Welcome to the "805 Eats" dining blog where we'll keep you up-to-date on restaurant and food happenings in the 805. To send tips and comments, email edit@805Living.com.

Sun rises on The Sunset Room in Agoura Hills

OCT. 22
Months in the making (and after several gala fundraisers and other soirees), The Sunset Room will make its official public debut at 8 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Agoura Hills space that used to be Chapter 8 Steak House & Dance Lounge. The new lounge/supper club/Mediterranean restaurant hybrid is the handiwork of James Ashford and Chris Breed, whose previous projects have included the Hollywood hot spots Green Door , the Roxbury Supper Club and Pig N Whistle.

Opening night promises to be a high-energy affair, with entertainment by DJ Fashen and Sunset Room’s resident DJ Ricky Jay. But, as you know, we’re all about the food — and the menu looks to be as fashionable as The Sunset Room crowd itself. You’ll find flatbreads, salads, small plates (think Channel Islands calamari with saffron-smoked tomato coulis) and, under the heading “fork and knife,” such entrees as a double-cut Snake River pork rib chop with pearl barley risotto and a Scotch ale demi glace.

The menu will be available in not one but two elegantly appointed dining rooms, as well as on the patio furnished with curtained cabanas and curvaceous banquette seatings, till 1 a.m. nightly. That should give us plenty of time to try one of everything. (29020 Agoura Road; 818-991-4007).

 

Let the good times roll

For a taste of New Orleans without the hassle of booking a flight, look no further than … Santa Paula?

Yep, that’s right. Open and serving everything from baguettes to beignets (the latter topped with mountainous drifts of powdered sugar) since late August, the combination bakery and coffee house Rabalais’ on Oct. 11 is expanding its offerings to include breakfast and lunch.

Available from 7-11 a.m., the breakfast menu starts with beignets (don’t be surprised if staff members warn you against breathing while eating same, lest all that powdered sugar go down your wind pipe), then adds such dishes as the Bayou Benedict (topped with Creole Hollandaise) and biscuits smothered in gravy.

Lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. includes po’boys, croque monsieurs and red beans and rice.

Coming soon: Dinner, y’all! (861 E. Main St., Santa Paula. 805-525-2109)

Changing seasons, changing menus

 OCT. 3-7

Seen the weather report lately? (Or just looked out the window?) Summer has left the building — and that means chefs are takin’ care of business by making the most of the fall harvest.

Chief among them is Todd Aarons, executive chef at  Tierra Sur, the restaurant inside Herzog Wine Cellars in Oxnard. A veteran of Zuni Cafe in San Francisco and of Savoy in Manhattan, Aarons already is known for his local, seasonal approach to food: Under his guidance, Tierra Sur participates in the Growers Collaborative Program via the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. (Aarons also is known for offering diners such artisanal treats as housemade lamb sausages. But we digress.) 

 Chef Aarons will again focus on locally grown produce as he creates Farmers’ Tasting Menus every night from Oct. 3-7. The set-price meals, $65 per person, include four courses paired to wines made on the premises. For reservations, call 805-983-1560.