Feasts to Please the Heart on Valentine’s Day

Need some ideas where to take a favorite squeeze on Valentine’s Day? Read on. But be sure to make reservations now and double-check the cancellation policy.

* What’s love got to do with chicken potpie, garlic mashed potatoes and Pecan Pie Crumble Sundae? Buffalo Club chef Patrick Healy’s not saying. Those are just a few of the choices in his love-struck three-course menu. $60 per person. 1520 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica. (310) 450-6449.

* Leave the car behind and hop the MetroLink or Amtrak to San Juan Capistrano to find Capistrano Depot Restaurant, where dancing, a three-course menu and champagne toast await. $80 per couple. 26701 Verdugo St., San Juan Capistrano. (714) 488-7600.

* A vodka-based aperitif in a chocolate cup launches an evening of live music and a festive three-course menu at Moonlight Tango. Live music included. $29.95 per person. 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 788-2000.

* What’s romantic about halibut cheeks? They’re real tender, insists Yard House chef Michael Doctulero, who includes chocolate boxes with vanilla ganache on his three-course menu. Every lady gets a rose. $35 per person. 407 Shoreline Drive, Long Beach. (310) 628-0455.

* Choose Cuban or California/French, both under one roof in Pasadena. At Oye!, a three-course menu includes Cuban strip steak with yucca fries and chocolate rum flan. $50 per person. And at Xiomara, pan-roasted squab with sweet corn custard and, for dessert, floating island star in the three-course menu. $60 per person. Both at 69 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Oye!, (818) 796-3286. Xiomara, (818) 796-2520.

* Chefs Harry Klibibat and Karl Rohner create a three-course meal at Bistro Garden at Coldwater with such choices as rack of lamb Indonesian-style and poached salmon with champagne dill sauce. $48 per person. 12950 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. (818) 501-0202.

* The spirit of Valentine’s Day celebrates love in every guise: couples, singles, gays, straights, young, old and families at Art of Romance, a charity dinner, auction and live music gala organized by the Santa Monica AIDS Project. $75 per person. Santa Monica Museum of Art, 2437 Main St., Santa Monica. (213) 935-5055.

* At Atlantic Restaurant, start the evening with a greeting from drag queens the Chanel Twins, a complimentary Red Passion Martini and caviar. Lobster or Chateaubriand and a dessert souffle follow. A la carte prices. 8256 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 951-1949.

* Valentine’s Day will be celebrated Feb. 14 and 15 at Thornton Winery in Temecula with harpists, champagne, dinner and toasts in the wine cellar. $125 per couple. 7 p.m. both evenings. 32575 Rancho California Road, Temecula. (909) 699-0099.

* At Carmelo’s in Newport Beach, there will be live music and a three-course dinner that includes stuffed pasta, king salmon with fresh dill and chef Celso Razo’s secret recipe tiramisu. $70. 3520 Pacific Coast Highway, Corona del Mar. (714) 675-1922.

* Go for broke with a deluxe room, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne and hand-dipped chocolate strawberries upon arrival at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, followed by a five-course dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, the Belvedere. $275 for room only; five-course dinner $68 per person. 9882 Little Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. (310) 551-2888.

* Valentine’s Day just may be the time to pull out all the stops: The staff at Laguna Beach’s gourmet shop A La Carte offers a $200-per-couple “Dinner on the Beach” special complete with black-tie service, wine, roses, candles and heart-shaped cake. Add $10 for a disposable camera; fees vary for live violinist or guitarist. One-week advance notice required. A La Carte Gourmet Inc., 1915 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. (714) 497-4927.

Non-Valentine News: Jean Pierre Bosc may have opened a new French bistro called Mimosa on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, but he’s still the consulting chef at Lunaria, the restaurant and jazz club in Century City. “They’re cooking my menu and I’m there a couple nights a week as consultant, for now. It’s crazy. We’re in transition,” Bosc says.

Fair Warning: When you call Los Angeles’ most expensive restaurant, the exclusive Ginza Sushi-ko in Beverly Hills, you can only make a reservation if you leave a credit card number. At that time, you are told that $100 will be charged if the reservation is canceled less than 24 hours before the seating time and that the minimum cost per person for a meal at Ginza Sushi-ko is $250.

Yet the 1997 Zagat guide for Los Angeles lists $63 per person in the information box (the text does indicate that “despite the estimated per meal cost of $63, many diners . . . spend two to three times that much”).

Chef-owner Masa Takayama says the Zagat listing can be misleading. “I can’t blame customers for being upset,” says Takayama, who defends his pricing by saying he cannot do his style of cooking for less.

Merrill Shindler, who, with Karen Berk, compiles Zagat’s Los Angeles guide, said the pricing guides come from readers’ surveys. “We can’t touch the numbers. . . . We just report what the results are,” he said. (Shindler, who has compiled the populist restaurant guide for 11 years, said that this year 5,600 restaurant-goers returned surveys of Los Angeles dining spots. Participants each receive a copy of the guide for their trouble.)

As for Takayama, he said, “I don’t want to be in that guide. I just want to run a small restaurant for friends and people who understand my cooking.”