I keep trying to figure out why the Chinese Chicken Salad served at ‘Comforts Cafe’ is so uniquely spectacular.  Well, first: as we’ve all infused, everything is location, location, location.  And this chicken salad lives in a fabulous spot in a dreamy, mythic redwood-filled community... 

In Persian, Darya means sea

I wish my comfort food was as simple as mac and cheese or ice cream with chocolate sauce and gobs of whipped cream.  But I grew up with a Persian mother and nothing makes me feel better than basmati rice with saffron; eggplant and zucchini in a tomato stew with veal; filet mignon kabobs, marinated and then grilled to perfection – the dishes that she raised me on.  Back in high school and even to this day, my friends still invite themselves over for dinner in hopes that my mother will be cooking her legendary rice served with one of her Persian stews.

But these days, when I’m in need of my ultimate comfort food, kabob koobideh (juicy ground beef kabobs) and basmati rice, I can’t quite pop into my mother’s kitchen in New Jersey since I’m currently living in L.A. Luckily, there’s Darya- this oddly glitzy but still accessible Persian restaurant in West Los Angeles that comes to the rescue when nothing else but Persian food will do.  Over the years, I’ve taken countless people there and have turned just about every Angeleno I’ve taken into a Darya addict.  So the next time, you’re feeling a little blue (or just hungry!), grab a few friends, take a long lunch or dinner, and order the feast below.

I love Brunch, but patience is not exactly my forte. What, me, wait? Yea, right. So the same way I bff'd with doormen at Saturday night clubs, I cultivated relationships with hosts at Sunday brunch spots. But like my club rat amigos, these brunch "friendships" were tenuous and their ability to skip me to the front of the reservation line often depended on what I was wearing and with whom I was planning to split my pancakes. But everything changed when I stumbled across Murano.

The sleek, all-white facade had intimidated me at first. I couldn't really just walk in there with no reservation and expect them to talk to me, let alone seat me, could I? But I couldn't have been more wrong. Although the interior is slickly designed, by owners Sandy Sachs and Robin Gans, with padded, white leather banquettes and a gazillion, as the name suggests, single-tier, Murano crystal chandeliers, the Sunday atmosphere manages to remain casual with the wait staff clad in jeans and relaxing jazz music emanating from the speakers.