Los Angeles

• Three Hot Tamales? New executive chef Monique King adds some spice to the kitchens of Santa Monica's Border Grill, owned by Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. Ten years ago, King was a line cook at the twosome's City, then became opening chef at Chicago's Soul Kitchen, whence she'll import some Caribbean flavors into the Border Grill mix.

• On Melrose Avenue, Andy Nakano's Jozu has a new chef in Hisashi Yoshiara (ex-Cinnabar, Bikini), who presents a nightly omakase, or chef's tasting, menu and friendlier prices. He replaces opening chef Suzanne Tracht, who is planning her own restaurant.

• Westwood Village has a serious sushi restaurant named Tengu, where executive sushi chef Masaru Mizokami (ex-Uzen, Asuka) prepares expert kaiseki-style (Japanese haute cuisine) presentations.

• Pastry chef Amy Pressman is consulting at the Market City Caffes.

• Dwayne May (ex-Zenzero, Citrus) has beenpromoted from sous-chef to executive chef of Reign, Keyshawn Johnson's hit restaurant on Robertson Blvd.

• Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has taken over management of the historic Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. First on the culinary agenda is the revamp of The Grille fine-dining room into an upscale steak, chop, and seafood house with an oak-burning grill. Christophe Douheret will remain as executive chef.

• El Hijo del Granjero is a superb new Mexican spot inside The Original Farmer's Market at Third and Fairfax, where Bob Arranaga, scion of a restaurant-supply family, offers char-broiled fish specialties.

• The 20-year-old Enterprise Fish Co. in Santa Monica has added the Hukilau Bar, with Ken Chan (ex-Highlands Inn, Carmel) as the new chef in charge of the humuhumunu-kunukuapuaa, Hawaii's very small fish with a very big name.

• Cliff Huffstetler's Cliff's Ragin' Cajun, a popular Cajun-Creole restaurant in OrangeCounty since 1992, has run aground on the shores of a landlord who refused to laisser les bons temps rouler.

• Suzanne Dunaway of West L.A.'s Buona Forchetta has written No Need to Knead (Hyperion), which goes beyond panes, rusticas, and focaccias to encompass sourdough flapjacks and chocolate tozzetti. Dunaway also draws on her roots as an illustrator for The New Yorker, Gourmet, andBon Appétit.