The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 121

IN THE MOOD Wolfgang Puck, Unchained Restaurateur makes final financial split from string of Asian-themed ObaChine eateries. MIY SPCfU by Donna L. Barstow 5 ill "Would you decnb yourself os a aptb tipper?" Peaches Fresh peaches are showing up all over town In pastries, Ice creams and the simplest and best dish of all peaches and cream. Polly's Pies: Polly's makes baked peach pie year-round, and a pie filled with raw peach slices when peaches are in season. Whipped cream or ice cream topping, 75 cents; whole pie prices include a 45-cent tin deposit.

(Raw peach pie, baked peach pie, Polly's Pies, 501 Wilshire Santa Monica, (310) 394-9721. Spago Hollywood: Pastry chef Sherry Yard is putting the peach through its paces this summer. She encrusts rings of Saturn peach in biscotti crumbs and bakes them for a low-fat extravaganza. She also makes a pink soup of Snow Queen peaches and muscat wine, a peach gelato (served with a deep-dish Persian mulberry tart), a peach strudel and a caramel souffle' oozing fresh peach compote. (Peach desserts, $8 to $9.) Spago Hollywood, 8795 Sunset West Hollywood, (310) 652-4025.

Fosselman's: Every year this local company makes ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet from fresh Mission red peaches. You can find the ice cream at restaurants and soda fountains, or you can go right to the charming ice cream parlor adjacent to the plant in Alhambra. (Peach ice cream, frozen yogurt or sorbet, pint; larger sizes also available.) Fosselman's Ice Cream 1824 W. Main Alhambra, (626) 282-6533. Babalu: For a peach pie like Mom used to make or considerably better check out the juicy lattice-topped version at this Montana Avenue Caribbean cafe.

(Peach pie, $5slice, la mode; $28whole pie.) Babalu, 1002 Montana Santa Monica, (310) 395-2500. House of Pies: Among the 30-plus pies served at this old-time Los Feliz coffee shop is the fresh peach pie just slices of fresh peach in a light glaze, topped with whipped cream. (Peach pie, $3slice, pie.) House of Pies, 1869 N. Vermont Los Angeles, (323) 666-9961. Donut Man: This Glendora shop makes doughnuts filled to bursting with fresh, ripe sliced peaches in a juicy glaze.

If you're awake some morning at 3 a.m. or so, drive over for a hot one. (Peach doughnuts, $1.85.) Donut Man, 915 E. Alosta Glendora, (626) 963-7412. John O'Groats: In a brilliant stroke of simplicity, this esteemed breakfast spot serves a bowl of sliced fresh peaches with your choice, heavy cream or whipped cream.

(Bowl of peaches, $3.75.) John O'Groats, 10516 Pico Rancho Park, (310) 204-0692. taurant, and new chef Deborah Kelly had come in from Chicago to take care of the food. The three other Shark Bar restaurants in Chicago, New York and Atlanta remain open. A Lot of Money Goes a Long Way: Gladstone's 4 Fish has finished its $3-million renovations. The waiting area now has seating and an unobstructed view of the ocean.

-The inside bar is bigger, and the front dining room now has a better view as well. The middle dining room has been completely redone with 23-foot-high ceilings and sliding balcony doors. Steve Herbert, vice president of this Gladstone's (and in Beverly Hills), told us, "Before, it was like eating in a barn." It's at 17300 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades; call (310) 573-0212 for reservations. From Brioche to Onion Loaf: There's a new baker in town supplying restaurants. You may have tasted his fig bread at One on La Brea Avenue or his baguettes at Mimosa on Beverly Boulevard.

Last week he opened his shop, Le Pain du Jour, to the public. His name is Franck Herv6-Commereuc and he runs his French bakery with his wife, Karine. Le Pain du Jour is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day but Sunday, providing 32 types of loaves, including baguettes, bd-tards and ciabattas and rolls.

Le Pain du Jour, 828 Pico (310) 399-4870. A Green Thumb: Behind Alto Palato, owner Danilo Terribili is growing tomatoes, peas, Swiss chard, zucchini, eggplant, lettuce, flowers and lots of herbs in a huge garden that runs the length of the restaurant He began tending the soil and planting seven months ago and is now starting to see the results of his labor. You'll see his results in Alto Palato's new menu and in the daily specials. Alto Palato is at 755 N. La Cienega West Hollywood; call (310) 657-9271 for reservations.

Pettera's e-mail address is pettera cwix.com. (or somebody else's) French grandmother with every bite. Bring a sweater and luxuriate in eating outside at this new French cafe. Note that Lilly's is open every day for lunch and dinner. BE THERE Lilly's French Cafe Bar, 1031 Abbot Kinney Venice; (310) 314-0004.

Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Appetizers $6 to $10; main courses $10 to $18. Valet parking. vate dining room and lounge. Says Martin, "Beverly Hills can get ready for something hip and fun." (The question is, does Beverly Hills want something hip and fun?) A Baby Blzou on the Way: Cafe Bizou, the very popular Sherman Oaks botte (at 14016 Ventura might be gaining a sister.

Owner-chef Neal Rogers and partner Philippe Gris plan to take over the old Papashon location at 91 N. Raymond Pasadena. But le nouveau Bizou won't be ready for business until some time in October. Rogers wants to rip out all of the kitchen equipment and replace it He also wants to brighten the dining room by making it more open. The decision to open a second restaurant took Rogers and Gris five years.

Their hesitancy is perhaps understandable they opened the first Cafe Bizou (at a smaller location a few blocks away from the current Bizou) by maxing out their credit cards. Now, however, they have a little buffer in the bank. Rogers plans to open the Pasadena location only for dinner, so he can split his time between the two restaurants. "I'll be going back and forth," he says, "just keeping my Restaurant News By ANGELA PETTERA SPECIAL TO THE TIMES Puck, ObaChine Splltsvllle: Wolfgang Puck has divested himself (and his Wolfgang Puck Food Co.) of the ObaChine restaurants. At one time he'd had three: in Seattle, Phoenix and Beverly Hills.

The Ob-aChines in Seattle and Phoenix were sold a few months ago. We asked Frank Guidara, president and chief executive of the Wolfgang Puck Food about the decision to let the restaurants go. It was a matter of strategy, he said. He pointed to the expandability and compatibility of the other businesses that the company oversees. For instance, the frozen foods division makes pizzas that are similar to the ones sold in the Wolfgang Puck Cafes, and both of those concepts can easily be expanded.

(The cafes, for instance, can be turned into "grand cafes" with more upscale dining rooms.) The Asian-oriented ObaChine concept wasn't as adaptable. And then there was the profitability issue. "It just didn't generate the kind of profits it should have," Guidara says. "It was a good idea, but not a solid investment." So the Wolfgang Puck Food Co. will take the money from the sale of the ObaChines and put it into its other divisions, such as its new line of canned soups, scheduled to hit grocery stores in "the coming months.

Meanwhile, the Beverly Hills ObaChine is now in the possession of nighclub owners Mark Fleischman and Daniel Fitzgerald. (It's a homecoming of sorts for Fleischman a few years ago he owned Tatou right across Beverly Drive.) They'll close the place Monday for renovations and reopen it in early October as as pretty much the same upscale Asian restaurant that ObaChine was chef Naoki Yuchi-yama will remain, turning out essentially the same menu only under the new name Tsunami. The downstairs satay and sushi bar will add music and dancing, and a pri- In Venice, Lilly's First Impressions ByS. IRENE VIRBIIA TIMES RESTAURANT CRITIC Lilly's French Cafe Bar has just bloomed in the same Venice block as Joe's restaurant, making this stretch of Abbot Kinney a destination for Francophiles of every ilk. More casual and less expensive than Joe's, Lilly's is more cafe than restaurant, set in a long, narrow space that opens onto a two-tiered patio.

At night, it's dark and cozy, lit by candles, yet when you look up, you can see the stars overhead. As we trail the hostess to our catch the sound of French- and- 1 OS AVHFT FSTTKfFS WFFKFND beady eye on everything." Luckily, he already has a kitchen crew he trusts in Sherman Oaks. Beside the Bay: A new restaurant from the owners of Bistango in Irvine is opening in Newport Beach at the old Gladstone's 4 Fish space in the Bayside Center. Dubbed Bay-side, natch, the new place will serve contemporary American food with an emphasis on fish and shellfish. More than 700 wines will complement the menu put together by chef Paul Gstrein.

The floors are made of jakoba wood, the chairs and banquettes are upholstered in jewel tones, the bar is stainless-steel mesh and large windows overlook the bay. Bayside should open around mid-September. Bayside, 900 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach; (949) 721-1222. A Sudden Shark Death: The Shark Bar on La Cienega Boulevard closed abruptly July 29. It was part of a chain of restaurants owned by Soul Food Concepts out of New York.

The official word on the closing is "no comment" In June, Marlene Clark had been appointed general manager in order to make it a little less like a club and more like a res bass, rock cod, monkfish and tiger shrimp in a light broth scented with garlic and saffron. It comes with a crock of rouille, the garlicky mayonnaise colored with red peppers. Roasted rack of lamb is set off by an irresistible potato gratin and a confit of garlic. Even the boring-sounding poulet I'Estragon, chicken breast with tarragon, is beautifully cooked. What's not to like? It's a grilled free-range chicken breast with red creamer potatoes, haricots verts, and an understated fresh tarragon sauce.

And for dessert, there's floating island, that childhood dessert of meringue "islands" floating in a custard sea that conjures up your Cozy Patio Cafe Exudes an Aura of France the scent of Galoise from tables in passing. In the lower part of the patio, a distinctly bohemian crowd sits around a long table talking, smoking, drinking wine. It looks like a scene from a French film. The food, too, is French. I start with a delicious, fluffy flamiche, a round tart of goat cheese and leeks from northern France.

The swatch of greens beside it are dressed in a pert vinaigrette that reminds me how good this basic salad dressing can be. The duck pat6, though, is too lean to be really flavorful, but I love the sparkling cubes of Madeira gelee beside it. I'm not one to ever pass up bourride de poissons, this one a delicate fish soup of sea THURSDAY. AUGUST 26. 1W9 51.