DINE BEAT : RESTAURANT NOTES SPARKING THE APPETITE.

Byline: - Larry Lipson, Daily News Restaurant Critic

Danilo Terribili, owner of Alto Palato, 755 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, plans to open his Spark Woodfire Cooking restaurant, 11801 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, by May 10.

The wood fire theme ironically takes place on the burnt-out building site of Il Mito. Terribili said that well over 90 percent of the structure had to be rebuilt.

Three wood-fire cooking methods will be featured at Spark. A wood-burning oven, a wood-burning rotisserie and a wood-burning grill will be used by chef Luca Sterpetti and his staff.

Tuscan country soup and butternut squash soup share starter honors with wood-roasted mussels in a skillet, grilled vegetables in an iceberg lettuce cup and Roman-style, wood-fired, thin-crust pizzas.

Rotisserie-cooked pork leg, spit-roasted chicken, planked salmon, herb-crusted halibut, 21-day aged Black Angus steaks and polpettone beef and pork Italian meatloaf are highlights of the entree selection.

Entrees (including pastas) are ticketed from $11.50 to $20, while starters range from $2.50 to $9 with several half-size opportunities under $5 each.

A signature mixed rotisserie platter of meats and poultry is $22.95 for two, $14.95 for one.

Reasonably priced wines from around the globe and a sampler of three wines (3 ounces each) for $9 should encourage wine fanciers to visit Spark.

For additional information, call [phone].

Extending the weekend

Evidently, the weekend seafood and prime rib buffet dinner extravaganza at Cafe Sierra in the Hilton Universal City hotel, 555 Universal Terrace Parkway, has become so successful it has been extended to include Thursdays.

Offered from 6 to 11 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, the impressive buffet display includes spicy crawfish, peel and eat shrimp, king crab legs, salt and pepper shrimp, spicy calamari, lobster thermidor, mussels, seafood salads, numerous Chinese dishes, prime rib, pasta made to order, assorted fruit salads, several hot entree offerings, bread pudding, bananas Foster, tiramisu, yam brulee, assorted pastries, fruit sorbet and lots more.

Price remains $26.95 per person.

Reservations: [phone].

Ocean Avenue intrigue

With its new '20s English colonial-style looks, Ocean Avenue Seafood, 1401 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, continues to impress ocean-fare seekers with some of the most intriguing fish and shellfish available.

Oyster lovers will find, for example, as many as a dozen different types, listed both geographically and by species.

Incidentally, Ocean Avenue claims to have served some 140,000 oysters in 1998.

For information on its 99-cents-per-oyster hour and reservations, call [phone].

Napkin notes

Drinks are $1 off during the just-started happy hours (5 to 7 p.m. weeknights) and co-owner/host Charlie Gallo boasts that his Charlie G's Prime Steakhouse, 18663 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, puts out ``the best spread of hors d'oeuvre in the West.''. . . .Congrats to Hotel Nikko's Pangaea restaurant executive sous chef Roger Gamboa, who led an ice carving team to first place in the recent World Ice Carvers Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. Gamboa's team triumphed in the Amateurs Open. Information: [phone]. . . .Celeb chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the ``Too Hot Tamales'' of TV's Food Network fame, will open a second Border Grill (their first is in Santa Monica) next month in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.