Pleasing a tough customer

“WHAT, there’s no buffet?” my mother inquires plaintively.

Maybe I’ve goofed. I didn’t realize she would expect a full-on buffet for her birthday brunch at Literati II, a 7-month-old restaurant that has just added brunch on weekends.

But I should have known she’d go for the extravagant choice, every time, over something more pared down. After all, this is a woman with books stacked all over the house, clothes bursting from closets and zillions of plants crowded into her planters.

Not many people know about the brunch yet, so this inviting and surprisingly sophisticated neighborhood place is not at all crowded. Only a handful of tables inside are occupied -- and a few more outside in the narrow garden dotted with potted and flowering plants.

We have a nice sunny table, a round one, in the corner. And the friendly no-nonsense waiter is proposing mimosas, watermelon margaritas and Bellinis to start things off on a cheery note.

My mother will have a mimosa and, when it’s set down in front of her, muses that it must be named for that tree with the gorgeous yellow blossoms, because it’s exactly the same color.

“Mmm, the pecan scones sound good,” she says, and so, of course, we order some. (They are delicious.) Looking farther down the appealing one-page brunch menu, she zeros in on gravlax with poached eggs. “That sounds very exotic,” she says.

When her plate comes, she comments on how much salmon there is. “That’s a lot of food,” she says. Minutes later, I glance over to find she’s quietly polished off the silky sweet-salty salmon and the perfectly poached eggs, saving a single bite of the gravlax on toast for me. Nice of her.

My nephew thinks so much of the warm, buttery croissants that he orders a second round, along with his German pancake covered with bananas and strawberries. When it arrives, I realize this must be why our food has been taking so long. The kitchen is struggling with this pancake -- it’s not quite cooked through, it’s dense where it should be puffy and light. (He should have ordered the creamy scrambled eggs dotted with lump crabmeat, which my sister is heaping on top of buttered toast.) The Bellini, made not with white peaches but with peach schnapps, is another disappointment.

My heirloom tomato BLT with Niman Ranch bacon and aioli makes a delicious, light brunch item. And for the ravenous (i.e., my niece), you can’t do better than Literati II’s wood-grilled burger. She gets the works -- with Grafton cheddar cheese and avocado. And, of course, a side of French fries served in a bucket.

The coffee is good and strong, the atmosphere relaxed and comfortable. We’re so full we’re inclined to pass on dessert. But the waiter remembers my mother’s birthday and suggests a blueberry buckle. One, please, and forks all round. It’s something like a coffeecake stained with blueberries and arrives proudly with a tall slender candle. The ritual wish is made, the candle blown out.

And a very lovely time is had by all. Even my mother.

*

Literati II

Where: 12081 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

When: Brunch 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Full bar. Valet parking.

Cost: Brunch items, $3 to $19; sides, $4

Info: (310) 479-3400