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And in more Kor Hotels news, Viceroy Santa Monica recently announced summer specials (on food and beverage, not room rates):

Starting Friday, May 22, and lasting through Aug. 28, the Cameo Bar is starting a “Summer Fridays” happy hour. From 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., wines by the glass, well drinks and beers will be priced according to the hour they’re ordered. For example, drinks ordered during the 2:00 p.m. hour will cost $2. Prices increase by $1 every hour until the 5:00 p.m. hour, where the drink pricing fun ends at $5. There’s also a new bar menu, with prices ranging from $2 (fried chicken and biscuit slider) to $15 (half dozen oysters). For those with more cash, poolside cabana rentals are $100 plus a two bottle minimum – and bottle service is half price.

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Market counter at La Grande Orange Santa Monica

After a Macallan scotch tasting at the Viceroy last night (set up by e*starla and attended by Caroline on Crack, LAist’s Julie Wolfson and LA-OC-Foodie – but more on that later), we headed over to La Grande Orange’s newest outpost in Santa Monica for dinner.

The good: The entrance is decorated with pots of homegrown herbs – nice touch. The market counter and wine display upon entering have a simple, clean presentation. This new location serves sushi, and the rainbow roll was excellent (go with the aioli dip, not the soy – too salty). The sweet potato roll, something I hadn’t seen before, was decent, though it was really just tempura-battered and fried sweet potato with avocado. The service was prompt and friendly. And when our server charged us for the wrong dessert item, she ended up comping it.

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• Lebowski Fest: Today (May 7) at the Wiltern, where there will be a screening of “The Big Lebowski,” and tomorrow (May 8 ) at Cal Bowl in Lakewood. Specials guests, including the dude who was the inspiration for The Dude and some of the actors from the Coen brothers’ movie (Woo the rug pisser!), are scheduled to make appearances both nights. More info, including that for tickets, at lebowskifest.com.

• Los Angeles BBQ Fest: May 9 and 10 at Santa Monica Beach, adjacent to the pier. $10 admission, $10 per BBQ platter. At least the organizers doubled the size of the event. Pre-purchased tickets get you a one-hour advance on the ribs, kababs, brisket and pulled pork. More info at labbqfest.com. From The Rundown.

• LA Craft Beer Fest: May 9 at Echoplex. Beer, music, food. Almost everything local. I’m not a huge beer fan, so the food (Golden State, Masa, Scoops) is the most enticing for me. The $30 admission fee covers everything; that’s what I’m talking about! More info at lacabal.org. From Thrillist.

Eggs Benedict

Last week, Pasadena’s La Grande Orange Cafe, which is opening a new location next week in Santa Monica, invited a bunch of food writers/bloggers to “brinner,” or breakfast for dinner. The special menu (you can’t actually order breakfast food for dinner right now, though some dishes may be added to the dinner menu in the near future) included eggs Benedict with the cafe’s signature English muffins, lemon-ricotta pancakes and huevos rancheros.

I had the egg-white omelet with turkey, tomatoes and avocado, which I found nice and light, though there was a bit too much parsley. The eggs Benedict I tasted had great flavor, with the sourness of the sourdough English muffins a great touch. My favorite dessert of the myriad the restaurant gave us to sample was the cucumber sorbet – it was refreshing.

The cafe is adding a pizza parlor in a space adjacent to its patio. As of last week, the space was used as storage for some of Santa Monica’s furniture, but the restaurant says the pizza will be ready to go some time this fall. Pizza will be served from the get-go at the Santa Monica location, and they’ll also be selling packaged English muffins there, too.

More photos after the jump

Just opened:

• Tavern From Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne (AOC, Lucques, Hungry Cat) comes the ladies’ newest creation, a restaurant/lounge/marketplace, in Brentwood. Yes, it did open today. I called.

• Pourtal A high-tech wine bar in Santa Monica, Pourtal offers wine via preloaded punch cards and electronic dispensers. Fancy.

To open in the near future:

• Trader Vic’s The Beverly Hills institution moves downtown to L.A. Live. Scheduled to open Saturday, May 2.

• La Grande Orange Cafe The Santa Monica location is scheduled to open May 7. Food being tested and staff being trained, according to tweets from @LaGrandeOrange. Pizza will be added to the menu at the new location, with Pasadena getting pizza some time this fall.

• Playhouse and Sweet Love Hangover The nightclub/24-hour restaurant taking over the Fox Theater space on Hollywood Boulevard is now slated to open June 11. We’ll see. This is like the third or fourth time the opening date has been pushed back.

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  Annenberg Beach House. From the beach house's Flickr stream.

  The Annenberg Beach House opens this weekend in Santa Monica. The former estate of William Randolph Hearst opens to the public after two years of renovation and includes a pool and event space. No membership is required, but there are fees for entry and parking. Reservations are recommended. More at CurbedLA.

• Starting April 28, Dakota Chop House at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel will be offering a weekly BLT night “featuring specialty bacons from artisanal smokehouses,” per the press release. You can build your own bacon creation or choose from the resto’s creations, which include pizza, pasta and burgers in addition to the traditional sandwich. Maybe Dakota is jumping on Animal’s popularity? A bacon chocolate bar doesn’t sound appetizing to me, but to each his own.

• “Top Chef” season 5 contestants Fabio Viviani and Stefan Richter will be competing in a cook off at The Grove May 20. Grove restaurants will also be having their own cooking demonstrations and offering samples. The event is free, but you need to RSVP with Los Angeles magazine, which is co-hosting the event.