Taste Test: Gourmet magazine readers say Pinot...

Taste Test: Gourmet magazine readers say Pinot Bistro in Studio City is eighth among the top 20 restaurants in L.A. . . . No. 1: Patina in Los Angeles, also co-owned by Joachim and Christine Splichal, whose chain grows to seven with the opening Monday of Pinot at the Chronicle in Pasadena.

Screen Credit: More glory for the Cal State Northridge film crew. . . . First the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. gave CSUN’s radio-TV-film department a $15,000 grant. Now graduate screenwriter Anita Cal, above, has won the $2,500 Women in Film scholarship. . . . She’s a fan of producer Garry Marshall, who presented the grant. Showtime has picked up her first script.

Blood Thirsty: For a blood donation with an unusual twist, try CityWalk’s Chamber of Chills today, where your pint of red will be drained by . . . Dracula. Free admission, from 3 to 7:15 p.m., will follow. It’s serious business: L.A. has a lousy record of donating blood.