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Thanks, Russell. I saw recommendations of Petros on Chowhound, too, but my friend decided to go in a different direction. We'll be going to Primitivo Wine Bar on Abbot Kinney. I'll report back on how it is.

I want to thank those of you who recommended Beacon. I had a very enjoyable lunch there today with a friend. We were greeted by a friendly hostess and sat on the front patio, underneath a large umbrella that provided plenty of shade. We both had iced tropical flower teas, which were pleasant. I had forgotten that you can get unlimited free refills in California. That's one of the things I love about this state. In New York, you almost never get free refills. I was considering sharing two appetizers and a "large plate," but fortunately, the waitress advised us that the mushroom salad plus the Thai seafood curry would be quite enough for sharing. That salad is a really big portion. It's a nice salad, somewhat bitter, tangy, and with some manchego cheese. The seafood curry tasted like a dish I've eaten in rural Malaysia. The broth tasted a little like the sauce for what they call Sayur on the East Coast of Malaysia. It was a light coconut milk broth, not thick as more usual in Thai restaurants. As in the salad, all the ingredients were fresh and very good. I loved the tasty fingerling potatoes. Other ingredients included shrimps, calamari, and tuna. It felt healthful. I also ordered a side of rice, which was good rice with very individual grains. After having such a good meal, we couldn't pass up sharing a dessert - a peach cake with strawberry/rhubarb sorbet. We loved the cake, which was made with excellent-quality white peach slices, to which not much had been done, with the skin on. The sorbet tasted more of strawberry than rhubarb, but was also very good. The total for everything was $43.79 plus tip, which I consider an excellent value. If one could find a restaurant like this in New York, it would cost at least twice as much, but assuming that it were possible to plunk this restaurant down as is in New York, I would go frequently.

We had lunch at Beacon, and I really liked it. I'll post about it separately, since it isn't in Venice. Tomorrow (Saturday), I have a request for a good Greek restaurant in Venice or Santa Monica for dinner. Do you know of any?

Thanks, Carlsbad. I'll report back on wherever we go to.

We're in agreement.

Laksa is indeed Malaysian.

I did go to Jane, as part of what turned out to be a party of 6. You can see my report here.

How many of the places recommended in this thread are still good? In New York, two years is a very long time in restaurant years, so I presumed it could be the same in LA. I'll do a search for Culver City.

Time to revive this thread. I have a date around noon Friday. My friend is going to pick me up at my cousin's place in Venice and then we'll go to LACMA. We talked about going for a good, inexpensive (I guess upper limit of $30/person, preferably more like $25 or less) lunch either in Venice or somewhere near or on the way to LACMA. Any suggestions?

Kent, this looks to be a really interesting blog for this here New Yorker. I'll miss most of it in real time, probably, because I, too, will be on the road, in California, undoubtedly with limited internet access. Have a great time.

Hmmmn.... maybe I just don't think the taste of durian is that distinctive! I've never eaten durian by itself, but durian cakes and candies I've tried don't have, to me, a distinctive flavor, either. Or maybe the durian is just so diluted that I can't taste it! ← I think either the taste is incredibly diluted or your palate isn't sensitive to it. Try eating a fresh durian some time, particularly one recently off a tree. The taste is very rich and creamy, a bit like maple sugar plus cream with a strong garlic aftertaste. Not exactly a weak-tasting fruit!

Oy! I'm so sorry this is happening to you. I haven't had one of those in a long time, but I used to get them, and they kill! But make sure to avoid everything acidic and spicy. Sorry, no kimchi until you're better.

Well, pastrami is easy. Go to Katz's! I'll let others make more suggestions. Have a great time, and bon appetit!

This post is a propos discussion on the ISO: Recommendations for Sunday Brunch thread. I was part of a party of 6 at Jane last morning/early afternoon. When we came in at 11, the restaurant was pretty empty. We were seated downstairs. Their bread service was great! I especially loved what tasted to me like chips of rye bread with caraway seeds and jalapenos. I would suddenly hit a hot spot, something I find pleasant. I also liked the raisin/walnut bread and the strawberry butter. A friend pointed out that it took more than an hour for the food we ordered to be brought out, but I really didn't notice because I was enjoying the conversation. We were given some fruit salad to compensate, but since it was in front of another person, I didn't realize it was for the table and didn't have any (not that I would have needed it to fill up!). Also, my fresh-squeezed orange juice was never brought until I specifically asked for it again, and I don't believe anyone else got any of the complimentary fresh orange or grapefruit juice that was supposed to come with their brunch orders, but perhaps they didn't request it and may not have wanted it. But really, none of that stuff bothered me very much. If the service was slow, it was certainly gracious, and we were never rushed, though we stayed until 1 o'clock. Also, the food I ordered was excellent. Here's the description on the menu: Roasted Shrimp "Ranchero" baked eggs, black beans, cheddar, avocado, flour tortillas, chipotle salsa ...16.00 The salsa didn't taste like a traditional Mexican salsa; I can't quite explain how it did taste, but like a traditional salsa roja, it was spicy, tomato-based, and good. All elements in the dish were delicious and went together well, and it was a generous though not absurd portion. I didn't get to try anyone else's dish, but everyone seemed happy with their food, except that my friend who ordered steak and eggs had to send the eggs back because she asked for them over easy and they were almost fully-cooked. The waitress was apologetic and of course replaced the eggs. Other items that were ordered were: Country Breakfast cheddar grits, English bangers, buttermilk biscuit, gravy Vanilla Bean French Toast brioche bread, creme brûlèe batter (I heard great praise for this) Jane Burger special sauce, sharp cheddar, double smoked bacon, fries (described as "the best burger I've had in a long time....This burger is really big!") And I'm pretty sure: Benedict Johnny poached eggs, house made chicken sausage, corn pancakes, roasted tomato hollandaise Since we arrived before 11, we weren't able to have any alcoholic beverages until after noon, and then, no-one chose to. I had two iced teas, and other people had coffee and so forth. Including tip, we paid $25 a person, for a total of $150. I consider that an excellent value for food of this quality, plus the great bread service. And when we walked upstairs at 1, I just couldn't believe the number of people waiting! I've never seen such a crush of waiting people at a restaurant!!! I was happy and would be glad to return, but will definitely try to again show up early, at least no later than noon. To those who recommended this place, thank you! [Edit: Source for menu information.]

Interesting remarks by Jason Perlow on his website, Off The Broiler: "I'm With Mario" Here's what I would consider the most controversial excerpt: My feeling is that no-one needs to actually know my full name -- let alone my address and telephone number -- to judge my posts, because I'm at least registered under a unique identity, and furthermore, my posts speak for themselves. To give one salient example that comes to my mind (and not with any idea of singling him out for any other purpose than an example for the sake of argument): I consider someone like Raji very credible, and I have no idea whether "Raji" is actually any part of his name or what the other part is; I've simply followed his posts, believe what he's said about himself, and believe that he is posting in good faith and with as much accuracy as he can. Why should he expose himself to wackos by posting all his personal information here, if he prefers not to?

Really? A mild taste? That's surprising. But anyway, all sorts of sweets made with durian are extremely common in Malaysia, a country that grows delicious durians.

Well, cashew fruit gives an indelible dye without any processing other than, I suppose, juicing. Fresh turmeric can be simply pounded with a mortar and pestle to give a yellow dye. Anyway, so what if there's "processing"? Any type of cooking is also "processing," in that case, isn't it?

Jamie and Malawry, I'm so sorry you have to go through chemotherapy, but of course, when facing difficult treatments, we all consider the alternative. My father took Fludarabene for stage 4 chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1996. He was literally falling apart before the chemo. Since then, he has been more or less in remission (can't call it that because of how low his platelets are, though they're adequate) ever since. Unfortunately, because he is deathly allergic to Allopuranol (sp.?), while he was on chemo, he had to drink gallons of water to wash the nucleotides of dead cells through his kidneys, and probably largely because of that, he eventually developed kidney failure -- but note that it's 11 years later, and he was able to enjoy about 9 good years before the kidneys failed. Now, he goes to dialysis three times a week and has a restrictive diet -- very low potassium, low phosphorous, low protein, low carb...essentially, low food and water. Yet he still is able to enjoy food and enjoy life. Hang in there, you two!

Thanks for your recommendations, everyone. I've settled on Jane this time. Balthazar is more expensive, and Jane's menu interests me a little more than Home's. But I'll definitely take all your suggestions into account in the future. I liked a meal I had a Craft several years ago for Restaurant Week, so the idea of Craftbar is intriguing. By the way, 11 was the only time Jane could give me for what turned out to be 9 people (the numbers may change a little, as always with groups this large).

Turmeric (yellow), beets (red), cashew fruit (blue)... ← the point is...they're processed. ← You don't have to process them to get colors from them.

I saw some recommendations of Jane in a recent Chowhound thread. How big is the place?

Thanks for your input. I guess I could make the reservation later. I definitely would call 11 o'clock brunch, though. It's breakfast/lunch, isn't it?

Turmeric (yellow), beets (red), cashew fruit (blue)...

I'm going to get reservations later today for brunch on Sunday around 11 A.M. for about 10 people. I'd rather keep the prices at or below $30/person including tip. The ability to reserve -- or, better yet, show up and get in without trouble at that time -- is essential. This is a crowd of mostly non-foodies. Would you suggest Landmarc?

I'm sorry for your loss, Linda, and I appreciate your thoughtful post. That's interesting about seratonin. I don't want people to feel bad about their weight, though. That's not my point in this thread. I just want all of us to be conscious of what we're doing to ourselves in our choices on eating and drinking, recognizing that all of us will die and you don't need to have evident risk factors to die early. We need to be aware and take responsibility for our choices, within the range of choices we actually have, recognizing that biology is destiny to some degree. And I'd add that my father was overweight for most of his life but lost a lot of weight when he had to for urgent health reasons (as I understand it, you cannot stuff yourself while on dialysis for kidney failure, if you want to decrease the risk of sudden death). So it really is possible for some people who have a clear tendency toward obesity to lose weight when sufficiently motivated. And in those cases, the question is what will be sufficiently scary to motivate us enough? I know that I haven't "reached bottom" yet, so I'm losing weight only a little, slowly, and fitfully. And now, a relevant personal confession: I ate a pint of Haagen-Dazs Rum Raisin Ice Cream last night after dinner, and I'm paying for it now. It upset my stomach and is causing reflux, in spite of my reflux medication. That's also meant that I couldn't lie down and try to sleep all night. I didn't feel a powerful compulsion to that ice cream; I chose to eat it. That was a bad choice. THESE are the kinds of things I'm talking about. I made a mistake, recognize that fact, and am taking responsibility for it.