Results tagged “food”

On a stretch of Pico where you’re likely to find spicy Caribbean food, or the caloric effort that is Oki-Dog, one might not expect tacos. That's why Sky’s Gourmet Tacos is a great fit. They serve up what they call: "Mexican food with a splash of soul".

Here in Los Angeles there is a valued relationship between the food on our plates and the ground from which it comes. From weekly stops at favorite farmers' markets to digging in at a local community garden, the bounty of the land and its role in our eating lives has a profound meaning for many Angelenos, and Americans. Local Chefs are eager to share how they use the market to influence their menu, like Grace and BLD's Neal Fraser and Ford Filling Station's Ben Ford, while some, like Border Grill and Ciudad's Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have partnered with the LAUSD to help reinforce the importance of garden-based learning and to be conscious of what we eat. The politics of eating has become a local focal point, thanks to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's championing a Food Policy Task Force this summer as we celebrated 30 years of farmers' markets in L.A.

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.

When I moved to Los Angeles from Back East, I immediately heard of two magical destinations for which East Coasters darned not speak: Costa Rica and Hawaii. Apparently they’re too far from Back East, but not Out Here.

I bought a massive hunk of fresh mozzarella cheese one weekend with visions of homemade margarita pizza swirling in my brain. I had a simple pizza dough recipe ready to go, but every evening when I got home from work, suddenly messing with yeast seemed like more than I could handle. Sure there were premade ones I could buy, but none were in my fridge, and by Thursday I'd had my fill of caprese salad. I stood in the kitchen hungry, grouchy and really not wanting to lay down 20 bucks for delivery.

                            

This past Sunday, Los Angeles Magazine hosted their 3rd Annual Food Event, held on a hot and blustery afternoon at Saddlerock Ranch, a winery tucked into the hills of Mulholland Hwy in Malibu. The rustic landscape was criss-crossed by narrow, bumpy roads that heightened the excitement as we drove onto the property, with slivers of dappled hillsides, vineyards, and pens holding exotic--and less exotic--animals came into view on the way to the clearing where the tents and tables were set up.

It’s been raining cats and dogs in Los Angeles. Don’t believe me? Consult your nearest social network where you'll see such pathetic updates as:

“It’s raining. Who’s got a bunker?” “Rain rain go away, else I’ll slit my writs today.”

Continue reading "Recession Obsession: Rainy Day Ramen"

       

Consider it the "Little Restaurant that Could" in the heart of Hollywood: It's been well over a year since we first started prematurely salivating about a storefront near Sunset and Vine. With the weekly taunting of the abundant, crowded, and colorful Hollywood Farmers' Market not helping matters, the cheerful yellow eatery whose name evokes the core connection between the farm and the dining table, has been "coming soon" for a long, long time.

This week was a bleak one for those who love "see food"--as in the words and images of the 60-year-old magazine Gourmet, which will serve up its last meal in the November issue following a death notice from publisher Conde Nast.

According to our friends at the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, that exists,) Los Angeles was the second highest consumer of hot dogs in 2008. We dropped $91,364,830. Wow. I’m sure a chunk of that is spent at Pink’s, but c’mon. Their line is so long one might catch black lung from the Melrose traffic. Why not have a Dodger Dog, where, should you wait in line, at least there's a Dodger game going on right behind you.

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.

Last fall we talked with Samantha Page and Camilla Yates, whose delectable Sweet Square dessert bars were available by order for fans of hand-held treats that don't involve the word "cupcake." If you didn't have the chance or occasion to order up a batch of their squares, you might find yourself somewhere in the city where you can bite into one of their bars.

       

The lines were long--but moving--this weekend in the mobile food court section of the Abbot Kinney Festival. Posted along one branch of the annual street fair and community gathering were several of the city's trendiest restaurants, all on four wheels, among them The NomNom Truck, Get Shaved, and Coolhaus. In line to get some grub at the Border Grill truck, however, a friend leaned over to me and asked: "So, is it that all these trucks are started up and run by really young people just getting into the business?"

            

Once upon a time, 11648 San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood was a Hamburger Hamlet. Yawn, right? Yes, the Hamlet had its heyday here in Los Angeles, but it's been a long time since the chain served anything to write (home) about. But if the three most important considerations in real estate are location, location, and yup, you guessed it, location, well, Tavern wound up with a prime piece of it. What you might not ever guess--if you didn't know it--is that this beautiful eatery, with its skylight-lit atrium dining room, plush seating, warm gray tones matched with airy cream colors, and wooden floors was once a Hamlet.

Survey says, Santa Barbara is a favorite day-trip for LAists. It turns out, like their large southern neighbor (us,) they have delicious mobile food vendors who are on Twitter. VendrTV gnaws into the meaty offerings of SB's Burger Bus. This video makes me so hungry that for a change, I wouldn't be ashamed to take the shortbus. Track these meals on wheels on their website, or Twitter.

     

Say what you will about fusion food (and you will, we know) but Banh Mi happens to be one of the oldest forms of cultural collision cuisine on the books. These east-meets-west eats are now roaming the streets of Los Angeles in a rubber-meets-the road kind of way, thanks to the folks behind the Nom Nom Truck, who launched their mobile eatery this summer to fill the void of Banh Mi on the Westside.

Food and drink can definitely make football more fun (or for those who prefer their pig skin on the plate and not in a pass, palatable). Henry's Hat (Twitter), the recently opened eatery that sits conveniently in the Cahuenga Pass (you know--between "here" and "there" for those who travel either way over the proverbial hill) has some great Happy Hour offerings, with some extra fun in place for Monday Night Football.

TCBY, or The Country's Best Yogurt, was once huge. All of a sudden "frozen yogurt" and "phenomenon" were used in the same sentence. It was nationwide Pinkberry-like insanity which predated Pinkberry. Then, of course, Pinkberry found hip neighborhoods. Today, we're right in the middle of Frozen Yogurt 3.0, and this model's an upgrade.

VendrTV digs into mobile meme, Kogi BBQ. If you're the one person who hasn't yet had it, you can host Daniel Delaney devour some Korean vs Mexican fusion. And why not try Chinese tacos?

Today’s Recession Obsession is a gluttonous walk down memory lane, a walk to Campos Tacos in Venice, where a plate of hard-shelled chicken tacos, chips, and a drink is $7 after tax. While this Campos location might look like a dime-a-dozen Mexican hole-in-the-wall with a scary bathroom, to this author, it represents the birth of a love affair, and LAist’s latest Recession Obsession.

If you answered: A Grilled Cheese Sandwich on Wheels, you'd be correct! Yes, Los Angeles, it's coming. Another food truck is gearing up to hit the streets to peddle a familiar food for the socially networked masses. Already reaching out to local foodies via Twitter, the Grilled Cheese Truck says they'll be "oozing through the streets of LA soon," somewhere around four weeks from now.

       

The 2009 Latino Heritage Month Celebration got off to a rousing start yesterday at City Hall as the annual event began with a ceremony that included food, music, dancing, and the presentation of awards to local legends.

This morning at the Little Tokyo/Arts District Farmers Market, where the city celebrated 30 years of certified farmers markets (even though it began in Gardena), Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the creation of a food policy task force that will provide a report and recommendations in the next six months on a city food policy council and a foodshed assessment (details listed below).

At today's 30 years of the farmers market celebration, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to announce a task force on food policy and will lead a pledge for local restaurants to use locally grown food.

It's Time for Lunch...what's on our kids' plates? Tater tots, pudding cups and mystery meat often find a home on kids' cafeteria trays, but that doesn't have to be the case. This fall, the Child Nutrition act, which leaves schools only $1 to spend on each child’s meal after labor, equipment and overhead costs, is up for re-authorization by Congress. In order to promote awareness of the need to change food policy for school-age children, Slow Food L.A. and Whole Foods are behind 6 "Eat-in" events in Los Angeles community gardens this Labor Day.

              

Anyone pretty much the world over can turn on their television on Sunday September 20th and watch the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. And even though Los Angeles is a company town, not everyone has a ticket to the show, which means once the show is over, only those on the guest list will get to head over to the Governor's Ball. The Emmy folks (that's the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, to be precise) have been busy planning this massive affair, and gave members of the media a sneak peak at the design and food and drink that will be enjoyed by the ball's attendees come Emmy night in L.A.

That's a pretty terrifying video and LAPD detectives have released it because they need the public's help in identifying the three suspects involved. The video is from August 13th at around 2:35 a.m. when the truck was parked near Avalon Boulevard and Gage Avenue in South LA.

LAist recently met Freya Estreller and Natasha Case, the matriarchs of the ice cream sandwich truck, Coolhaus -- The Kogi of Ice Cream Sandwiches (LAist's term, not their own.) Tasty web show VendrTV, hosted by Daniel Delaney, recently sought the skinny on their mobile, architecture-inspired deserts.

            

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.

Utensils down, chefs! Do you know where that cheese was made? If you don't, you could be cooking with what the Los Angeles County Health Officer calls "a recipe for disaster," and that has zero to do with your culinary prowess. A press release issued by the county's Department of Public Health is warning consumers about dairy products, particularly "Latin American-style soft cheese and sour cream, purchased from unlicensed manufacturers or vendors," because they may be full of contaminants.