Results tagged “restaurants”

It's dineLA week, are you checking out new restaurants? Some vegans felt their options were limited, but the bloggers and readers at Quarrygirl are calling all the restaurants, asking if they'll accommodate vegans. Most restaurants so far are agreeable, but two are not. There's nothing surprising about Chaya Downtown not offering vegan food, but La Grande Orange, the restaurant that promotes dishes made from fresh, organic and seasonal ingredients? That's just disappointing.

The newest edition of Zagat covering Los Angeles and Southern California Restaurants was released today. Zagat 2010 covers 2,034 restaurants as voted on by local amateur foodies. As with anything in today's internet age, the guidebook, ratings and reviews are not only listed on Zagat's website, but they are now available for the first time on mobile platforms, including apps for the iPhone and Android. Oh, and they Twitter (of course).

You might live a recessionista foodie lifestyle, hunting for high-quality eats at low-rent prices. And while we do encourage dining at all price-points, sometimes the only way feasting is feasible is when there's a special deal going down. This is where dineLA's Restaurant Week comes in. From October 4-9 and October 11-16, 2009, you can treat yourself to specially priced three-course menus at over 200 restaurants from all corners of LA County.

You've seen the list, you've double-counted and confirmed you're not crazy--it is 105, not just 99, and now you're ready to tackle the task: Eat at all of the restaurants selected by the LA Weekly's Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold as LA's essentials. The annual list--err, event for the foodie set--is still fairly hot off the presses, and for many means that no matter how many hot spots they've settled in for a fork, hand, spoon, chopstick, or mouthful, there's still plenty left to try.

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.

In spite of the occasionally cringe-worthy dishes on Top Chef and the bumbling and blubbering of Hell's Kitchen, you know you're insanely jealous of those judges. Well, now you have the opportunity to eat like the judges--yes, even the actual recipes they picked apart like bits of carrion on the small screen.

Starting late last year, the Downtown "destination" LA Live began to host all sorts of events, including a Grand Opening celebration, a Christmas tree lighting ceremony starring Britney Spears and the Mayor, a big screen broadcast of Obama's inaguration, and the openings of specific "on campus" spots like the Conga Room and the ESPN Zone. Touting itself firmly as LA's answer to Times Square (a promo video shown to some invited bloggers last year at the Ritz Carlton sales office declared as such), the LA Live-ers asserted that the development joining Staples Center, the Nokia Theatres, Club Nokia, and the Convention Center would be both a destination and a pit stop for locals and tourists alike.

The popular lunch truck row in Mid-Wilshire has the scores of office workers in the area thrilled. Echoing the sentiments of Michael Schneider who calls the area a "vast wasteland of lunchtime eateries," the lack of diverse choices has workers bored or worse yet, some places just seem like horrid choices to them. But since the food truck craze has hit Los Angeles, the lunch time options have changed.

Seventeen restaurants tomorrow will donate 10 percent of their gross profits for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner service to Susan G. Komen for the Cure Los Angeles County. “Breast cancer awareness and prevention education is a cause close to my heart,” said Chef Ben Ford, Proprietor and Executive Chef at Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City. “I admire the work the Susan G. Komen Los Angeles County Affiliate has done in making strides to find a cure for this all-too-common disease, and I am thrilled to be able to have my restaurant and craft contribute toward this.”

The two anonymous bloggers at the popular vegan blog, Quarrygirl, went all out and published a large investigative report today, finding that a handful of vegan restaurants, mostly Thai in nature, are in fact not vegan.

                            

To a rousing success, last night the 2nd Annual Taste of Avalon kicked off the Flying Fish Festival for the weekend. Unlike the Taste of Chicago where restaurants set up booths in one central location, Avalon's taste has you going from restaurant to restaurant. And it works because the small city's downtown is about five blocks long, which makes the event a great way to experience the city.

From the Taste of Avalon to Peddle Boat Race to a parade featuring Huell Howser, the 2nd Annual Flying Fish Festival in Catalina Island's main city, Avalon, is ready to pack a punch over the next four days. It begins tomorrow with a variety of activities including the Taste of Avalon where restaurants gather in the middle of town and dole out $1 or cheaper samples of their best dishes.

Okay, so it's not Nobu -- but who has the bank account to handle $200 sushi fests nowadays? Wokcano offers good happy hour prices in convenient locations for your after-work bitch fests -- the menu will make even the sushi-shy happy. And hey, if you don't have a job, then you can get to happy hour that much earlier! From 4-7pm, sneak in a cocktail or two and some creative rolls like The Black Pearl and the Late Night Party Roll (crabmeat, avocado, scallops, and lobster). Yeah, maybe you sushi purists should show yourselves the door, but who's going to argue with lychee martinis and Asian bloody Marys? Not this girl.

Trust us on this one: April is National Grilled Cheese Month. Just like last year, and the year before that, LAist thinks this is just about the ooey-gooeyest most delicious thing since--or involving--sliced bread.

It's not unemployment, it's funemployment, right? Sure! But try telling that to the newly created legions of recession victims who spend their days trolling the internet for job leads and nervously rechecking their bank account balance. When you're out of work and trying to save money, it's hard to get out and have fun -- gym memberships, drinks with friends, movies, and restaurant dinners all have to go. But even the brokest asses still need sustenance -- mental and physical. What can you do in this city with a handful of Georges and some pocket change?

Maybe he should have gone into the taco business? Famed British hothead & restaurateur Gordon Ramsay is selling his WeHo outpost Gordon Ramsay at The London West Hollywood (maybe the name was a problem?), thanks to slow business and Ramsay's own financial troubles. Despite fairly positive reviews and a good location, Ramsay just couldn't seem to overcome the irony of his absence from a "celeb chef!!"-driven establishment. Or maybe it was...the foie gras? (I kid!)

When times get tough, dining out is often the first sacrifice from people's budgets. Recently there have been a rash of promotions, however, that are zeroing in on ways to combine restaurant eating with cash consciousness, and the need to support local businesses.

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..."

We might be a foodie nation these days, but we're also a nation on a budget, which is probably why many of the restaurants participating in this year's DineLA promotion have agreed to extend the event until February 28th. Several of the eateries will continue to offer fixed-price lunch and/or dinner menus at a discounted price for three weeks beyond the original event's scheduled dates.

       

Nostalgia brought us to the door of Thousand Cranes in Little Tokyo. There was a time in the 80s when nightfall turned downtown LA into a wasteland dotted with random nightclubs and loft parties, It was a punk rock playground, inhabited by night owls, homeless people and junkies. One oasis in the sea of cement and alleyways was the New Otani Hotel. It never ceased to amaze us that a well-tended Japanese garden even existed on a rooftop in the center of vast nothingness.

It's a robust Monday with interesting events around town:

Are we all over our New Year's resolutions to cut out fatty fried foods yet? Because if you're in the mood to Cherchez Les Frites in Los Angeles, it's time to spill the beans potatoes on where you like to go.

Molly's Burger stand has been doomed to the dustbin: Eater LA discovered that the long-time Hollywood institution will be knocked down next month to make way for more office space on Vine St. It will be a sad day in February for fans of cheeseburgers, breakfast burritos, and Korean short-ribs, as well as students and tourists looking for a cheap but scenic meal.

Do you have a favorite restaurant in L.A. that has suddenly taken a turn for the worst or seen an eatery with great potential but no know-how? Well, it's Gordon Ramsay to the rescue. You might recognize his name from that restaurant at the London but he's actually a celebrity chef in several food-related reality shows. And his show on Fox, Kitchen Nightmares, is currently on the hunt for down-and-out restaurants in Los Angeles (as well as Boston, Philadelphia, the Tri-State area and all of Florida) to transform into Michelin-worthy dining destinations. Think Extreme Makeover: The Foodie's Edition.

A motion to limit some outdoor smoking that was submitted last fall has took a big step yesterday when a city council committee approved it, passing it on to the full City Council for consideration. If passed a new law this summer would prohibit smoking on restaurant patios or within 10 feet of any outdoor establishment that serves food or beverages with the exception of bars with outdoor areas and other over-18 venues, according to the LA Times. Some restaurant and cigar groups were concerned at first but are now more at ease with the move to exclude bars and over-18 venues. Still, the ban on smoking is always a contentious one that gets people all riled up.

It's baaaaaaa-aaack! DineLA's Restaurant week, the twelve* days devoted to special pricing and menus in many of the city's top eateries is poised to return from January 25th-30th and February 1st-6th.

Residents, businesses and government have all lowered their water use over the past year, but the industrial sector has increased use by 22%, says the Mayor's Office today. Here's out the reduction breaks down citywide in Los Angeles:

Yes, alas Jones Soda isn't doing its special turkey and gravy soda for Thanksgiving this year. But never fear, you'll still be able to drink your mashed potatoes, and in a martini glass at that, or one of the following holiday specialty cocktails. BTW, not all places are open on Thanksgiving so call ahead if you're really counting on that après-dysfunctional-dinner drink.