Mom’s Day Off

As Mother’s Day approaches, do you wonder whether there might be some better way to honor the lady in question than by taking her out to dinner?

Fahgedaboudit. Mothers make it their job to make sure their children eat well, so what better way to honor mother than to give her the opportunity to practice what she preaches? Chefs from one end of the Valley to the other will outdo themselves Sunday to help you out.

At the Greek Bistro (17337 Ventura Blvd., Encino, 818-789-2888), the Mother’s Day special consists of a three-item appetizer plate, a salad or cup of soup, and either baked chicken in a lemon and oregano sauce or salmon in a white wine sauce with lemon and capers, plus baklava or vanilla custard pie for dessert. Price is $24.95.

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At Bistro Garden at Coldwater (12950 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, 818-501-0202), the $32 prix fixe brunch menu includes four appetizers, seven entrees and three desserts. Among appetizers is a classic French dish--Anjou pears poached in red wine. Entrees include cold poached salmon with dill cucumbers, poached halibut with a lobster tarragon sauce, and grilled chicken with mushrooms, artichoke hearts and buffalo mozzarella.

Of course, your mother cooked every one of those dishes, didn’t she? At least once a week.

And she had no trouble whipping together such things as appear on the restaurant’s dinner menu--again seven choices in all, including roast pork loin with sweet potatoes and caramelized onions, rack of veal with apricot raisin sauce and a puree of celery root, and white salmon in a chardonnay sauce with braised fennel. The price is $47 per person.

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Mi Piace (801 W. San Fernando Road, Burbank, 818-843-1111) offers a similar variety--four appetizers, seven entrees. Among the former: oysters on the half shell with black caviar and cocktail shrimp. Among the latter: a roast salmon filet with asparagus and saffron Maui onion in sweet carrot chervil sauce; fettuccine with lobster, scallops, fennel, spinach and sweet onions in dill sauce; and a filet mignon with pearl onions, cherry tomatoes, crimini mushrooms and Yukon potato risotto.

Prices range from $9.95 to $22.95.

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At the Moonlight supper club (13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 818-788-2200), the Mother’s Day brunch menu ranges from cold seafood salad remoulade to hot Virginia ham with a black currant sauce, New England seafood Newburg, and leg of lamb with a spinach stuffing and an English mint sauce. The prix fixe price is $17.95 for adults, $8.95 for children.

The supper club will serve from its regular dinner menu Sunday night. Owner Lenetta Kidd will perform during brunch and dinner with her Palm Beach Trio.

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* Juan Hovey writes about the restaurant scene in the San Fernando Valley and outlying points. Call (805) 492-7909, fax (805) 492-5139 or e-mail JHovey@compuserve.com.