Topic Archive: Food
We told you earlier this week that the 1960s-era metal grates would be coming off the old facade of Clifton's Brookdale cafeteria on Broadway — and this morning they did.
Posted February 8, 2012 9:02 PM
At a ceremony later this morning, the original Broadway facade of the Clifton's Brookdale Cafeteria will be uncovered and later restored.
Posted February 7, 2012 12:03 AM
OC Weekly editor Gustavo Arellano's new book, "Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America," was just praised by Publishers Weekly as one of the top cookbooks of the spring crop. That would be nicer for the author if it were a cookbook.
Posted January 26, 2012 9:25 AM
Since 1977, Philippe has charged just nine cents for coffee — plus a penny in tax. Nice touch and marketing gimmick while it lasted
Posted January 25, 2012 10:43 PM
The Layover, Anthony Bourdain's new food and (a little) travel show on the Travel Channel, has been to London, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Montreal, Hong Kong, Miami, Singapore and Rome and now comes to Los Angeles. Here's where he goes.
Posted January 20, 2012 4:22 PM
The Southern TV chef known for her Krispy Kreme doughnut bread pudding and similar recipes went on "Today" to explain that she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago.
Posted January 17, 2012 12:11 PM
Lots of tweeting and checking-in online tonight from the final night at Angeli Caffe on Melrose Avenue. And a call for food trucks to come feed the staff.
Posted January 13, 2012 11:16 PM
Celestino Drago has decided not to renew the lease for Drago on Wilshire Boulevard.
Posted January 4, 2012 1:57 PM
angeli-interior.jpg
Email from Angeli Caffe says that Evan Kleiman's Melrose Avenue Italian trattoria will stay open until Jan. 13, instead of closing after the meals of Jan. 8 as previously announced.

Posted January 3, 2012 2:21 PM
Mr. Cecil's Ribs on Pico is gone and Orris is going. But there are a couple of fresh new entries in Westwood Village.
Posted December 31, 2011 4:34 PM
The owner of Angeli Caffe got a little emotional with host Lisa Napoli last night on KCRW.
Posted December 31, 2011 1:35 PM
Losses have been mounting, and Kleiman informed her staff that she can no longer cover the restaurant's bills after 27 years.
Posted December 29, 2011 11:25 AM
Neil Saavedra, the KFI/AM 640 marketing director, will host the new Saturday afternoon show that's due to start Jan. 7.
Posted December 21, 2011 12:38 PM
There's less demand in NoHo for an "organic, sustainable fast food restaurant that embraces local, hormone-free and pesticide-free food, compostable containers and other green components" that one might have thought.
Posted December 19, 2011 4:32 PM
Two local Hamlets remain from the chain that made its mark in part by hiring African Americans in visible positions when many L.A. restaurants didn't.
Posted December 18, 2011 11:24 PM
The list ranges from Mom's to Lazy Ox Canteen.
Posted December 15, 2011 1:19 AM
The Department of Water and Power has apparently decided to reopen its once well-regarded cafeteria to the public, KPCC says.
Posted December 12, 2011 10:58 PM
Stella Ajose, a photography student from Russia, has been shooting a series of pictures of immigrant fruit vendors on the streets around L.A.
Posted December 9, 2011 12:21 AM
he Jackson Limousine Service gave out turkeys and fixings for the 23rd year today from its fleet yard on West Slauson Avenue.
Posted November 22, 2011 6:18 PM
Tips from Zach Pollack of Sotto, via Los Angeles magazine.
Posted November 21, 2011 4:44 PM
Food blogger and list-maker Sarah Gim went to bed the other night with several years' worth of Jonathan Gold's essential restaurants lists from the LA Weekly.
Posted November 18, 2011 1:22 AM
Before Border Grill, City, the Too Hot Tamales and Street — and way before "Top Chef Masters" — chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken had a game-changing little dive on Melrose called City Cafe.
Posted November 16, 2011 1:58 PM
It's dining editor Pete Wells, according to an internal announcement at the New York Times.
Posted November 15, 2011 1:21 PM
The sign here was out front of The Pie Hole, a new dessert and coffee spot in downtown's Arts District.
Posted November 13, 2011 9:55 PM
It now goes by the name of Dave.
Posted November 1, 2011 10:26 PM
New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik talks about his new book, "The Table Comes First: Family, France and the Meaning of Food," with producer-director Ed Zwick on Thursday night.
Posted November 1, 2011 9:21 PM
L.A. gets acquainted with a new level of Obamajam while President Obama himself stops for takeout and politics at Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles.
Posted October 24, 2011 11:40 PM
For a lot of us, the future (or potential fate) of Johnie's Coffee Shop was one of the first questions to come to mind after the news broke that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would buy the former May Company across the street for a film museum.
Posted October 17, 2011 9:10 AM
You've got a couple of months to pay a last visit to the early Hamburger Hamlet where Sunset forks into Doheny Road. Closing day is said to be Dec. 19.
Posted October 14, 2011 1:41 AM
Korean broadcaster TVK24 did a feature story on Jewish Journal editor Rob Eshman's garden and cooking for the Sukkot holiday.
Posted October 13, 2011 10:51 PM
"SoCal Connected" begins a new season tonight on KCET with stories on deteriorating sidewalks and the link between obesity and fast food in L.A.
Posted September 30, 2011 11:32 AM
The landmark Clifton's on Broadway will be shut down for three to six months, according to Eater LA. The kitchen and the serving line will be redone, and the dining...
Posted September 29, 2011 9:20 PM
The former Los Angeles Times op-ed columnist talks about the post-civil rights generation of African Americans in Los Angeles and her new book, "Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line: Dispatches from a Black Journalista."
Posted September 27, 2011 9:01 AM
This makes Sam Sifton the editor more or less over most California reporting
Posted September 13, 2011 11:44 AM
The East Los Angeles building that used to house The Tamale is a beauty salon these days.
Posted September 11, 2011 9:44 PM

Posted September 10, 2011 11:27 PM
Interesting piece by Gustavo Arellano in the L.A. Times Food section this week on the historical place of tamales — and the XLNT company — in Los Angeles cuisine.
Posted September 9, 2011 12:19 AM
Adam Roberts began blogging about food in 2004, grew it into a part-time gig with The Food Network, and now calls himself a full-time food writer.
Posted August 31, 2011 11:36 PM
There used to be others around the Valley, but far as I know this is the last Hot Dog Show.
Posted August 28, 2011 8:41 PM
Reader Bob Patterson spotted this vintage Helms Bakery truck at the festivities surrounding the Concours d'Elegance in Pebble Beach. If you don't smell bread or donuts upon seeing the...
Posted August 19, 2011 11:58 AM
Southwestern Law School professor David Fagundes, writing at the legal blog Concurring Opinions, considers the long waits for a hot dog at Pink's and concludes there's a paradox lying therein....
Posted August 17, 2011 3:32 PM
His brother Mark, the head of Heal the Bay, says that he asked the LA Weekly food writer for this weekend's op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. Getting it done was more of a struggle.
Posted August 8, 2011 11:48 AM
The 84-seat landmark now charges 50 cents a cup on orders from owner and former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan.
Posted July 28, 2011 10:17 AM
It isn't even close, says Slate's Jennifer Reese. It's "America's Test Kitchen," the PBS show from the staff of Cooks Illustrated magazine.
Posted July 20, 2011 9:23 AM
Fraiche is hosting a seven-course wine dinner next Wednesday that's not for the unemployed or those whose 401-k's have cratered.
Posted July 7, 2011 12:42 PM
In the new issue of the Wall Street Journal Magazine, the LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold escapes from the San Gabriel Valley's Asian dives he frequents to profile the Copenhagen restaurant just voted the best in the world for the second year in a row.
Posted June 29, 2011 9:39 PM
They had a really good lineup of stories on Saturday's "Off-Ramp" on KPCC, plus a search for Wahoo, Calif.
Posted June 12, 2011 10:31 PM
Joan Luther, called by some the first lady of restaurant PR in Los Angeles, died yesterday.
Posted June 7, 2011 12:54 PM
The anonymous blogger at Ruth Bourdain has customized the government's new dietary plate to his/her own foodie taste.
Posted June 2, 2011 10:17 PM
Gjelina's no substitution policy has always been ridiculously amateurish, but this time the Venice hot spot did its Menu Nazi act on Victoria Beckham. And Gordon Ramsay.
Posted June 1, 2011 8:41 PM
Sheila Kelliher, a firefighter-paramedic at the county's West Hollywood fire station, won a cooking contest with clean, healthy chili.
Posted May 24, 2011 1:16 AM
Gordon Smith, the former Los Angeles bureau chief for Copley News Service, resigned last year as chief spokesman for the local ACLU to movie with his wife to a farm...
Posted May 22, 2011 11:26 PM
Channels 2 and 9 reporter Suzanne Marques blogs that she's been reading Julia Child's autobiography — and woke up Sunday morning with an insatiable craving to make Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon recipe that had a starring role in the movie "Julia and Julia." So she did.
Posted May 16, 2011 10:25 PM
The company that makes Pabst Blue Ribbon beer is moving its headquarters from the Chicago area to Los Angeles, where the name has local roots.
Posted May 16, 2011 1:14 AM
Original Tommy's rolled back prices Sunday at the founding location at Beverly and Rampart boulevards — 65 cents for a chili cheeseburger and a Coca-Cola. Limit five per customer. (No comment.)
Posted May 15, 2011 11:45 PM
Patric Kuh of Los Angeles magazine and Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly are the top local winners of the James Beard Foundation media awards.
Posted May 7, 2011 11:37 AM
For yesterday's celebration of Cinco de Mayo, the Pink Taco in the Century City shopping center painted a donkey pink and tied it up outside the restaurant.
Posted May 6, 2011 8:54 AM
Greg Critser is a Pasadena author who, in his magazine days, edited several top L.A. journalists. He's also enough of a cook that Science 2.0 put up some instructional videos of Critser making pasta.
Posted May 2, 2011 8:56 AM
Los Angeles has Chinese restaurants, Herb Alpert, Austin Beutner and girls on quads. Miller-McCune has Lee Baca.
Posted April 27, 2011 2:42 PM
After yesterday's posts on the Fred Harvey cafe at Union Station, blogger Scott Lowe stumbled across a Fiona Apple video shot there.
Posted April 27, 2011 10:53 AM
The first time I snuck into the vacated Fred Harvey cafe at Union Station, maybe 20 years ago, I could almost smell the 1940s cigar smoke. The room and adjacent...
Posted April 26, 2011 12:25 PM
Obama's menu from last night, Lohan sentenced back to county jail, and more.
Posted April 22, 2011 4:45 PM
Pool reporter from the LA Times gets the name of Obama's restaurant wrong. Can't say she wasn't warned.
Posted April 21, 2011 11:58 PM
There is no article in Tavern, and no solid news on how to avoid traffic from president Obama's visit this evening.
Posted April 21, 2011 12:42 PM
The Point, located beside the route of the Expo Line in the artsy and techy Hayden Tract section of Culver City, closed on Friday.
Posted April 18, 2011 10:36 PM
It's hard to know whether ex-LAPD chief William Bratton and Kroll, where he is chairman, will be actual security advisers or they are there as Frank McCourt's latest in a series of image consultants.
Posted April 6, 2011 8:40 PM
Everything around the LAX retail concessions is about politics and the practice of influence — do you think services that disappointing and overpriced would fly in the real world?
Posted April 1, 2011 8:33 AM
I've recently enjoyed two pieces of writing on the local Creole community spurred by the Feb. 21 passing of restaurateur Harold Legaux, proprietor of Harold & Belle’s on West Jefferson Boulevard.
Posted March 7, 2011 10:51 PM
They'll take your recommendations at the website until April 10.
Posted February 24, 2011 11:46 AM
Heather Armstrong has traveled a lot of blog miles since she was fired from her Los Angeles start-up job in 2002 for keeping a personal online diary called a weblog.
Posted February 23, 2011 11:45 PM
The new West Hollywood restaurant by Craig Susser, former manager at Dan Tana's, got the feature treatment in the New York Times over the weekend.
Posted February 22, 2011 1:10 AM
Police told Barbara Hansen that the burglars who ransacked her place were pros, but the destruction seems needlessly vicious.
Posted January 28, 2011 3:28 PM
The Daily Meal's list is more than a lazy tally of hot chefs of the moment; the 50 include corporate and government officials, journalists and others who shape the food business.
Posted January 18, 2011 4:13 PM
The reservation service is a mixed bag of good and bad, says Angeli's Evan Kleiman on her KCRW blog.
Posted January 5, 2011 6:16 PM
Friday is the last day for the Hollywood Boulevard restaurant and bar that the new AOL Patch Hollywood says helped clean up a blighted stretch of the street.
Posted December 30, 2010 1:34 PM
Gold suspects that the dude at Red Medicine knows it was dumb to turn away L.A. Times reviewer S. Irene Virbila and compound his error by posting her picture on the web.
Posted December 30, 2010 1:34 AM
In one of those promotional interviews that actors do with the smaller magazines when their movie is coming out, Mila Kunis was asked how she broke the diet that let her lose a bunch of weight for "Black Swan."
Posted December 28, 2010 3:55 PM
L.A. Times restaurant critic Sherry Virbila has tweeted a pretty good response to that dust-up with the co-owner of Red Medicine, the Beverly Hills restaurant that refused her service in a hissy fit over past reviews.
Posted December 24, 2010 6:18 PM
Jerry Brown, the Downtown Art Walk, even Lindsay Lohan. And more.
Posted December 22, 2010 8:22 PM
For some reason, co-owner Noah Ellis of the recently opened Red Medicine in Beverly Hills didn't want L.A. Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila to critique his restaurant.
Posted December 22, 2010 12:15 PM
Neighborhood councils, Hollywood, City Hall politics and more.
Posted December 21, 2010 1:55 PM
The Hollywood Farmers Market can continue in its current location and size for 90 days while the market and L.A. Film School continue to negotiate. From the market's side, former Councilman Michael Woo has circulated an email detailing why a final agreement didn't get done.
Posted December 20, 2010 1:01 AM
KCRW says that on tonight's "Which Way, L.A.?," City Council President Eric Garcetti and "Good Food" host Evan Kleiman will discuss details of a deal struck today between the Hollywood Farmer's Market and the LA Film School.
Posted December 16, 2010 4:28 PM
My piece today commented on the observations of L.A. I've mentioned recently by a gifted migrant to the city, Christopher Isherwood, and by 50 native (or close to it) Angelenos in Los Angeles magazine.
Posted December 13, 2010 11:48 PM
It's a dispute with the L.A. Film School, say operators....
Posted December 6, 2010 9:17 AM
The Broadway Deli, opened in 1990 by Bruce Marder and Marvin Zeidler, closed Monday after the landlord said the restaurant had to be out by Nov. 30.
Posted November 30, 2010 8:20 PM
Jose Rodriguez, Harold Katz and Danny McDevitt.
Posted November 24, 2010 12:35 AM
Phil's Diner was a beloved hangout for its fans in North Hollywood when it was located on Chandler Boulevard, from the 1920s until about ten years ago.
Posted November 19, 2010 12:45 AM
A piece in the November issue of the Los Angeles Times Magazine starts out sounding a little bit like Silverton's financial reversals weren't already big news two years ago, but the story goes on to look at what's been going right at the Mozzas and elsewhere.
Posted November 11, 2010 3:04 PM
This is the second in a very random and occasional series, the first having featured KCAL TV reporter Suzanne Marques at the shooting range. In heels.
Posted November 9, 2010 10:25 PM
After 11 years, the monthly gathering of media and Hollywood types started by TV writer Scott Kaufer, blogger Mickey Kaus and journalist-author Steve Oney is leaving Yamashiro.
Posted October 29, 2010 9:49 AM
In an open letter he posted at the LA Weekly's food blog, Jonathan Gold never quite apologizes to Paula Deen for blasting her selection as Rose Parade grand marshal. But he does explain how his words came to be printed, and allows that "our mutual friends say that you are delightful."
Posted October 29, 2010 9:26 AM
The Rose Parade's choice of food author and TV host Paula Deen as grand marshal gives LA Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold indigestion.
Posted October 27, 2010 9:48 AM
My favorite tweet of the day, from former New York Times restaurant critic (and author) Frank Bruni.
Posted October 21, 2010 12:26 AM
Los Angeles magazine's Ultimate Guide to Mexican Food in L.A. in the November issue is heavy on tacos, apparently, but also has more — including critic Patric Kuh’s selections of the city’s top 10 Mexican restaurants.
Posted October 20, 2010 12:59 PM
On the occasion of a new cookbook from Sunset, the New York Times heaps praise on the former booster publication of the Southern Pacific Railroad as the ultimate definer of California cuisine and the California image.
Posted October 19, 2010 10:54 PM
The county Board of Supervisors today gave unanimous final approval to rules that will let health department inspectors inspect and assign letter grades to food trucks.
Posted October 19, 2010 10:21 PM
Rebecca Keegan and Nicole Sperling are joining the L.A. Times movie staff, writing for print and online. Read the memo.
Posted October 15, 2010 11:22 AM
Taix ran the Taix French Restaurant in Echo Park, started Downtown by his father in 1927 and among the oldest family-owned restaurants in Los Angeles.
Posted October 11, 2010 4:21 PM
Art Ginsburg is leaving Art's Deli to his children, but look who reported the story for AOL Patch.
Posted October 3, 2010 11:37 PM
Ruth Reichl, the longtime California-based food writer and editor before moving to the New York Times and Gourmet, has been named an editor-at-large of Random House.
Posted September 30, 2010 1:02 PM
The new owner of Clifton's Cafeteria will be appearing at a press conference shortly with Councilman Jose Huizar to announce that there will be 100 new jobs for the formerly homeless as part of the new Clifton's. Plus a DWP cafeteria update.
Posted September 21, 2010 8:59 AM
Conde Nast announced today that the editorial offices of Bon Appetit magazine will be moving to New York, without longtime editor Barbara Fairchild.
Posted September 20, 2010 10:51 AM
The last remaining Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown, the forest-themed one on Broadway, has been purchased by Andrew Meieran, owner of The Edison.
Posted September 17, 2010 2:57 PM
ow they have gone too far. The Department of Water and Power, already in the running for least popular city agency, has closed its cafeteria to the public,
Posted September 13, 2010 10:13 PM
Mark Peel, the chef at Campanile and Tarpit (and formerly of Spago if you want to go way back), will contribute pieces on the restaurant business to KPCC's Off-Ramp beginning with an inside look at tipping on today's show at noon.
Posted September 11, 2010 10:55 AM
Before she left town for Washington, former New York Times bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer did the tour of newer Downtown restaurants.
Posted September 10, 2010 9:26 AM
Blogger Tabloid Baby notices, and cares, that the little Trader Vic's remnant at the pool of the Beverly Hilton has added modest blue bikini tops to the bare breasts of the polynesian women in a painted scene.
Posted September 9, 2010 9:32 AM
The Eric Owen Moss art tower beside the Expo Line, as observed by John Rabe, Mark Peel and Scott Timberg — and Moss.
Posted September 1, 2010 12:21 PM
It's not new, strictly speaking, but Hatfield's is in a new space on Melrose.
Posted August 18, 2010 9:42 AM
Longtime California political writer John Marelius, lately at the San Diego Union-Tribune and previously at the Daily News for 15+ years, has been appointed to a state Fair Political Practices Commission task force to reform and simplify the Political Reform Act. Plus other media notes.
Posted August 9, 2010 10:32 PM
The New York Times food critic wangled his way into LudoBites 5.0 twice last week, in the Downtown location that's in use this summer.
Posted August 3, 2010 9:51 PM
Food writer Barbara Hansen watched last night as a guy pulled into a parking spot on a trendy block of Beverly Boulevard, wrapped a shirt around the parking meter and strolled away with two women. She got a photo.
Posted July 26, 2010 1:29 PM
Here is Zocalo's report on the panel we told you about, discussing the future of seafood.
Posted July 8, 2010 2:17 PM
Jonathan Gold — the enthusiastic fish gourmand — and his brother Mark Gold — the head of Heal the Bay — will be on the same panel tomorrow night talking about the sustainability of seafood. It's sort of a rermatch, if you remember their 2008 blog throwdown.
Posted July 6, 2010 8:29 PM
Just because. It's a commercial by Japanese photographer Kazumi Kurigami.
Posted June 24, 2010 12:01 PM
You've got them. Chronicler of all things modern Chris Nichols has put together a quick web guide to 33 local eateries that fit the criteria.
Posted June 22, 2010 5:16 PM
While the politicians and unions haggle over whether the next round of city worker layoffs will actually happen, at the Los Angeles Public Library they already are happening.
Posted June 18, 2010 11:22 AM
The book-touring chef and TV host praised L.A. food culture (and endorsed the Lakers over the Celtics) and revealed where he ate before taking the stage at Royce Hall.
Posted June 16, 2010 11:37 PM
Jonathan Gold, fresh off his James Beard Foundation win, will be splitting some of the food writing duties at the LA Weekly with a second staff critic. Plus a new news blogger. Read the memo.
Posted May 4, 2010 5:42 PM
Brad A. Johnson, the national food and travel editor for Modern Luxury and Angeleno, won the top restaurant critic prize at the international 2010 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards held in Adelaide, Australia
Posted May 3, 2010 5:45 PM
The LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold won the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviews category at last night's James Beard Foundation awards.
Posted May 3, 2010 11:09 AM
If you remember the minor dust-up in March over Saveur's Los Angeles issue — or even if you don't — you might like this. Plus: The Bazaar on "60 Minutes."
Posted May 2, 2010 8:25 PM
The U.S. Attorney's office has moved to dismiss federal charges against the Santa Monica sushi restaurant that admitted serving illegal whale meat.
Posted April 29, 2010 6:37 PM
Since we seem to be on the Pinkberry closure beat now, let it be noted that the Abbot Kinney outpost of the empire — mildly controversial when it opened two Julys ago — shuts down on May 3.
Posted April 28, 2010 12:58 AM
The little shop on Huntley Drive where you or someone you know probably lined up for tart yogurt-like icy stuff — and possibly earned a parking ticket or two —...
Posted April 20, 2010 5:55 PM
Going on five years since it closed, the news is that there's no news on the reopening of the much-loved Tail o' the Pup hot dog (and more) stand.
Posted April 11, 2010 5:30 PM
The Apple Pan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar turn 63, plus Jackie Robinson and the Hollywood Freeway.
Posted April 10, 2010 9:09 PM
On Saturday morning, the Culinary Historians of Southern California are hosting a discussion on "the heyday of the Los Angeles Times Food section." Former Food section stalwarts Betsy Balsley, Donna Deane, Rose Dosti and Barbara Hansen will be on the panel at the Central Library in Downtown.
Posted April 9, 2010 9:56 AM
L.A. food writer and blogger Barbara Hansen discovered an unexpected restaurant in Bangkok. Called Cabbages and Condoms, it's part of a safe sex and birth control program.
Posted March 30, 2010 8:43 PM
A big rent hike and the desire by the landlord to break up the space at the south end of Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade looks like it spells the end, the Santa Monica Daily Press says.
Posted March 24, 2010 10:52 AM
Of the three food writers nationally who are finalists in the top journalism category of this year's James Beard Foundation awards — Craig Clairborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviews — two are from L.A.: Patric Kuh of Los Angeles magazine and Jonathan Gold of LA Weekly.
Posted March 22, 2010 11:32 AM
The Santa Monica Airport restaurant that served whale sushi posted on its website that it was closing today after 12 years with an apology to "our loyal customers, the city...
Posted March 20, 2010 8:54 PM
Zacatecas is to modern-day Southern California what Iowa was for a previous generation of Angelenos: a place known for its work ethic and its conservative values, and for sending hundreds of thousands of its residents to our sunny wonderland. But no restaurants.
Posted March 19, 2010 9:27 AM
Today's LA Observed piece during "All Things Considered" on KCRW talks about the L.A. story of this week that had a little of everything. That would be Jennifer Steinhauer's New...
Posted March 12, 2010 4:23 PM
Heal the Bay president Mark Gold is trying to get the whale-serving restaurant closed — but this time doesn't have to worry about his brother, Jonathan Gold the food writer.
Posted March 10, 2010 9:22 AM
It's been amusing watching today's Twitter traffic from reporters who showed up at The Hump, the exotic food restaurant in Santa Monica fingered in this morning's New York Times for serving outlawed whale meat.
Posted March 9, 2010 5:36 PM
Rob Eshman got soooo much strong reaction to last week's list of nine things wrong with L.A. food culture that he tries again this week with an up-beatier Nine Ways to Make LA the “Ultimate Food City."
Posted March 2, 2010 11:58 PM
In the new TV spot for "The Runaways" film, the relatively short-lived but fondly recalled SoCal fast-food chain shows up as "Pup 'n' Fries."
Posted February 24, 2010 2:45 PM
The L.A. institution is expected to open an outpost in the former Liberty Grill spot in the South Park area.
Posted February 22, 2010 5:15 PM
Saveur's March issue on Los Angeles "is edited to within a hairs breadth of puffery," says food blogger Rob Eshman, who lists what they left out.
Posted February 22, 2010 12:45 AM
The Food Network chef cites problems with the concert promoter.
Posted February 20, 2010 12:59 AM
The Echo Park restaurant that become such a community and media center after the Haiti earthquake may be closed 6 to 8 weeks. An electrical short is blamed.
Posted February 18, 2010 3:48 PM
Philippe's has reopened after a bout with cockroaches.
Posted February 12, 2010 9:01 AM
Howser's 'California Gold' ets exclusive access to the Baldwin Park headquarters of In-N-Out and camera access to one of the chain's stores, both billed as firsts by KCET.
Posted January 29, 2010 3:50 PM
The San Pedro destination for Greek food and community closes Sunday after 37 years.
Posted January 28, 2010 8:20 PM
Goody's is leaving San Gabriel for El Monte.
Posted January 26, 2010 4:50 PM
Bell had opened a few fast food chains around Southern California after World War II, starting with a rival to McDonald's in San Bernardino. He also started Der Wienerschnitzel, but...
Posted January 18, 2010 11:50 AM
Pretty clever use of Flash by the folks at dineLA as part of the upcoming Restaurant Weeks.
Posted January 14, 2010 2:56 PM
Great Los Angeles story in the L.A. Times: there are several waiters who sandwich in deli shifts at Langer's by day then head over to the Fairfax area to work Canter's at night.
Posted January 12, 2010 6:37 PM
Yes, all this time, LA Weekly food star Jonathan Gold has been a freelancer. Now he's on staff, the rest of the newsroom was told today. He'll continue writing his...
Posted January 6, 2010 5:50 PM
The holder of the lease says he got a 30-day eviction notice. The landlord growled that it was none of a reporter's business, then said "the restaurant is open and...
Posted December 15, 2009 5:40 PM
We have a new winner: Langer's Deli knocks Providence off the top of the list selected by 100 participants in Chowhound's Los Angeles pages. A change in procedure that encouraged...
Posted December 14, 2009 8:30 AM
In part three of Iris Schneider's exclusive-to-LA Observed posts following Bruce Lisker's reentry to society after 26 years behind bars, Bruce moves in with Kara in Marina del Rey. Iris...
Posted December 6, 2009 11:05 PM
Three dozen local food bloggers are pooling their talents Saturday to raise money for the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. The menu has cookies, pies, cupcakes, scones, tarts — even butterscotch...
Posted December 4, 2009 6:51 PM
Veronique de Turenne shared a cab in Guadalajara with Jonathan Gold and his wife, Laurie Ochoa, then joined them for an adventurous lunch — fried grasshoppers included. Veronique's photos will...
Posted December 4, 2009 5:41 PM
The blogger known as the 99-Cent Chef rode the new Gold Line extension to East Los Angeles for Sunday's opening. Squash blossom quesadillas at Taqueria Las Cabañas were the gustatory...
Posted November 17, 2009 4:35 PM
The December issue of Metropolitan Home will be the last one, Hachette Filipacchi Media announced today, saying that resources will be focused on its Elle Décor title. Met Home editor...
Posted November 9, 2009 2:31 PM
The Hollywood power lunch spot near the Cedars medical buildings on West 3rd Street is soon to shut its doors, after 20 years. “It’s not without some sadness and remorse,"...
Posted November 4, 2009 12:42 PM
Dana Goodyear's profile, almost a year in the making, calls the LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold "the high-low priest of the L.A. food scene." Subscription required to read the whole piece,...
Posted November 2, 2009 8:51 AM
The Rojas family has let me know that the accounts of El Tepeyac being up for sale have left out a key fact: the burritos are staying in Boyle Heights....
Posted October 15, 2009 4:59 PM
The departing police chief rates at least one thing about Los Angeles higher than New York. After the jump....
Posted October 14, 2009 7:35 PM
El Tepeyac, the family-owned home of the Hollenbeck burrito, is up for sale. (The land, anyway. See below.) Around since 1957, the stand on Evergreen in Boyle Heights is rightly...
Posted October 14, 2009 5:45 PM
Food writer Amanda Hesser, who may be a partisan about this as a longtime print scribe transitioning to online, says Gourmet magazine's content was fine. It just existed in the...
Posted October 8, 2009 10:59 AM
Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl tweets, sounds like she was surprised at magazine's demise: Thank you all SO much for this outpouring of support. It means a lot. Sorry not to...
Posted October 5, 2009 11:56 AM
As part of Conde Nast's post-McKinsey restructuring, Gourmet magazine will become an online, TV and book publishing brand, with only Bon Appetit continuing to publish as a magazine. Also shutting...
Posted October 5, 2009 7:55 AM
Curbed's food sites unveiled a chain-wide redesign and a national food blog, with an offer to pay other food blogs $25 to shut down and send traffic Eater's way. The...
Posted October 2, 2009 11:45 PM
Dodgers' post-game show host Ken Levine lets the city's least favorite cable provider have it with both blog barrels after a late-night phone exchange with the, so to speak, help...
Posted September 17, 2009 4:49 PM
A detection dog working with inspectors found a package at a FedEx depot in Sacramento that contained at least 100 live Asian citrus psyllids, including juveniles and adults, the L.A....
Posted August 28, 2009 2:55 PM
I wasn't alone in being surprised that Evan Kleiman's Angeli Caffe, a family favorite at our house, was dropped from Jonathan Gold's annual list of 99 essential restaurants. Emails and...
Posted August 28, 2009 9:48 AM
Jonathan Gold's latest compilation for the Los Angeles area includes some newcomers and a nod to the city's changing eating scene: This year especially, an essential L.A. restaurant may not...
Posted August 27, 2009 11:31 AM
Hugh Garvey, features editor at Bon Appetit magazine here and a food blogger, has a new cookbook out called "Gastrokid Cookbook: Feeding a Foodie Family in a Fast-Food World." Self-explanatory...
Posted August 22, 2009 9:02 AM
The Amateur Enthusiast is a blog devoted to drinking and dining in Downtown by political strategist Glenn Gritzner. In today's post, he struggles to bring his fellow Enthusiasts around on...
Posted August 21, 2009 10:41 PM
Workers are losing their jobs at restaurants on the Miracle Mile stretch of Wilshire Boulevard as customers opt out for lunch trucks. "We all average $15,000 to $18,000 in rent,...
Posted August 21, 2009 4:38 PM
Former Los Angeles Times reporters are key players in Zester Daily, which bills itself as "the latest news and information from around the globe about all aspects of food and...
Posted August 16, 2009 11:04 PM
Currently the culture editor, Sifton will replace Frank Bruni as the main restaurant critic at the New York Times — a job that still has a lot of national influence...
Posted August 5, 2009 10:57 AM
From the Jewish Journal's food blog, posted by editor Rob Eshman: I just got a peek inside David Sax’s new book, “Save the Deli,“ due out Oct. 19, and can...
Posted July 24, 2009 4:47 PM
Eater LA, through a post signed by Curbed creator Lockhart Steele, says its post earlier this week leveling blind charges at downtown wine bar The Must "didn't rise to our...
Posted July 2, 2009 6:15 PM
The food blog owned by the Curbed chain ran a litany of damaging, specific accusations against Downtown wine bar The Must attributed to an unidentified "tipster." The owners, talking to...
Posted June 30, 2009 11:21 PM
Bottega Louie, Chaya Downtown and The Conga Room won jury prizes at tonight's AIA/LA restaurant design awards that are part of the Dwell on Design event this weekend. The Lab...
Posted June 26, 2009 8:10 PM
Former Gridskipper contributor Katherine Spiers, who has a new food blog, alleges that the dates on Gridskipper posts for travelers to Los Angeles are bogus. Lots of people think I...
Posted June 4, 2009 11:40 PM
Today's New York Times food story on our legendary local Sriracha Chili Sauce has been the subject of some chatter on blogs and Twitter, and I even got an email...
Posted May 20, 2009 6:35 PM
The day after she was featured on "60 Minutes," the editor of Vogue was spotted at Tavern in Brentwood eating dinner at a table of four without any paparazzi in...
Posted May 20, 2009 12:21 PM
In the world of foodies and food writers, today's big news is that Frank Bruni is turning in his Amex card as the restaurant critic of the New York Times....
Posted May 14, 2009 3:34 PM
L.A. Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik writes that his life as a fast-food consumer pretty much ended once his kids could drive. But even back then, "I knew that all...
Posted May 9, 2009 9:21 AM
Brooke Burton, who recently moved from Pizzeria Mozza to Suzanne Goin's new Tavern in Brentwood and blogs at Foodwoolf, and Leah Greenstein (SpicySaltySweet.com) have proposed a code of ethics for...
Posted May 1, 2009 11:40 AM
SoCal Minds is a new blog that bills itself as presenting "Intriguing research, ideas, activity, people -- tracked from universities, cultural-intellectual institutions in Southern California." Recent posts have come out...
Posted May 1, 2009 12:19 AM
It's called Squid Ink and it features posts by Gourmet contributor Margy Rochlin, Los Angeles food blogger Jessica Ritz and the Weekly's own Jonathan Gold making recurring appearances with his...
Posted April 6, 2009 3:35 PM
Another good bookstore is folding up its tent — and the news drew multiple, audible protests here in the house when I read it out loud. "After 20 years selling...
Posted March 18, 2009 7:19 PM
Here's an update to my post last night about nachos, El Cholo and Anthony Bourdian. El Cholo says through its publicist that the claim regarding Carmen Rocha has always been...
Posted February 11, 2009 1:46 PM
When longtime El Cholo waitress Carmen Rocha died in October, the L.A. media hailed her as the creator of nachos. It's not so, says chef and Travel Channel foodie Anthony...
Posted February 10, 2009 9:01 PM
Telemundo's new lifestyle cable network for Latinos, mun2, has posted a video with the guys behind the Kogi Korean barbecue taco truck. The video was shot during a stop at...
Posted February 5, 2009 9:17 AM
I'm glad to see the most emailed L.A. Times story right now is the one I enjoyed the most in yesterday's paper — Food Editor Russ Parsons' guide to caramelizing...
Posted January 22, 2009 1:03 PM
Two weeks of special prix-fixe menus at more than 150 participating restaurants — more than last year — start on Sunday. Here's the list. The price levels this time are...
Posted January 22, 2009 7:40 AM
TJ Sullivan got a robo call from Costco reminding him that he bought a box of Clif Bars a few months ago — and alerting him they are part of...
Posted January 21, 2009 3:11 PM
Billy Vasquez, the 99 Cent Chef, has put together a blog and video guide to "dining and drinking establishments within the shadows of the arriving and departing giant silver birds"...
Posted January 21, 2009 9:15 AM
Lesley Balla, late of Eater LA, is not the new LA Weekly food blogger. She starts Jan. 26 as Los Angeles editor for Tasting Table LA, a new daily email...
Posted January 19, 2009 12:03 PM
Los Angeles Magazine's restaurant issue includes three-course epicurean splurges for $35 or less at Local, The Park, Palate, Sugarfish, Terroni and Delancey. Also in the issue: Patric Kuh's designation of...
Posted January 6, 2009 12:39 PM
The Paley Center for Media honored actor Carl Reiner tonight at the Hyatt in Century City, but apparently the main topic of conversation was the poor quality of the hotel...
Posted December 11, 2008 11:45 PM
Christopher Lisotta at Frontiers magazine says that Marjorie Christoffersen, the manager at El Coyote who threw a few bucks to the yes of Proposition 8 campaign through her church, has...
Posted December 8, 2008 12:07 PM
Owner Joe Pytka locked the doors on the staff Monday to "re-conceive" the West Hollywood restaurant....
Posted November 25, 2008 12:04 AM
Jay Fiondella moved to Los Angeles to act, roomed with Leonard Nimoy, and opened Chez Jay near the beach in Santa Monica in 1959. It became a showbiz hangout for...
Posted November 11, 2008 1:24 AM
Sign on the Sepulveda and National Hamlet on the Westside cites loss of the lease, but skeptical Chowhound posters suspect "loss of customers" is behind the closure. "We'll certainly see...
Posted November 4, 2008 12:23 PM
Free eats and beverages all over town, from Daily Grill to Starbucks. Eater LA provides a roundup. Also, an LAT story....
Posted November 4, 2008 7:51 AM
I asked readers to update me on what's in the Sherman Oaks space at 13359 Ventura Blvd. where mafia hangout Rondelli's was located in the 1950s. Le Fondue Bourguignonne recently...
Posted November 3, 2008 1:12 AM
Mark Gold is executive director of Heal the Bay, which often puts him at odds with his brother, the whale-eating food writer for the LA Weekly (and their Madison Avenue...
Posted October 28, 2008 11:24 AM
Providence gets a second star, and the list one one-star restaurants grows: Hatfield's, Bastide, Osteria Mozza and Sushi Zo. There are also more Asian and Mexican restaurants and the added...
Posted October 20, 2008 3:41 PM
Carmen Rocha waited tables at the original El Cholo on Western Avenue for nearly four decades and in El Cholo lore gets credit for introducing patrons to nachos. From Mary...
Posted October 16, 2008 10:11 PM
"Carne asada is not a crime," attorney Phil Greenwald said again, perhaps for the last time, after DA Steve Cooley's office said Friday that it would not appeal a judge's...
Posted October 5, 2008 11:23 AM
Oddly, Philippe The Original's hundredth anniversary celebration next Monday isn't the only French dip sandwich news in my mailbox. On that day from 4 to 8 pm, Philippe's will roll...
Posted September 30, 2008 12:12 PM
Andre Ethier, the food-blogging Dodger, showed up at Pizzeria Mozza between lunch and dinner, got a seat right away, and enjoyed himself. "Love at first bite," he writes as a...
Posted September 16, 2008 4:45 PM
The Los Angeles County ordinance making it a misdemeanor for taco trucks to stay parked for longer than an hour was tossed out Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Dennis A....
Posted August 28, 2008 12:50 AM
Eating L.A.'s Pat Saperstein joined LA Observed author Denise Hamilton on a culinary tour based on locations mentioned in "The Last Embrace," Denise's latest Los Angeles-based mystery. This one, set...
Posted August 16, 2008 11:48 PM
Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier can't convince Joe Torre to play him full time, even though he's second on the team in home runs and gets on base more than Juan...
Posted August 11, 2008 12:14 AM
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has posted a personal piece at his county website explaining why he pushed to require fast-food stores to list the calories of their fare on menus. Yaroslavsky...
Posted August 8, 2008 12:56 PM
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave his list of faves to the Times' Guide section. It differs some from the list in Angeleno I posted last night — but still will sound...
Posted August 7, 2008 9:07 AM
EaterLA's Lesley Balla did a little feature for Angeleno's food issue this month comparing the dining quotients of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and predecessor once-removed Richard Riordan. (Jim Hahn gets left...
Posted August 6, 2008 11:58 PM
In the August issue of Angeleno, national food and travel editor Brad A. Johnson picks his top 50 L.A. area restaurants and hands out some awards: Restaurant of The Year:...
Posted August 5, 2008 12:37 AM
No more table-top mustard pots at Philippe the Original, Lesley Balla reports at Eater LA. Truth be told, they were kind of grotty. But hey, the people declared it worked...
Posted July 16, 2008 10:53 AM
Tokyo-born Rocky Aoki was 69 when he died last night in New York, Bloomberg reports. The Benihana version of Japanese teppanyaki cooking began in New York, but of course they...
Posted July 11, 2008 3:39 PM
In today's LAT, reviewer Leslie Brenner absolutely savages Gladstone's Malibu, the Pacific Coast Highway goldmine where former mayor Richard Riordan is the largest shareholder. The food is "abominable" and the...
Posted July 9, 2008 3:49 PM
Greg Rogers, a flack at CRPR who represents Anisette and other restaurants, tells Eater LA that he created the Frappuccino while working at a Starbucks on Third Street Promenade: "No...
Posted June 18, 2008 8:02 PM
I've been kicking myself for a week for under-playing the selection of Russ Parsons, one of my favorite food writers, to the dining industry's hall of fame. He's the first...
Posted June 16, 2008 9:05 AM
Brad A. Johnson, national food and travel editor for Angeleno, won the James Beard Foundation Award in restaurant reviews for his pieces on Hampton's, Sona and The Penthouse. Junot Diaz...
Posted June 10, 2008 12:05 PM
Media in the Bay Area have been reporting all weekend on the difficulty of finding the unleavened crackers for Passover, due in part to big-box stores and Trader Joe's declining...
Posted April 21, 2008 1:24 PM
Seal of approval from, yes, the National Yogurt Association comes through. Lesley Balla at Eater LA dishes it up....
Posted April 17, 2008 4:47 PM
Every so often we get a glimpse of how things really work, without the cautionary impulse and spinning that takes over when people are talking to the media. Eater LA...
Posted March 26, 2008 11:55 AM
When the season opens next Monday, Canter's will have a stand selling corned beef and pastrami on the third-base side of the field level at Dodger Stadium. The concessions area...
Posted March 24, 2008 1:15 AM
In another of those generic magazine roundups claiming to know the best of something, but really an exercise in geographic diversity, Details includes Square One Dining on its top ten...
Posted February 25, 2008 8:56 AM
In case you were wondering, Slate explains why that order to recall meat sent to schools from Hallmark Meat Packing wasn't as pointless as it may have seemed: Why would...
Posted February 20, 2008 12:01 PM
San Pedro's best-known Greek restaurant has been targeted by Marie Callender's, and the Community Redevelopment Agency and the local councilwoman sound excited. "If it works out, this would be a...
Posted February 18, 2008 10:42 AM
Larry Lipson wrote up restaurants for the Daily News starting in 1958. From his exit column: Sure, there have been editors who have leaned somewhat heavily on me - especially...
Posted February 15, 2008 1:25 AM
In his last piece left in the can for the LA Weekly before taking his keyboard to Mexico, Daniel Hernandez uses Elizabeth Palacios's troubles with the law to tell the...
Posted February 12, 2008 11:18 PM
Trader Joe's will give up single-ingredient items from China, such as garlic and frozen spinach, by April 1. Products that include ingredients from China will still be sold. "We feel...
Posted February 11, 2008 2:35 PM
Downtown blogger Angelenic has the scoop (and some nice photos): Wilshire Boulevard institution La Fonda will reopen on Valentine's Day. The new version won't appeal to Japanese tourists or homesick...
Posted February 6, 2008 8:05 PM
The bad run continues for founders of Southern California's fast-food icons. Yancey, who died Jan. 26 at age 96, and a partner reportedly used scrap materials to build a three-stool...
Posted February 2, 2008 3:22 PM
Councilman Ed Reyes stopped in at 7th and Alvarado before noon to dedicate the intersection as Langer's Square. No dummy, he loaded up on the good stuff before making the...
Posted January 24, 2008 8:31 PM
Maybe their dogs aren't up to Cupid's or Pink's, but the LAT Food section makes the hot dogs at the Let's Be Frank cart parked at the Helms Building in...
Posted January 16, 2008 8:41 PM
Carl Karcher essentially grew a single hot dog cart in Los Angeles into the Carl's Jr. fast-food chain. He and his wife Margaret opened Carl's Drive-In Barbecue in Anaheim in...
Posted January 11, 2008 8:59 PM
Nine dollar French toast is a little too upscale for one Palisades blogger's taste. You might know it as the deli that's been featured often on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm--...
Posted January 10, 2008 7:56 PM
Jonathon Gold, in the course of praising the new French brasserie Comme Ça, on Melrose in West Hollywood: The cheeseburger paradigm has shifted a lot of times over the last...
Posted December 13, 2007 12:44 PM
Ciudad's culinary guide to Latin dining in the November issue ranges from La Casita Mexicana in Bell to La Super-Rica Taquería in Santa Barbara, and has good things to say...
Posted November 13, 2007 1:20 AM
Joel Rubin's first-person Column One in the Saturday L.A. Times described — in tasteful but descriptive detail — how he ended up in the ER with salmonella. He suspected the...
Posted November 4, 2007 11:24 PM
Barbara Hansen's TableConversation.com picks up where her ethnic food columns in the Times food section left off.
Posted March 12, 2007 9:13 AM
During the readers survey, someone asked for the Los Angeles County health department's restaurant closures list that used to run in the Times. Here it is, after the jump: all...
Posted January 30, 2007 2:12 AM
Beadle's Cafeteria in Pasadena has shut its doors for good. Don't believe the taped-up sign in the window saying it's just closed for remodeling. Not going to happen, the landlord...
Posted November 3, 2006 10:08 AM
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