arkestra

i would definitely venture out of the airport if you have 7 hours. but if for some reason you end up having considerably less time, you may want to consider encounter restaurant in the old control tower at LAX. i've never been there, so i can't vouch for the quality of the food. but i'm guessing it's better than anything you'll find at any of the terminals. and the view should be great, especially as the sun sets. here is the website: encounter restaurant even if you end up leaving the airport, you can always go there for a drink. enjoy your "stay" in LA

i highly recommend mori sushi for sushi. yes, it's not cheap. however, if you want a great deal, go for lunch and order one of the sushi lunches. it's a fixed selection, so you can't make individual selections. there are 2 or 3 options, ranging in price from around $12 to around $16, and each comes with a green salad and miso soup. you can't beat it. now, if you want to go for dinner, be prepared to pay $50-75 per person. goo luck!

Tee: I wouldn't ordinarily recommend this place for a wedding present gift certificate, but your description of the couple and their food preferences made me think of Juliano's Raw restaurant in Santa Monica. The food is vegan and "raw." It's a relatively upscale place, but it definitely fits your budget. It's a nice room, but I wouldn't call it romantic. This restaurant is definitely not for everyone, but it's quite good if you're in to that kind of thing. Here is a link to the restaurant. You can check out the menu and also view some pictures of the restaurant and some of the dishes. Juliano's Raw Restaurant For some more traditional places that should fit your budget (more or less, though perhaps without wine), consider Campanile Campanile, Lucques Lucques Joes and other places that others will hopefully recommend. Good luck!

In addition to some of the good suggestions above, consider Campanile. I've never been disappointed by a meal there. Campanile

I live in California and would like to have someone overseas ship me a couple bottles of wine. Does anyone know if that is allowed? I did some quick online research and saw that California permits wine to be shipped from certain other states based on the principle of reciprocity. But I didn't find anything about shipping wine from overseas. What to do?

Toda Boaziko.

Gifted Gourmet -- Thanks for the links. I saw Daniel Rogov's article before posting the message. It seems he, too, liked the wine. bloviatrix -- Thanks for the suggestion. I've already posted on the wine board.

I posted this on the Middle East board and someone had the good sense to suggest I post it here. So here it is: I just returned from a visit to Israel. While there, I bought a bottle of Margalit "Lot 37" 2001 Cabarnet and shared it with some friends. A truly excellent wine that in my very unprofessional opinion, stacks up nicely with really good international wines. If I hadn't been traveling with my kids, I would have purchased a couple bottles to take back home. Does anyone know if there is a way to purcahse this wine for shipping to the U.S., either online or by calling the winery or a retailer in Israel?

I just returned from a visit to Israel. While there, I bought a bottle of Margalit "Lot 37" 2001 Cabarnet and shared it with some friends. A truly excellent wine that in my very unprofessional opinion, stacks up nicely with really good international wines. If I hadn't been traveling with my kids, I would have purchased a couple bottles to take back home. Does anyone know if there is a way to purcahse this wine for shipping to the U.S., either online or by calling the winery or a retailer in Israel?

Well, it's been a week since the marathon, so I wanted to post a brief report of our culinary experiences. We went to Bis Moreno on our first night (Fri.) in Vancouver. This is a serious restaurant. My wife had the "signature menu" (with some adjustments to accomodate her allergy to fish). I just told them to let the chef design a menu for me with a fair amount of pasta and no meat. We both started with the white asparagus soup with white truffle oil. This was superb. I don't remember all the dishes we had after that, except that my wife had a lobster-filled ravioli and a venison dish, while I had a penne with wild salmon dish and a trout dish. You can tell they use top-notch ingredients and everything is well prepared and not "overdone" (i.e., not too many ingredients, not too much sauce, etc.; just enough to let the great ingrediets and cooking stand out). The one complaint we both had was that several of our dishes were way too salty. In addition, I ordered an espresso after dinner and it was dreadful. The cup was filled to the very top (after I had asked for a very "short" espresso) and did not have even a trace of crema. A high end restaurant, especially an Italian one, has to do better than that. All in all, however, it was a very pleasant experience and I would definitely recommend the place. On Sunday night, after the race, we went to Parkside. This is a very nice place. We sat outside and I would definitely recommend that. It's nice to be able to dine outside on a quiet residential street. The place has a real neighborhoody feel. The food isn't quite at the level of Bis Moreno (neither are the prices), but what we had was quite good. I don't remember the precise appetizer we had, but it had eggplant, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes and a couple other things. Quite good. I had halibut with some sort of lemony crust, which was also very good. I don't remember what my wife had (that's what happens when you wait a week to report on a meal), but I know she liked it. We shared a lemon tart brulée with raspberry sorbet for desert. It was also very nice. No coffee this time. We didn't really do wine. At Bis Moreno I refrained because of the marathon, but my wife had a glass of red wine from BC. I don't remember what it was, but I tried it and it was truly excellent. I had a glass of a BC Pinot Noir at Parkside. It was ok, but nothing exceptional. All in all, a very enjoyable trip. The marathon was also fun. Perfect weather for a long run and I met my goal of breaking 4 hours, so I was happy (and tired). Thanks again for all of your recommendations. Next time we come, it'll be for a real vacation, so we should have time to try many more of them.

Can you name this wine? I'm hoping someone can help me. My wife and I just returned to Calif. from a long weekend in Vancouver. We had dinner at Bis Moreno. Because I was running the marathon on Sunday, I didn't order any wine, but my wife had a glass of a BC red wine. I tried it, not expecting much, but was very pleasantly surprised. It was, in my nonexpert opinion, an excellent wine. Unfortunately, I didn't write down any of the details. I remember only that it was a 2000 reserve of some sort and it was $16 per glass. (There were only 2 BC reds by the glass on the wine list, the other being a 2001 for $12.) Does anyone out there know what it was (and, better yet, how I can purchase a bottle or two)?

claire: shutters and casa del mar are literally across the street from each other. you can check them both out and decide at the last minute. i'm sure both are nice. i believe shutters has a more casual feel. as for getting there, take highland south to la brea, turn left on la brea and take it to the 10 fwy. take the fwy west, get off at 4th street, turn left and go to pico, then right until you can go no more. you'll be at the beach, right between shutters and casa del mar. depending on traffic, anywhere from 30 to 55 minutes. enjoy

I've never been, but I heard a while back that the restaurant at the Casa Del Mar hotel is quite good (high end). Casa del Mar From Hollywood & Highland, it'll take you about 30 minutes just to get to the closest beach.

Iron Chef Japan used the same approach. i think the article said that in the japanese version, the contestants were given the ingredient about an hour in advance. in any event, the article listed the significant advance notice in the american version as one of the differences between the two.

Flay showed much more talent and ingenuity than I gave him credit for. My future bashing will only be for his cockiness. I thought that FN did an outstanding job with ICA. A bit of tweaking will make it an excellent show. i believe i read in an L.A. Times article that, about a week before the competition, the contestants were given a very short list of potential theme ingredients and were told the theme ingredient would be one of those on the list. (i hope my memory isn't failing me.) it's a lot easier to display ingenuity/creativity when you know what's coming. in general, i think FN did everything possible to ensure that the american chefs didn't look bad.

Sorry to take this a bit off topic, but I long for Alice's Restaurant at the Malibu Pier. Though not great, the food was pretty good and the setting was beautiful, especially if you got a seat by the window. I heard they're opening a new restaurant in that space. Does anyone know anything about that?

I concur with the Wine House recommendation.

If you're talking about outdoor farmers' markets, then it's hard to beat the Wednesday Santa Monica market on Arizona, between 2nd and 4th. It is especially nice if you're looking for organics. There's a nice farmers' market at the same location on Saturdays, but it's not as big. The Hollywood farmers' market (around Ivar I believe) on Sundays is also nice. There is a farmers' market in Venice. It's a nice neighborhood option, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go to it. A for a wine store, while I'm no expert, I like Wally's on Westwood Blvd. I've always found the staff very knowledgeable, pleasant, and not overbearing. Good luck and enjoy your stay.

Vancouver Magazine just posted it's annual restaurant awards: Van. Mag. 15th Annual Rest. Awards More choices to ponder!

Beychevelle: If we do Bis Moreno, it'll be on Friday night. I agree that something simpler is better for the Sat. night before the marathon. Thanks for additional recommendations. They sound good and I'm already reading about most of them in the "Where the Bites Are" section of Vancouver Magazine that is available online. (BTW, how reliable is Van Mag as a source for good restaurants?) eatbc, thanks for the advice about Van Mag's 2004 restaurant awards. I'm eagerly waiting to see them. Yes, Granville Island is a great place. We were there during our last visit to the city. Two food items stood out in particular -- the blueberries and the concord grapes. We live in Southern California and many say Calif. has the best produce in the U.S. But we have never found such blueberries here. (That includes BC imports which are sold here). And the ones we had on Granville island were no fluke. We bought great ones at Capers and at other places in town. And the concord grapes were great. And seedless! I've never found seedless Concords here. (I talked to someone who sells nice organic Concord grapes at the local farmers' market here in Santa Monica. He didn't even know they had seedless Concords.) I just hope I don't eat too much before the run. I'll report back after the run. Thanks for all the recommendations.

Thanks for all the recommendations so far. Many places sound very promising. I've already done some internet research (hey, it beats work) and looked into Parkside (sounds great) and Bis Moreno (a real pasta possibility). Dave, thanks for the dim sum recommendation. It may sound sacreligious, but I'm not a big fan of dim sum, in part because I don't eat meat. I do, however, love to get steamed fish at Chinee restaurants. Unfortunately, my wife is allergic to fish. Any additional recommendations would be appreciated.

Hi all: My wife and I will be coming to Vancouver (from California) for a few days in early May. Although the main purpose of the trip is for me to run the marathon, we're hoping to enjoy a few good meals while we're there. So here are some of the things we're looking for: 1. Pasta: A couple of places where we can get good pasta (I need to carbo-load before the race). We're looking for some good places (quality over quantity), though nothing too formal. 2. A BC experience: Some place a little interesting for Sunday night dinner (after the marathon). Perhaps one that focuses on local/indigenous ingredients. (We were in Vancouver a year or two ago and went to Raincity Grill. The setting was very nice and I thought the food was pretty good, though the service wasn't great. Perhpas they weren't thrilled with the fact that we had our kids with us, even though they were well-behaved. Of course, that was only one visit.) 3. A nice cafe for lunch. Maybe some place that has good sandwiches/paninis. 4. Any place where I can get a good espresso. We'll be staying near Stanley Park, but we will have a car, so we can drive a little (but don't send us to Whistler). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. addendum: The kids are staying home this time. So it'll be a real vacation.

Joe's is pretty casual, especially for brunch. Anything you wear will be fine. Enjoy!

Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to find good coffee (at least of the espresso variety) in L.A. That said, here is one recommendation: Cafe Balcony -- This is a nice cafe in West L.A., about a block east of the Santa Monica/L.A. border. It's rarely too crowded and, IMHO, has a nice noncorporate "feel." They have pretty good espresso drinks and excellent coffee of the nonespresso variety. (They use vacuum coffee makers -- sometimes known as syphons -- for nonespresso coffee. The coffee tastes great and it's nice to watch them making it.) They also have a decent selection of tea. (The owners are from Taiwan, so they have an appreciation for tea). Here is their website: Cafe Balcony