Restaurants

If you're visiting the desert for music or tennis, try El Campanario Restaurant & Bar for fine Mexican cuisine. Seafood is the specialty. Also, ask about the molcajetes specials. We are part-time Indio residents and find this the best in the area. El Campanario Restaurant & Bar, 44185 Monroe St., Indio; (760) 342-3681, http://www.elcampanariorestaurantandbar.com Leo and Margaret Galcher Indio

Jeff Fischer doesn't have a vineyard or a winery. He has no formal training and zero employees. Yet in a short time he's managed to land his small-batch Habit wines in nearly 50 of L.A.'s top restaurants, including the Chateau Marmont, Spago, AOC, Ink, the Hungry Cat, Providence, Hatfield's and Bäco Mercat. "He's on the fast track, and it's kind of crazy," says Caroline Styne of AOC and Tavern, who was the first sommelier to champion Fischer's wines, even writing about them on her popular wine blog, Styne on Wine.

Timothy Hollingsworth, the 33-year-old chef de cuisine at the French Laundry , is moving to Los Angeles. But don't get your hopes too high. He doesn't have a restaurant planned - not yet, anyway. Hollingsworth announced in November that he would be leaving the Laundry in spring. At the time he told the San Francisco Chronicle's Paolo Lucchesi that he was playing with an idea of opening a more casual and popular type of restaurant, maybe even a spin on Mexican. He's still thinking about doing something like that, but first he's going to be working in video production.

As a doctor, Jonathan Tam has a message for San Gabriel Valley residents: Eat your vegetables. Farm Cuisine, his new organic restaurant in Monterey Park, is trying to get cost-conscious Chinese diners to buy healthful organic takes on traditional Chinese dishes. But the pricier meals are a tough sell in the heavily Asian American valley, where more than 500 Chinese restaurants are in a pitched battle to offer authentic dishes at ever lower prices. JOIN A LIVE DISCUSSION AT 4 P.M. PT Area restaurants wear B and C food-safety grades like badges of honor, and diners line up for cheap fried pork dumplings and dim sum at $2 a plate.

Animal advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter Wednesday morning to Hot's Restaurant Group asking the Hermosa Beach eatery to “swear off foie gras for good.”   In the missive, PETA said it investigated Palmex Inc., the Canadian farm it says supplies Rougie brand foie gras to Hot's, and found inhumane treatment of ducks. California's ban on selling the fattened duck or goose liver went into effect July 1. Restaurateurs say foie gras is a delicacy crucial to maintaining culinary credibility.

Rock into spring later this month with KISS legends Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons when they open a Rock & Brews restaurant in San Jose del Cabo. The Baja California restaurant is the second location for Rock & Brews . The first opened last year in El Segundo, near Los Angeles International Airport . Others are planned for Redondo Beach; Paia, Maui; and Kansas City, Mo.   Stanley and Simmons are partners in the restaurants.  A grand-opening party will be held March 22 at the Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Golf & Spa Resort, Los Cabos, which is offering a KISS Army Rock & Brews weekend package to welcome Stanley and Simmons.

David Myers returns to fine dining, inspired by - what else? - Japan. LOCATION 10 W. Century Drive, Century City, (310) 552-1200, hinokiandthebird.com PRICES Snacks, $6-$15; small plates, $11-$25; grilled dishes, $21-$38; vegetables, $5-$12; desserts, $4-$8. DETAILS Open 5:30-10 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays. Credit cards accepted. Full bar. Valet parking.

Hinoki is a fragrant cypress most Japanese associate with extremely expensive bathtubs, popular with the wealthy because the wood is used to build the soaking tubs at onsen , Japanese hot springs. Hinoki wood is also used to build the counters of the most prestigious sushi bars; long, smooth planks that are sanded every day and given weekly baths of milk. Hinoki & the Bird, on the other hand, is the new Century City restaurant from David Myers, who became well-known as the auteur behind restaurant Sona until it closed in 2010 and who runs the Melrose Avenue brasserie Comme Ça and the South Coast Plaza pizzeria Ortica.

Lupita Becerra turned 15 in 1990 and took a hostess job at Hof's Hut, a mid-century Long Beach coffee shop as well known among locals as the Queen Mary. Her folks didn't own the brick-accented diner under the black-and-white awnings, but it was still to them a family business. Dad worked in the kitchen. A dishwasher turned cook would become her boyfriend turned husband. "We stay because they treat us well," said Becerra, 37, now a waitress. "It's great. It's a big family. " This oldest of six remaining Hof's Huts closed Thursday after about 51 years in the Long Beach Marina.

Spring Restaurant Week in Las Vegas , coming March 8-15, gives diners an opportunity to try new places while also contributing to the fight against hunger. It's also a chance for Vegas visitors to venture off the Strip to sample some of Sin City's lesser-known places. Nearly 70 restaurants had signed up to participate, and the list is expected to grow. It's heavy on restaurants along Las Vegas Boulevard - such as Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (Caesars Palace) and Rick Moonen's Rm Seafood (Mandalay Bay)