What About Calling It Fennelissimo?

A year and a half ago, when Fennel moved from Santa Monica to the La Cienega Boulevard space partly occupied by Pazzia, the French and Italian chefs from both restaurants began sharing kitchen quarters, and thename was changed to Fennel/Pazzia. The restaurants also shared the same owners, Mauro Vincenti and Gary Freedman. Now things are about to change.

“Everybody’s out,” says Vincenti, who also owns the 13-year-old Rex Il Ristorante in downtown Los Angeles. “It starts all over again.”

So forget what you think you know about the two restaurants. Here’s what’s happening . . . this week.

Vincenti and longtime Rex manager/maitre ‘d Danilo Terribili have taken over management of the 9,000-square-foot space. Enrico Trova, former sous-chef at Rex, has replaced the former Fennel/Pazzia chefs. Freedman, who owns the property, will no longer be involved in running the restaurants.

In about two months, after a face-lift, an Italian-style gelati ice cream bar and a wood-burning pizza oven will be installed in the former clothing store space located in front of the building. Barbarella, the bar Vincenti and Freedman recently opened in the building’s other front space, will remain for now. “I don’t know what that’s going to be,” says Vincenti. “The bar business is not my league.”

Fennel’s antique zinc bar will also stay. So will a few of its most successful dishes. But the French restaurant will go. “We are still formulating plans for the Fennel space,” says Vincenti, “maybe we’ll have a piano, some music, a place where people can take it easy and relax.”

And Pazzia? The name may mean craziness , but Vincenti is no fool. He plans to lower prices to around $10 for lunch and less than $20 at dinner. Vincenti is also considering changing the name of the entire operation to Pazzeria. “Unless,” he says, “we have another brilliant idea.”

BRANCHING OUT: Woodside, named after its location--the edge of Brentwood and Westwood--opens for dinner next week in the former Stoney’s space. The chef is Louise Branch, former sous-chef at Bikini in Santa Monica and Patina in Los Angeles, and before that at Jeremiah Tower’s Stars Restaurant in San Francisco. The owner, Lawrence Casperson, also runs City Roasters and the Kings Road Cafe (both on the same block near the Beverly Center). Eventually, the restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, contemporary American dishes like lamb chops with horseradish mashed potatoes and grilled shrimp on greens. “I want to have food that’s recognizable,” says Branch, “but perfectly seasoned and perfectly executed. Nothing froufrou. Food that people can identify.”

DEPARTURES: Vaughn Allen, who last cooked at Hollywood Canteen, is moving to the Netherlands, where he will be chef at Pacific Century, a 65-seat California-Asian restaurant located in the Institute of Contemporary Art in Amsterdam. “I went over and did a couple of tastings and the vibe was so good,” says Allen. “Plus there’s surfing in France, Spain and Portugal, so I get to catch waves.”

MEAL DEALS: Wednesday nights through October, 10 downtown restaurants, including McCormick & Schmick’s, Stepps, the Tower and the Original Sonora Cafe, join the Downtown Marketing Council’s CeLAbrate DOWNTOWN--yes, that’s the way they want to spell it--by offering $19.93 three-course meals. . . . For reluctant plastic users, Edith and Gordon Barron, who founded Barron’s family restaurant in Burbank 32 years ago, will give a gift certificate, redeemable for a slice of Gordon’s homemade pie on a future visit, to anyone who uses Visa or MasterCard to pay for their meal this month. . . . A Taste of India in Sherman Oaks offers an all-you-can-eat dinner on Fridays through October. The $9.50 special includes jumbo shrimp marinated in yogurt and spices and roasted in a clay oven, basmati rice, vegetables and salad.

Geoffrey’s/Malibu now offers an early bird, Taste of the World five-course sampling dinner for $19, weekdays from 5 to 6:30 p.m. A new menu highlighting a different country is featured weekly. . . . Tampico Restaurant, formerly known as Tampico Tilly’s, now offers licensed child care on weekends, 6 to 9 p.m, while mom and dad are dining at the Santa Monica restaurant. The charge is $7 per child for up to three hours, and includes dinner for the tykes.