Crustacean Restaurant

Ever since Confucius deemed knives too crude for the table, chopsticks have been Asia's utensils of choice. Elizabeth An of Crustacean restaurant says they also should be as beautiful as they are functional. For her home accessories line, An has designed chopsticks handmade in Vietnam from ebony moonwood and jade. An Family Collection chopsticks, $142 per pair, at www.anfamily.com or at Crustacean Restaurant, 9646 Little Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 205-8990.

Ever since Confucius deemed knives too crude for the table, chopsticks have been Asia's utensils of choice. Elizabeth An of Crustacean restaurant says they also should be as beautiful as they are functional. For her home accessories line, An has designed chopsticks handmade in Vietnam from ebony moonwood and jade. An Family Collection chopsticks, $142 per pair, at www.anfamily.com or at Crustacean Restaurant, 9646 Little Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 205-8990.

Now you can buy some of the same sauces served at Crustacean, the Euro-Asian restaurant in Beverly Hills owned by the An family. The bottled sauces are good for dipping, serving with salad, or marinating fish, meat or chicken. They're low in fat and sodium. Crustacean Restaurant ginger orange, miso, bean, mustard peanut, ginger balsamic and fish sauce, 12.7-ounce bottle, $8.50, available at the restaurant, 9646 Little Santa Monica Blvd., (310) 205-8990, or call (866) 263-2625.

Now you can buy some of the same sauces served at Crustacean, the Euro-Asian restaurant in Beverly Hills owned by the An family. The bottled sauces are good for dipping, serving with salad, or marinating fish, meat or chicken. They're low in fat and sodium. Crustacean Restaurant ginger orange, miso, bean, mustard peanut, ginger balsamic and fish sauce, 12.7-ounce bottle, $8.50, available at the restaurant, 9646 Little Santa Monica Blvd., (310) 205-8990, or call (866) 263-2625.

While on jury duty, Josh Mankiewicz of TV's "Dateline NBC" overheard two lawyers discussing where to have lunch. One of them said, "I hear that new place in Beverly Hills called the Crust Station is really good." Hope this doesn't put the owners of Crustacean restaurant in a crabby mood. * THE NEW COMEBACK KID? Former Congressman Robert Dornan probably didn't win any friends south of the border with his two bruising (and losing) campaigns against Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

Legendary beauties and past-their-prime divas, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy victors, power lords of Hollywood and pampered princesses of Bel-Air sit beneath the swirling palm-leaf fans at Crustacean, reclining on silk-covered banquettes as if they were Vietnamese royalty.

I'm writing to tell you how much I enjoyed the new feng shui column and how pleased I am that this ancient art is finally receiving recognition. I am the owner of Crustacean restaurant in Beverly Hills, and the exterior and interior, along with the decor, adhere to the strictest principles of feng shui. My family used our feng shui consultant, with whom we have worked for many years, to help reconfigure and redesign the building so the restaurant would be what I call "negative Ch'i proof."

I've always thought of Cognac as a drink that should be sipped. And it is. The smooth honey-colored liquor hits your tongue and warms your throat as it goes down, eliciting an "ah" sigh that deserves a leisurely pause of enjoyment. So when I found myself sucking down Cognac cocktails faster than the waiter could bring them Monday night I alarmed myself -- but when Cognac connoisseur and eighth-generation Hennessy family member Maurice Hennessy toasts you with a pink Cognac cocktail, you drink it. Hennessy visited the Crustacean restaurant in Beverly Hills on Monday for a Cognac tasting.

The walkway inside Crustacean restaurant in Beverly Hills consists of a 6,000-gallon sunken koi pond under Plexiglas meandering like a stream among the tables. How nervous was I when the hostess asked me to follow her to my table? Let me count the ways: 1. I was wearing new 4-inch heels, whose slippery soles did not interact well with the Plexiglas. 2. I could not master the optical illusion of walking on water, though I did note what a perfect metaphor that made for a celebrity-laden joint.

Scots Wha' Haggis: Lovers of haggis will be in luck the weekend of Feb. 14, when the fifth annual Scottish Festival takes place aboard the Queen Mary. The two-day event includes parades, country dancing and pipe band competitions, but the centerpiece for foodies will be the Address to the Haggis, 10:45 a.m. each day.

Legendary beauties and past-their-prime divas, Oscar, Emmy and Grammy victors, power lords of Hollywood and pampered princesses of Bel-Air sit beneath the swirling palm-leaf fans at Crustacean, reclining on silk-covered banquettes as if they were Vietnamese royalty.

While on jury duty, Josh Mankiewicz of TV's "Dateline NBC" overheard two lawyers discussing where to have lunch. One of them said, "I hear that new place in Beverly Hills called the Crust Station is really good." Hope this doesn't put the owners of Crustacean restaurant in a crabby mood. * THE NEW COMEBACK KID? Former Congressman Robert Dornan probably didn't win any friends south of the border with his two bruising (and losing) campaigns against Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove).

What's all this excitement about the approaching millennium? Depending on which year you believe opens the next thousand--2000 or 2001--there are still a few New Year celebrations left in this millennium. Let's enjoy them. Music has been the heart of human celebration for thousands of years, and this New Year's musical events are especially era-conscious: Dixieland from the '20s, swing bands of the '30s and '40s, rock from the '60s and disco from the '70s. So pick your party.

A couple of weekends ago I found myself ambling along a new paved jogging trail parallel to San Francisco's Great Highway, which runs along the coast. Since I lived here 25 years ago, I've returned a lot on business, but this was my first chance in a decade or more to hunt up old haunts and new.