Georgia on Their Minds

It’s a Saturday night and you know something is going on at the new restaurant Georgia as soon as you drive up. For one thing, the building is dark, as if the place were shut down. Then you spot all those fashionable bodies lurking in the shadows. Walk closer, through the restaurant’s gated courtyard, and the sounds of a substantial dinner crowd grow louder.

Inside, the good-looking crowd is scattered with celebrities. Weird pop culture moment: Connie Stevens, Brenda Vaccaro and Donna Mills are sitting at the same table. Word has gotten around of other stars on other nights--Denzel Washington, Debbie Allen, Ron Howard, Raquel Welch, Jose Eber.

But the most notable thing about the place may be that this is a restaurant on Melrose Avenue with no Italian food. And no ahi tuna. Nowhere is there an attempt to meld Pacific Rim flavors with California ingredients.

This is a restaurant where the fried chicken comes with macaroni and cheese and collard greens, where the pork chops are smothered and served with good corn pudding, where the catfish is fried and served with corn and grits and okra. If Spike Lee can open a joint on Melrose, why can’t former Laker Norm Nixon (with record producer Lou Adler and Roxbury’s Brad Johnson) open an upscale soul-food place across the street?

The chef, Richard Hughes, comes from New Orleans, where he ran the Pelican Club. And the menu includes contemporary American dishes, things like sauteed striped bass with a pecan crust and duck roasted with cider and bourbon. A hint for Melrose die-hards: If you’re really hungry for polenta with shiitake mushrooms, try ordering the cornmeal mush.

* Georgia, 7250 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 933-8420. Entrees $10 - $19.