Food: July 2007 Archives

Michael Bauer, he of the infamous review of Los Angeles restaurants, just posted this response on his blog: I figured I was treading into a tsunami when I wrote about the Los Angeles restaurant scene in Food last Wednesday. I knew some would disagree, but I had no idea what I wrote would be construed as dissing our sister city to the south. Several people sent me the links to comments on LAist and...

How much do you love burgers? Maybe you know all the secret menu items available at In-n-Out, or maybe you're a regular fixture at Father's Office. Who's got the best burger and just what elements make a burger the best is an oft-debated topic here on LAist and elsewhere. Are the determining factors the toppings? Kind of meat? Affordability? History? Size? The variables are multifold, I know. I like burgers. I'm no crazy burger...

When Alan Arkin freaks out in the beginning of Little Miss Sunshine, shouting, “Again with the fucking chicken! It's always with the goddamn fucking chicken!” all I could do was stare at the instantly recognizable bucket and think, “How could anyone ever get sick of Dinah’s?” The fried coating is so highly seasoned and crispy. The meat is so juicy and tender. Alan Arkin should consider himself lucky. Dinah’s Fried Chicken has been a Glendale...

Warning, Los Angeles foodies: reading Michael Bauer's article on the Los Angeles dining experience might cause your eyes to roll back so far in your head that you will become permanently blind. Bauer, who is the executive food and wine editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, deigns to visit ten of the city's "top" restaurants, and comes away with these insights: In the Bay Area, food is the driving force of successful restaurants. But...

-- U.S. agricultural exports to China have increased to nearly $6.7 billion this year thanks to a sudden rise in demand for California produce, especially fruit and nuts.

This is hilarious... and weird. Back in 1998, my family took my grandmother out for her 89th birthday to a restaurant that fused French and Asian. The quaint little restaurant in Chicago's suburban North Shore village of Wilmette was appropriately named Chinsoiserie. The seven of us were seated and we immediately ordered fifty dollars worth of delicious appetizers. When it came time to order our meals, half of what we desired sent the waitress...

If these warm, muggy days and nights have inspired in you a craving for the spicy culinary catharsis that only a tandoori oven can provide, Salomi in North Hollywood might just be your cup of chai. Tucked away on the corner of Magnolia and Lankershim, it's an above-average takeout joint masquerading as a fine-dining experience: red velvet curtains line the walls, and sparkly chandeliers tinkle above your head as you take a deep swallow...

For the second time in a year, Starbucks is raising its coffee prices because of rising energy costs, gas prices, cost of milk, etc. On average, your favorite beverage will go up about 9 cents on July 31: The increase will apply to coffees, lattes, frozen Frappuccinos and some tea-based drinks, including fruit and tea blends made behind the counters in all of its domestic company-operated stores, company spokesman Brandon Borrman said. The increase...

Wendy’s – home of square hamburger patties, decent fast-food chili and the Frosty – is giving aspiring musicians and producers a chance to show off their stuff by promoting their new “Baconator” burger. (That includes six strips of bacon! At 830 calories and 51 grams of fat for the Baconator, LAist asks only one thing: What obesity epidemic??) But we digress: By submitting an original song, contestants will get a chance to win “a...

As Guest Day Editor, Siel, a.k.a Green LA Girl, will be joining LAist with a few posts throughout today. Read her interview here and check out her site.

The folks at Omni Hotels realize that many of you are still hungering for an Apple iPhone, and they have two cool ways to feed you this week. First, each hotel location will be giving away a brand spanking new iPhone, and there is no purchase necessary. All you have to do to be entered in the sweepstakes is to get yourself down to our local Omni Hotel, which is located Downtown in California Plaza,...

Earlier this year, International Creative Management (ICM) and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) moved their offices from Beverly HIlls to within the city limits of Los Angeles in Century City. Score one for LA where expensive high power lunches turn in to tax revenue for city coffers (we're talking "a side of assorted mushrooms sells for $21 and a Wagyu rib-eye costs $98"). One problem though, Century City choices were slim for Hollywood agents: The...

Don’t go to S&W Country Diner on the weekends. It’s hours are from 8 to 3, so there’s never a time that’s not brunch time, and so there’s never a time that the joint isn’t packed with groups of people standing around on the sidewalk waiting for a table. S&W is rumored to have one of the finest brunches in the land. I’ve been there quite a few times, but usually for lunch. I...

It's summer, it's hot and I've been craving some cold dishes with the pizazz of freshness. Then it hit me - Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles. Yum! Great! But wait... Another thought smacked me on the head: store bought Asian peanut sauces are the worst tasting sauces out there. I've never been able to find one to satisfy my pallet. That leaves only one option: do it myself. I headed to Epicurious.com and found their...

Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. When I was a UCLA student many moons ago, one of my favorite places to eat was Buck-Fitty (also known as Roll Inn Sandwich). I am somewhat dating myself in that I remember when the good-but-not-really-that-good sammiches actually cost $1.50, instead of the $3...

'SUP CLUB #1 from Hot Knivez and Vimeo. We're totally digging LA food bloggers Hot Knivez, not least of all 'cause they're getting into it with the "food bloggers" over at the Los Angeles Times. They are vegetarian, beer-loving former line cooks who "believe in cheap groceries, cooking with high alcohol content beer and free leisure." We're thinking of asking them to our next LAist barbecue. Check out this clip, in which they prepare...

The noble and delicious sea-faring species caridea - more commonly known as shrimp - is a member of the phylum arthropoda, subphylum crustacea. Why is this interesting? Well, it's not - until you realize that those yummy little nuggets in your shrimp taco are actually more closely related to ants, lice, and cockroaches than they are to fish (phylum chordata). Isn't that FANTASTIC? Next time you want to freak out someone close to you,...

- Do you think Jamie Oliver is cute? We do. We also think he's a great cook. Check out this clip featuring his Lamb Curry Song. Curry looks great, the singing? Not so much. - EaterLA has worked itself into a frenzy over two new celeb chef restaurants: here's their first peeks into Craft LA and Osteria Mozza. So far Craft is winning the war of the reservation line. - Jonathan Gold loves The...

Greek food. Its fresh, cool Mediterranean flavors are exactly the kind of thing I crave on a hot July day. But man is it hard to find some good, authentic Greek food in LA. Sure there’s Daphne’s right by my house, but that’s about as authentic to Greek food as Baja Fresh is to Mexican. So where can one go for a fun, flavorful midsummer night’s Greek meal? The answer is simple: Sofi. Sofi...

Last night's free Zocalo program at the Central Library featured L.A. Weekly food writer Jonathan Gold in conversation with Variety's Monica Corcoran. Her first question: Did winning the Pulitzer Prize (for criticism, this year) blow your cover as an anonymous food critic? And if so, this evening won't help, will it?

We saw a news brief in today's Los Angeles Downtown News that caught our eye: Also of note, the average drink in L.A. is $10.66, higher even than New York's $10.12 a beverage. Ouch. And you mean, people elsewhere don't pay $12 for a cosmopolitan? The drinks in this town are up 11.5% from last year. Now what do we blame that on? Republicans? Gas prices and the war in Iraq? Lindsay and Paris...

I'm not saying that a woman's genuine feelings should ever be invalidated by accusations of hormonal instability. And maybe it would be a good idea to pick your fucking socks up off the fucking floor just this ONCE. But I did used to live in a house full of redheads, and I had to find some way to keep them from killing each other once a month. I invented this milkshake/mudslide that is guaranteed to sooth the savage beast. And if not, you can always crush up a Xanax and drop it in there too. Add a little more syrup to cover up the bitterness.

"Vive l'independance!" Sure, we just hoisted back a few brews, grilled up some meat eats, and set off our own rockets' red glare on the 4th of July, but for the French--or merely fans of--today is the day of celebration: Bastille Day, which commemorates France's national uprising and storming of the Bastille prison. (We love history, but we'd rather talk parties, so if you've an inquiring mind, hop on over here and we'll continue with...

Turns out that cheap buzz you've been getting from Trader Joe's staple swill might actually be a legitimate wine tasting experience: Charles Shaw Chardonnay has won the top prize at this year's California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition. This is great news for those of us who buy the stuff by the case - and although we may fondly recall many nights (and days) (and, um, softball games) spent chugging wine from a box,...

Burbank is not exactly known for its nightlife. Most people head into Hollywood and Los Feliz when the weekend comes. But Burbank is not completely devoid of watering holes should the need for a stiff drink or a little bit of entertainment hit you midweek. (More after the jump)...

Santa Monica seems to be the epicenter of cupcakes these days, now that there are not one just one (Yummy Cupcakes one block closer to the Promenade) but two cupcake places there -- four on the Westside, if you count Susie Cakes in Brentwood and Butter Cake Bakery on Pico. Vanilla Bake Shop is dessert caterers Amy and Jeremy Berman's first bakery, and it's very charming. A lot of people in this town are...

When I was a little girl, my dad didn’t have the means for fancy restaurants, but his boss sure did. Every once in awhile, he would take my parents out for a special dinner in Beverly Hills. My mom would have her hair sprayed into an immovable up-do, and slather herself with Avon products. Dressed to the nines, my parents would leave behind the squalor and police sirens of Wilmington and disappear into a world...

The summer before last, I ran a series called Ice Cream Summer, whereupon I undertook the dreadful, nasty, difficult, and troublesome task of tasting the wares of many of our fair city's many ice creameries. I crowned the victor as Gelato Paradiso, a then-new gelato bar located smack dab in the heart of all the dressed-up character melee of Hollywood Boulevard. But so much has happened in the world of frozen dairy (or non-dairy,...

Blended drinks make me happy. They remind me of laying out on the beaches of Maui while soaking up the sun. The cold texture and gulping the last frothy bit from the glass are extra bonuses. A strawberry margarita is, hands down, my blended drink of choice. With that said, a well blended Good Luck drink from the Good Luck Bar in Los Feliz gives the strawberry margarita a run for its money. A...

We've heard it all before: eat more fruits and veggies. Incorporate more leafy greens into your diet. Veggies should make up 50% of your dinner plate. Keep apples and oranges around as snacks instead of potato chips and cookies. Blah blah green blah healthy blah vitamins blah. So you make up your shopping list, head to your local grocery store, and stock up. You figure you'll save a lot of money by cooking up your own meals using all this great produce, rather than gorging on those frozen/pre-packaged/canned meals. Right?

I know, I know, but it’s been a long week, and my original post idea turned out to be closed. Anyway, on with the food! One of my favorite foods is the tomato. Not these anemic orange Franken-tomatoes you see at the market, bred for durability rather than flavor. Even their redder brethren, those red, viney ones still get mushy, and taste is secondary. But now we are in the high season of tomatoes!...

Photo by SamFelder via flickr

I love food. I love talking about food. I can spend hours discussing the merits of different mustards, or trying to figure out the mystery flavor in a pasta sauce. But I think food should be accessible. It should not be intimidating. I avoid saying things like ”flavor profile”. I am more likely to say things like, “This gravy is so good I want to fill a jacuzzi with it and jump in naked.”...

Can you eat 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes? Well, Joey Chestnut of Vallejo, CA can - he was this year's champion of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest , beating out six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi for the Mustard Belt. Our good friends over at Gothamist liveblogged the whole affair, which took place yesterday at Coney Island (natch); even Mayor Bloomberg himself showed up to check out the dog-tastic proceedings.

Why aren't you barbecuing right now? What are you, a commie? Here are a few favorite barbecue recipes to help you celebrate our freedom from living under a regime that taxed the hell out of us! Freedom from a regime where the rich and politically connected were treated differently than the average citizen! Umm...here's to drinking beer with our friends instead of being at work! (BBQ Recipes after the jump!)...

There is no better testament to Michael Cimarusti's attention to the smallest culinary details than the ignoble bread basket at Providence. Immediately upon being seated at this seafood sanctuary (the walls even look like they've been encrusted with delicate, papery barnacles), you are served with a piping-hot, freshly baked sourdough roll. A platter appears, holding a few thick rounds of sweet cream butter and a tiny dish of fleur de sel: you break into...