The CAA rumor mill: Now edible!

 

At a party New Year's Day, someone asked: "So, is it true that The Grill is going to move to follow CAA?"

The ultimate power-lunch restaurant bows to the awesome aspect of CAA's unliateral power! William Morris will have to make do with Mr. Chow's! Mohammed won't go to the mountain, so the mountain goes to Mohammed!

As rumors go, it was a great one. Unfortunately, a conversation with Grill Concepts CEO Philip Gay blew it all to hell.

"We did look in Century City a while ago, but we’re not putting a Grill in there," he said. "We extended our lease (in Beverly Hills) about a year ago and we should be there until about 2019." 

So what will CAA eat when it moves to 2000 Avenue of the Stars later this month?

There’s Cuvee, which, if it’s anything like the one on Robertson, is a sort of Joan’s On Third Lite. It’s owned by the same people who own Habanero Grill, the first outlet of a “Mexican café concept.” (Concepts! Yummy!) And Piknic is owned by the same family who owns Toast and Lulu's Cafe (there’s another Piknic in Playa Vista).

DeliBoys is an offshoot of Junior’s Deli (the first DeliBoys is in Manhattan Beach); The Stand is, well, The Stand. And the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf will be clogged with all the CAA screenwriters whose calls are met with, “I'm sorry, I don't have him. Can we return?” (Not that it matters; agents don't fetch their own coffee.)

It’s nice not to have to go to the Valley for a great hot dog, but this lineup does not inspire. Another M Cafe De Chaya would have been swell; it's a North-Pole magnet for execs and talent. (Sighted: Paramount Vantage head John Lesher picking up his own lunch! Kirsten Dunst sipping a soy cappucino!)

The building's reps say they're in conversations with "three or four" would-be clients for the one remaining space. It would be a "destination" restaurant not unlike the much-vaunted Craft, which is scheduled to open at the address in April. (Translated: mid-summer.)

Everything, but everything, is a la carte at Craft, which is owned by Tom “Top Chef” Colicchio. Restauranteurs have another name for people who deconstruct their food -- SOS, for Sauce on the Side. For example, Wild Striped Bass + Soft Polenta + Greenmarket Onions + Roasted Golden Chanterelle = a $69 entree. SOS, indeed.

The plates are made for sharing, of course. But since when did agents like to share?