickey Rourke make the drive down south?

FRAGMENTS: Most exotic dish in town: Plates--half-dozen $10; 1 dozen, $15.

And also one of the hottest menu items around: More than 2,000 are ordered up each week at the Greek Connection, along with dolmades, spanakopita, avgolemono and Greco-Roman pizzas.

Owner Christos, who, in the interest of hipness uses only his first name, explains: “When people have a good time, nice food and drink, smashing plates is a way of expressing happiness.”

Because happiness is so freely expressed at his restaurant, Christos buys only seconds for smashing purposes. And he buys only American. “The Greek plates have no glaze on them,” he explains, “so they don’t make as much noise. The glazed American plates are really much better.” But there’s a problem. Christos says his American suppliers are running out of stock. Although he’s reluctant to do it, he may soon have to start importing container-loads of plates directly from Greece.

“There are,” Christos contends, “two ways of breaking plates in a civilized manner”--the Greek style, where you hold one in each hand and hit them together, and the more popular American style of tossing each plate as if it were a Frisbee. “American’s want to get more for their money,” says Christos, “so they prefer to break plates one by one.”

What do you do with a floor full of broken dishes? Sweep them up and toss them in the trash. But Christos, who recently moved his restaurant into the large space that once housed Bistango, would rather recycle. “I am trying to contact this Schnabel guy,” he says, “you know the guy that does this art form with plates (Julian, the New York artist famous for constructing wall pieces made from broken dishes). I want to tell him I’ll keep all my broken plates for him.”

NEW WORLD SPECIALS: In 1492 Columbus landed on what is now San Salvador (or some place in the Bahamas, or the West Indies). Whether the Italian was the first European to reach the shores of the New World is unclear. But what is very clear is that many of our best Italian restaurants (Remi in Santa Monica; Posto, Sherman Oaks; Prego, Beverly Hills; Drago, Brentwood; Antonio Orlando, Pasadena; and Los Angeles’ Chianti Cucina and Emilio’s) are offering $14.92 special lunch menus during October to honor the occasion. And, today only, l.a. Trattoria offers a fancy 3-course dinner for $14.92.

AS THE CHEFS TURN: Last week we announced that Gary Clauson was leaving the St. James Club. Now St. James management tells us that Gary Comella (former chef at Diaghilev in the Bel Age hotel), who has been sous chef at the exclusive club for a year and a half, will assume the head chef’s position. . . . Stuart Lichtenstein, Bice’s regional manager, says that Giovanni Pinato will take Patrick Clark’s place at the Beverly Hills restaurant. “Bice will be heading much more toward Northern Tuscan and Milanese dishes,” he says. “Giovanni did a brasato the other night with a creamy polenta, much more traditional Italian food.” . . . Gil-Roy Bruce, former executive chef at Morton’s, is now cooking at Geoffrey’s/Malibu. . . . Bill Happy is now chef at Alice’s Restaurant in Westwood Village, where he is introducing Mediterranean-style cuisine to the menu. Happy food.

OBITS: Frere Jacques in the City of Industry, after nine years. Owner Jacques Theraube, who converted an old roadhouse in the middle of an industrial no-man’s land into a French-Continental restaurant, will continue to greet customers at Giovanni’s Ristorante, an Italian place he and his family opened in Covina last year. Still unanswered: Will he take the autographed picture of Gina Lollabrigida with him? . . . La Cage Aux Folles, the long-time restaurant/cabaret on La Cienega that featured female impersonators.

BARGAIN: On Nov. 10, L.A.’s oldest Mexican restaurant, El Cholo, rolls back its prices to what they were when it opened in 1927: albondigas soup, 35; tamales, 35; tostada, 35; combination plate, 65. Dinner starts at 5 p.m.--but no reservations.