stop in at Cut , Wolfgang Puck's latest restaurant, in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. I know I can't afford it, so I wasn't going to eat there, but I've heard it's great looking.

I got this e-mail back from him:

In Los Angeles, forget CUT and run, run, run to Pizza Mozza. It's fabulous, everyone's going there -- and it won't break anyone's budget.

Luckily, I had already made a reservation because one of the owners of Pizzeria Mozza also owns Campanile and, more importantly, La Brea Bakery. I LOVE La Brea's sourdough bread, and, no, it doesn't taste anything like what you get here under that name.

Even two weeks ago the only reservation I could get at Mozza was Monday at 5 p.m. That was OK with me, because it gives me a chance to get a nap in after dinner before I get on the red eye back to Baltimore. Amazingly, when my brother decided to join us last weekend, we couldn't change the reservation from two people to three at 5 p.m. It's that hot.

I'll be posting about some of my meals in LA. Why should you care? Because whatever's happening there will be making its way east soon enough. I still remember in the early '90s being told by a venture capitalist that the hot new thing in California was wraps, and they would hit Baltimore one day.

I just laughed at him.