Bristol Farms

Struggling against mounting pressure from big-box food retailers, grocery chain Supervalu Inc. has sold off its Bristol Farms stores to a team of local management and a West Coast investment firm. Bristol Farms, based in Carson, operates mostly in Los Angeles County and is known for its organic products and seasonal edible gifts, thanks to an in-house catering service that cooks up everything from gourmet pastries to full holiday meals ? all with upscale prices to match. The 13-store chain, which also has locations in Ventura, San Diego and Riverside counties and in the Bay Area, and a Lazy Acres store in Santa Barbara, will continue to operate under their current names with existing local management.

Alexander's Prime Meats and Catering: Inside Howie's Market, 6580 N. San Gabriel Blvd., San Gabriel, (626) 286-6767, alexandersprimemeats.com Bristol Farms: http://www.bristolfarms.com The Corner Butcher Shop: 2359 Foothill Blvd., La Verne, (909) 596-6345, cornerbutchershop.com Gelson's: http://www.gelsons.com Harvey's Guss Meat Co.: 949 S. Ogden Drive, Los Angeles, (323) 937-4622, http://www.harveysgussmeat.com The Huntington Meats: 6333 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (323)

Here's something you probably won't find in any other grocery store outside the Bristol Farms in Newport Beach: a former major league pitcher manning the seafood counter. And it's no publicity stunt. FOR THE RECORD: Dennis Lamp: In the Jan. 31 Sports section, Jerry Crowe's column about former major league pitcher Dennis Lamp said that in 1979 Lamp gave up Willie McCovey's 513th home run, a record for left-handed batters at the time. The home run extended McCovey's National League record but was not a major league record.

Here are some good Bloody Mary mixes to get you started. • Hoosier Momma, not for wimps, this new kid on the block may become the gold standard; available in Southern California only by mail order at http://www.hoosiermomma.com . • Zing Zang, award-winning peppery blend, almost as thick and turbo-charged as Hoosier Momma, and available in most supermarkets and liquor stores. • Dr. Swami & Bone Daddy's, another rich blend. Rule of thumb, if it's red as a firetruck, it's no good.

Bristol Farms is the Nordstrom of delicatessens: a blue-chip market with wide aisles, well-made classics and such consistently kind service you'd think it was 1955. But we're clearly past the age of Eisenhower when the supermarket carries double-yolked eggs, fresh sushi and ghee . The culinary aesthetic of Bristol Farms is upscale and contemporary--a middle ground between blue-haired Old Pasadena and blue-haired Melrose Avenue.

Bristol Farms Gourmet Specialty Food Markets will be acquired by an investment group as part of a plan to expand the chain. Kidd, Kamm & Co. Inc., a Beverly Hills investment company, is buying the Torrance-based gourmet food market, according to Irv Gronsky, owner and president. Company officials declined to reveal any financial arrangements but did say the sale is in escrow.

Shopping in the gourmet aisle, supermarket giant Albertsons Inc. on Tuesday bought Bristol Farms, which operates 11 upscale food stores in Southern California. The price paid to Bristol Farms' owner, the Los Angeles investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, wasn't disclosed. But sources close to the companies said the deal was valued in excess of $100 million. Bristol Farms, based in Carson, is a 22-year-old chain with stores in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

A new Bristol Farms supermarket--the first in the San Fernando Valley--will soon open at the site of the old Alpha Beta supermarket in the Topanga Erwin Plaza on Topanga Canyon Boulevard south of Victory Boulevard, company officials said Monday. The gourmet supermarket, due to open Nov. 18, will offer a variety of departments featuring deli items, baked goods, meat, seafood, produce, wine and sushi.

Bristol Farms, the swanky grocery store known for its gourmet goods, is scheduled to close this weekend. Company spokeswoman Jody Taylor said the decision to close the Topanga Canyon Boulevard market by Sunday night was due to poor sales. "The numbers the store generated were simply not what we had expected," Taylor said. "We had never had this problem at any other store." Taylor said her company met with focus groups in an effort to locate the source of the problem.

The retired union members wearing protest signs and passing out fliers near the doors of Bristol Farms have become such a part of the scenery they might as well be abandoned grocery carts. Most customers just walk around them. Next week, it will be three years since the upscale Southern California food store chain opened its lone Ventura County branch--and three years since the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1036 instituted its five-day-a-week presence outside the store.

For decades, Chasen's chili warmed the hearts and stomachs of Hollywood's luminaries. In fact, Elizabeth Taylor had orders of the restaurant's signature dish flown to the set while making "Cleopatra" in Rome in 1962. Ronald Reagan proposed to then-actress Nancy Davis in a booth there. Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Clark Gable and F. Scott Fitzgerald were among the glittering customers. Vaudevillian Dave Chasen opened the West Hollywood eatery, at 9039 Beverly Blvd., in December 1936 on the suggestion of his good friend, Oscar-winning director Frank Capra.

Here's something you probably won't find in any other grocery store outside the Bristol Farms in Newport Beach: a former major league pitcher manning the seafood counter. And it's no publicity stunt. FOR THE RECORD: Dennis Lamp: In the Jan. 31 Sports section, Jerry Crowe's column about former major league pitcher Dennis Lamp said that in 1979 Lamp gave up Willie McCovey's 513th home run, a record for left-handed batters at the time. The home run extended McCovey's National League record but was not a major league record.

Struggling against mounting pressure from big-box food retailers, grocery chain Supervalu Inc. has sold off its Bristol Farms stores to a team of local management and a West Coast investment firm. Bristol Farms, based in Carson, operates mostly in Los Angeles County and is known for its organic products and seasonal edible gifts, thanks to an in-house catering service that cooks up everything from gourmet pastries to full holiday meals ? all with upscale prices to match. The 13-store chain, which also has locations in Ventura, San Diego and Riverside counties and in the Bay Area, and a Lazy Acres store in Santa Barbara, will continue to operate under their current names with existing local management.

Los Angeles grocery magnate Ron Burkle, who became a billionaire by buying and turning around supermarket chains, is setting his sights on the owner of Albertsons and Bristol Farms stores in Southern California. Supervalu Inc., the nation's second-largest grocery chain, said Thursday that Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. plans to buy as much as $680 million worth of Supervalu's stock, or about 12%.

WALK the aisles of the Bristol Farms That Used to Be Chasen's, and you have to wonder how Albertson's, the new owner of the chain of 11 gourmet markets, is going to understand the place. Albertson's is based in Boise, Idaho, with 2,500 stores and $35 billion in sales. It's big, but can it cope with the neurotic demands that daily wash through this emporium of the elite?

Shopping in the gourmet aisle, supermarket giant Albertsons Inc. on Tuesday bought Bristol Farms, which operates 11 upscale food stores in Southern California. The price paid to Bristol Farms' owner, the Los Angeles investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, wasn't disclosed. But sources close to the companies said the deal was valued in excess of $100 million. Bristol Farms, based in Carson, is a 22-year-old chain with stores in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

Near each other in Westlake Village are a couple of supermarkets where you can pick up a $3 pound of hamburger or--at one of them--a $100 pound of Kobe beef that is said to be the world's best and most expensive steak. Bristol Farms stocks both the hamburger and the steak. And it stocks Wonder Bread, but its bakery shelves also display ciabatta, Oregon herb bread, black forest rye and challah.

Just when you thought it was safe to shop for shallots and shiitake mushrooms, a national union has sent a pamphlet to 80,000 Los Angeles-area homes purporting to detail unsanitary conditions at froufrou favorite Bristol Farms. But the culinary elite need not fear. An official at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said Friday that it is still safe to buy radicchio and endive at the upscale groceries.

Like errant tankers and small planes drawn inexorably into the Bermuda Triangle, the famous, the lovely and the powerful still feel the centrifugal pull at the intersection of Beverly and Doheny, home of the original Chasen's restaurant. L.A.'s ultimate celebrity watering hole is today a Bristol Farms market in West Hollywood, but the old glamour lives on in the Bristol Cafe, a small eatery between the deli and the sushi bar where customers can slide into an original Chasen's booth and order the famous Chasen's chili, a household word since 1962, when Elizabeth Taylor had 10 quarts shipped to Rome during the filming of "Cleopatra."

New bamboo-scented kitchen cleaner from San Francisco-based Method is a refreshing change from all the strong-smelling cleaners on the market. The scent appeals to the senses and gives the room a pleasant smell. Use it on counters, stove tops and cutting boards. It comes in an attractive spray bottle. 28-ounce bamboo all-surface cleaner, about $5, from Bristol Farms, Gelson's, Ralphs and Plastica, 8405 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles. (323) 655-1051.