Some Hearty Meals

Want More Valentine Dinners?: I’ll wager my Titanic launch ticket that Nic’s is the only restaurant in town with a Valentine’s Day menu that begins with vodka and ends with Jell-O, even though they call it Le Jell-O fraise des bois with Veuve Cliquot. The five-course meal is $70 a head. Nic’s, 453 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills; (310) 550-5707. . . . Lavande, the new restaurant with chef Alain Giraud (from Citrus), located at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, officially opens on Valentine’s Day. Its prix-fixe dinner costs $60 per person and includes a veal dish with potatoes cut in the shapes of hearts, a Champagne toast and a rose for the ladies.

* Lavande, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, 1700 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica; (310) 458-6700.

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Make-Up Valentines: If you can’t get reservations anywhere on Saturday, a few restaurants are offering Valentine dinners on other days as well. A Thousand Cranes has the same prix-fixe menu on Friday that will be offered on Saturday (Saturday is sold-out) at $37.50 per person. A Thousand Cranes in the New Otani Hotel and Garden, 120 S. Los Angeles St., L.A.; (213) 253-9255. . . . The Siamese Princess is serving specials on Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m., and Sunday from 5 p.m. Each couple gets an autographed copy of chef Victor Sodsook’s book “I Love Thai Food.” Siamese Princess Ginger Grill, 8048 W. 3rd St., L.A.; (213) 653-2643. . . . Le Chardonnay offers a choice of a four-course dinner for $52 or a five-course for $62 on Friday and Sunday (Saturday is sold-out).

* Le Chardonnay, 8284 Melrose Ave., L.A.; (213) 655-8880.

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A Titanic Meal: If you want to experience an ill-fated meal in full detail, you’ll have your chance on Sunday. The Restaurant Guild International is throwing its 12th annual Chef of the Year presentation at Stoney Point Bar & Grill in Pasadena. The theme is the last dinner served on the Titanic, complete with replicated dinnerware borrowed from Paramount Pictures. Paramount is also providing 50 extras in costume to add to the atmosphere. The dinner is a six-course lesson in why the English are not world cuisine trendsetters (poached salmon, cream of barley soup, asparagus salad, sorbet, filet mignon, chocolate eclairs), but each course is accompanied by a wine and all the proceeds benefit the United Way. The fare: $250 per person.

Diners will be assigned an authentic passenger name, luggage tag, berth key and launch ticket to take home with them. The chef being honored is George Brown Jr. of 1717 in the Dallas Museum of Art. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m. Call the Restaurant Guild for reservations at (626) 288-5546.

* Stoney Point Bar & Grill, 1460 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; (818) 449-9715.

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The Many Faces of Mr. Chow: Michael Chow, owner of Mr. Chow’s in Beverly Hills, has been collecting portraits of himself, by artists such as Andy Warhol, David Hockney and Keith Haring, for 30 years. Since Valentine’s Day is the 30th anniversary of his London restaurant (the Beverly Hills location is 25), Chow is allowing his portrait collection to be shown at PaceWildenstein Gallery on Saturday through Feb. 28. Also on display will be a visitor’s book in which artists visiting Mr. Chow’s restaurant over the years have left sketches. The entrance is in the back of the building. No admission charge.

* PaceWildenstein Gallery, 9540 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills; (310) 205-5522.

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Flying Fish Chef: Restaurant Shiro is flying in guest chef Taira Kurihara from Paris, where he owns Taira Cuisine de la Mer. As the name implies, Kurihara specializes in seafood. He’ll be cooking dinner at Shiro for three nights, Tuesday-Feb. 19. The prix-fixe dinners are $75 a person. The menu includes creme de choux aux truffes, ravioli du turbot au hui^tres and gratin de fruits de saison.

* Shiro Restaurant, 1505 Mission St., South Pasadena; (818) 799-4774.

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Hey, That’s Some Goat Cheese: Studio City has a new restaurant run by a couple of Brits. Grady Atkins (from the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills) does the cooking; Stuart Barker runs the room. The place is named Perroche after goat cheese made on a farm in Kent, England. You can’t get perroche at Perroche, however; the cheese is not available here. What you can get is country cooking in the styles of France, Italy and England. (We’re talking vegetable cassoulet, sweet potato ravioli and creamed rice pudding.) The Perrocheans use mostly organic produce and hormone-free chicken. Dinner entrees run $15 to $22.

* Perroche, 11929 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 766-1179.