Jackson’s Spot Going Sicilian?

Jackson on Vacation: Owner Alan Jackson of Jackson’s Restaurant is going to have some major time on his hands soon. He closed the West Hollywood spot last weekend, ending 11 months of a Chapter 11 struggle. About a month ago, he sold his other restaurant, Jackson’s Farm, to his partners. The name of that Beverly Hills restaurant will change to reflect the new ownership. Jackson, who turns 30 this summer, is very philosophical about the loss of both restaurants: “It’s been a very nice run for me and a great learning experience. I equate it with graduate school.” He plans to take a couple of months off before deciding what to do next.

Celestino Drago is the buyer in line for Jackson’s. “The place is perfect,” he says. With seating for 85 it will be the largest location the Sicilian-born chef has opened so far. His plans for the space? “A Sicilian restaurant, because there’s nothing like that right now.”

Because the bankruptcy court must rule on the sale, no deal will be final until at least the end of August. Until then, Drago has his hands full revamping Il Pastaio in Pasadena. Two of his brothers bought out the other investors and will change the name to Celestino, which was Drago’s first, now closed, place in Beverly Hills.

Beverly Hills Il Pastaio will remain the same. At the new Celestino, all four Drago brothers will rotate chef duties. And the menu will be expanded to include more seafood dishes. The restaurant will also have a liquor license. As Drago tells it, “People want their martinis, God bless.”

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Getty Gets Going: The new Getty Center, scheduled to open in December, has built three eating facilities into the museum complex. One spot is just a grab-and-go sandwich/salad counter with indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the central gardens. Another dining room on the western end of the facility will feature cafeteria-style dining, also with indoor and outdoor seating.

Above that sits a restaurant with more of that indoor-outdoor seating action. All three eating locations will face west and partially north, which means spectacular views of the ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains. Right now, neither the chefs nor the type of cooking for the restaurants has been determined. Look here for an update.

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Time to Move On: For a while after he opened the quirky French bistro Mimosa, Jean-Pierre Bosc stayed on at Lunaria in Century City as a consulting chef, but that arrangement is over now. Steve Norin is the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) graduate who took over when Bosc left. Lunaria’s owner, Bernard Jacouby, says, “He’s proved himself over the last eight months. He is now big enough to do it on his own.”

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Play Food: Jimmy’s Restaurant and Bar in Beverly Hills is offering a summer prix-fixe menu for theatergoers. Available between 5:30 and 7 p.m. for $39 per person plus tax and gratuity, it includes an appetizer (either lobster gazpacho, Caesar salad, galette of potatoes, or linguine), an entree (steamed halibut, New York steak or grilled chicken breast) and dessert (key lime pie or summer sorbet). Chef Marcel Vinson says he created this menu to be “very light, very easy, so you are not too heavy when you go to the theater.”

Jimmy’s Restaurant, 201 Moreno Drive at Little Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills; (310) 552-2394.

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Dinner for Two: On Friday night, the California Restaurant Assn. is honoring Piero Selvaggio of Valentino in Santa Monica, Posto in Sherman Oaks and Primi in L.A.; and Esther Snyder, president and co-founder of the In-N-Out Burger chain. Selvaggio, who arrived in America at 18 without experience in the restaurant business, tells us, “I always say with pride, I am the quintessential American Dream.”

Esther Snyder’s late husband Harry started In-N-Out Burger in 1948 using a two-way speaker instead of carhops to take orders. When it got busy, Esther would jump in the kitchen and cook up the fries. Says Snyder about her award, “I was really surprised, pleased and happy.”

The two restaurateurs will be inducted into the association’s Educational Foundation Hall of Fame at a reception and dinner at 6:30 p.m. at the Regal Biltmore Hotel, 506 S. Grand Ave.; (800) 794-4272, Ext. 137.

They and any member of the public willing to shell out $195 per ticket will dine on mushrooms in a pasta purse, striped sea bass, petite veal chop and florentine cups of gelato and raspberries. Proceeds benefit the association’s Educational Foundation.

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Woodside Correction: Lawrence Casperson no longer owns Woodside restaurant in Brentwood. Woodside’s former manager Noel Ampel bought the restaurant from Casperson in October.