RSS
You are browsing the Food category
December 30, 2007
The LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold names his "Top Ten Dishes of 2007" and curious palates all over the Southland take note. His picks include the porcetta at Brentwood's Vicenti (a rotisserie-cooked piece of pork where the "loin and belly are wrapped into a spiral, seasoned with fennel, and spit-roasted to a crackling, licorice-y succulence"), Donut Man's Strawberry Donut, and My Taco's Barbacoa (lamb), which we fell in love with too, when we checked out Garvanza....
Continue Reading "Foodie Roundup: Bests, Books, Bonanzas"
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
Continuing party planning where we left off, we now turn our focus to the main event: the food. MENU PLANNING The type of food you serve will depend upon the level of elegance and the number of guests. Under 20 people, I can usually make frou-frou little canapes and doots. As the number climbs, it is best to head more in the direction of Superbowl food. With a small get-together, I can pipe cute...
Continue Reading "New Year's Eve Parties are EASY! The Food!"December 29, 2007
These tartlets are a great appetizer for a holiday party. They can be prepared ahead of time and keep well. They are popular, elegant, vegetarian, and best served at room temperature. Helpful friends don't need any cooking know-how to help you assemble them. You may need to adjust amounts slightly as the spirit moves you. I usually just wing it. Leftover goat cheese filling can be combined with pesto and used as a dip...
Continue Reading "In the Kitchen: Wild Mushroom Filo Cups"December 28, 2007
Welcome to a two-part review of the year’s best cookbooks. In part one, I’ll list five new books that inspired me in the kitchen in 2007…part 2 will include five rediscoveries that you might want to add to your shelf. Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen by Clotilde Dusoulier A cookbook by a blogger! (with another book in press!) Inspired by a two-year stay in San Francisco, Dusoulier developed the blog...
Continue Reading "Best Cookbooks of 2007: Part One"
It's a family tradition: every year on New Year's Day, we toast slices of panettone and drink mimosas. The warm, buttery, alcohol-infused bread is the perfect compliment to a nice, dry champagne and nothing says ring in the new year like a little more liquor (provided you've survived the night before.) Before you complain about how gross panettone is or how it resembles the much-maligned fruit-cake, listen up: don't be fooled into trying it...
Continue Reading "No Panettone = No New Year's"Advertisement: LAist Continues Below!
December 28, 2007
This is the recipe that will bar me forever from the Cordon Bleu, that will cause Anthony Bourdain to look upon me with scorn; it is cooking's dirty little secret. I first discovered these meatballs at a raging 4th of July party. I couldn't believe what they put in the sauce! It's just so awful! Then I tried it myself and now all of my friends are addicted. They stand around at my parties...
Continue Reading "White Trash Meatballs"December 27, 2007
The famed Vanity Fair Oscar party location and Power Hollywood hang-out, Morton's, has shut down for good, and the space will be cleared out by January 2nd. Word has it the space will soon be transformed into an oh-so-trendy SoHo House (yes, like the one in that "Sex and the City" episode. The Los Angeles Times reported last month: "For the last 14 years, it has been the site of arguably the hottest Oscar-night party...
Continue Reading "Morton's Closing For Good, Everything Must Go!"
What could be better than grotesque pink salmon molds? When cooking went psychedelic, of course. There was a point where hippies influenced the mainstream style, converging with mom's Valium habit to birth some craaaazy foods. Moms had to show the family they were still groovy, didn't they? Some of these ideas look like Betty Crocker on acid. Bad acid. The brown acid. These cupcakes give me nightmares. Bad Gumby nightmares. Could they make them look...
Continue Reading "Far Out Recipe Cards "December 26, 2007
I'm still waiting for all your hot happy hour tips, Los Angeles! We'll be posting happy hour listings at least a few times weekly in 2008; send your secret spots and recommendations my way at carrie@laist.com. And besides, what better way to get 2008 started than with some cheap booze at some happening city spots? Here's a few more we managed to dig up this week: Miss T's Barcade, Koreatown, Happy Hour 5-9 pm:...
Continue Reading "Call Me Deacon Booze: LAist Happy Hour"December 25, 2007
Once you try these, you'll never eat a plain rice krispy treat again! These spicy alternatives to the sweet treat we all know and love will win you many fans and they will never (ever!) suspect that they're the easiest things to make! How easy? Check it out: Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 (10 ounce) bag of minature marshmellows 6 cups crispy rice cereal 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1 cup chopped unsalted cashew...
Continue Reading "LAist Cookie Exchange: Spice Krispies"
Last week a friend showed up with a lovely wrapped pumpkin bread for us. I immediately asked, "Is that a Monastery of the Angels pumpkin bread???" No one was impressed with my psychic abilities, but I was impressed with that bread! Not just because there is a cloistered monastery in Hollywood. I was amazed because I have been baking that pumpkin bread for 20 years, ever since the LA Times published the recipe. In...
Continue Reading "Monastery of the Angels Pumpkin Bread"
OK, maybe this post is a little last-minute. But most of the grocery stores are open until noon today. There is still time. Christmas dinner is very similar to Thanksgiving dinner, but easier. Some people have an identical turkey dinner, perhaps with an added ham. One sure way to make Christmas special is with a rib roast. The standing rib roast is a beautiful thing, and even easier than a turkey! Figure one rib will...
Continue Reading "Christmas Dinner is EASY"December 24, 2007
I am a peanut butter freak. And my Mom knows it. No matter how old I get (and I’m waaaay past the age of consent), she makes my favorite cookies – Peanut Butter Kisses – when I come home for Christmas. Typically, I’ll be sleepwalking through the door straight from a redeye from LAX to the east coast with nothing but the sofa is calling my name. But there’s always a stack of PB...
Continue Reading "LAist Cookie Exchange: The Peanut Butter Kiss"December 23, 2007
These sugar cookies are light and yummy. But that isn't why I make them. I make them because the recipe calls for decorative icing. Which means I can write subversive sayings and cuss words on them in viscous sugary goodness. Cookie Ingredients: 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup butter, softened 3 ounces cream cheese, softened 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon almond extract 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 of an egg yolk, slightly beaten (save the...
Continue Reading "LAist Cookie Exchange: Subversive Sugar Cookies"
Are you lazy? A terrible cook? Don't care about Christmas? Where are you going to find someplace to eat that's open during the holidays? Chinese food is a great option, of course -- and Gayot lists some other fine dining places that are serving up deals on Christmas Eve. Looking for a last-minute book buy for the chef in your life? The LA Times lists the year's top cookpook picks. JGold celebrates the opening...
Continue Reading "Foodie Round-Up: Merry California Christmas Edition!"Advertisement: LAist Continues Below!
December 23, 2007
Craby Joe's has been at the corner of 7th and Main in Downtown LA since 1933, and earned its place in local lore as a watering hole near and dear to the well-known downtrodden of the literary scene, like John Fante and Charles Bukowski. In honor of the bar's closing night, there will be a gathering of local historians and preservationists, and anyone else wishing to hoist a memorial last drink at Craby Joe's from...
Continue Reading "Hoist One Last Round at Historic Craby Joe's"December 22, 2007
Making these cookies is one of my fondest Christmas traditions. This would lead you to believe that I am a total sugar-holic (which I am), but I mostly enjoy flexing my artistic muscle to decorate these bad boys. We have about 50 different cookie cutters, 6 colors of icing, and decorations galore. It’s always fun to make the standard snowman, but after 2 hours of baking you start to get creative. Dinosaurs, shoes, cars…...
Continue Reading "LAist Cookie Exchange: Festive Sugar Cookies"
I will admit, I get a little excited when I notice that Starbucks launches their holiday-time drinks menu. Candy canes and Christmastime go hand in hand for me, and at this time of year I'm a total sucker for anything that's got some peppermint in it, from Trader Joe's' Candy Cane flavored "Jo-Jo" cookies to--you guessed it--the Starbucks Peppermint Mocha. There's something wholly satisfying and just a tad indulgent about a mocha jazzed up with...
Continue Reading "A Sprinkle of Starbucks Holiday Lameness"December 21, 2007
I am terribly saddened to report that my most favoritest sushi restaurant in Los Angeles will be closing its doors on December 31st. I've been going here regularly for 8 years now and I am devastated to see it go. For those of you who love Otom Sushi the way I do, hurry your way over there as you only have a week left. For those of you who have never been there, I'd...
Continue Reading "Say Goodbye to Otom"
Thanks to all for sending in some great happy hour tips! Here are a few more so you can get your drink on this frosty Friday evening. Don't forget to send your happy hour suggestions to carrie@laist.com From reader David: Dragon on the Hermosa Beach Pier, "Lucky Hour" from 4-9PM every day: They have a different special each day. "Yesterday I had kobe satay for $5 and drinks were 2 for 1." La Cita,...
Continue Reading "Call Me Deacon Booze: LAist Happy Hour"