[Jacaranda]

My three LA recommendations are:

• John O'Groats at 10516 W Pico Blvd; everything a family-run restaurant should be - efficient, clean and welcoming, with tasty, freshly-prepared food. It offers every breakfast dish anyone could ever imagine, served by solicitous waiting staff in a quirky, home-decorated restaurant. It's a success (dozens of customers waiting in line outside on weekend mornings) not because it offers haute cuisine, or a ground-breaking style of service or food preparation, but because it's brilliantly managed and its food is good.
• Sweet Lady Jane at 8360 Melrose Ave; bakery heaven. If you enjoy pastries, and can purloin one of the tiny tables at this bakery, I strongly recommend afternoon coffee and a cake. Choose from one of the dozens - literally - on display, from Chocolate Mocha Praline to Cherry Pie. Delightful, friendly staff.
• Moonshadows at 20356 West Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. Make a reservation well in advance and lounge luxuriously on a divan at a prized outside deck table, or sit inside and feel the waves crashing on the rocks underneath this wonderful fish restaurant. Not just built on the beachfront, but overhanging the sea. A delicious and imaginative contemporary menu - strongly recommended.