SMALL BITES INFAMOUS VITELLO'S TO HAVE NEW OWNERS.

Byline: - Larry Lipson

Studio City's now-famous Vitello's (where actor Robert Blake and his wife Bonny Lee Bakley dined before she was murdered just blocks away in May 2001) is in the process of changing ownership.

Blake's regular table there may well be the city's hottest right now.

Sold by brothers Steve and Joe Restivo, the property is currently in escrow.

Purchasers are former Jinky's owner Gene Liebenau and prominent Valley real-estate agent Matt Epstein.

Vitello's, a popular neighborhood Italian restaurant occasionally featuring operatic singers, is situated at 4349 Tujunga Ave. Information: [phone].

GRILL IT: Expected to open today in Sherman Oaks is the latest local Japanese yakiniku (table-grilled meats) restaurant, this one already a household name in Japan.

With some 800 locations in Japan, Gyu-Kaku (Horn of the Bull) has already made its presence felt in the L.A. area with outlets in Torrance, West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

Featuring the Japanese version of Korean-style barbecue, cooked on your personal table-inset grill, and soju (Korean alcoholic beverage) cocktails, these moderately priced restaurants are immensely popular, especially with the adventurous younger crowd.

The new Gyu-Kaku is open from 5 p.m. for dinner only.

Information and reservations: [phone].

NAPA IN OUR VALLEY: Celebrating the blooming and budding of the vines, Wine Bistro, 11915 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, presents a spring dinner event Thursday featuring the limited-production wines of Napa's Falcor Wine Cellars.

New owner-host J.B. Torchon, celebrating his initial year in that role after a lengthy tenure as manager-maitre d', notes that he, a guest chef and Falcor's winemaker will be on hand visiting each table to answer food and wine questions.

The five-course meal ($65) includes smoked chicken Waldorf salad and Falcor's 2003 pinot noir rose, scampi with a lobster cognac sauce and a wild mushroom tartelette with Falcor's 2001 chardonnay, and roasted young duckling with a strawberry-cassis sauce with Falcor's 2000 Le Bijou blend.

Also, pecan-crusted brie salad is accompanied by the 2002 Falcor syrah. And Wine Bistro offers a Kaluha creme brulee as its sweet ending.

Information and reservations: [phone].

CHEFS ON THE MOVE: The Domaine Restaurant Group of Tim and Liza Goodell (Aubergine, Troquet, Red Pearl Kitchen, The Lodge, Village Bakery and Meson G) mostly in Orange County, has replaced chef Eric Greenspan at Meson G in Los Angeles with Aubergine's Joseph Centeno. Meson G is at 6703 Melrose Ave. Reservations and information: [phone].

And the Hotel Bel-Air's restaurant, 701 Stone Canyon Road, has a new chef-de-cuisine, former L'Ermitage Hotel, Beverly Hills, kitchen maestro Bruno Lopez. He reports to the Bel-Air's executive chef Douglas Dodd. Information: [phone].

NIBBLES & SIPS: Size matters. The little Real Estate Cafe, 23759 Roscoe Blvd., West Hills, is actually almost double the size previously reported in this column, closer to 570 square feet. And it has yet to serve soup, though it probably will eventually, says its owner. Information: [phone]. ... Halibut, the largest of the flatfish, gets star billing at McCormick & Schmick's, 111 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, this month, cooked several different ways by chef Alfredo Olmos. Information: [phone]. ... Incidentally, local seafood fanciers are in shock over the sudden shuttering and permanent closure of the Market Broiler, 5545 Reseda Blvd., Tarzana. Market Broilers continue to operate in Huntington Beach, Orange, Ontario, Riverside and Fremont.