Food lovers who always order dessert: Voting is now open for Food and Wine's The People's Best New Pastry Chef competition, and two Los Angeles up-and-coming sweets stars are in the running for the Best of the West region. more ›

A woman who took part in a competition event last fall has filed suit against stunt performer and well-known "Jackass" Steve-O, claiming she was "injured on a wet stage" during the taping of the upcoming game show. more ›

Ladies of Silver Lake, have you been trying to find that one special man with the biggest...beard on the east side? Well then, make your way down to the Silver Lake Public Library tonight, where the lenders of the written word will host the first annual Beard and Mustache Competition. more ›

The Humane Society of the U.S.'s fashion design contest Cool vs. Cruel challenges students of The Art Institutes to reinterpret a "furry" runway look by crafting an improved, animal-friendly version. This year's competition culls from inhumane designs by Fendi, Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Oscar de la Renta. more ›

Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, along with three generations of skateboard pros and regular skaters, graced Venice Beach on Saturday, October 22, to show SoCal how it's done in Sonic Generations of Skate. more ›

Who took home the Hurley Pro bacon strips? Reigning world champ Kelly Slater won, celebrating his 48th world tour victory plus a not too shabby reward of $455k. "All was right in the surf world," according to ESPN. more ›

Did you know that dogs can surf? You did? Well, are you aware that a 14-year-old Jack Russell terrier won the sixth annual Surf Dog Surf-A-Thon at Del Mar on Sunday? He did. His name is Buddy, and yesterday's victory marks the fifth win for the athletic canine. But his triumph wasn't all old news. Buddy became the first inductee into the Surf Dog Hall of Fame. Right on, brah! more ›

Angeleno cocktailians, start your engines. The five finalists of the 2nd Annual L.A.’s Best Bartender Competition have been announced. Now, we knew last week that Joseph Brooke of Next Door Lounge won as People’s Choice and therefore automatically earned a spot as a finalist. But who are the other four he’ll be going up against in the final showdown? more ›

Once again, some of the city's top brewers are going to face off for the Beer Float Showdown, hosted by FoodGPS. Happening during LA Beer Week, the October 15th event at the Eagle Rock Brewery will have a new twist this year: Five well-known top local chefs are teaming up with the breweries to make their beer-meets-ice-cream concoctions. Plus, as an attendee, you're a judge! more ›

The world's best surfers are ripping it up at San Onofre State Beach - Lower Trestles, one of the world's most famous surf breaks. The Hurley Pro surf competition commenced on Sunday and continues through Saturday. Winner takes the world title. more ›

L.A.'s Best Bartender and Top Chef Just Desserts Judge Johnny Iuzzini talks about what makes a great cocktail experience, where he eats in Los Angeles, and season 2 of TV's 'Top' sweets competition. more ›

Fabio's secret project has been revealed. He needs some spice. He needs some Old Spice. And he's challenging Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa to an Internet duel today at 9am PDT. more ›

Tori Amos and Lomography "want you to get inspired" and submit up to five personal photographs that best represent our urban sprawl. Photographers of all levels are encouraged to participate and are not restricted to shooting with city limits. Images only have to be inspired by L.A. more ›

Fill the Long Beach Convention Center with belly dancers and belly dance enthusiasts and it will look pretty much like you’d expect: a sea of glitter, glitz, chiffon, sequins, false eyelashes, fake hair and boundless enthusiasm. Throw in a collection of cash prizes and cheering crowds and you have the 21st Annual Bellydancer of the Universe Competition (BDUC), happening this weekend. more ›

The Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon is tomorrow, which means that once participants get out of the water at Venice Beach, they'll be hitting the streets on bike and foot to complete the race that will take them from the West side to Downtown's L.A. Live. more ›

Orange County has crowned their very first Mr. Gay in a pageant competition held yesterday, according to the OC Register. more ›

A while back, LAist tipped off the local comedy scene about the upcoming Friars Club Improv & Sketch Competition being held June 25th and 26th at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) in New York City. Well folks, we weren’t joking, and the $10,000 grand prize certainly isn’t anything to laugh at. Apparently a few hundred sketch and improv teams didn’t think so either, forcing the Friars to separate out the comedy gold from the pyrite pile. And after weeks and weeks of submissions, LA will be representing left coast comedy in both the improv and sketch categories. more ›

For the first time, The Next Food Network Star was shot in Los Angeles for its sixth season, and we think the city itself is a star ingredient for delicious food television. more ›

Once a popular sport at the Santa Monica Pier dating back to the 1940s, paddleboarding is riding a comeback wave with a competition to kick off the summer on June 12th. more ›

Say cheese! Saturday is the1st 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, which matches the hot, buttery wits of several cheese-loving competitors and you get to be the judge. more ›

If it's trendy, it's likely to end up on television, and it looks like gourmet food trucks are no exception. Fresh in our inbox are details about a new show being prepped for the Food Network from the same folks behind the three-hanky heart-warmer "Extreme Makeover Home Edition." The show is has a "competition adventure" premise that takes popular food trucks "on a thrilling road trip across the country to compete for a BIG CASH PRIZE." But are food trucks that popular? And will as many people watch the trucks on TV that line up for the trucks? Tell us: Which LA food truck would you want to see compete for the TV glory? more ›

The stage was set and the pressers positioned. After countless entries were submitted last December, five finalists emerged to go head to head at The Coral Tree Café Panini-Off last Tuesday, January 19. Brentwood would be the setting to determine just who makes the best panini in town. A rainy January night would prove to be the perfect backdrop, as few things are more comforting than hot-pressed sandwiches. Cecilia Fabulich’s fusion-esque Shanghai Spice Pork Loin Panini was the sweet-spicy selection of the night and came with a topping of pickled onions. Michael Haddad’s Breakfast Panini with Egg, Prosciutto, Gruyere and Chive Oil was a perfect morning hangover solution. Firefighters crowded around Tsz Chan and her comforting Holiday Ham Panini to ask for seconds (and thirds and fourths - but who’s counting?). more ›

Does your company encourage leadership, transparency, democracy and creativity in the workplace? Do your co-workers participate in company decisions on an ongoing basis? WorldBlu -- a social enterprise that champions the ideas of "organizational democracy" -- compiled its list of the forty most democratic companies in the world based on questions like these. more ›

Fans of Bravo's highly successful reality program "Top Chef" were in for quite the treat last Thursday evening, when two contestants from previous seasons, CJ and Antonia, participated in a friendly cook-off at The Grove. The event was sponsored by the Sherry Council of America, and featured sherry tastings and gourmet bites from a few of The Grove's top restaurants. more ›

Florencia Pita is one busy lady. A current faculty member at the Sci-arc (Southern Institute of Architecture), she is also a gifted designer and architect in her own right. Her Alice exhibit at LAXART (which just ended on August 30th) was a creative 7x20 foot installation inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Working with cast urethane, & covered in orange vinyl the exhibit explored bringing life to the found images in the... more ›

Don't forget to enter our Labor Day Weekend Contest with the prize to see AIR at the Greek Amphitheater later this month. Recent major events for the Los Angeles Fire Department include a fire last night in North Hills contained to a 12 x 12 foot room where a twenty-something male in serious condition with smoke inhalation and an air ambulance rescue for a two-year-old boy who fell from a pony, dragging him near... more ›

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... more ›

Maybe you've got a long lunch and you've been itching to see the inside of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Well, here's one opportunity this Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. The Cathedral's organist, Samuel Salvador Soria will be playing an organ recital. We're not sure what on the program yet, but he's a former prize-winner at the J.S. Bach International Competition at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. If dude can play Bach like... more ›