Venice

Abbot Kinney's exquisite tea garden and pastry shop resides right next to Aragon Ct. Jin offers an exceptional selection of teas and signature truffles, as well as a delectable food menu. The quaint spot is an ideal location for baby showers, bridal showers, and Mother's Day celebrations.

La Cabaña

This easy-to-find Mexican restaurant is just west of Lincoln Blvd. Great food in large quantities. Burritos start at $4, with most other entrees priced between $6 and $12 and margaritas available for about $6 more.

Located right next to the beach and a short walk from the Venice Pier, C&O Trattoria is a popular spot for casual dining as well as large birthday parties. This Northern Italian seafood restaurant features an indoor seating area and a patio, with menu items available in either "individual" or "gargantuan" portions for family-style meals. The wait staff is friendly, and every night during dinner hours, activity temporarily pauses for a restaurant-wide singalong of Dean Martin's "That's Amore," during which servers roam around and toast with the diners. The atmosphere is comfortable and fun, and their garlic balls are famous. Prices range from $5-10 for "individual" sized dinner antipasti to $15-20 for "gargantuan" sized entrees.

Primitivo Wine Bistro

Primitivo is a Mediterranean tapas restaurant with a large wine selection. Dark scenery and a large outdoor seating area in back. Moderately pricey, but the food is delicious. Try the bacon wrapped dates.

Built in a retired firehouse, this restaurant/bar offers all manner of breakfasts, sandwiches, and other meals from a "healthy" and "less healthy" set of menu selections. Weight lifters from Venice Beach gorge themselves on egg whites, chicken breasts, broccoli and tofu, while the rest of the population has a variety of sandwiches and breakfast items to choose from. The ambiance is fun, the food is decent, and prices are reasonable.

Serves lunch on weekends from 11:30 until 2:30, and dinner daily after 5:30. The sushi is reasonably good and not outrageously priced, but the love-it-or-hate-it feature of this restaurant is the numerous screens scattered around the eating area showing everything from sports to 1950's surfer flicks. For some this provides a unique atmosphere, while those with attention deficit issues may not be able to focus on just one thing for days afterward.

Piccolo Ristorante

High end, authentic, Italian food in a street alley of the beach in Venice this is one of the hidden gems of Westside eating, the area itself is a little rough around the edges though so be careful at night.

Wabi-Sabi

As its hip Abbot Kinney location demands, Wabi-Sabi doesn't easily fit one mold, offering good but pricey! sushi as well as Asian-fusion cuisine. The menu includes everything from sushi to beef dishes to pumpkin dishes. The wait can be long on weekends.

Joe's

Joe's offers gourmet California/French cuisine in an elegant setting. Quiet, not overly crowded, and laid back, the chefs will probably stop by to say hello during your meal, and waiters will be more than happy to allow you to sample the wines before ordering. There are fixed-price dinners for $50 to $70 per person, or entrees can be purchased for $20 to $35. An extensive wine list offers bottles from the $30 to $500 range.