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The Beach House – 100 W. Channel Rd.; 310-454-8299. If you're wary of menu items you can't pronounce, much less spell, you'll feel right at home here with basics like rockin rock shrimp, sea scallops, and pan-seared halibut, BBQ baby back ribs and grilled maple chicken breast. Romantic dinner served nightly. $$ Border Grill – 1445 4th St.; 310-451-1655. You can never get too much of chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. It was the success of this award-winning yet playfully funky restaurant that inspired them to open Ciudad downtown. These ladies do for green corn tamales what Wolfgang Puck did for pizza, but make sure you leave room for the key lime pie. Latin American cuisine. Dinner nightly. $$ Chez Mimi – 246 Twenty Sixth St.; 310-393-0558. Enjoy French-Quebecoise cuisine served in a charming, intimate setting. Don't worry, the menu is user-friendly for the French-impaired. Be sure to try the vichyssoise and the foie de veau, or in layman's terms, calf's liver. And for dessert, the chomeur au caramel is to die for. Low-calorie and vegetarian options are also available. Open for lunch Tues-Sat. and dinner Tues-Sun. $$$. Chinois on Main – 2709 Main St.; 310-392-9025. Wolfgang Puck and Makoto Tanaka's spin on Chinese cuisine incorporates French, Japanese, Italian, and California traditions as evidenced by the whole sizzling catfish with ginger and ponzu sauce and Cantonese duck with fresh plum sauce. Barbara Lazaroff takes credit for the setting. Lunch served Wed.-Fri.11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; dinner nightly. $$$ Drago – 2628 Wilshire Blvd.; 310-828-1585. "Celestial" Celestino Drago presents casual Sicilian fare in this elegant yet unpretentious and often bustling flagship of his four beloved restaurants.Open daily for dinner; lunch weekdays. $$$ Eurochow – 1099 Westwood Blvd.; 310-209-0066. Welcome to the white wonder dome, where you can try four different menus featuring Chinese and Italian cuisine amidst a 25-foot high white marble obelisk, a Venetianesque bridge, and the artwork of the renaissance man Mr. Michael Chow himself and Andy Warhol, to "name-drop" just two. Open daily 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. $$$ Maui Beach Café – 1019 Westwood Blvd.; 310-209-0494. The food here not only tastes good, it's good for you. Chef Mako Segawa-Gonzales, a native son of Hawaii, uses fresh Hawaiian fish and tropical produce in his creations such as ginger-seared ahi and passion honey brie. Bursting with more fruit flavors are the smoothies with enticing names like Sweet Leilani and Berry Paradise. It's authentic places like this that define west-coast living. Open daily at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and dinner. $$ One Pico Shutters at the Beach – 1 Pico Blvd.; 310-587-1717. With a view of the ocean and a cozy fireplace, who needs to eat? People who peruse the appetizing menu here, that's who. Whether indulging in Maryland crab Benedict for breakfast, mushroom ravioli for lunch, or Moroccan spiced rack of lamb with couscous and Japanese eggplant for dinner, you're sure to enjoy the servings as well as the setting. $$$ Rix – 1413 Fifth St.; 310-656-9688. Take a supper club from the days of yore and throw in a hip dash of glamour, and you're puttin' on the Rix. Enjoy your New York steak Delmonico or grilled Atlantic salmon followed by white chocolate hazelnut opera cake. Open for dinner Mon.-Sat. $$$ Voda – 1449 2nd St.; 310-394-9774. So much vodka, so little time. It would take a few return trips to sample the 50-plus vodkas at this mostly caviar bar. Buffet and sit-down menus are also available featuring blackened chicken with citrus salsa, penne with fresh broccoli in a creamy garlic sauce, and warm banana-cinnamon tart. Dinner Tues.-Sun. $$$
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