Non-tech firms race to exploit Web; even restaurants go high tech.

For Sam Shepard, a Los Angeles trial attorney who easily logs 100 hours at the office most weeks, life is a race against the clock. So taking care of personal business online makes perfect sense, from buying airline tickets to arranging his car lease.

His latest Web frontier? Restaurant reservations for meals with clients.

"Usually, I have my secretary call and she spends one hour researching all over the place," said the 33-year-old Shepard. "To get dinner reservations online would be fantastic. It would save her time and get the job done easier."

Making reservations online is still a ways off for most fine dining establishments, but an online presence is not. Among the last businesses to shoot into cyberspace, upscale eateries have realized the significance of a Web site. L.A. gourmands can now find Web addresses for the Patina Group, Valentino, Citrus, L'Orangerie, Border Grill and Il Fornaio.

Restaurants in the process of creating a Web site include Spago, Lawry's Restaurants Inc. in Pasadena, Campanile, Crustacean, Drago and Rockenwagner in Santa Monica.

The general consensus is that two years ago, the timing was too soon, and two years from now it may be too late.

"It's definitely a good thing, I would recommend it to a client without question," said Phyllis Ann Marshall, president of Costa Mesa-based restaurant consulting firm FoodPower. "Especially when restaurants have multiple locations like Wolfgang Puck, and retail product sales, those ancillary profit centers are valuable on the Web. It helps expand their brand."

At Border Grill, co-chef and co-owner Mary Sue Milliken said the restaurant's 4-year-old interactive site, among the oldest in the industry, isn't a significant revenue source, possibly logging 5 percent of sales. But interest is growing rapidly.

The 44-page site, considered elephantine compared to standard restaurant sites that have about 10 to 15 pages, now registers 12,000 to 15,000 hits a month, representing a 10-fold increase from when it first started. It offers menus, pricing, recipes and e-mail access for comments and questions. There are also product displays of jackets, T-shirts and the chefs' four cookbooks. However, visitors have to call in their orders. Internet buying will be available in six months, Milliken said. In October, the site added a reservations link, which has built up from five to 20 bookings a week.

"We redesign it every two weeks. We give people a reason to come back and visit it," Milliken said.

The Web site for Patina Group, which operates 11 restaurants, including the flagship venue, Patina, serves as a recruiting tool, especially for chefs. The company's 7-month-old site, which cost about $7,000 to $9,000 to start, receives hundreds of hits a month and offers online employment forms that up to 40 applicants are filing each month. That compares with a newspaper ad, which generates about 80 to 120 resumes.

"The quality of the applicants is higher. We see 20 people get hired from online compared to one that comes from newspaper ads," said Gerhard Tratter, the organization's director of operations.

Restaurants should give time for sites to develop a following, said Patti Bothell, president of Web design and hosting company PBQ Enterprises Inc. in Costa Mesa. Past clients include California Pizza Kitchen, Daily Grill and Mimi's Cafe.

"Don't expect 5,000 hits in the first month. It won't happen. Give it six months and if you're not receiving a minimum of 3,000 hits per month, then you need to take a look at how to improve or make changes on it," said Bothell, whose company put 70 restaurants online in 1998 and projects up to 200 for this year.

Drawing people to the site is a critical element in the success of the online venture. "A beautiful Web site does nobody any good unless it's marketed well," Bothell said.

With their two cable cooking shows, Milliken and her business partner, Susan Feniger, can easily promote the site on-air. L'Orangerie, which has had a site for two years, has links to other restaurants in Los Angeles, as well as around the country.

Some restaurants have gotten resourceful when it comes to Web addresses, because the domain name they sought was already taken. For instance, Valentino uses www.welovewine.com, and Border Grill's new restaurant, Ciudad, utilizes www.ciudad-la.com.

"Ciudad was taken by someone in South America and he wouldn't relinquish it, so we just dealt with it," Milliken said.

Web sites can also immortalize great traditions, including products from the original Chasen's in West Hollywood, which closed in 1995. The chili that Elizabeth Taylor requested in Rome in 1962 while filming "Cleopatra" is now available online. The year-old site received 800 hits last week. an all-time high, says Ralph Woodworth, chief executive of Chasen's Food Specialty Co. "We've received about 50 orders, but we expect the site to take off soon."

Others can't wait to get a taste of the Web pie, namely the Wolfgang Puck empire, which owns more than 30 eateries including Spago, ObaChine, Chinois and Granita. The site, which should launch by March, will offer restaurant menus, locations, employment opportunities, recipes, wine-tasting events, interviews with chefs and merchandise for sale.

"We have to be where our guests want us to be whether they're foodies or not. Maybe they are simply interested in our information and may one day come to our restaurant," said Tori Rogers, vice president for Wolfgang Puck Food Co. in Santa Monica. "It's not a dilution of brand. It's just smart marketing."