Steven Herrmann, a former Los Angeles-area chef, has relocated to Spokane to open a restaurant, to be called Savory, at 1314 S. Grand, on the South Hill.

Herrmann says he heard of the opportunity to take the space from his friend and Spokane restaurant designer Josh Hissong, and visited Spokane early this summer to tour the city and its restaurants. Within a week, he decided to go ahead with the project, and now expects the restaurant to open by early September.

"Spokane is the most awesome place I have ever lived in my whole life," he says. "People have been so friendly here."

The new restaurant will occupy a 4,250-square-foot leased space that most recently was used by a Blockbuster Inc. movie rental outlet. The dining area will seat about 155 people and a 1,200-square-foot patio will accommodate another 50 patrons, he says.

It will serve what Herrmann describes as contemporary American food with a Mediterranean twist.

The restaurant is being designed by Hissong, who works for Spokane Restaurant Equipment and has designed several Spokane restaurants. Hissong says that before the idea of Savory came along, two other prospective restaurateurs looked at the space on Grand, but their plans fell through.

Herrmann says he has an extensive culinary background, having worked with such chefs as Wolfgang Puck and at several upscale restaurants in the Los Angeles area and San Francisco. He attended the California Culinary Academy, in San Francisco

He says he will work with local, fresh, organic ingredients when possible, and use olive oils and herbs, rather than butters and creams. One item on the menu will be coriander-crusted ahi with basmati rice and wild fennel vinaigrette, Herrmann says.

Savory will have separate lunch and dinner menus. Lunch prices will range from $6 to $9, and dinner will be between $9 and $18, with rotating nightly specials ranging from $15 to $35, he says.

"I just want to give Spokane a restaurant that matches how it has treated me. I want to contribute to the great restaurant landscape here," Herrmann says.