Ocean View Accompanies Jazz Brunch at Santa Monica’s Zenzero

If you feel very lazy on a Sunday morning and also feel like eating, there’s now a new option: heading for Zenzero on Santa Monica’s Ocean Avenue for a jazz-inflected brunch.

Try to grab one of the tables on the patio overlooking Ocean Avenue and the palisades. Not only will you get a view, but you can take shelter from the full brunt of the needlessly amplified music. The three musicians--a guitarist, bassist and trombonist--are good, mind you, but in this spare contemporary space, the music bounces off the hard surfaces to sometimes ear-splitting effect. Enough said. If you bring grandma, bring some earplugs for her and everybody will be happy.

The menu is a brunch version of chef Fred Iwasaki and Zenzero’s signature East-West fusion. Which means you can order a three-egg omelet with shiitake mushrooms, or eggs Zenzero, a takeoff on eggs Benedict: house-cured gravlax, poached egg and a dab of sevruga caviar on toast. And if you’re somebody who craves sushi at 11 in the morning, you can get that too, along with calamari salad in miso vinaigrette. There’s also a Pacific bouillabaisse that I wouldn’t want to face again at that hour: The crab legs are sadly overcooked and instead of rouille, it has a runny pink mayonnaise spread on untoasted bread.

In place of muffins, the kitchen makes its own bread sticks, but they’re nothing like the skinny Italian originals. These are thoroughly American, beefed up in their dimensions, flavored with apple, cherry and--are you ready?--chocolate chip.

Kids who are wary of anything new or different may be disappointed to find there are no pancakes on the menu. I convinced the kids in my charge to try the stir-fried spicy chicken. A little less soy sauce would have made it less salty; still, they did eat some of the chicken. I think it was the idea of rolling it up in radicchio or lettuce cups with the garnishes of julienned melon and cucumber and a spicy peanut sauce that intrigued them.

But were the kiddies who had just picked at their brunch going to skip dessert? No way. Even they found these sophisticated French desserts a little sweet, though. The best is the individual apple tart entirely surrounded with caramel sauce.

After, a brisk walk along the Santa Monica Pier may be advisable.

BE THERE

Zenzero, 1535 Ocean Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 451-4455. Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Valet parking. Main dishes $9 to $33; side dishes $2.50 to $7; unlimited Champagne, add $15 per person.