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Yes, that's a tree in the middle of the dining room. It's kind of awkward but pretty.

I’ve had a hard time lately with eating out. Not because I don’t like to eat — obviously I do — but because it’s been a while since I’ve really been wowed by a meal. Sure, I’ve had great parts of meals, but an entire meal that’s knock-your-socks-off good is hard to come by.

So when a bunch of us foodies (Esther of e*starLA, Caroline of Caroline on Crack, Diana of Diana Takes a Bite, and Lindsay and Sam of LAist) got together for a leisurely Sunday brunch — on our own dime, thank you very much — at Tavern in Brentwood, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had high expectations because I had heard good things about this latest Goin-Styne collaboration, but I was also afraid it was going to be all hype.

Hype it’s not. Tavern, at least its brunch menu, is amazing. I truly enjoyed this meal.

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Just opened:

• Tavern From Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne (AOC, Lucques, Hungry Cat) comes the ladies’ newest creation, a restaurant/lounge/marketplace, in Brentwood. Yes, it did open today. I called.

• Pourtal A high-tech wine bar in Santa Monica, Pourtal offers wine via preloaded punch cards and electronic dispensers. Fancy.

To open in the near future:

• Trader Vic’s The Beverly Hills institution moves downtown to L.A. Live. Scheduled to open Saturday, May 2.

• La Grande Orange Cafe The Santa Monica location is scheduled to open May 7. Food being tested and staff being trained, according to tweets from @LaGrandeOrange. Pizza will be added to the menu at the new location, with Pasadena getting pizza some time this fall.

• Playhouse and Sweet Love Hangover The nightclub/24-hour restaurant taking over the Fox Theater space on Hollywood Boulevard is now slated to open June 11. We’ll see. This is like the third or fourth time the opening date has been pushed back.