If You Love a Mystery

John Mitchell’s Pasadena bookstore, Mitchell Books, specializes in mysteries and has about 5,000 titles in stock. Mitchell says he has read about 1,200 mysteries; here are some of his favorites:

“The Chill” by Ross MacDonald. “A true whodunit. MacDonald gives you every clue, and at the end you’re still wrong. Everyone is.”

“The Lady in the Lake” by Raymond Chandler. “The California setting is fantastic.”

“The High Window” by Raymond Chandler. “He used a Pasadena background, which pleased me.”

“The Problem of the Wire Cage” by John D. Carr. “One of the best ‘locked room’ mysteries--stories in which the crime appears to be impossible to commit, which makes the solution even more intriguing.”

“Bullet for a Star” by Stuart Kaminsky. “Best humorous mystery.”

Pizza Man

Ed LaDou is one of the innovators of California-style pizza, which has a few toppings with distinct flavors. He opened Prego in San Francisco for Spectrum Foods, then was lured away by Wolfgang Puck to work at Spago. Since then, LaDou has been a partner and consultant at California Pizza Kitchen in Beverly Hills and is soon to open Paxis in Hollywood--also a pizza place. These are his favorite places to eat pizza in Los Angeles:

Angeli, Los Angeles. “Traditional-style pizza. Great crust. I like the Margarita pizza, which is just tomatoes and basil.”

Cafe Roma, Beverly Hills. “Again, wonderful crust on a traditional pizza. A really refined Italian-style pizza.”

California Pizza Kitchen, Beverly Hills. “I still love the barbecued-chicken pizza, which is probably going to be the most copied dish in the United States. It has chicken, red onions, cilantro and smoked Gouda cheese.”

Parkway Grill, Pasadena. “The best is a Cajun-style pizza.” (Not on the regular menu, but offered occasionally.)

Spago, West Hollywood. “The quality and consistency of the pizza is outstanding. I love the duck sausage pizza.”

The Oyster Is Their World

Chloe Ross, is a restaurant consultant and co-founder of LA ala Carte, a gourmet newsletter, and FOODSOURCE, a hot line that dispenses information on menus, cooking schools and caterers. Her special weakness is oysters. These are her favorite places to satisfy the oyster urge:

Oysters on the half shell at 72 Market St., Venice. “I love eating oysters where you can smell the ocean--and I love Dudley Moore’s music.” (Moore, one of the restaurant’s owners, occasionally plays the piano there.)

Oysters with Ponzu sauce at Japon, West Hollywood. “I love the special Oriental sauce, made of lemon, soy sauce and vinegar.”

Belon oysters at Brasserie Flo in Paris. “I won a bet by eating 36 for dessert--and it wasn’t nearly enough. Just plain, on the half shell.”

Oyster stew at Musso & Frank Grill, Hollywood. “Nothing tastes better than heavy cream, butter and oysters. Expensive for soup, but worth it.”