BY ERIC ROSEN >LA.COM

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Every year, the same question comes up as Easter rolls around: church or brunch? Or both? We’ll leave the spiritual ramifications to you, but at least we can help you find a good place to satisfy your more worldly appetites with a roundup of special Easter brunch menus around the city.

Arclight Hollywood and Arclight Sherman Oaks

Combining the two things that LA does best—movies and brunch—Arclight is having a special $35 prix fixe (or $17.50 for the kids) Champagne Easter Brunch at its two locations. The menu will include main courses like the brioche French toast with cinnamon apples or the black bean chicken chili omelet, followed by desserts like chocolate chip bread pudding, and unlimited champagne and breakfast beverages.

Arclight Hollywood
6360 W. Sunset Blvd. between Vine and Ivar
323-464-1465

Arclight Sherman Oaks
15301 Ventura Blvd. at Sepulveda
818-501-7713




Literati 2 Brentwood (see photo, above)

This Brentwood mainstay will serve both a prix fixe breakfast ($26) and lunch ($28), as well as an Easter dinner. Breakfast items will include their famous banana bread, soft scrambled eggs with lobster, and hanger hash with poached eggs. Lunch will present classics like a roasted turkey cobb salad and a wood-grilled hamburger.

Literati 2
12081 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood
310-479-3400

Taste

At $34 per person, this brunch is the best value in town. Start with a pastry basket or the white truffle oil mac and cheese, before moving on to the crab cake benedict on brioche or the blackened Alaska salmon salad.

Taste (see right)
8454 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood
323-852-6888

Cezanne at Le Merigot

With a wide-ranging menu and child-friendly dining room, this is our most expensive option, costing $70 per adult, but it’s worth it. Starters like red and yellow gazpacho with lump crab, and baked goat cheese with prosciutto and watercress are followed by main dishes that sound almost too good to eat like the ricotta pancakes with apricot-almond conserve, or the filet mignon of free-range veal in a thyme-pinot noir reduction. Each dessert option actually comes with 2-3 petit fours like the chocolate-hazelnut jaconde, the Easter bunny chocolate cake, and the berry shortcake.

Cezanne at Le Merigot
1740 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica
310-395-9700

Café Pinot

Right in the heart of downtown, with a patio that overlooks the library, Café Pinot is offering a special brunch menu for $34 a person. The first courses include tuna tartare with yogurt mint coulis, and the garden carrot soup with honey-ginger essence. The main dishes offer both breakfast and lunch options like ricotta pancakes with Tahitian vanilla, or the pulled pork sandwich. Desserts like the chocolate fondant cake with caramel, and the almond financier cake with roasted pear coulis, are well worth the wait.

Café Pinot
700 W. 5th St., Downtown Los Angeles
213-239-6500

Campanile

Lunchspot to the power brokers of Hollywood, Campanile is also offering a special Easter brunch—a la carte, so no prix fixe breaks here. Try the sourdough pancakes, two eggs-in-a-hole in olive bread, the beef brisket hash,  or the wild mushroom quiche.

Campanile
624 S. La Brea, Los Angeles
323-938-1447



Twin Palms (see photo, above)

For an old-fashioned Easter brunch buffet at ($34.95 a person), you can’t beat this Pasadena institution. Swinging to the sounds of live jazz, you can groove your way to the carving station where you can pick up a slab of prime rib, salmon or poultry, then head over to the seafood display on your course to the omelet station. For those craving lighter options, there are six salad choices, as well as fresh fruit. Don’t miss the stocked dessert table before you head out.

Twin Palms
101 W. Green St., Pasadena
626-577-2567

Jar

Also a la carte, Jar’s brunch is a fun take on its usual nouvelle comfort food menu. You can’t go wrong with options like the lobster benedict, the corn pancakes with Vermont maple syrup, or the favorite Jar chopped salad. Leave room for a Meyer lemon tart for dessert.

Jar
8225 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood
323-655-6566

Ca Del Sole

For an Italian take on Easter Brunch, head to this new North Hollywood hotspot. For $32.95 per person, you can enjoy a full traditional menu with appetizers like deep-fried zucchini blossoms, prosciutto with pear, braesola with pine nuts, arugula and parmesan. Main dishes include pumpkin ravioli, pappardelle with braised veal, chicken Milanese, and pan-roasted Australian barramundi. For a sweet end, try the flourless chocolate-almond cake with rum-raisin gelato.

Ca Del Sole
4100 Cahuenga Blvd., Toluca Lake
818-985-4669

Saddle Peak Lodge

Splurge on the $50 prix-fixe menu at this Calabasas resort, and you’ll get fantastic options like the tomato-olive puff pastry tart and the chilled pea soup. Try the open-faced sliced leg of lamb sandwich (see photo, right) or the salmon with glazed teardrop tomatoes. Satisfy your sweet tooth with the brownie marshmallow s’more with graham cracker pudding, or the crispy meringue with berries and almonds.

Saddle Peak Lodge
419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabasas
818-222-3888

Beau Rivage

One of the best dining spots in Malibu is offering a $60 prix-fixe menu that’s sure to please fans of both surf and turf. First courses feature fare like lobster bisque with cognac, and eggplant stuffed with three cheeses. The main courses are a variety of the usual egg dishes, but also a seafood quiche, Lake Superior white fish, Florentine chicken roulade, and seafood pasta, among others. Then you can choose your own dessert from their “Sweet Table.”

Beau Rivage
26025 Pacific Coast Holiday, Malibu
310-456-5733

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--Eric Rosen