Posted: Thu., Feb. 23, 2006, 8:15pm PT

Hot eateries renew their lease on life

Vintage Hollywood gets a makeover

By Leslie Gornstein

FROM GAMBLING HAVEN TO ITALIAN FARMHOUSE The patio at Dominick's in West Hollywood.

The idea of a long-term Hollywood hotspot is a little like a matinee idol who's never seen a plastic surgeon: It's an impractial notion, one that verges on delusion.

However, there are a handful of Los Angeles restaurants that continue to buck the odds; none is more impressive than the rise, fall and rise of Dominick's.

Its owner, Mazzie Dominick, was the Amanda Scheer Demme of 1948. He didn't cater to anybody he didn't know and celebrities loved him for it.

"Billy Wilder approached Jack Lemmon here when he wanted him for 'Some Like It Hot,' " says current owner Warner Ebbink.

After Dominick's death, the restaurant became better known for its adjacent gambling den than for its food. According to Ebbink, Kiefer Sutherland and Sean Penn would pony up a $40 cover at the Dominick's bar, then head next door to play cards, shoot pool and serve themselves from the bar.

Dominick's had lain fallow for more than a decade when Ebbink bought it in 2004.

He gutted the interior (a prior owner saw fit to give it a nautical theme), designed a menu inspired by his own Italian family and decked the walls with '50s-era ancestral photos. The restaurant now sees 200 covers a night.

"We've definitely seen a rebirth of the Dominick's name," he says. "And I don't ever see it changing."

We'll knock on wood for Ebbink as we consider: How do you get Los Angeles to embrace the old as if it were new?

Dakota and the Tropicana Bar
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Blvd.
[phone]
Age: 79
Past life: Location of the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929
Present incarnation: Boldface resident of gossip columns and an unapologetically private club for the famous and otherwise powerful.
What it took: A $25 million Dodd Mitchell renovation, the iron hand of party promoter Amanda Scheer Demme and an iron stomach to accommodate complaints from hotel guests who find that they aren't allowed to use the pool.

Tower Bar
Sunset Tower Hotel
8358 Sunset Blvd.
[phone]
Age: 76
Past life: Home of Bugsy Siegel
Present incarnation: Favored dining spot for many moguls who find Sunset isn't so hard to navigate, after all.
What it took: Buffed limestone replaced marble tile; midcentury walnut furniture replaced what owner Jeff Klein calls "faux deco crap from the '80s." Tweaking continued even after the property reopened; former Ammo chef Piero Morovich took over from Collin Crannell at Tower Bar after a couple of months.

The Mint
6010 Pico Blvd.
[phone]
Age: 69
Past life: Where Macy Gray, the Wallflowers and Ben Harper broke big
Present incarnation: Bottle service and a VIP room favored by Chris Rock, Justin Timberlake and the Farrelly brothers.
What it took: Reimagining the dive as a cabaret, with a menu that includes crab cakes and what some call the city's best burger. "Now, when you're in the green room, you really feel like a rock star," says Mint partner Todd Christiansen.

Eat. On Sunset
1448 N. Gower St.
[phone]
Age: 12 (under Pinot Group)
Past life: Pinot Hollywood, the French flagship of Joachim Splichal's Pinot Group empire
Present incarnation: The cool blue and dark bamboo décor set the scene for the "Firewall" premiere party; two pre-Oscar parties are planned
What it took: Eight months, a new chef and a name change, with Splichal swapping a French bistro menu for whimsical updates on classic comfort food. "There was a redirection in Hollywood,"says general manager Jonathan Rollo. "We needed to be a part of it."