FOOD : Marvelous Scones

EVERY FEW YEARS scones come back into fashion. It’s probably because of the name, which sounds so incredibly delicious. Just hearing the word conjures up a cozy tea by the fire, pots of clotted cream, bowls of wonderful berries . . . Then everybody goes out and eats scones and realizes that despite the appealing name, they don’t actually taste very good. Then scones go out of fashion.

But now they might be here to stay. The scones baked for breakfast at the new restaurant, Maple Drive, and sold in the little Maple Drive Cafe behind the restaurant, taste even better than they sound. They are rich and crumbly. They are golden in color. And they are stuffed with little bits of dried apricots that give them a particularly appealing air. They are, in a word, everything you’ve ever imagined a scone to be. And they’re only 50 cents.

Scones from the Maple Drive Cafe, 345 N. Maple Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 274-9800. Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.