EatLA tastes olive oil, tells obsessive foodies to chill, and discovers why canned beer is better than bottled beer; Dylan Brody remembers the charms of Schuylerville NY; San Antonio Winery turns 95; look out for Frank Stoltze at your local restaurant - he wants to talk politics with you.
Tour an unexpected treasure: Downtown LA's San Antonio Winery
UPDATE: The San Antonio Winery turns 95 this month; another reason to lift a glass!
Steve Riboli takes Off-Ramp host John Rabe on a tour of his family's San Antonio Winery, which has made it more than 90 years through wars, Prohibition, recessions and a Depression, not to mention the Great California Wine Revolution. It's one of the last remnants of LA's Little Italy, and still sells more sacramental wine than any other maker worldwide.
Tip for Off-Ramp listeners: The winery's wine shop is probably the best one in downtown Los Angeles, and it doesn't only sell its own makes.
The first piece of audio is the short version. Come on in for the one-hour tour we released as a special Off-Ramp podcast ... all the more reason to sign up for them at i-Tunes!
Frank Stoltze goes on the road to talk with voters and eat pickled eggs
We're trying something very new and very old. Wednesday, KPCC political reporter Frank Stoltze and crew will be at Philippe's restaurant in downtown Los Angeles from 6 a.m. to noon, and he wants to hear from you.
What's the big election year issue for you, and, more important, why?
Frank'll be at a table recording your opinions and life stories, and he might even buy you a cup of coffee and a pickled egg.
Frank will also be checking-in with Steve on Morning Edition, Alex and A on Take Two and Larry on Airtalk.
This is part of a new online project called That's My Issue, in which KPCC & WNYC are gathering stories of how you came to care about the issue that matters the most to you.
And if you can't make it to Philippe's, Frank will be at other eateries throughout Southern California in these weeks leading up to the election.
Speaking of old fashioned, Philippe's still has phone booths. If you remember the pitfalls of phone booths, make sure to listen to Frank's chat with Rabe.
From turkeys to campaign finance, Ed Begley, Jr. tackles tough issues in 'November'
With election season underway, even plays are getting into political theatre. David Mamet's farce "November," opens at the Mark Taper forum, and tackles everything from civil unions to Thanksgiving turkey lobbyists. KPCC's Patt Morrison sat down with the star, Ed Begley, Jr. "November" runs through November 4th at the Mark Taper Forum. Tickets can be purchased at their website. An extended version of this interview can be found at Patt Morrison's website.
The President is a big target for humor, what does "November" do differently?
"I had seen [past David Mamet plays] "American Buffalo," "Glengarry Glen Ross," and "Oleanna," and then I got to work with [Mamet] on "The Cryptogram," and I realized personally how funny he was. He is so funny in person, I went 'Wow, wouldn't it be great if he wrote a comedy?'"
What's "November" about?
"It's just a week before the election, and the President [has realized] how bad he's doing. He's kind of an ineffectual fellow, he's not the brightest tool in the shed, but then there's twists and turns, and David takes it round and round and its very unexpected right until the end."
Mamet wrote the play well before the 2008 primaries, did he have a particular president in mind?
"He did not have a person in mind, but there's some other familiar sounding things that occur that you might hang around the neck of other presidents."
Are his politics are very different from yours?
"They are, but I have friends that I love that have different points of view. Isn't that a wonderful part of our country that we have many divergent points of view? [The play] talks about that quite eloquently."