Pacific Design Center Gets a Boost With the Opening of Chris Michaels Restaurant

Picking out a new sofa or, sigh, shopping for a carpet is an exhausting exercise, one that can make you alarmingly hungry. Now that the restaurant in the Pacific Design Center is open again (fusion at pdc closed almost two years ago), you can repair to Chris Michaels Restaurant for breakfast, lunch--or happy hour. Owner-chef Chris Maher already ran Chris Michaels Cafe in the design center, and has moved his Fairfax Avenue catering business there, too.

From a recent breakfast visit, it seems not many people want to eat a big breakfast before shopping for sofas. Not a customer in sight. The staff, in fact, seemed surprised to see anybody wander in.

You can get a pretty good cappuccino or a Continental breakfast--juice, croissant or muffin, and coffee. Or hearty breakfasts: a New Mexico scramble heavy with potatoes, chiles and cheddar; Maher’s signature “herb flower” and goat cheese omelet; nicely poached eggs on crisp potato pancakes embellished with applesauce and sour cream. And pancakes, including rather dry cornmeal flapjacks that need every bit of butter and maple syrup to moisten them.

At lunch, there’s a very good homemade chicken soup, with rice served, inexplicably, on the side. And sandwiches such as a turkey club made with applewood smoked bacon, prime New York steak with grilled onions, or a half-pound sirloin burger. Also, main course salads, pasta, pizza and a few more substantial dishes, such as half rotisserie chicken with a New Mexican chile sauce.

The space itself is suitably handsome, with a glass wall looking out onto a vast courtyard, and on fine days tables set outside in front.

BE THERE

Chris Michaels Restaurant, Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. (310) 360-7755. Open Monday through Friday for breakfast, lunch and happy hour. Major credit cards accepted. Valet and lot parking; entrance on San Vincente Boulevard. Breakfast, $4.75 to $7.25. Lunch appetizers, $5.50 to $7.50; sandwiches, $7.90 to $10.50; main courses, $9.50 to $15.50.