Cozy neighborhood eateries and scenic drives for ‘Big Love’s’ Mireille Enos

Mireille Enos came to Hollywood looking for an acting gig, and it wasn’t long before she nabbed a dual role on HBO’s “Big Love.”

But the 10 years she had spent in New York also gave her a love of the theater, where she earned a Tony nod in 2005 for a Broadway run in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Now she’s stretching those stage chops again at the Geffen Playhouse in “The Female of the Species,” with Annette Bening, David Arquette and Julian Sands. It’s in previews now and is scheduled to run through March 14.

It might seem as if Enos, married to actor Alan Ruck (Stuart Bondek on “Spin City”), spends all her waking moments working, but she’s about to tell us otherwise.

Loving Los Feliz

My husband and I live in Los Feliz, and we tend to stay in the neighborhood. On Fridays we like to keep it nice and mellow, so we might stop by Video Journeys, which has all these classic and foreign films that you can’t always find everywhere. Then we’ll stop off at Tantra Sunset in Silver Lake for some Indian take-out, probably the chicken tikka Marsala that we love.

Or we’ll go to Tomato Pie just around the corner for the best N.Y.-style pizza in L.A. Alan likes the pepperoni, and my favorite is called the Grandma, which is just tomato, basil and fresh garlic. So delicious.

A lethal lady

On Saturday I’ve got taekwondo, so I’ll have some toast or waffles with peanut butter for energy and then head up to Beverly Hills Martial Arts Center. Master Kim is tremendous, a world champion; I’ve been doing it for 3 1/2 years now.

Then I’ll go home, shower, grab my husband and go to lunch at this little stand on Hillhurst called Yuca’s. It’s a tiny place with only a couple of tables, but they have the most delicious tacos. I love the carnitas.

After lunch, we love going to this wonderful old movie theater called the Vista. Everything about the theater is great except that they serve Pepsi and I’m a Coca-Cola girl. So we’ll go to Vons across the street, buy Cokes and sneak them in. We call it “rogue soda.”

Later that night, if we want to stay really local, we’ll go to Blair’s on Rowena. They manage to make it feel like just a little neighborhood place even though they’re serving the most excellent food. Maybe the best crab cakes ever. And for a side, they have fantastic baby carrots and yams with crème fraîche. But if we don’t mind traveling, we’ll go to a place in Arcadia called Din Tai Fung. You get your green tea and their famous dumplings and it’s awesome.

A sunny Sunday

For Sunday brunch we’ll head to Alcove on Hillhurst. It has beautiful outdoor seating in the courtyard and wonderful food too. I don’t drink coffee, but my husband loves it there. I really like the salmon stack with potato pancakes.

After that, we’ll maybe pick a neighborhood that we’re unfamiliar with and drive around and go to some open houses, or we’ll head into Ventura County and drive through the orange groves. We just love to drive.

mark sachs@latimes.com