News Bites

Want to grab a bite and see a movie?

Now you can do both at Favoritz restaurant at the Promenade Mall in Woodland Hills. The eatery presents classic movies on a 16-screen video wall in its Soundstage Bar from 4 to 7 p.m. weekdays. Drink and appetizer prices are discounted during this happy hour matinee.

Favoritz, featuring a movie industry theme and a decor ostensibly representative of Hollywood’s Golden Age, opened late last year in the location that the Magic Pan restaurant used to occupy. It’s the first of a projected chain and the latest venture of Joe Knight, who started the Seafood Broiler chain in 1975. That chain was eventually sold to General Mills, and the Seafood Broiler restaurants were later converted to Red Lobster eateries.

Favoritz offers entrees ranging in price from $4.95 to $14.95. Appetizers include warm pesto goat cheese with garlic toast for $3.95 and chicken pot stickers with plum sauce for $4.50. The restaurant’s sandwiches include grilled swordfish for $9.95 and turkey sausage sub for $6.95. Also featured are pastas, salads, pizzas, fresh fish and charbroiled chicken and beef.

Favoritz, Promenade Mall, Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Woodland Hills. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call (818) 313-8580.

TEA AND TALK

The Chatter Tea Room is a place for a little tea, a little talk and a little extra.

Guests are invited to wear borrowed hats and feather boas while they sip their brews. Owner Lorri Kile says she and partner Raleigh Joffe got the idea when they were collecting things to decorate the room. Originally, they thought that they would hang the hats and boas (which date back to the 1930s and ‘40s) on the wall. But then, Kile recalls, “we decided it would be really fun” to let patrons wear them.

Chatter, which opened in January, features a luncheon tea from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The spread includes an assortment of finger sandwiches, fruit, an authentic English scone with Devonshire cream and imported jam, chocolate-dipped Cadbury biscuits and a Bakewell tart, along with a pot of tea, for $11.50 per person.

A Chit Chat Tea, featuring the scone, Cadbury biscuits and tea, is served any time for $6.50 per person. And anyone desiring just a cup of tea and a few biscuits will be served for $2.50.

Chatter, 12424 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. Call (818) 766-4050.

OPENINGS

Signs posted in the West Valley herald the upcoming openings of new outlets of several restaurant chains: California Pizza Kitchen on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana, a Boston Market takeout place near Ventura and Topanga Canyon boulevards in Woodland Hills, and a new Starbucks in Topanga Plaza.

Opening Monday in Encino will be the first Valley location for the Brentwood eatery Rosti Rosticceria Toscana. Rosti started on the Westside as a takeout place in the early 1990s and it’s best known for its pollo al mattone , a grilled, pounded half-chicken scented with rosemary and garlic, and served with potatoes and/or vegetables for $6.95.

Rosti offers other Tuscan-style specialties, including pizzas, pastas, sandwiches, salads, soups and appetizers. Entrees range in price from $6.50 for Margherita pizza to $8.50 for penne in a light tomato sauce with scampi.

Owner Kathie Gordon says Rosti’s Valley version will serve exactly the same menu as the Brentwood location and its other two outlets in Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

Rosti Rosticceria Toscana, in the Encino Marketplace, 16403 Ventura Blvd. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Call (818) 995-7179.