Food: August 2007 Archives

Could you do the 100 Yard Diet? Oakland blogger YourCityFarmer spent the entire month of July eating only things she grew, raised, and made herself: and that includes meat. New Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food, coming in November! Also, he shares some of his favorite reads with Newsweek. EaterLA is reporting that the kitschy German restaurant Lowenbrou Keller will be closing "when the food runs out" - but the owners plan to reopen...

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. Everybody has one fatal weakness. For Superman, it’s kryptonite. For R. Kelly, it’s teenage girls. For me, it’s pie. It can be any type of pie, really, it doesn’t matter. The American classic apple. The Southern special sweet potato. The light and fluffy lemon meringue....

Up for a little do gooding and want to meet some good people along the way? Check out Philanthro Productions event at the Cabana Club tonight. Called "STRUT: A PARTY AND FASHION SHOW BENEFIT FOR CAMP HEARTLAND," it's $15 donation at the door.

When I started this article, I was happy. Pizza happy. I had misread an entry on EaterLA and thought John's Pizzeria was opening a Santa Monica location. (I wasn't the only one.) To qualify this, let me explain my connection with John's. My husband (a pizza connoisseur ) and I go to NYC about once a year, and usually, the night we fly in, we check into our hotel and go straight to John's....

The San Fernando Valley has possibly one of the most astonishing arrays of Latin American food in the entire country: you can't go a single block down Van Nuys Boulevard without passing any number of taquerias, pupuserias, casas de mariscos, and carnicerias. And it's not just Mexican food, either: one of the best little spots I've eaten at recently is a Honduran restaurant on Burbank in Sherman Oaks: El Katracho. The LA Times called...

Pink's, shminks. No, honestly. Who wants to stand in that line on a hot summer afternoon just to get a middling dog covered in shitty chili on top of an untreated white flour bun? Not me, dudes and dudettes: but I sure will walk far (twenty minutes tops, depending on footwear and levels of drunkenness) for a Skooby's Hot Dog. I want my bun infused with garlic, my dog compact with flavor and deep-fried...

Tucked behind a small building with a mostly unnoticed facade on Ventura Blvd. is a little homestyle cafe called Vivian's. The quaint and calm outdoor patio is only the beginning of what is a community of regulars, friendly and cute waitresses and weekday freelancers starting their days late. Within the menu of the usual breakfast items, everyone raves about the banana pancakes and the house omelet, which has avocado and grilled chicken breast. The portions...

Sitting on my couch, enjoying my freshly baked Carrot Spice Muffin, I noticed the different textures and colors looking back at me from my first bite. This diversity seemed friendly. I was reminded of the first time black children and white children sat in a classroom together. Men hugging men and women hugging women for "one second too long," with people looking on only smiling. A shared tone was felt. "Isn't that just wonderful?"...

Nothing draws me into a restaurant like the promise of an original menu of Farmer’s Market fresh vegetables and organic meats prepared with originality and talent. Unfortunately, that’s sort of the flavor of the month among so many LA restaurants these days, which means that a number of these places are pretty mediocre. But this was a party that Josie Le Balch started when she opened Josie seven years ago, and she’s still among...

Just one more reason to start buying your carrots at your farmer's market: NBC11.com and the Los Angeles Times are reporting that The Los Angeles Salad Company is recalling two brands of pre-packaged baby carrots because they might be contaminated with a bacteria called shigella. The symptoms sound like a pants-load of fun: vomiting, diarrhea, bloody poops, etc. Although no cases of sickness have been reported yet in California, the carrots are being sold at SoCal Trader Joe's and Ralph's markets.

Oh Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan Gold! Where will you eat this week? Why, Hacienda Heights, my dear foodies: at Earthen, a wildly popular new Chinese deli in - what else - a strip mall. I'll take an order of potstickers, please. Top Chef Recap: Lordy, lordy, what an upset! The underdog quartet of Howie, Hung, Sara, and Dale captured the win in Restaurant Wars, cleaning up their menu and sporting a new name: Quatre. Tre...

Our friends over at Slashfood just turned us on to a fun new website, imcooked, a web community for sharing video recipes. In the clip above, Christopher Walken prepares a roasted chicken with pears - and you know what? He looks to be a pretty good amateur chef! I'm only wondering why, at the end of the video, he decides to dump his cat on top of the chicken. Maybe he's short on dining partners? Maybe...he's just really fucking weird?

Over on the Eastside, and in many other Latino enclaves, summer has been synonymous with the ringing bells of those mobile vendors hawking paletas, fruity iced wonders in many vibrant colors and flavors. While the Westsiders rage with their yogurt wars, it seems that the LA Times has finally discovered these icy treats that us in the barrios have been enjoying for decades. Paletas come in many different flavors, from coconut and strawberry for...

Because no one was seriously injured in this afternoon's fire in West Hollywood, it's probably ok to bust with some tasteless jokes. But we wont lower ourselves to that level. In fact we won't even snicker that the fire started at 4:30pm, mere minutes after the infamous 420 which many in WeHo celebrate. (Here in EaHo we celebrate it too) Instead we will simply run this photo sent to us by Scott from Boi...

At last, the final installment of LA Dishes Back. I promise there will be no "Son of LA Bites Back" or "LA Bites Back: Jason's Returns". A few readers have asked, "How did you pick these restaurants?" People felt like there has been no rhyme nor reason to my choices, or that these places are not representative of the finest the city has to offer. I plead guilty on both counts. My selections were...

While most Angelenos will urge their visitors to try a meal at In N' Out (the best to capture that classic sunshiney L.A. drive-through burger experience), they often forget about the other local fast-food burger phenomenon: Fatburger. Both establishments boast excellent burgers and a fool-proof menu, but there are some major (and delicious) differences that make it almost impossible to decide which is better (kind of like the Pink's versus Skooby's debate -- but...

Vegan and vegetarian restaurants are starting to become one of the regulars among sushi and Thai joints across Los Angeles neighborhoods. And on Thursday, Silver Lake got theirs with Flore Vegan Cuisine (additionally, Intelligentsia Coffee opened yesterday one block north). Veggies are rejoicing to once again eat owner and Chef Miranda's cuisine after selling Tierra Cafe last year in Downtown (which is still open under new management). She has now brought forth a vegan restaurant...

After much anticipation, this afternoon marked the opening day of Chicago's Intelligentsia Coffee in Silver Lake at their new Sunset Junction location. I've been looking forward to this opening since the announcement of their arrival some months ago, mainly because after falling in love with their bean roasts while on vacation in the Windy City last year, ordering bags of beans for home brewing via the internets was getting to cost me a pretty penny....

Are you an aspiring foodie without the bankroll to sample some of the city’s culinary treasures? Now you’ve got no excuses. Over the next two weeks, two big opportunities will be taking place in the Southland to allow yourself to indulge with a little less guilt.

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. I’m prejudiced. You mention the words “fusion cuisine” and I immediately reach for stereotypes. Pretentious. Overpriced. Lacking any culinary soul. Just altogether unappealing. Oh sure I’ve had good fusion meals once in awhile. But I’d never admit to it. I wouldn’t want to acknowledge...

If you have not yet read part one of LA Dishes Back, you may want to check it out. We now continue our San Francisco adventures where we left off. Three days into the conference, everyone was exchanging horror stories about shoddy restaurant service. A few people had actually left restaurants crying after being berated by harried servers. Most of these experiences were in hotel cafes and chain restaurants within blocks of Union Square....

At 9 o’clock on a summer Saturday night, Bottle Rock is hopping. People are throwing parties there, grouping the tall tables together and sharing from the small plates menu that features seasonal fruit and vegetables and artisan cheeses and charcuterie. In fact, the whole place is lit with the comfortable scent of grilled cheese. The music is full of feel good guitars, that seem vaguely recognizable, even when you don’t really know the song....

What are your favorite food memoirs? Ruth Reichl shares her picks with NPR, and we definitely agree that these are must-reads, especially Jeffrey Steingarten's hilarious and informative essays. Still haven't taken the $20 Farmer's Market Challenge? Now Slashfood and the Washington Post are polling readers to see how much loot they can get at their local markets for only twenty bucks. Jonathan Gold and Pat Saperstein over at EatingLA are both reporting on Jitlada...

Fun froo-froo drinks like Smirnoff Ice, Seagram's Coolers, Bacardi Silver and Mike's Hard Lemonade got a vote of approval in the form of a $3.10 per gallon tax (from 2-cents for a 12 oz. bottle to 31-cents), raising the price of six-pack malt liquors near $2.00. The proposed tax increase is due to reclassification of "alcopops" from beer to distilled spirits. The process for the increased tax could take a year to complete. Interestingly...

Are you sick of being predictable and want to avoid the obvious Sunset Junction this weekend, but you don't know whats crackin'?

As a vegan, I enjoy and prefer making my own meals. I never have to worry about what someone is putting into my food, not to mention it’s easier, cheaper, and more interesting than dining out. But when 80% of my waking hours are spent outside my home, biking around the city, I need to have options. I can only fit so much fruit in my backpack. So, I’ve begun building a mental index of...

I had been looking forward to settling in on my comfy couch in some comfy only-wear-around-the-house clothes with some snack foods and my television-watching co-conspirator to watch the season finale of Fox's Hell's Kitchen for a couple of weeks now. I say "couple" of weeks because those programming devils split the finale into two parts and unecessarily stretched the drama over two of my Monday nights for an hour apiece. But instead of seeing...

There is a serious water (-ing hole) shortage in Northeast LA. Despite their hipster enclave status, I’m always surprised that there aren’t more places to drink in thriving cultural hotspots like Eagle Rock and Highland Park. The recently opened York on York attempts to correct the problem. The “neighborhood gastropub” is located about halfway between Figueroa and Eagle Rock Blvd. in the increasingly popular small stretch of York that also includes Johnny’s, Marty’s, and...

As timing would have it, my trip to San Francisco last week came right on the heels of Michael Bauer's controversial article, The Dish on Los Angeles. Unlike many Angelinos, I did not get the impression that his article was maligning our entire restaurant scene. I thought it was a pretty standard assessment of a certain class of restaurant - the good, the bad, and the Patina Group.

Several years ago, I used to be a Westsider and part of my weekly routine was to hit up the beach, whether playing ball on the blacktop at Venice, laying out and reading a book at Ocean Park, or people watching at Santa Monica. It was super-relaxing to be out in the sun, soaking up the ocean breeze, and enjoying the local culture. Part of the culture was stopping off at some of the eccentric beachfront shacks to grab a bite and talk with the help.

I knew it was going to be a good night, when we walked out of the thick twilight and into Fraiche and the Arcade Fire was playing. I had made the reservation three weeks before, and even then, they did not have seven or seven-thirty available, so I settled for 6:45. Far be it for me to cast aspersions, but there were other empty tables around the entire time we were there. We were...

So here I am sitting at home on a Friday night: yeah, I know, weep weep I have no life. I have to work a long day tomorrow (in addition to my normal Monday through Friday grind), so in all truth I am more than excited about the prospect of a night hanging out on the couch with my boyfriend and some take-out.

Okay, first on my list are the $42 nine-course tasting menu at Tagine, cheap but tasty Belizean rum, and a cabeza taco at Taqueria Chihuahua: the LA Times shares some of the best dining deals in the city. Jonathan Gold's been on a Korean kick lately over at the LA Weekly: this week he discovers the best fried chicken in K-town, if not the city, and last week he spent time with a former...

Some may ask why Ghettogloss wants to have some douche walking around in a gorilla suit every Thursday, but we at LAist accept it for what it is: another excuse to be ridiculous in Silver Lake.

Did you know that the Philippines' No. 1 fast food chain was here in Los Angeles? Well, it is. And with inventive flavor-concoctions and the best named foods around (Yumburger, Chickenjoy) what Jollibee lacks in nutritional value it makes up for in wow-factor. And grease-factor. And indigestion. Beyond the jump, behold the wonders of Jollibee... Jollibee 3821 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90041 (323) 906-8617...

Sometimes the things that strike me funny are hard to explain. All I can say is, I have new tennis shoes... And pay special attention to secret sauce guy. This is a Jack commercial from 1970, and it's clear that we the people of 2007 are not doing nearly enough drugs. Tacos 2 for 99, Jack in the Box... Bacon Cheddar Tato Wedges, Jack in the Box... Midnight at the Drive-Thru window, Jack in...

If you're not really the Guitar Hero type, here's another (drunker) option for your Saturday: the vegetarian-biking-cooking-podcasting team Hot Knivez will be leading their first biking tour of Los Angeles's best beer stores on August 11th, starting at around 10am: we plan on traversing L.A. side streets to collect a wide array of bombers and six packs with the express purpose of throwing a tasting/swigging/gulping/retching party at the finish line. We’ll be starting at...

The strip mall is perhaps Enemy Number One on the list of any urban-architecture appreciator: ugly, merely utilitarian, a breeding-ground for chain fast-food joints and Payless shoe stores. it's often mentioned in the same breath as freeways and silicone as tops on the list of Things To Loftily Despise About Los Angeles. The real Los Angeles foodie, however, knows that the magic words "well, it's this place hidden away in a strip mall" most...

Okay guys, I want you to listen very closely: whatever you're doing today, cancel it. If you can't, cancel what you're doing next weekend. Then, by hook or by crook, by car or by train or by bus or by broom, I want you to - stay with me here, this is going to get difficult - I want you to go deep, deep into the Valley. Follow Coldwater Canyon almost to where it...

Another sunny Southern California weekend is upon us, which means all over this fair city and its outermost reaches people are planning on gathering around the great American grill to marry meat and flame. Sure enough, a caravan of your closest friends and cohorts appear on your doorstep with cases of beer and plastic wrapped bundles of weiners and buns in the spirit of the BBQ. Sometimes things get a little imaginative, and some...

Another sunny Southern California weekend is upon us, which means all over this fair city and its outermost reaches people are planning on gathering around the great American grill to marry meat and flame. Sure enough, a caravan of your closest friends and cohorts appear on your doorstep with cases of beer and plastic wrapped bundles of weiners and buns in the spirit of the BBQ. Sometimes things get a little imaginative, and some...

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. If you were to give me a word association test and prompt me with “Belgian cuisine”, I would immediately answer waffles. Then beer. The chocolate. Then French fries (despite the misnomer, I’m in the fries originated from Belgium camp). Then a big fat blank...

Once upon a time, before Little Miss "Nooo-no-no" came along, when someone said "winehouse", we only thought about the sweet vino emporium on the Westside, called, um, Winehouse. This 30-year institution has made an appearance on LAist before, but like a hydra, Winehouse is adding a new arm. This new arm is called Taste. It's the answer to many a winebuyer's quiet prayer: At Taste, you can take your chosen wine for a test-drive....

Our lovely and talented sister publication Gothamist interviewed Chef Dan Barber about the Farm Bill and the "Omnivore's Dilemma" effect and how food policy and activism is changing the culinary face of the nation. Jeffrey Steingarten always says that New York tap is his favorite kind of water. The New York Times agrees with him. Is this enough to get you drinking LA City tap? The LA Times now features quick cooking how-to videos...

Every day the weather reports call for heat – if we’re lucky it’s eighties and nineties, if we’re not it’s up around the century mark. Sometimes, it seems like it’s almost too hot to eat. Fortunately, Pain Quotidien has a plan for you. They’re making an excellent gazpacho as this summer’s special soup. It’s finely blended and garnished with a little pesto, some julienned radishes, cucumbers and mangos. (It sounds like a lot more...

The Sustainable Table's Eat Well nation-wide roadtrip kicks off in West Hollywood today from 11:30a - 2:00p in King's Road Park. They're out to raise awareness about how sustainable living in general and supporting local foods in particular can have a meaningful and positive impact on the environment, human & animal health, and energy consumption patterns. They've even got their very own Google mashup tracking the progress of their sweet ride, and, of course,...