WHY Not that you’d regret shelling out for dinner, but the best deal in town is lunch at Joe’s, where for $19 you get a superb three-course meal—perhaps parsnip-fennel soup, shrimp risotto-sofrito and chocolate crunch cake. Great brunch, too.

WHAT Before Abbot Kinney was the coolest place in L.A., Joe Miller gambled and opened a tiny restaurant there. His first-rate cooking and the warmth of the handsome little place paid off; he expanded into a neighboring space and watched the neighborhood gentrify around him. This still-young chef now ranks as a Venice old-timer, respected for the excellence of his food, which is served with skill in this clean-lined, California-elegant bistro.

WHO Very attractive middle-aged surfers, clothing designers and software developers.