How does a big bowl of chili sound right about now? Hey--it can be vegetarian chili, we don't judge. Perhaps you prefer your chili smothering a burger (Tommy's run, anyone?) or blanketing fries (where's the Frysmith truck?) or oozing atop a hot dog (Pink's, perhaps?). Look, it's just a suggestion. And while chili isn't typically the prettiest of foods, it does spark loyalty, and might elicit a craving. Happy National Chili Day!
Is it Lunchtime Yet? The Internet Says It's National Chili Day.
GLAZA Honors Betty White at its Annual Beastly Ball with Creatures Both Great and Small
Betty White is this year's "it girl." She has a new sitcom, "Hot in Cleveland," recently made an acclaimed appearance on Saturday Night Live, and unveiled her "Naked Dog" for Pink's Hot Dogs. Now it appears that she is even more popular than the world championship Lakers. At last weekend's GLAZA benefit, courtside seats were auctioned off at $8,000 whereas lunch and a tour of the zoo with Betty White fetched a cool $10,000.
Meet the Family Behind Pink's Hot Dogs!
Pink's Hot Dogs has always had a wide fan base, from Sugar Ray Leonard, Bruce Willis, Snoop Dogg, Karl Lagerfeld, Leroy Neiman, who once sketched the stand, and most famously Betty White, who recently unveiled her favorite hot dog, "The Naked Dog". We eagerly await their newest stand in LAX.
Gentlemen Prefer Pink's, Gorillas Prefer Greens: LA Zoo Announces Annual Gala
The Beastly Ball is on the books for 2010, and The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association's long-running fundraiser got a juicy preview yesterday morning in Griffith Park with a little help from Pink's hot dogs and the LA Zoo and Botanical Gardens' collection of gorgeous gorillas.
Bun Intended: Pink's Shows Love for Harvey Milk Day
Pink's Hot Dogs were on hand over the weekend to participate in one of the local celebrations of Harvey Milk Day. At The Milk Party at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, the longtime local hot dog-seller made use of their cherished foodstuffs to show their support for the slain San Francisco civic leader who refused to let his sexuality keep him from making a difference in his community.
Found in LA: The Mayor's Weiner
We have Pink's Hot Dogs to thank for this one. We get it, OK? Jalapeno dog. Chili. Onions. Guacamole. Villaraigosa is spicy. Caliente. You will probably have really bad breath after chomping on the mayor's weiner. But what's up with lettuce? Lettuce doesn't belong on a hot dog. It's so wrong. And where's the cheese? This dog should definitely be cheesy. What's most amazing is that this hotdog doesn't come with ham. In fact, this dog should just be a big ham stuffed inside of a...no, we won't go there.
Free Food Alert: Pink's Hot Dogs at Lunchtime
Not that there needs to be any more reason for a large line at Pink's, today they're giving away free "Pink Panther Dogs" and Pink Lemonade to the first 1,500 customers between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today. It's all to hype the release of The Pink Panther 2 on DVD. If you go, you will need to score a pink (of course) wristband from the Pink Panther himself.
Great American Food and Music Fest: Lines, Lines, Everywhere a Line
It was the best of fests; it was the worst of fests. Last weekend Mountain View was home to the Great American Music Fest. It was a grand idea - combining music and food, much in the way that blues and barbecue have successfully married, bringing in the best of local cuisine from all over the country.
Pink's Hot Dogs Are Gonna Cruise the Miracle Mile...In Vegas
A Los Angeles landmark is finally ready to expand to a second location...after 70 years in the business, but forget about the line...first you've got to get yourself to Las Vegas.
Hot Diggity Dog: The Mayor's New Weenie
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is packing this weekend full of man-about-town stops where he can meet the people and pose for photos all in prep for Tuesday's municipal election, when he hopes the voters will put him into office for a second term.
Pink's Hot Dogs Love Classical Music
Do you love Pink's as much as you love classical music? As part of the welcoming video package yesterday for the new 27-year-old new conductor of the LA Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, pinks took two hot dogs and wrote "Welcome Gustavo!" on two hot dogs. No word yet if they'll name a dog after him, but what would Venezuelan hot dog be like?
Why The Dog Face, Jonathan?
LA Weekly readers will notice that Jonathan Gold (ahem, PulitzerPrizeWinning-FoodWriterExtraordinaire-JonathanGold is his official title, I believe) has been a little obsessed with hot dogs lately. First there was his extended meditation on his father's food legacy and the importance of the Chicago-style hot dog: "weekends were often dominated by [Gold Sr's] search for hot dogs in Los Angeles, and he would drive me and my brothers around for hours in the old Studebaker on the rare occasions he found a stand that he liked." Gold's best bets for Chicago-style in L.A.? The Infield in Sherman Oaks, Portillo's in Buena Park, and Vicious Dogs in North Hollywood.
Free Hot Dogs at Pink's Today - Thanks Tori
Friday concludes the week of free hot dog lunches at Pink's, courtesy Tori Spelling and her beau, Dean McDermott. The nosh is part of a promo for the relaunch of Season 3 of their show on Oxygen “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood” (premieres next week, June 17th, at 10pm).
Eye Nosh: Classic Los Angeles
Pink's Hot Dogs will never cease to be popular. This food porn is one reason why. Pictured above, left to right: the ozzy, guadalajara dog and onion rings.
Happy Leap Day!
It's February 29th -- Happy Leap Day! While others are pondering mysteries like "what happens to a baby born on February 29th?" and "Does this have anything to do with last night's episode of 'Lost'?", we're going to take the opportunity to teach you a shiny new word! It's called intercalation, and it's what Julius Caesar did back in the day to fix the wacky Roman calendar system: inserting extra units of time (in our case, one day at the end of February) into the regular calendar to make up for that 1/4 day imbalance in our time measurement system.
Extra, Extra: Farewell, Mr. Lieberthal
- "A very, very good night for Barack Obama just got better," the LA Times said after it reported that the winner of the South Carolina Primary was on the receiving end of two Kennedy endorsements; Caroline Kennedy endorsed Obama this morning in the NY Times and Sen. Ted Kennedy issued his endorsement later in the day.
- Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton moved on from South Carolina and defended critics of her husband's campaigning, saying, "everybody just needs to take a deep breath. We need to be focusing on what's important in the lives of Americans."
- The Federal Government isn't making too many friends these days and a new rule along the borders might not change that. People crossing the border must now prove they are a U.S. citizen, eschewing the long standing policy of orally declaring your citizenship. I fear this does not spell the end of those fabled Tijuana donkey shows.
- "I'm in a totally happy place," said former Dodger Mike Lieberthal explaining why he decided to retire yesterday. The Dodgers declined the option on the two-time all star and valley boy who was last year's back up to Russell Martin.
- Good news, foodies: the Daily News found that the number of restaurants who have received a C from the Department of Health has declined dramatically since inspections began a decade ago, while the number of eateries with an A have increased 40 percent from last year. I'm sure this doesn't include taco trucks, but, hey, ignorance is bliss.
- Rains continued Sunday, dumping as much as 4 inches on the Southland. Downtown record about 10 inches, eons more than the 1.65 inches Downtown received at this time last year. Don't freak out, L.A. drivers, the storm might taper off by this evening, forecasters say.
- In case you missed it, LAist had a big week. A few highlights: the Neighborhood Project continued with a look at Country Club Park;
- To Catch a Predator bait Dani Miura was interviewed and;
- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese has sold off their 3424 Wilshire Boulevard Archdiocesan Catholic Center to Jamison Properties for $31 million to raise money for the hundreds of outstanding sexual abuse lawsuits. An interesting debate in the comments section ensued.
- We have a big week ahead with some big name interviews, great music reviews and continued news, politics and art greatness
LAist Music Medley October
Here's a Music Medley of some tunes from bands reviewed or highlighted here over the last couple months (some lyrics NSFW BTW): No Age - Every Artist Needs a Tragedy Caribou - Irene Five O' Clock Heroes - Head Games Bitter:sweet - Dirty Laundry (Skeewiff Remix) CINEMATIC: Classic Film Music Remixed - The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3 Main Title (Phillip Charles' Signs in Mallorca Rewerk) Shocking Pinks - Victims Sunset Rubdown - Colt...
Bobby Flay Throws it Down LA Style
One of our favorite Food TV shows is Throwdown, which involves Celeb Chef Bobby Flay trying to master someone else's culinary specialty and springing a spontaneous cook-off challenge (hence, Throwdown) on them. (Our favorite part of the intro sequence is Flay saying: "I might win. I might even lose.") Every time we watch it, though, we wish that we could run out and taste the competition, like we did when we were craving fish...
Screw You, Pink's! Make Line-Worthy Hot Dogs at Home
Every time I’m driving up La Brea and I see that line of hungry hot-dog cravers snaking up the street, I gotta shake my head – seriously, people? You’d wait in that line? For a hot dog? And for Christ’s sake, where are all you people parking? Don’t get me wrong – I love Pink’s as much as the next girl, and I’ve certainly indulged in my fair share of that famous chili cheesiness...
Lily Allen + MTV + LA = Nice Boobs
When MTV sees a cash cow it doesn't look the opportunity in the mouth, it gets the artist in cute clothes and in front of the cameras ASAP. The Lily Allen hype machine has only just begun and LAist is more than happy to be part of the joyful noise. Why? Because when caught between the just-around-the-corner American Idol machine and the let-sleeping-dogs-lie boy band machine that seems to be hibernating, things could be...
Paved Paradise to Put In A Coffee Shop
Customers of Irv's Burgers shoved aside their cheeseburger combos, signed petitions and wrote protest letters when they learned a month ago that their West Hollywood burger joint was about to be torn down to make way for a chain coffee outlet.

