Former le colonial site to get new chance with restaurant. (Retail).

CAN Michael Kang pump life into the location once occupied by the hip Le Colonial French-Vietnamese restaurant and lounge in West Hollywood?

He thinks so. For the past 17 years, the chef has operated Five Feet, an Orange County restaurant that melds Chinese cuisine with French flavors. After thinking about venturing into L.A. for several years, Kang and his partner, Executive Chef Eric Nguyen, are about to make the leap. A Five Feet restaurant will open Jan. 16 at 8783 Beverly Blvd., occupied by popular restaurant/bar Le Colonial until last spring.

"The L.A. market to me has always been kind of risky," said Kang.

Then Le Colonial's Jean Denoyer, who shuttered the restaurant in June after neighbors complained about noise, approached Kang and Nguyen about forming a partnership to revive it. The deal was ready to be formalized when the Sept. 11 attacks hit.

Denoyer then decided to forego the L.A. project to concentrate on opening a restaurant in Greenwich, Conn. already underway.

Kang and Nguyen assumed the nine-year balance on Denoyer's lease for their own eatery. The pair is making some cosmetic changes, adding a "South Seas modern design with a touch of Italian grotto fantasy." The remodel and the lease purchase price adds up to $1.2 million, Kang said.

Like the Laguna Beach location, the restaurant will have rotating exhibitions of artists' works.