BRUNCH: ALL YOU CAN EAT : <i> The Southland Is Filled With Incredible Spreads</i>

Brunch was invented in the 1890s by college students in need of a substantial meal when they staggered out of bed after late-night study sessions. Nearly a hundred years later, Sunday brunch has become a mainstay of American life, a traditional way to celebrate weddings, graduations and family holiday gatherings.

Nowhere will you find more abundant brunches than here in the Southland. If you want to take the family out for the holidays, you’ll find many opulent options. Some restaurants offer a la carte entrees (the renowned Hotel Bel-Air brunch, for example). But buffets have endless tables filled with food, unlimited champagne and fixed prices (most places offer substantially lower prices for children). Let’s concentrate on these.

You’ll find that omelets are made to order with cheese, meat, vegetables and seafood. Most buffets also offer steam tables with eggs Benedict and often blintzes. There are also bacon and sausage, potatoes and sometimes tomatoes usually put in an appearance. Made-to-order waffles are a highlight everywhere, especially the thick “Belgian� style; do demand freshly-made waffles and pancakes, unless you happen to prefer them cool, dry and crispy.

In the face of this largess, few people in the breakfast mode seem interested in bread, rolls or muffins. However, bagels are de rigueur , accompanied by the ubiquitous cream cheese and smoked salmon. You will often find whitefish and herring too.

Want lunch instead of breakfast? You’ll find cold pasta, vegetables and vegetable salads. Often there are cold cuts. And then there are the hot dishes--traditional American (and often Asian) vegetable dishes, sitting next to chicken, fish and seafood entrees. All these buffets have great roasts of beef complete with chefs, knives in hand, ready to carve off a choice slice. The more excessive buffets proudly display turkey, ham or lamb as well.

Desserts, I found, vary greatly in quantity and quality from buffet to buffet. Fruit and cheese is always available, and there are almost always chocolate-dipped strawberries, bread pudding and a creme caramel or a flan.

But before you pick up your plate and decide what to choose from these incredible spreads, you have to decide how far you want to drive and how much you want to spend. Pick your setting, and above all, be sure to reserve in advance.

At Santa Barbara’s Biltmore Hotel, the setting--flower-bordered paths and a thick, green lawn a stone’s throw from the beach--is the highlight. Seating areas for brunch include a covered terrace, a more formal indoor dining room and an open veranda. The food, however, was less attractive than the setting. There was plenty of food and an astonishing number of desserts, but while every dish I tasted was all right, not a single one was fine. The Kriter Extra Leger blanc de blancs was definitely not memorable.

If you feel inclined for a drive to Santa Barbara, that city’s most outstanding champagne-included buffet brunch is at Michael’s Waterside Inn. Service, ambient music and well-flavored dishes create a luxuriously relaxed brunch atmosphere, subdued without being oppressively formal. If you’re seated in the right place, there is even a view of the wildlife sanctuary across the street. It is easy to come into this cozy room (it has the air of a French sitting room) in the morning and simply linger into the afternoon.

Here in Los Angeles the Westwood Marquis, which is well known for its brunch, offers ambitious food in its Garden Terrace Room. The select clientele tend to dress up for the formal atmosphere. Everything from the buffet tasted good, and my companion was particularly thrilled when he encountered the lobster tail and learned that Domaine Chandon champagne was being served.

But something was missing. I didn’t figure out what until I saw the buffets at Le Bel Age and the Sheraton Premiere: presentation. Le Bel Age has an outstanding visual style in the preparation and composition of its food. The Sheraton Premiere is especially notable for the arrangements on the four-sided buffet. These are enhanced by the vast airy space overhead. Happily, everything I tried at both Le Bel Age and the Sheraton Premiere tasted as good as it looked. Desserts at both were delightful.

At Casola’s Fish House in Marina Del Rey, tables by the long window area look out directly on the marina so you can watch the boats coming and going. The food is adequate--with a few bonuses. There are free shots of iced Stolichnaya in the buffet’s seafood section, and when you order coffee you get chocolate chips and whipped cream as well.

Comparable food is found at RJ’s in Beverly Hills (which is linked to the Malibu Sea Lion, which also serves Sunday brunch). At the Beverly Hills restaurant, you get abundance at a crowd-pleasing price. Everything from omelets and scampi to coffee and waffles is fresh and made-to-order. Beware, however, of being stuck in the room upstairs: It’s rather far from the buffet and you might not make enough trips back to try everything you wanted. The customers are as friendly as the employees and everybody seems to be having a wonderful time.

And a good time is what you want when you go out for one of these elaborate brunches. Sadly, this doesn’t seem possible at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel’s El Padrino Room, or deep in the Valley at Mission Hills’ L.G.T. Vegas. Both were highly recommended to me, but I found their food disappointing. Everything served in the British-hunt decor of the El Padrino Room lacked finesse. And at L.G.T. Vegas, even the dim, Vegas-y decor couldn’t enhance the food: Nothing there had any taste. Take my advice and do your celebrating somewhere else.

At the private Riding and Polo Club at Griffith Park’s Equestrian Center, for instance. This is open to the public on Sundays only, but they really do make an effort to please. The food is beautifully displayed, and they go so far as to make homemade ice cream and fudge sauce for dessert. Prices are reasonable, and as you sit at your table, indoors or out, you can watch celebrities play polo. What could be a more perfect place to take the family when they come in from out of town?

Prices are per person for unlimited Sunday buffet brunch with champagne. LE BEL AGE HOTEL--LA BRASSERIE (1020 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, (213) 854-1111). 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Grandin champagne. $24.95.

CASOLA’S FISH HOUSE (4211 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, (213) 823-5339). 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Rocar California Extra Dry (also Stolichnaya at seafood bar). $16.95.

MARRIOTT’S SANTA BARBARA BILTMORE (1260 Channel Drive, Santa Barbara, (805) 969-2261). 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Kriter Extra Leger blanc de blancs . $25.

MICHAEL’S WATERSIDE INN (50 Los Patos, Santa Barbara, (805) 969-0307). 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monistrol (and/or white wine). $24.

RIDING AND POLO CLUB (Los Angeles Equestrian Center, 480 Riverside Drive, Burbank, (818) 841-5981). 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Lembey brut. $12.95.

RJ’S (252 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 274-3474). 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Morris Ranch sparkling wine. $15.95.

SHERATON PREMIERE--CRYSTAL’S CAFE (555 Universal Terrace Parkway, Universal City, (818) 506-2500). 10 a.m.-2 p.m. $24.95 with house champagne, Grandin; $39.95 with Dom Perignon.

WESTWOOD MARQUIS--GARDEN TERRACE ROOM (930 Hilgard Ave., Westwood, (213) 208-8765). 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Domaine Chandon brut. $26.95.