Duke's

I never go into this place without having some sort of experience. Last time it was meeting an older man who kept insisting that I should let him buy me a friendly dinner and that I should go hang out in Pasadena to meet a man -- after all that's where all the cute, non-pretentious guys who run after normal gals like me hang out in L.A., right? I wouldn't know. I've still only been there once and I was running a 5K around the Rose Bowl. It was hot at 8 a.m.

Back to Duke's. This is a great place to go if you're sunburnt and still want to be by the ocean, if you want to meet someone interesting, or if you just want that tiki bar feel. The outdoor bar is "barefoot"--your toes are in the sand--but I hear that the views aren't that great. If you sit inside at the bar the windows are usually open and you get a higher up view of the horizon and the monstrous waves that crash in on this part of the Pacific Coast Highway. Definitely parent-friendly.

This particular time I sat down next to a pair that I thought were dating but turned out to be friends. They were fun. The guy had chest hair like Austin Powers and was for whatever reason showing it off with an unbuttoned shirt. He later tried to bite my shoulder; I think he was just testing his boundaries and found them.

Dukes has a great Heffeweissen on tap and I've heard people rave about their girly drinks. They sure do look pretty. Even some guys drink them in front of the always attractive waitresses in white tank tops (ladies, there's so much to look at, they're easy to ignore). It's a bit of a drive home for me so I always stick to beer. I've had the salad with shrimp and crab. Huge and wonderful. This time I had an interesting albacore tuna appetizer. It was positioned around a small bed of rice and glazed with a rich sauce. I think I've found my perfect Duke's snack.

The lowdown: It doesn't get better than beer, the ocean, and not-overly priced meals. If you're really hungry, order the nachos and plan to split them with at least one other person (two or three if you want the waitress to clear an empty plate).

Terried

I've been to this place at Federal and Santa Monica many times before. So good. So fun. So interesting. If you're not at the sushi bar and are not a party of 8, you'll likely be sharing a table with others. I must admit, the place doesn't look all that nice, but just look at the people waiting inside the door and understand that following their lead is probably a good idea.

Tonight I tried to sauteed mushrooms. Very fresh. This place has great cooked dishes--one of my favorites is the sauteed squid -- a whole new way to experience calamari.

But onto the real stuff: Halibut sushi -- why did I think this was a good idea? A little tough. Albacore w/ garlic sauce melted in my mouth--the garlic sauce had just the right touch (though nothing matches that delicate albacore from En). Yellowtail sushi OK. Scallop roll had just the right amount of mayo and I really did enjoy it.

All in all, great place. Go here for intersting cooked dishes with sushi on the side (I always make the mistake of over-ordering sushi!). Overall, very full and happy for $30.

Chin Chin

Located in fabulous Brentwood with second-story outdoor seating (i.e. away from traffic), this is a wonderful Friday getaway.

The last time this group went, we got a bunch of different appetizers -- almost all were good. This time I got a chicken salad -- great ginger dressing and just enough of the fried tortillas (I'm sure this is not the appropriate thing to call them) to make the salad engage your naughtier side.

The chop sticks are strange and plastic and difficult to use. The crab wontons lack the goo-iness that typically make them so good. The atmosphere is perfect for lounging, but be prepared to lounge. Service on the patio can be a little slow. Remember to order chocolate-covered fortune cookies for desert.

FYI -- it also looks like they have a decent 4-7 happy hour.

Wahoo's

This review is long overdue. I go to this place at least twice per week for lunch. I am boring and always get the same thing: one enchilada with green sauce and extra green sauce, white beans. The fillings I mix up a bit, but it's mostly fish. This from someone who declined to go into this place for 6 months because she couldn't imagine eating a fish taco from Taco Bell! The green sauce is great and keeps me going back. I still haven't been asked to get a put a polaroid picture on the wall...if I wasn't an addict to that darn green sauce I might stop going back out of spite! Well, they also have Mountain Dew, which lately I've been needing more than I should.

The service is also great. Even though it's like fast food, someone brings your food to the table and will bring you anything else you want. Everyone is so pleasant for such a basic place like this.

If you're going for lunch on a weekday, get there before 12:15 or be ready to wait in a long line.

There are a ton of other tings to order here. My meal of choice is huge and cheap. I hear the burritos are good. I had one bowl and it was mostly rice, but I don't think I had quite understood how to order so maybe I missed an option. This place just gets better with time. Go and experiment often. They take special orders. Yes--get the green sauce on ANYTHING!

Chez Jay

I was introduced to this place during a party after the party after a sales meeting. The sales people loved it, but our group was rather large and for whatever reason we didn't end up staying. Keep reading and you'll begin to understand why.

So this afternoon, as I was driving from the beach toward Main Street just hoping to find a parking spot, I passed Chez Jay and decided Main Street could wait. An easy parking spot made this an easy decision.

My first thought when I walked in was that this was a place for regulars. I didn't know how right I was! This place turned out to be THE *dive* bar for Santa Monicans and, so I was told, various actors and other *important* people. I was passed over for a drink once and then the sweet, cute, but married (sigh) bartender asked me what I would have to drink "my love"--yes, "my love", said not once, but several times in all sorts of odd ways: how's the scampi, my love; would you like another drink, my love; here you go , my love; my love, how are you doing?; thank you very much, my love. This pervasive over-endearment was followed up by a little too much gratitude at a 20% tip, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I messed around with the menu for awhile while sipping my Hefewiessen. A little more high-end than I expected given the atmosphere. I decided on the shrimp scampi at the recommendation of the older gentlemen to my right. It must have been my lucky day: he gave me the inside scoop on this place, mistook me for a tourist who was being mistreated, mistook me for a Londoner, grabbed me a second beer when the bartender made a mistake, and had that comfortable grand-father feeling about him. For whatever reason, he took it as his duty to make me feel comfortable and should be given many free drinks for the positive nature of this review (then again, Chez Jay does not seem to be a place that necessarily wants nice reviews). He sat eating free peanuts--yes free peanuts with shells on the floor at a place where you can order shrimp scampi and filet mignon and no burgers. Back to the scampi--wonderful shrimp though slightly overdone. So-so vegetables and what seemed to be instant rice. The clam chowder was good.

A bonus: I was given a taste of red-headed slut (a drink with Jag in it). Strangely enough, this was given to me after the bartender said "who's all in here" to himself while deciding how much extra to mix together. This was one of those events you could analzye for hours and not have a satisfactory answer. I've given up. Maybe I'll go back again and try to figure it out.

My recommendation: No one who lives near Santa Monica should die without checking this place out. But don't come here on a first date and don't come with high expectations. If you're set on eating, make a reservation. Be ready to be treated like shit if it's at all busy. Every person that came in was asked if they had a reservation (I overheard that there was only ONE reservation for the evening). Everyone was made to feel guilty that they hadn't made one. All four booths were marked reserved. You will not be seated until you're entire party arrives and the bar is a little small, so you can't be guaranteed a spot. You will not be allowed to have drinks at a table. Even one person who dropped a name was treated the same. This was my experience--well, not so much experience as what I witnessed. Maybe the lone waiter and bartender have a way of sniffing out something I'm not aware of. Maybe I passed. I was treated well myself. And, out of fairness, I should point out that their wesbite claims equal treatment for all.

Dolores

This greasy breakfast place / family diner is like a home away from home in L.A. It's on Santa Monica, just West of the 405.

I went there with a friend. Hungover from a night of poker and still half in the clothes I had slept in the night before. The most wonderful thing about this place was that the waitress was so nice! "How can I help you darlin'?". "More coffee?" "How's the food?" And all of this not in some "You're-hung-over-and-I'm-not" attitude (which, for some reason, I was expecting), but with at least faked sincerity. We were given a booth big enough for 5 and our coffee cups were always full.

The food? OK. Good eggs. Decent bacon. Definitely not the best has browns (more potato-y than fried). You could get a bagel instead of toast (my, my!). The omeletes looked great, but I had a need for plain old eggs. Of course, in perfect California style, avacados could be added to any dish of your choosing.

En

I gave up going to this place for dinner a few months back when I discovered the three other sushi restaurants near Santa Monica and Barry --all of which are much cheaper and still very good. But last Sunday, California Roll was closed and I was in pre-race mode. Raw fish and rice is my way of carb loading before running.

En has a great bar. I hear there's a great Friday after-work crowd, but somehow I never make it (Q's and Cabo are just to close to work). I ordered the endame -- regretful mix of good and bad. Some a nice fresh bright green; others were almost yellow. Still fairly good. I can't remember the roll I ordered, but it was tightly packed, small, and basically good. This is the place where I fell in love with the salmon cream cheese mix (and California Roll is where I indulge that love two times over on a regular basis).

This dinner was not all just so-so. The albacore sushi was to die for. So, so good. And still on the after-glow of eating a pound of freshly-caught albacore in two sittings, this is saying a lot. I enjoyed it so much that I ordered it again when the "light spicy" tuna roll failed to meet my high expectations -- expectations that only sushi chef at Isshin has yet to conquer. Many thanks to the gracious bartender Pete and my poker buddies for poking me in the ribs about it over and over.

Oh, and for someone who is NOT picky about wines, the house chardonnay is HORRIBLE. Go for the good stuff or pick a different drink.

Monsoon

An escape from the Third Street Promenade and right across the street from the Barnes and Nobel, this restaurant has a happy hour that rocks! So much so that I went twice during the 4th of July weekend.

During happy hour, glasses of house wine are $2.50 (decent wine, but then again I'm not all that picky) and beers are $3. You can get an odd assortment of rolls and other sushi-ish goods for$3-4. You must try baked scallop dynamite dish--so not healthy, but very rich. The tuna/salmon/albacore roll is good and I actually enjoyed the California roll. In an odd turn of events the cucumber tastes good here (not usually a fan) -- it's really fresh just like the endame, which has some interesting spices on top of the salt, making it very tasty!

My one gripe, tables outside are to be had by first-come, first-serve--meaning you have to hover around people eating to grab a table. But if you're as lucky as I was on Monday, they'll be some wonderful guy playing Simon and Garfunkel and Jack Johnson songs while you soak in the good food and spirits. Or grab a seat at the tiki-looking bar.

Sunnin

On Westwood, near Santa Monica.

This is now the second time I've had the chicken shwarma. The rice is soft and flavorful. The chicken is delish. The regular salad is decent, but you can substitute the tabouli, which is awesome! And, you absolutely cannot forget to order extra garlic sauce. You will love it and then you will burp it up for days. It's light and fluffy and tastes good on everything on your styrofoam plate (yes, in this place you get plastic utensils and no alcohol; great carryout).

And treat yourself to the hummus.

It's all too good for words.