Lots of Changes on Rix’s Plate : New chef Neal Fraser unveils his menu, while the restaurant’s owner plans a nearby breakfast spot.

New Rix Mix: Rix restaurant in Santa Monica has a new chef: Neal Fraser, formerly of Boxer. But what of Fraser’s expressed desire to open his own place? “[Rix owner Will Karges] wanted to work with me and it made a lot of sense,” Fraser told us. “We wanted Rix to be more about the food.”

Former Rix chef Chris Bocchino left last week and Fraser implemented his new menu Tuesday.

Karges, evidently in need of more chaos in his life, also is working on opening another restaurant right around the corner from Rix on Santa Monica Boulevard. The new place will be called Blueberry and its focus will be country-style breakfasts, though it also will serve lunch and early dinners.

Why the breakfast angle? “It’s a collage of all my breakfast pilgrimages across the United States,” Karges says. He wants to serve ham from Vermont and use farmers’ market produce. There also will be a bakery that cranks out muffins, cobblers, scones and pies on a daily basis. Blue-plate specials will make appearances. Neal Fraser will help select the chef. Blueberry is slated to open in late November or early December.

Where’s Sari Now?: Coco Pazzo in West Hollywood has a new chef from Italy--via New York. Paolo Sari was working as a consulting chef at Bice in New York when he met Coco Pazzo’s Pino Luongo. Luongo offered him the job and flew him here for the weekend to check out the scene. And that was that. (How’re you gonna keep ‘em in Manhattan after they’ve seen L.A.?)

Before Bice, Sari was the corporate executive chef for Parc Hotels Italia in northern Italy. He wants to make Coco Pazzo’s menu more authentic (so that people can “come in here and recognize it’s a true Italian restaurant,” he says). Sari wants to change the menu more often and he has instituted a tasting menu. Former Coco Pazzo chef Roberto Aita is consulting chef at the Las Vegas Coco Pazzo.

Chris Michaels Moves Up: Chris Michaels Restaurant has just opened in the former fusion at pdc, inside the Pacific Design Center on Melrose. Chef and owner Chris Maher used to have a cafe and catering company on Fairfax Avenue, but he has expanded it and moved it into the Pacific Design Center. Maher is no stranger to the PDC--he also owns a grab-and-go cafe there (which will stay open).

Chris Michaels Restaurant will be open for breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday. This allows Maher, who specializes in catering, to save the nights and weekends for private functions.

The menu is American: pastas, hot sandwiches with hand-cut meats and apple-wood-smoked bacon, corn-fed Angus beef burgers. Maher will start serving high tea around the new year. When he gets his liquor license, there’ll be Martini Monday Night Football (think highbrow happy hour) beginning at 4 p.m.--you pay for the martinis, the finger food is free. Enter the Pacific Design Center via San Vicente Boulevard to easily access the valet parking and the restaurant.

* Chris Michaels Restaurant, in the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., L.A.; (310) 360-7755.

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All Hail Jell-O: The Cadillac Cafe restaurant and art annex is featuring a Jell-O Art and Memorabilia exhibit through Dec. 25. The art, mostly advertisements from 1912 to about 1980, is displayed in a room adjoining the restaurant. For the run of the exhibit, the cafe will be serving a different Jell-O dish every day--fruit molds from the ‘60s, layered vegetable molds and many others. The Cadillac Cafe is open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. seven days a week. There is no cover charge to view the exhibit.

* The Cadillac Cafe, 359 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A.; (310) 657-6591.

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Be Thankful You Don’t Have to Cook: If you’d rather spend Thanksgiving evening in a beautiful restaurant while your favorite chef does the turkey, here are some of restaurants hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. More to follow next week.

The Patina and Pinot gang are hosting Thanksgiving at all their places. Each restaurant has a different four-course prix-fixe menu, but all include roasted turkey and pumpkin pie for traditionalists. Patina has a five-course option as well. Prices range from $29.95 to $63; children under 12 can eat for between $19 and $29.

* Patina Restaurant, 5955 Melrose Ave., L.A.; (213) 467-1108.

* Pinot Bistro, 12969 Ventura Blvd., Studio City; (818) 990-0500.

* Cafe Pinot, 700 W. 5th St., L.A.; (213) 239-6500.

* Pinot Hollywood, 1448 N. Gower St., L.A.; (213) 461-8800.

* Pinot at the Chronicle, 897 Granite Drive, Pasadena; (818) 792-1179.

At Le Chardonnay, Thanksgiving dinner runs from noon to 7 p.m.; price is $30 per person or a la carte for a three-course dinner; choice of roast turkey, steamed sea bass or leg of lamb entree, and a trio of tarts for dessert.

* Le Chardonnay, 8284 Melrose Ave., L.A., (213) 655-8880.