Results tagged “restaurant”

If you've been to Crustacean Restaurant in Beverly Hills, then you know the An Family style. This week they announced a big expansion, with two new restaurants in Orange County and more locally in Santa Monica scheduled to open by the end of this year. AnQi in Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza will carry a more casual bistro environment. Tiato, located in Santa Monica's MTV building, will be a quick service restaurant, serving up traditional fare with some Asian flare. Think eggs on bao instead of Eggs Benedict or pancakes with persimmon instead of with strawberries. For lunch, one of the highlighted menu items is Vegetarian Crepe Ratatouille and the family's secret kitchen Garlic Noodles.

This will likely be one of the hottest reservation scrambles of the coming weeks: As hinted earlier by Gayot.com (scroll down), Chef Ludovic Lefebvre will be popping up in December for a limited engagement of LudoBites (LAist Review) at Culver City's Royal/T.

There was no such luck for San Francisco this year, but the Abbey Food & Bar in West Hollywood beat out popular gay spots in Rio, London, Amsterdam, Chicago and Montreal this week in a contest put on by MTV's Logo Channel. Other winners in the TripOutGayTravel awards include New York City (best U.S. destination), the Wynn Las Vegas (best ultimate luxury/hotel resort) and the W Hotels (best hotel chain). Party on, WeHo.

Following up on last week's news that the Orso space was going through some changes, the New York Times today dives in, examining the Hollywood power lunch spots of today and yesterday while explaining Orso's demise: Named for a dog that once befriended Mr. Allen in Venice, Orso was hurt when the Creative Artists Agency and International Creative Management moved into Century City office towers...

One menu option at Susan Feniger's STREET offers diners a half size of any salad and street bite plate. This Mix & Match plate has Saigon Chicken Salad with long beans, celery leaf, carrots, cucumber, tomato with chopped peanut, chile, and soy lime dressing next to Kaya Toast (from Singapore) made from toasted bread and coconut jam served with a soft fried egg drizzled in soy and white pepper.

What isn't this man involved in? Sean MacPherson has his hands in Bar Lubitsch, the Roger Room, the Good Luck Bar, Jones, El Carmen and Swingers (his bid for the Magic Castle appears to be over, though). Now it appears he's gotten ahold of Orso on West 3rd Street (across from Cedars Sinai and the Beverly Center), according to state records, which could mean plans to open a new eatery or bar. Earlier this month, a Chowhound posting indicated the building was in escrow. As one of the area's big-time operators, he's a man who brings L.A. quality eateries and bars, so whatever this is to be, we're sure it's a good thing.

Talk about burger explosion. After opening the original Umami Burger last year, owner Adam Fleischman this summer announced two more locations in Los Feliz (now open) and in Santa Monica (not open yet). And now Los Angeles Magazine finds that a fourth location will go inside the former Snack Bar space at Space 15 Twenty in Hollywood. That's killer, but, hey, Adam, how about some downtown and Valley love? Thanks!

Thanks to a tip from reader Carter, LAist has learned that the highly anticipated eatery (sans bakery) from Thomas Keller just received its liquor license, as seen on the website for the Alcoholic Beverage Control here. In related news, Alex Weil, the former sommelier at Pizzeria Mozza, is poised to take over the wine program at Bouchon Beverly Hills. The restaurant itself appears to be on track to open in mid-November, and signage is already up.

       

It was Sunday night when a friend of LAist texted us an invite to a small ad hoc fundraiser at Handmade Galleries in Sherman Oaks. "Come by," he wrote, "vegan sri lanka food." Having enjoyed Tara's Himalayan Cuisine on Venice Boulevard in the past, this opportunity for a new food couldn't be passed.

dineLA's second 2009 Restaurant Week got underway yesterday, and runs through the 9th, and from the 11th-16th. To see a list of the restaurants, prices, and menus, click here.

Some big players on the local food scene were on hand this past Friday to take part in a media event to get everyone ready for dineLA's second go-'round of Restaurant Week 2009. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa brought his appetite to the table...will you? dineLA runs October 4-9 and October 11-16, and has a list of many, many (over 200!) wonderful local eateries at which you can treat yourself to specially priced three-course menus.

       

Chef Sumant Pardal only first heard of the Twittering designer food truck craze this summer. But when he heard the concept, it sparked an idea and in ten days, his India Jones Chow Truck was on the road.

       

Los Angeles has a long-standing rep for elevating lunching to an art form. School lunching, however, isn't quite so glamorous. Now, when it comes to the food you get at school, well--that's another story. But the concept of cafeteria-style lunching with LA-style panache is what's on tap at Lemonade, a local eatery with outposts in West Hollywood, Venice, Downtown, and a fourth launching soon at MOCA.

After opening a second location in Hollywood last year, Loteria Grill is readying a new one in Studio City, according to a land use committee agenda (.pdf) with the Studio City Neighborhood Council. This Wednesday, the group will discuss and possibly make a motion in regards to the restaurant's application for a full line alcoholic beverage license. Loteria, which has a space on the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Blvd., is also planning to obtain a permit to allow for live entertainment between 11 a.m. and 2 a.m.

      

It's summertime (shhh, don't tell the calendar) and the livin' can still be easy when you grub on burgers and beer. The Golden State on Fairfax is one of the newest burgers on the map (and, yes, it also happens to have made it onto this map of some of the city's Essential eats) and after LAist Lifestyle Editor Julie Wolfson got a taste of the place, it wasn't going to be long before the rest of us got on board.

It only took four minutes for the LAPD to show up after The Green Truck's General Manager, Bobby Allen, pulled up to the curb on Wilshire for the lunch hour. The truck's health permit, although paid for, was not on display because the LA County Health Department was late in sending out bills and permits, explained Allen. But officers would not accept a note from the Health Department that should have excused the Green Truck from being cited and shut down. The truck can only open back up for business when they have proof they paid for the permit.

A Recession Obsession is, 1) a meal so great that it stays in your mind long after digestion's end, and, 2) plays nice with your sensitive wallet. Is there a better place than Los Angeles to eat a wide variety of amazing food that so happens to be inexpensive? Probably not. We're as lucky as we are well fed. Today, we obsess over this nine month-old column's locations. Just in case you missed something. What's your favorite Recession Obsession? Comment Below!

A handful of workers affected by the recent decrease in lunch options on the Miracle Mile have begun a petition to stop restaurants from calling city officials and police on "designer trucks" who park in the area. "We, the undersigned request that the brick and mortar restaurants in the area known as Miracle Mile cease and desist from any attempt to impede or hinder any mobile food preparation units or food trucks from operating in the area," the petition reads.

       

After 16 years as a raw and vegan chef, producing meals in containers found in places like Whole Foods, catering and traveling, Chef Rawsheed launched his very own storefront last May. Ultra vegan bloggers tried it out early and gave their thumbs up. It left Quarrygirl dying to go back and Foodeater is glad the Valley is "no longer the dreaded no-mans land that it used to be" because SunPower does raw food the way it's supposed to be done.

Talk about a great lunch. A few recent trips to il Tramezzino in Studio City proved this place to one of the city's king of sandwiches. A favorite so far is the Brie Cheese with sun dried tomato, grilled eggplant and basil garlic sauce ($10.95). Keeping to a vegetarian theme, Veg. Special #1 has goat cheese, arugula, grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, marinated eggplant and roma tomato ($10.95) and is equally as tasty.

All good things must come to an end, oui? First of all, don't even think about trying to get into LudoBites tonight at Breadbar--it's not going to happen. With extra chairs being put in the tiny space, and the threat of rain dampening (pun intended) the semi-jokingly proposed idea of serving guests using the newspaper boxes outside on the sidewalk of 3rd Street as tables, unless you're in the reservation book LudoBites will have its last supper without you.

            

There might be models of ships ensconced in the walls of the Langham's Dining Room restaurant that reflect a bygone era, but there's a young tattooed man on the cutting edge of cuisine in the kitchen. His name is Michael Voltaggio, and he arrived at the beautiful historic hotel in Pasadena just this July, following a year working as Executive Chef of The Bazaar by Jose Andres in Beverly Hills. Tonight, he'll be in your living room (or bedroom, perhaps)--no, he's not making house calls, he happens to be (along with his older brother, Bryan) a contestant on Bravo's 6th season of Top Chef.

Last week came the news that the Clinton family (yes, Clinton) had decided to sell the building that has housed Clifton's Cafeteria, known as Clifton's Brookdale because of its whimsical forest themed decor, since 1935. Although few people admit to finding the food offered at the last of the Clifton's Cafeterias a gastronomic revelation, the news brought the immediate fear that this would bring about the end altogether of a decades-long institution in Los Angeles. While the Clinton family hopes to just unload the property but continue to operate the cafeteria (they actually only bought the building at 648 S Broadway in Downtown outright in 2006) now seems like a fitting time to fill in the gaps of local history when it comes to the Clintons and their Clifton's Cafeterias...and maybe, if you're hungry, prompt a trip with a tray down the lanes of the eatery--the last of a dying breed.

Lemonade will open its storefront on Abbot Kinney in Venice today, according to YoVenice. The self-described "part lemonade stand, part grade-school cafeteria" eatery already has locations set up in downtown and West Hollywood. YoVenice says "the menu will change constantly, often a few times a week, based on seasonal ingredients." They will also offer to-go options with picnic boxes.

Instead of approving a $300-every-two-years fee for restaurants that want sidewalk dining, the city council yesterday sent the idea back to study because they believed it was a disincentive to restaurants to offer such a service, according to the Daily News. "At a time like this, when businesses are struggling to survive, I just think it sends a wrong message of 'Here comes the city again, with yet another fee,"' Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. "I know in my district, we have been trying to encourage this, to get a more pedestrian feel. This just seems the wrong time to be imposing another fee on businesses." The proposed fee would cover the costs of inspection to make sure chairs are not blocking access to the sidewalk. A $1,200 one-time fee to set up sidewalk dining is still on the books.

It's good to be the son of a restaurant owner. Miriam Toam's son loved the Jucy Lucy burger trend in Minneapolis so much, he convinced her to experiment and make her own for Mira'le Cafe and Grill on West 3rd Street. Customers gave a thumbs up and now five cheese stuffed burgers are on the menu, whether it be a brie with cranberries, blue cheese with carmelized onions or pepper jack with bacon and avocado. Toam says she can also do it with veggie and turkey burgers by doubling up the patties. She also offers gluten-free breaks and burger buns upon request. The morning and afternoon cafe has been around for just over a year and so far is faring well with Yelpers.

Taking on the next challenge, Homeboy Industries has expanded their breakfast and lunchtime eatery, Homegirl Cafe, to include Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for dinner, says Ed Fuentes at blogdowntown. The cafe provides job experience for former gang members and at-risk youth and includes an organic garden, classes and an art gallery. The new dinner menu includes a Mexican salsa pasta, a vegan mole tofu dish and a cucumber avocado salad. Homeboy Industries also assists people through other programs like Homeboy Maintenance and Homeboy Bakery.

This is the kimchee fried rice at Shin BBQ in Hollywood (corner of Wilcox and Selma) The food at Shin is great. This time I tried the special house dish Kimchee Fried Rice. It arrived with this gorgeous fried egg on it. Then we mixed in the egg. There is some cooked beef mixed through also. And best of all it's $5!!

It's been a rough few years for the Clinton family, who remain the owners and operators of the last of their once-booming set of cafeteria eateries in Los Angeles, Clifton's Cafeteria. It was just three years ago that the death of Jean Clinton Roeschlaub, described as the cafeteria family's heiress, was ruled homicide; the 83-year-old who was thought to be the heart and soul of the restaurant was found dead inside her penthouse apartment.

Although the only Pulitizer Prize winning food critic, Jonathan Gold, believes a major component of the Los Angeles restaurant scene is locally sourced food, and with the multitude of farmers market and the year round weather suitable for growing food at your home, our city has not made a top 10 list at the Huffington Post. Luckily, that can change: We here at HuffPost Green think the local food movement is a thriving and exciting part of the discussion about sustainability. After researching the best local food in the United States, we compiled this slideshow of our discoveries, focusing mainly on restaurants.