Looking for a fun weekend excursion at one of the most foodie-friendly locations in LA? Melting Pot Tours will be leading a walking-and-tasting tour of the Farmers Market at 3rd & Fairfax to the Beverly Center at 3rd & La Cienega this Friday and Saturday at 9:30am. Tours are expected to last about 3.5 hours and will include tastings and small bites at various restaurants and eateries along the route. Tickets are limited, so......

Time for a little more cuisine of the obvious. For a couple of years now, each summer has a Ben & Jerry's flavor I like best. 2006 was Oatmeal chocolate chunk with cinnamon ice cream, chunks of oatmeal cookies and dark chocolate. Last summer, it was brownie batter. The brownie batter made the chocolate deepen the chocolate flavor. This year, I surprised myself. A friend gave me the idea of peaches and ice cream--went to......

For almost a year now, a small corner storefront near Sunset and Vine has taunted neighbors and office workers as they pass by. "Coming Soon!" the sign reads at The Farmer's Kitchen, a Selma Ave./Morningside Ct. space owned by the non-profit Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles. When it finally opens (which they hope could be in a year, construction just started) it will be a permanent extension of the Hollywood Farmers' Market and hold......

Can we call it summer yet? Despite the rampant bouts of June Gloom as of late, our afternoons have been pretty close to picture-perfect weather wise, and with this month seeing school out, backyard parties galore, and beach days, we may as well add that hot-weather favorite to the mix. Oh, yes... ICE CREAM! Pinkberry Shminkberry. Forget your Fro-Yo and go for the real deal. LAist Featured Photos contributor woolennium shared this shot of some......

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of visiting the legendary Farmer's Market is sampling some of the amazing food there. (Like the Loteria Grill, perhaps?) LAist Featured Photos pool contributor neonspecs shares this savory crepe plate from the French Crepe Company, commenting: "Less than amazing chicken crepes. But satisfactory. Salad dressing was gross." We will concur that the dressing looks gross (should dressing really hold its shape like that when dispersed on lettuce?)......

Photo by breesays via Buzznet "Ohhhhh, the trolley at the grove ran off the tracks! Someone was ambulanced away," reported breesays via Twitter as she snapped the above photo. At 9:39 p.m., the trolley at The Grove/Farmer's Market lost its brakes hitting a large planter at the end of the tracks near the clock tower. It did not come off the tracks or strike anyone, according to d'Lisa Davies of the Los Angeles Fire......

We're not sure if this tamale is marketed as one that promotes self-actualization, or if that is just the state of being 护士黑鹰 from our LAist Featured Photos pool found themselves in after their meal. This bite came from the South Pasadena Farmer's Market, and is a: "Blue Corn, Roasted Banana Pepper and Provolone tamale with rice and beans." Tamales often inspire devotion (or frustration), and are often associate with cold-weather comfort food best......

Newhall isn't even a mini-mini Santa Monica farmers market. / Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist's flickr pool. The answer to the above question, apparently, is when it's held in Old Town Newhall. We heart farmers markets because it allows us to buy our foods directly from the growers. We get fruits and veggies without that waxy residue found at most grocery stores while feeling good about supporting our local economy. And oh yeah, it......

I recently finished reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food", and I couldn't wait to get out to the Studio City farmer's market this morning. I stuck a couple of twenty-dollar bills in my back pocket and threw a "Ventura County Fair!!!" tote bag over my arm. $22.50 and about half an hour later, I lugged this load home: one bunch of sweet carrots, one large head of cabbage, one bunch rainbow chard, three......

Photo by Plankton 4:20 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr More on the arrest of Kazuyoshi Miura, who is accused of killing his wife in LA in 1981 and is being extradited from Japan: Turns out it was his blogging that got the authorities' attention. Bad blogger! Bad! Another one from the Cold Case Files solved: 47-year-old Wayne Osbourne of Virginia has been charged in the 1988 murder of Diana Michael, who......

Photo by _e.t. via Flickr Whether you are a carnivore or herbivore, the question these days is about your locavore status. Does the word sound familiar to you? It won the 2007 New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year Award. Via VegNews Magazine: If you really want to lighten your carbon footprint, don' just go vegan, go locavore. That means buying food locally to avoid the burning of fossil fuels entailed by long-distance......

Mardi Gras + Super Tuesday = Drinks with LAist @ Seven Grand tonight. SUPER TUESDAY DRINKS WITH LAist It’s Super Tuesday and Mardi Gras. What other reason do you need to celebrate with LAist? Come to Seven Grand tonight to watch election returns. (Who knew that primaries would be this exciting?) You never know…people may start flashing for beads after a few Glenlivets. For questions or to RSVP: events@laist.com (Note: Seven Grand is a......

You saw that right, except for the date: It's Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl IV, airing all day Super Bowl Sunday. Not only is this a fun idea on their part (why subject your shows to poor overall ratings?), it's mesmerisingly watchable and a great way to keep the kids and pets occupied and away from your guests and food. Or maybe you're not (gasp) a football fan and just want to veg out? I......

Red Beans and Rice from The Gumbo Pot/ Photo by Elise Thompson In Louisiana, red beans and rice are traditionally served on Mondays. Monday was wash day, and once all of the ingredients were thrown in, you could ignore the beans all day while you tended to the laundry. I am obsessed with red beans and rice. The only version I've eaten that beat my own recipe was made by Mike Anderson's in New Orleans.......

Haven't you always wanted to grow your favorite fruit in your own backyard? This month you can have your tree -- for free -- thanks to TreePeople and SEE-LA. Just go to one of the Farmers' Markets listed in the flyer at right or fill out this form and you'll be on your way. * LA Mill Opening - Stop by the long-awaiting opening of LA Mill's new coffee shop in Silver Lake. You might......

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 -- send your secret spots and recommendations my way at carrie@laist.com. Yes, some of these are later than the usual after-work happy hour, but I know you L.A. kids -- you can't be bothered to go out before at least 9pm, so enjoy some after-hours drink......

CLASSICAL: There's other classical music about town tonight besides Chanticleer. The Calder Quartet is the Colburn Conservatory’s first quartet-in-residence, and these new faculty members will show their chops with a program that includes Philip Glass, Quartet No. 2 “Company” by Philip Glass; Quartet in A minor “Rosamunde” by Franz Schubert and Terry Riley's “Cadenza on the Night Plain.” 7:30 pm // The Colburn School: Zipper Hall // 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles //......

FARMERS MARKET: Downtown’s latest farmers market takes place in the Fashion District. So hit up some holiday shopping then treat yourself to some of the freshest foods around. 4-7 pm // Fashion District // 716 S. Los Angeles St., Downtown // Free. ART: Diego Cardoso is the Executive Officer of Transportation Development and Implementation for the MTA who headed the East Side Gold Line project. He's also on the city planning commission. But his......

One of the highlights of holidays past for me has always been getting to taste some of the the delicious chocolate goodies that seem to appear everywhere this time of year. So the idea of checking out and tasting some of our city's finest chocolate makes absolute sense, which is where next weekend's Los Angeles Luxury Chocolate Salon comes handily into play. The event, which is presented by TasteTV, will include speakers and demos, as......

You know who makes a lot of sense? Michael Pollan does. If only he had the ear of the Senate as it prepares to pass a sorry, sorry Farm Bill. I love alcohol in unusual, fruit-oriented containers. Slashfood turns us on to this pumpkin keg -- yes the beer was actually brewed inside the pumpkin shell. Expect to see one of these at an LAist party near you very soon. It's good to know......

It's cold and rainy and dreary outside. LAist had the best intentions to get some R&R this weekend, but it's LA! There were too many amazing things going on and so after our weekend of an art walk, live music show, farmer's market, yoga, a friend's birthday party, a magazine party and a play opening, we woke up this morning to the grey-ness outside and just wanted to curl back under the covers and......

We've (finally) had enough of Thai Food: this month, we are checking out all sorts of late-night dining options, from the Valley to Hollywood to Culver City to Venice: Mao's Kitchen, Nak Won House, El Gran Burrito, Little Toni's, Gaby's Mediterranean, Nova Express Cafe, Greco's New York Pizzeria, Cinco de Mayo. Psst! Hey, hey, Mr. Gold? Ix-nay on the owards-hay. Nobody's supposed to know about it. You hearing me? Capisce? Otherwise, feel free to......

Something new on LAist: Every Sunday morning, bright and early, we will feature a photo (or two) from a photographer in the LAist Flickr Pool. It's another way of giving the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention that they deserve. Farmers Market BY WishByNight......

As of last Wednesday, Downtown now has six farmers markets: three on Thursday, two on Wednesday and one on Friday. "It was only back in June that we marveled at the new Bank of America market, but it seems a mere five markets each week wasn't sufficient," writes Eric Richardson at blogdowntown. Find the complete interactive map at Blogdowntown.......

Those of you living meat-free, rejoice! October is World Vegetarian Awareness Month. Some vegetarians are doing it for the health reasons, some to support animal rights and live cruelty-free, and others to protest the increasing McDonald-ization of the world's food supply. The World Vegetarian Day website is offering a free trip to Vegetarian Summerfest for one lucky winner who contributes a story about what they are doing to celebrate their lifestyle choices this month.......

Those of you who didn't get enough of Death Proof at the theater (and that would be 37 of you) now have the chance to experience Quentin Tarantino's complete and unedited cinematic vision--oh, whatever. Matthew McConaughey almost refused to do We Are Marshall because he thought his character should always be shirtless. Would Carly Schroeder turn 18 already so I can stop feeling so creepy (Kristen Stewart, too). Lucky You deserved better. Daniel Auteuil......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

This is a fast, fun, and ridiculously delicious way to prepare the last of summer's beautiful heirloom tomatoes. Make sure you choose tomatoes that are fairly round and symmetrical -- a plate filled with several different colored varieties will be beyond gorgeous. Stuffed tomatoes are also great for getting rid of leftover bits of veggies that are hanging around in your fridge -- I chose onion, mushrooms, and swiss chard because that's what I......

It has been two days, and the dust still hasn’t settled from the embarrassing MTV Video Music Awards, which both the media and public seem to agree was the worst one ever. The reasons for the disastrous show range from the lackluster performance of Britney Spears to the confusing jumble of special performance spaces to the unhinged antics of Kanye West, Kid Rock, Tommy Lee, et al. But I know better. I also know......

For almost a year now, the southern corners of National Boulevard and Overland Boulevard have not had anything on them. Now, in the last week, they're bustling with activity. On the eastern corner, where there was once an Arco, a plywood fence has gone up (now it's festooned with posters) and on the western corner, where the stripped Blockbuster still advertises the video release of The Omen remake last October (saw it, not great)......