At Crossroads Kitchen in Calabasas, you can enjoy a truffle mushroom pizza, baby beet and citrus salad, cheese plate, porcini and chestnut tortellini en brodo, and stuffed zucchini blossoms with Kite Hill ricotta.
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Topline:
Tal Ronnen is a celebrity chef who has been elevating plant-based cuisine in Los Angeles for the past decade.
Why it matters: There’s been a hodgepodge of vegan food in LA for years, but by applying French culinary techniques to cooking, Ronnen has developed a restaurant that can satiate any foodie, regardless of their dietary restriction.
Why now: Plant-based eating has gone mainstream — Ronnen has brought non-dairy fare into many grocery stores with his Kite Hill brand of yogurt and cheeses.
What's next: More plant-based fine dining options at traditionally old school establishments.
Tal Ronnen had one aim when he opened Crossroads restaurant on Melrose in 2013. He wanted to “make plant-based food sexy."
Eleven years later, it seems he’s done just that. The upscale plant-based Mediterranean restaurant has become popular with foodies, businesspeople, celebrities and rock stars. Travis Barker is a co-owner and the greater Kardashian clan are regulars. It’s the kind of place Paul McCartney takes Dolly Parton out to dinner.
Two years ago, Ronnen opened two restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip, and an outpost at The Commons at Calabasas. (Now presumably the Kardashians can eat all their meals there without having to travel over the hill).
When they first opened their doors in March 2013, Ronnen says “there was no fine dining plant-based food. So many vegan places just didn’t have a theme, they’d be a hodgepodge — it never made sense to me why you’d eat miso soup and nachos in the same meal,” he says.
Ronnen says his goal was “to create plant-based food in a really elevated environment. Something new and fresh for L.A.”
“We designed it to look like an Upper West Side steakhouse with the banquettes and booths and the chandeliers. We were the first to do white tablecloths, the first to have a full bar and extensive wine program,” he remembers.
Ronnen grew up as a “steak-lover” who eventually decided to adopt a vegan diet. He had trouble finding plant-based options that could compete with his own cravings for meat and dairy. In this pursuit, he realized that if he applied traditional French culinary techniques, he could make meals any eater would find satisfying.
He wrote a bestselling cookbook, The Conscious Cook, which led Ronnen to a new status — he made appearances on Ellen, developed Oprah’s vegan cleanse, and even chef’d a dinner for the U.S. Senate. A bonafide celebrity chef.
“We never use the word 'vegan' on the menu. We’ve always played in the traditional culinary world. That’s always been my goal. I want to cook for non-vegans. I want to cook for people who could benefit from eating this way,” says Ronnen.
Owner Tal Ronnen of Crossroads Kitchen.
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Over the years I’ve dabbled in plant-based eating. I spent most of college working in the kitchen of the UC Davis Coffee House, so I became familiar with the wonders of bread bowls of veggie chili and peanut butter broccoli tofu.
But my wife Maureen went fully vegan in the 12th grade. In those days she says “everyone I hung out with was vegan.” This meant going to Tanya’s house for Afrocaribbean casamientos, getting Tofurky and Tofutti from Trader Joe's, or asking her mom to make plant-based banchans like seasoned soybean sprouts or spicy cucumber salads.
But when Maureen started college at UC San Diego in the fall of 2001, she found very few options for vegan students. In the dining hall she would exclusively eat hummus and mustard sandwiches with all the vegetables — and each time she ordered it a different employee would be like, “What? You’re not even getting cheese?”
Maureen says that’s “how foreign vegan dining was at the time, outside of the Valley." By the end of her freshman year, without any nourishing plant-based options, she had to give up on being vegan.
So when we finally ate at Crossroads on Melrose last summer, two decades later, what a thrill — sitting in at a fine-dining establishment in front of an array of expertly-crafted Mediterranean dishes that just happened to be vegan.
Crossroads Kitchen in Calabasas.
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The verdict
We were blown away. Maureen loved the stuffed zucchini blossoms filled with a ricotta alternative. I was a huge fan of the perfectly crispy Aleppo pepper/cumin/turmeric seasoned Impossible meat-filled cigars dipped in a spicy almond milk yogurt. Ronnen learned this recipe from his Moroccan nanny, who he says “ left a culinary impression on me, for sure.”
This was the best meal I ate last year. I can’t stop thinking about it.I think what makes a great meal in Los Angeles has to be a combination of things: the deliciousness of the food, the quality of the company, the customer service, and I guess at the overall vibe of the experience. I also think there should be a transcendent moment during the course of the meal that changes how you think about food going forward.
And that honestly happened that night, while I was eating the cheese plate. I took a bite of the camembert, made by the New York-based company Rind, and I felt my glands swell. An instinctual swallow as my body remembered my dairy allergy.
I then realized this was non-dairy naturally fermented nut-based cheese, not something that might interrupt my future plans. I could sit here and savor all those unique notes that I’ve come to love about fine cheeses, without the bellyaches. It was a revelation.
Ronnen understands what makes good cheese, and has now parlayed that into the brand Kite Hill, which he co-founded, a purveyor of vegan cheeses, dips, and pastas you can now find in most grocery stores.
Kite Hill approaches cheesemaking in a traditional artisanal way. They first make non-dairy milk and combine it with proprietary cultures and enzymes. These curds are then brined and aged in rooms calibrated specifically to the kind of cheese they are producing.
Ronnen excitedly tells me “we were the first non-dairy cheese to appear in Whole Foods’ cheese department, not just the vegan aisle.”
Here to stay
With more options out there than ever before, Ronnen says the popularity of a vegan diet isn’t going anywhere. “Atkins turned into South Beach and then keto and now paleo — these are just fad diets that have faded out. That’s not really the case of veganism. It keeps growing.”
Ronnen is seeing plant-based options in places he wouldn't normally expect. “I'm doing the menu at The Magic Castle — the type of old-school Hollywood institution that’s been around for 50 years. But they’re seeing that it’s good practice to provide vegan options.”
Crossroads Kitchen in Calabasas.
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“That’s the kind of stuff that’s exciting me, everyday chefs and establishments seeing that it’s good business to accommodate all diners and have something really decent on the menu.”
I’m not sure if I’m ready to go fully vegan, there are too many restaurants that I haven’t eaten at in the world. But I’m down to be flex. Ronnen says the popularity of veganism is that “you don’t have to be 100% plant-based all the time," he says, “or as Mark Bittman says ‘be vegan 9-5 and eat whatever you want after.”
Hey, we can do that.
As Maureen and I drove through Beverly Hills back over Coldwater Canyon into the San Fernando Valley, we calculated that Chef Ronnen’s Calabasas location was only 18 minutes from our house. We high-fived at a stoplight — perfect location for future fancy plant-based date nights.
A man casts his ballot during early voting in Waukesha, Wis., on March 18.
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Miguel Gutierrez Jr.
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot be found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a legal filing Saturday by an immigrant-rights group.
Why it matters: It’s the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government’s list.
Why now: The contention was made in a filing by two data analysts at the University of California, Los Angeles. The breadth of the problems with the list was outlined in Saturday’s filing. It describes an analysis by two members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot be found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a legal filing Saturday by an immigrant-rights group.
It’s the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government’s list.
The contention was made in a filing by two data analysts at the University of California, Los Angeles. They analyzed the 20,930 names that the department demanded that California election officials treat as possible illegal voters by separating their ballots during the vote count on Election Day.
Multiple judges have rejected the demand as unconstitutional and a threat to democracy, and local and state officials have said the list appears riddled with errors.
Court filing outlines problems with government list
The breadth of the problems with the list was outlined in Saturday’s filing. It describes an analysis by two members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
The research found that 8,880 of the names, representing 42% of the entire list, do not correspond to anyone in California’s current voter file. It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens, and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens.
“The expert analysis further makes clear that the mandated voter list endangers a significant number of eligible California voters,” said the filing, which was cosigned by Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor and an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project. null
The Trump administration had objected to sharing the list, calling it a “fishing expedition” and noting that it included sensitive information. On Saturday, the federal prosecutor who spearheaded the Trump case in California called the analysis “bogus.”
“This is a bogus report by the activist illegal immigrant rights group CHIRLA,” Bill Essayli, who runs the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles, posted on X.
Also on Saturday, President Donald Trump bemoaned the legal rulings against his effort to force California to separate votes from the individuals his administration labels suspected noncitizens, even though one came from a judge he himself nominated.
In a social media post, Trump claimed his Justice Department found “20,000, but potentially Hundreds of Thousands, and maybe even Millions,” of fraudulent votes, “and the Court has just ruled against it. Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?”
The Trump administration has also urged Washington state to remove what it says were 400 possible noncitizens on its rolls, though state election officials there say that list is also unreliable and includes one voter who cast ballots in the 1990s.
The Justice Department has warned California election officials they could face criminal liability if they let noncitizens vote and issued subpoenas to election officials there.
Election officials say they have no time to investigate
Election officials have complained that the Trump administration has confronted them with lists of possible illegal voters at the last minute before Election Day, with no time to conduct the painstaking investigation required by law before removing someone from the rolls.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed to stop the administration from continuing to threaten local election officials.
On Friday, a federal judge in California ordered the Justice Department to stop sending demands to state officials, a decision the Trump administration appealed Saturday. Several counties in the state had run quick checks of the Trump list and found numerous errors.
Saturday’s broader analysis was possible because a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to share the list with the plaintiffs in the case.
CHIRLA and the UCLA project sued the Homeland Security Department in early October to prevent it from using federal immigration data to challenge state voter rolls. The lawsuit cited examples in other states where the federal government’s data has been proven to mistakenly include thousands of citizens.
Case argues that government’s methods pose risk to voting
The case argued that the data-matching methods risk disenfranchising or deterring citizens from voting. On top of that, plaintiffs argued, the lists could disproportionately target naturalized citizens who are legally entitled to vote.
Applying the government’s methodology, the UCLA researchers found that nearly 7,500 naturalized citizens in the state were “highly likely” to be incorrectly flagged as ineligible.
The researchers noted that the administration apparently removed the voter identification number from the names, making it harder for election officials to determine whether the flagged individuals were already on their rolls or were duplicates in the Justice Department list. They described the voter ID number as the most crucial data point.
The Justice Department argues that there is just as much to lose if the ballots aren’t separated.
“Every ballot cast by an ineligible voter cancels out the vote of an American citizen,” Kiersten V. Pels, a spokesperson for the department, wrote in an email. “The Department makes no apology for protecting those votes.”
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published November 1, 2026 5:00 AM
Jordan Delgado picked Lady Gaga's 'You and I' as her debut song with the L.A. Karaoke league.
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Topline:
The LA Karaoke league turns singing into a team sport, where costumes, props and creativity matter more than hitting the right notes. For performers craving a creative outlet when auditions are harder to come by, the league offers a community to cheer them on.
The backstory: The L.A. league is part of United Karaoke, a national network of chapters that share a competition format, voting app and pledge to always keep the vibe friendly.
What's next: Teams compete for a spot in the finals. The public is welcome to watch and vote for their favorite performances.
For many of us, karaoke is a chance to sing our favorite shower song in public.
But at a North Hollywood bar every Wednesday night, it’s a team sport. And competitors in the L.A. Karaoke league are more serious about putting on an over-the-top production than hitting all the right notes.
At a social in late September, league manager Michelle Goff kicked off a new season of weekly themed showdowns, from dance-floor favorites to internet memes to songs inspired by birds.
Brittany Gates, the CEO of United Karaoke, who was visiting from D.C., did her rendition of 'Let's Hear It For The Boy' by Deniece Williams.
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"You are going to see numbers that people came up with in their crazy dreams maybe three years ago, and it's going to be amazing,” Goff told performers at the social. “And then they’re never going to be done again.”
Michelle Goff unveils the different themed weeks, from dance-floor favorites to internet memes to songs inspired by birds.
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Performances range from solos to group numbers, and the crowd votes for its favorites. Props and costumes are highly encouraged.
Here, dark wizards from Harry Potter duet to Taylor Swift. A singer tosses flowers to the crowd while belting Seal's “Kiss From a Rose.” Once, Goff danced around as an erupting Mount Vesuvius as her teammates sang Bastille's "Pompeii."
Like intramural sports but with microphones, teams compete over six weeks, followed by two weeks of playoffs, then the finals.
It all happens at the Good Nite bar, on a darkened stretch of Burbank Boulevard. Inside, there’s an inviting purple glow and warm conversation that can be hard to come by in a city as big as L.A.
“You know, the city, exciting as it is, still has so many strangers,” said Carlos Mulia.
A newcomer to the league, the chef-turned-actor already feels like he belongs.
Want to join the L.A. Karaoke league?
Where: The Good Nite, 10721 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood.
When: Wednesday nights during the season.
How: Check the chapter’s website or @WeSingLA on Instagram for season announcements. Fall season registration is closed. The next season will start in late January or early February.
Cost: Registration costs $65 to $80, depending on when you sign up and whether you use a discount code.
Can I go watch: Yes! League nights are open to the public, with no cover charge, and anyone can vote for their favorite performances.
“Sometimes you can go to a karaoke bar and everyone’s talking and no one’s paying attention to you — that can be a downer,” he said. “But here, everyone’s contributing, everyone’s cheering for each other.”
For Mulia, the league also offers a creative outlet during Hollywood’s production slowdown, when he says opportunities to perform are scarce.
Actor Carlos Mulia said competitive karaoke gives him a creative outlet and a place to find community in a big city.
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“There’s not that many auditions," he said. "They’re far and few between, and it can really affect your psyche. So this allows you to just let it all out.”
The L.A. league started in Santa Monica in 2014 before moving among venues around the region and finding its current home at the Good Nite in 2021.
It’s part of United Karaoke, a loose national network with chapters in Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Chicago. The local leagues share a competition format, voting app and a pledge to keep the vibe welcoming.
In the league, friendships spark right away. Mulia hit it off with another actor, Jordan Delgado, who teaches children art at a studio.
They quickly figured out they’re both half-Filipino and grew up with karaoke, a fixture of Filipino social life.
“It is in our blood to do karaoke,” Delgado said. “So yeah, I’m honoring my ancestors in a way by being here tonight.”
Anybody is welcome on karaoke competition nights and invited to vote for their favorite performances.
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Delgado loves to perform but says the karaoke league promises more than that.
“It’s something to look forward to in the downtime of the part-time jobs,” Delgado said. “A reason to regularly meet up with people, where we could just be silly, without any judgment.”
For her league debut, Delgado is going with a tried and true crowd-pleaser.
“My go-to song that my friends and family have heard me sing a billion times is ‘You and I’ by Lady Gaga," Delgado said. "It really gets the crowd going.”
When it’s her turn, Delgado bounds onto the tiny stage up front with a big confident smile that matches a powerful voice.
“We got a whole lot of money, but still pay rent,” Delgado sings, striding across the tiny stage to whoops and cheers.
Several weeks after her league debut, Delgado would go on to win best performer during Graveyard Week, when the league revives songs so overdone they’re normally off-limits.
Her winning number? “Shallow,” with Delgado singing both the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper parts.
And she brought the theatrical flair. Dressed as Gaga on one side of her body and Cooper on the other, she was her own duet partner.
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By Jeremiah Dobruck | Long Beach Post, Dañiel Andres Martinez
Published October 31, 2026 1:34 PM
A sign a Rosies Dog Beach in Long Beach warn visitors of the contaminated water. Photographed at Rosie's Dog Beach on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022 in Long Beach, CA.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
All coastal waters in Long Beach — including beaches, lagoons and bays — remain closed Sunday, after health officials say 29,000 gallons of sewage spilled out of a mainline pipe in Belmont Shore on Friday evening.
What happened: The spill happened around 6:30 p.m. near Livingston Drive and Second Street, according to a statement from the city’s Health Department.
The latest update: City crews tried to catch as much sewage as possible before it reached drainage systems that led to the ocean, but about 14,000 gallons ultimately reached the sea, forcing Long Beach to close its coastal waters.
All coastal waters in Long Beach — including beaches, lagoons and bays — remain closed Sunday after health officials say 29,000 gallons of sewage spilled out of a mainline pipe in Belmont Shore on Friday evening.
Joy Contreras, a public information officer with Long Beach Utilities, told LAist that emergency repairs to the sewer main were completed Saturday night.
"The Utilities Department will investigate the cause of the force main break, as a break of this magnitude is extremely rare," Contreras said Sunday.
Water quality testing, Contreras said, will resume on Monday. The Long Beach Health Department, she said, will determine when swimming areas will reopen once samples meet State water quality standards.
What happened
The spill happened around 6:30 p.m. on Friday near Livingston Drive and Second Street, according to a statement from the city’s health department.
“The spill was associated with a force main break, a pressurized pipe to convey wastewater,” according to the statement. There was no word on what caused the break.
Long Beach Utilities stopped the spill by rerouting sewage to bypass the line.
City crews tried to catch as much of the sewage as possible before it reached drainage systems that led to the ocean, but about 14,000 gallons ultimately reached the sea, forcing Long Beach to close its coastal waters.
History of sewage spills
Long Beach is no stranger to beach closures because of sewage spills, but it most commonly happens when sewage flows down the Los Angeles or San Gabriel rivers from upstream cities. Over one recent five-year span, local beaches were closed for 63 days because of upstream spills.
State law requires the closures any time sewage makes its way to the coast until testing shows the water meets quality standards. These rigorous rules don’t hold true for all types of spills.
