• Miguel’s Cochina restaurant, located at 2912 Shelter Island Drive, has a new look. The old bamboo-looking reeds were removed from the ceilings, the roof beams were lightened up with fresh paint, new festive colorful carpets were added throughout and the upstairs bar area was opened up into a “friendlier” big room. The downstairs area also received fresh paint and refurbished terracotta tiles.     Owner Barbara Morton directed the design, which she estimated at a cost of about $100,000. Morton assures guests the menu will remain the same, including the famous jalapeno salsa blanco (white dipping sauce). Morton and her husband, Mike, also own the Brigantine restaurant in the same neighborhood.   • Just a few blocks from Miguel’s, after four decades of serving Italian cuisine with “the best cheesy bread and pizza to die for,” the old La Scala restaurant at the corner of Scott  and Cañon streets closed its doors and will reopen soon as the new Lighthouse Bar and Grill. Restaurateurs Fabio Speziali and Antonio Mastellone, who own the Pomodoro Ristorante Italiano next door, will feature “bar food,” including pizza, burgers and a variety of beers on one side of the venue, while the other side will serve “continental foods with an Italian Mediterranean flair.” The bar will also have sports on television and occasional live music, but Speziali isn’t sure they’ll have opera music like La Scala used to have. The grand opening of the Lighthouse Bar and Grill is set for late March or early April. — Mike Ryan