Eatery With a Real Inducement

In the mid-1990s, Caioti, a Laurel Canyon restaurant, achieved a rare distinction in the industry: It was the place to dine for pregnant women whose due dates had passed. One serving of the joint’s romaine and watercress salad and, within a few hours, the mom-to-be would be in the maternity ward--or so the story went. Was it the balsamic vinegar? The power of suggestion? No one was sure.

I hadn’t thought of Caioti until I received a call the other day from a formerly pregnant woman named Anna who said the salad had lost none of its power. She was on her way to the hospital five hours after dining there, she said.

And a phone call to Caioti indicated that the eatery’s family-making reputation hadn’t lessened. “We get pregnant women coming in here to eat every day,” said cashier Leighann Ferguson. “And tons of women call us about it.”

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RASPUTINS HERE AND THERE A recent Wall Street Journal article about a Russian city’s affinity for mystics and healers was headlined: “Southern California Could Take Cues From St. Petersburg.”

The very idea of such a comparison!

St. Petersburg, after all, is the city that produced Grigori Rasputin (1871-1916), the bizarre mystic and faith healer.

On second thought, Rasputin’s daughter Maria did live out her final days in--where else?--L.A., dying in 1977.

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PANHANDLER TRENDS (CONT.): “I, too, have noticed the trend of the ‘Just Hungry’ sign,” writes Rob Scrivner of L.A. “Perhaps it’s a carry-over from Thanksgiving or the holidays to appeal to an awareness that is especially high around those times--hunger.”

As for the common sign of a few years ago--”Hell, Why Lie, I Need a Drink”--Scrivner saw a more extreme variation in Las Vegas--”Trying to Get Really Wasted.”

His all-time favorite, however, was: “Residentially Challenged.”

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CUSTOMERS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS: In the continuing series of oddball restaurant orders, Suzanne Covert-Hein of Santa Clarita recalls that when she worked as a waitress at Washington State University, “a coed ordered French fries. When I asked her, ‘Large or small,’ she looked very befuddled. She put her finger and thumb about two inches apart and said, ‘I don’t know--they’re about this big.’ ”

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WORLD’S SMALLEST CASINO? If it isn’t, the new gambling facility on Carson Street in Hawaiian Gardens comes close. It certainly ain’t the New York, New York Hotel and Casino (see dueling photos). The Hawaiian Gardens Casino, which doesn’t offer any floor shows, fireworks, or amusement park rides, does boast of five card tables in its temporary headquarters--a trailer.

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LICENSE TO KNOCK L.A.: On the subject of motorists whose vanity plates indicate they don’t know why they live here, I’m reminded that Daniel Nussbaum has written a book titled YMINLA? The text is composed entirely of vanity plates.

My favorite passage is: THA TYPICAL NWYORKR SEZ: IH8LA. UDO NOT HAV SEASONS THERE. SO UUU REACT: MAYBE. BUT IN SPTMBR DE SMOGG TURNZ BROWNE.

So many New Yorkers feel residentially challenged here.

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ROYAL MISUNDERSTANDING: When Dee Whitesides of Torrance took her mother to an open house at her company, a funny miscommunication occurred.

Outside one engineer’s office, Whitesides’ mother saw a nameplate and asked, “What nationality is that name?”

Whitesides, not bothering to look because she was acquainted with the engineer, said, “I think it’s German, Mom.” Later, her mother paused to look at the nameplate again and said, “I didn’t know Poobah was German.”

It turned out the nameplate in question said, “Grand Poobah.”

miscelLAny:

A poll published in USA Today found that, in the West, San Francisco has the highest percentage of people who went to a movie theater in the last three months--67%. L.A. (59%) ranked behind San Diego (66%), Salt Lake City (64%) and Denver (62%). Here’s my theory for L.A.’s poor record: Angelenos get their fill watching numerous movies being made in their streets--especially the ones that turn traffic into a real-life nightmare.