How Far Does a Guy Have to Walk in This Burg to Get a Cup of Latte?

In the three-block Santa Monica Mall, we can find only 14 places that serve espresso, not counting espresso shops in the Santa Monica Place building or the cappuccino machine in the back of Penny Lane. We must have missed some.

Adios, Pink and Green Papier-Mache Donkeys

Starting on Monday, you’ll be able to get a pinata made from chocolate and shaped like a giant, 16-inch-high Hershey’s Kiss. It can be ordered either empty (“ready to fill”) or filled with regular-size chocolate kisses. Price: $10, at party stores or from Pinata Party, 1122-B East 17th St., Santa Ana, Calif. (714) 542-9888.

America on $5 a Meal

Marcie Rothman, whose budget cooking column appears occasionally in these pages, has collected more than 100 of her recipes--not quite all-American, not quite ethnic, all tight with a penny--together with boiled wisdom on strategic shopping, maintaining a cupboard and overcoming the fear of cooking in “The $5 Chef: How to Save Cash & Cook Fast,” which will be in the bookstores in late March. It’s currently available for (of course) $5, plus $2 shipping, from Five-Spot Press, P.O. 4559, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95402-4559.

Visit Sunny, Sophisticated Yuba City

In England, the California Prune Board has announced a California Cuisine Cook of the Year competition “to emulate the California lifestyle and reflect the repertoire of light, colourful and fashionably sophisticated recipes from the sunshine State of the West Coast.” The prize: a two-week holiday in California and an opportunity to visit the prune capital of the world, Yuba City.

Dessert Storm

In a rare public appearance, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf will provide the keynote address for the 73rd National Restaurant Assn. Restaurant and Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago on Sunday, May 17.