One sure fire way to make a Happy Hour even happier is to make the beer free, right? Of course, offers like these are often too good to be true, but an event next week at Ford's Filling Station might just be too good to pass up. Chef Ben Ford and his Culver City restaurant are hosting the first Taste of the Nation LA (TOTNLA) Happy Hour Ticket Sale Event, during which time anyone who buys their ticket to June's big TOTNLA event gets bought a beer by Chef Ford himself. more ›

Seventeen restaurants tomorrow will donate 10 percent of their gross profits for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner service to Susan G. Komen for the Cure Los Angeles County. “Breast cancer awareness and prevention education is a cause close to my heart,” said Chef Ben Ford, Proprietor and Executive Chef at Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City. “I admire the work the Susan G. Komen Los Angeles County Affiliate has done in making strides to find a cure for this all-too-common disease, and I am thrilled to be able to have my restaurant and craft contribute toward this.” more ›

Ben Ford, head chef and owner of Culver City’s Ford’s Filling Station speaks of the farmer’s market and its farmers with great reverence. Chef Ford grew up with his hands in the soil, gardening from a very young age so his respect for the food grown by the farmers comes naturally. more ›

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As much as we like to give love to LA's many veg-heads, once in a while, you've got to give equal billing to good old meat. "Snout to tail" cuisine, which encourages the use of every single little bit of the animal, has long been a way for us omnivores to practice a more ethical approach to meat-eating. Now you can enjoy a four-course "Head to Tail" menu, along with a lecture on the practice, at Ford’s Filling Station next Monday night. Leading the lecture will be none other than chef/owner Ben Ford himself, alongside star chefs Neal Fraser (Grace, bld) and Nate Appleman (from San Francisco’s A16). So what does the head-to-tail philosophy espouse?

By using all parts of the animal or vegetable, from cutlet to cockscomb, diners will not only experience new tastes and textures, they will meditate upon the art of butchery and the environmental impact of modern factory farms. “Considering the recent beef recall and the growing demand for locally produced, artisan food products, I felt like creating a Head to Tail event would be a great jumping-off point for a discussion about the factory farming techniques of today compared to how our forefathers farmed and ate,” said Ford. “I feel that it is disingenuous not to use the whole beast and there are a growing number of chefs who feel the same way. Nate and Neal are both supremely talented chefs and we had a great time creating this menu together.”

It was an inauspicious start for L.A.'s first Restaurant Week: when first we arrived at Ford's Filling Station for lunch (the first stop on our two-week tour of the event's featured restaurants), the rain was falling, the wind was blowing, and tables were not being filled. But thanks to a brief respite from the storm, and to a hearty, delicious prix-fixe menu, the day redeemed itself. more ›