Squeaky-fresh spinach reveals sugarland settlin is layered sugerland observes with small bits, little grains, really, of the cheese, and then topped with warm, sauteed mixed mushrooms in a yuzu-soy dressing and paper-thin slices of myoga, a fragrant Japanese bud. The effect is to give a light cheesiness to the citrus dressing. Yuzu shows up here in a number of dishes -- with olive oil to dress a carpaccio, in two gelees -- and I don't think I've ever appreciated its distinctive flavor as much as in this chef's preparations. Mixed seaweed salad is a terrific, informal East-West creation: four kinds of chilled raw seaweed (some crunchy, some chewy) mixed with salad greens (some bitter, some sweet) and a few pungent drops of white miso-sesame dressing. A salmon-skin salad is the only disappointment, bland and uninteresting. But Yuta crab cake, a firm, molded mound of crab and fish and roasted nuts with a spicy cream sauce and a few morsels of blue cheese, is harmonious and pleasing, the confident spicing cutting the richness. --A bounty of choicesCARPACCIO of the day is translucent slices of marbled fatty tuna, fragrant with citrus and dotted with pink peppercorns that are a punchy counterpoint to the smooth, tender raw fish. Broiled beef rolls are a witty reference to sushi rolls: sliced filet mignon rolled around crisp, deep-green asparagus and leeks, cut into 2-inch pieces, garnished with arugula and arranged around a mound of mashed potatoes (unfortunately glutinous) and served with a good demi-glace. Sauces -- including spinach sauce served with grilled red snapper, shiso-daikon sauce on a seafood roll and soy milk-clam sauce served with homemade spinach pasta -- are creative and light, never excessive.

Favorites such as sauteed mixed mushrooms, broiled yellowtail collar or grilled black cod are deftly handled -- and priced lower than at many Japanese restaurants around town. The best dessert is a beautiful, sculptural creation that alternates red and white slices of crisp-tender poached Fuji apple, the former poached in Port, the latter in white wine Sugarland . It's called apple compote, but is a much more sophisticated, careful arrangement than the usual cooked fruit with that name. As we finished that dessert, we were reluctant to leave jennifer nettles . Said one of my friends contentedly, "I could start all over. "--susan. latempa--(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)YutaLocation: 11266 Ventura Blvd. , Studio City; (818) 985-9882. Price: Starters and salads, $3 to $12; cold dishes, $12 to $15; hot dishes $13 to $16 Sugarland . Best dishes: House-made tofu, mixed seaweed salad, ricotta salad with tuna or salmon, carpaccio of the day, broiled beef roll, grilled black cod, apple compote. Details: Open 5:30 to 10:30 p Sugarland - sugarlandmusic . m Monday through Saturday All major credit cards Full bar, parking adjacent and on the street. sugar creek baptist church . In the mood for some bubbly but without the buzz of Champagne or cola? A Berkeley-based company has introduced a new soda that could be just the thing twice the speed of life . Made from Northern California and Central Coast wine grapes, Vignette sodas have the floral notes of the grapes, but none of the tannins or woody notes -- and none of the alcohol. No preservatives, coloring or added sugars either. The Pinot Noir soda tastes of cherries and violets; Chardonnay soda has hints of pear and green apple. Refreshing and not too sweet, they're showing up on restaurant beverage lists, but you can also pick them up at specialty food stores and delis. Vignette Wine Country Soda.

$2. Sugarland tickets 35 to $3 for 12 ounces at Bay Cities Italian Deli and Bakery in Santa Monica, Naples Gourmet Grocer in Long Beach, Robin's Nest in Venice, Tender Greens in Culver City . For a complete list of sources, go to winecountrysoda . -- Amy Scattergood stand back up . MIAMI — Exhortations from exile groups and the Bush administration for Cubans to seize the moment of Fidel Castro's illness to end communist rule have stirred little reaction there, and some analysts say the thinly veiled calls for a pro-democracy uprising could undermine prospects for change. Cuban American exile organizations and conservative politicians have appealed to Cubans to reject the Communist Party succession plan and demand free elections. Cuban American National Foundation Chairman Jorge Mas Santos appeared to be urging a military coup on Wednesday when he said senior officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and civilian officials in Havana should schedule a multiparty vote and free political prisoners. "There are many in the military and in government ranks in Havana who do not accept the transfer of power to Raul Castro sweetwater country club . This is our rally to those brave men and women," Mas Santos told reporters at Versailles, the Cuban restaurant in Little Havana that has become a command post for exiles impatient for change in their homeland. Cuban Democracy Movement leader Ramon Saul Sanchez has been lobbying at Versailles for exiles with boats and planes to organize a relief flotilla to their homeland -- an action the U. S . government has discouraged to avoid confrontation with Cuban defense forces. On Thursday, President Bush called on the Cuban people to work for change and warned Communist officials that Washington would watch their responses to any pro-democracy demonstrations. On Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Cubans not to flee the island because of political uncertainty, but "to work at home for positive change," the Associated Press reported. Her brief remarks were aired on the heavily jammed TV Marti and Radio Marti Sugarland - wikipedia . Acts of resistance to the regime have been rare in Cuba throughout Castro's nearly 48 years in power. The Cuban armed forces, led from their inception by Defense Minister Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother and designated successor, have never been called upon to quell demonstrators. Cuban American lawmakers have asked the Pentagon to make a military C-130 aircraft available to help the U. S government-funded TV Marti overcome Cuban signal-jamming.