Double Duty as Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

If you think it would be a snap to open your own restaurant, consider the experience of Jim Frost and his partner Jeff Morose, who opened JJ’s Pizzeria, their first venture in the world’s toughest business, four months ago in Sherman Oaks.

Natives of St. Louis, they met while working at Cafe Luna on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, Jim as general manager, Jeff as a manager. Like restaurant people everywhere, they talked food, food, food--and dreamed of opening their own place.

“We said to each other, ‘We should try to make our mark in the restaurant business,’ ” Jeff says. “We knew we would have to do it on a shoestring, so we went into our own kitchens at home to experiment for two months. And when we came out, we had the recipes for the ultra-thin crust on our pizzas and for the blends of cheeses we use.”

That was the easy part, Jeff says. Next came finding a location, equipping it and finally taking the plunge into the long, long hours that come with running a restaurant.

Weekdays and Saturdays they get to the restaurant at 9 a.m., open for lunch at 11 a.m., serve dinner starting at 5 p.m. and remain open until 10 p.m.--a 13-hour day.

“On Sundays we give ourselves a break,” Jeff says, laughing. They get to the restaurant about midafternoon, open at 5 p.m. and serve until 10 p.m.

Jim is 35, Jeff 32, so they still have the energy of youth, plus the enthusiasm that comes with creating something of one’s own. But no matter how you look at it, they work hard. What’s more, they have no employees, so they do everything themselves, from the cooking to the serving to the cleaning up.

“No, neither one of us is married,” Jeff says. “We just have very understanding girlfriends. We’re paying our dues, but we don’t want to hire anybody yet. We do everything ourselves--hands on.”

* JJ’s Pizzeria seats up to 25 people; it offers takeout and delivery. The restaurant is located at 15053 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 986-4557.

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N. W. Marco goes against the grain in his restaurants, Fontana di Trevi in Woodland Hills and Tango d’Amore in Northridge.

Other restaurateurs in the Valley position themselves to compete on price, boasting menus that top out at $15--and leaving it to places in Los Angeles and Santa Monica to go upscale.

Marco, on the other hand, wanted to bring fine dining to the Valley when he opened Fontana di Trevi 10 years ago, and again when he opened Tango d’Amore 2 1/2 years ago. His prices range from $12 to $25--high for the Valley if not for other parts of L.A.

So the emphasis is on ingredients, technique and the dishes that result, not on cost-cutting as the be-all and end-all.

“Here’s the idea,” Marco says. “I love the Valley, and I wanted to bring fine dining here, with top-quality Italian food--seafood, veal, lamb and veal chops, filet mignon and pasta.”

Marco said he believes junk food is all right once in a while.

“I think people know how to protect their health when they eat; they can be their own doctors, telling themselves what’s good for them and what is bad. . . .

“But cheap food made with cheap ingredients is not as good for you as a plate of good pasta with fresh vegetables and a fine sauce.”

Marco’s restaurants share similar menus with which Marco likes to experiment. One new item is filetto al Barolo--filet mignon sauteed with shallots and sauced with a demi-glace flavored with a red Barolo wine from the north of Italy.

Another new dish is linguini papalina--pasta with fresh garlic, peas, mushrooms and prosciutto, with a sauce of tomatoes and cream.

Chef Berta Romero works the kitchen at Fontana di Trevi. Jose Palafox is her counterpart at Tango d’Amore, and Salvatore Cavallo is executive chef.

* Fontana di Trevi is at 21733 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, (818) 888-0206. Tango d’Amore is at 19524 Nordhoff Place, Northridge, (818) 727-7399.

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What is it about the restaurant business that makes it so hard for people to leave it?

Ishtiaque “Ali” Syed, who draws a loyal family crowd at his Van Nuys restaurant Raj of India, came to Southern California in 1990 from Great Britain, where he had his first taste of the restaurant business.

Born in Bangladesh to a restaurateur father who emigrated to Great Britain, Syed had a family of his own, and he had tired of the long hours and the relentless demands on his attention. Then he got a call from a friend who operated the Raj of India’s predecessor restaurant, the Bengal Tiger, a fixture of the Van Nuys scene.

The friend wanted out of the business. Did Syed want back in?

He couldn’t resist. He kept the old menu but changed the name.

“And you know what? Today I still serve the old customers,” Syed says. “This is a family restaurant, with traditional Indian food, and I tell all the old customers that we just changed the name.

“My customers tell me they like my food, and that’s really what I enjoy about it. So I’m back in the restaurant business, and this time I plan to stay.”

* Raj of India is at 14062 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 787-8488.

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Juan Hovey writes about the restaurant scene in the San Fernando Valley and outlying points. He may be reached at (805) 492-7909 or fax (805) 492-5139 or via e-mail at JH[email protected]