Spago Plans to Close Temporarily in Summer 2012 (Exclusive)

Next year Spago is closing while it gets a makeover.

Wolfgang Puck says that he’s shutting down his Beverly Hills flagship for six to eight weeks in the summer of 2012 to “redo” the restaurant.

Puck says he’s chosen Waldo Fernandez to do the redesign. “He did a great job with Trumps,” says Puck, referring to the late Michael Roberts’ Melrose Ave. restaurant that opened in the mid-1980s and closed in 1992. “It was all very modern looking and Waldo did it. I fell in love with it. I’m happy to be working with him.” (Fernandez also did the design work on the SoHo House in West Hollywood.)

Puck notes that he’d opened his original Spago on the Sunset Strip in 1982. “On the 16th of January we’re going to be 30 years old,” he says. “Can you believe that? We’ve survived longer than a lot of restaurants.”

The Spago on Canon Drive that’s being redesigned opened in 1997. It remains a key industry spot – recently it was the venue for NBC’s pre-Emmy party – and the most noted purveyor of pizza topped with smoked salmon in Beverly Hills.

Puck has a new establishment, Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air, at the recently renovated Hotel Bel-Air. The hotel has its grand opening party tonight, and the restaurant opens to the public Nov. 1.