Out and About Food

Dodger Stadium, Echo Park Lake, Laveta stairways, Angelino Heights’ Victorian homes, Avenue of the Athletes.

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Jose Chiquito Restaurant

317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013-1222

Category: Restaurant > Mexican

Region: Downtown

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Sarita's Pupuseria

317 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Category: Restaurant > South American

Region: Downtown

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Sultan

311 W. Sixth St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Category: Restaurant > Middle Eastern

Region: Downtown

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Water Grill

544 S. Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90071

Category: Restaurant > Modern American

Region: Downtown

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Cicada Restaurant

617 S. Olive St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Category: Restaurant > Italian

Region: Downtown

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• Santa Monica Pier
• Placerita Canyon Nature Center
• Japanese American National Museum
• Eating Out
• Seafood

In their book Stairway Walks in Los Angeles, Larry Gordon and Adah Bakalinsky have come up with 18 surprising urban L.A. treks that unveil many of the city’s secret nooks and crannies. Walk No. 5, a gentle two-and-a-half-hour stroll up and down a few flights of stairs circling Echo Park Lake, seems the perfect prelude to a night of sitting and noshing through untold innings at Dodger Stadium. The walk, with stunning city views, is an easy mile or so from the ballpark, taking you gently up or down Clinton Street stairway, Belmont stairway, Laveta stairway, and stairways on Echo Park Avenue and Crosby Place. It includes great side trips to Carol Avenue in Angelino Heights, with its covey of enchanting Queen Anne and Victorian gingerbread houses, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson’s domed Angelus Temple, and a stretch of Sunset sporadically dotted with plaques honoring famous sportsmen and -women. The book has an easy-to-follow map for the jaunt. Were it not for the problem of parking, you could walk from Sunset Boulevard to the game, where, nowadays, food appears to be as important as the score.

It seems Dodger management, which has sunk $50 million into renovating the stadium, hopes to make a night at the ol’ ball game as much of a bacchanal as possible. Wolfgang Puck has teamed with the upmarket Levy Restaurants (famous for providing haute cuisine to luxury-seat holders around the country, including at Chicago’s Wrigley Field) to create food that’s a lure for any party animal, even those with barely a passing interest in the game. You can even order caviar and smoked salmon, for heaven’s sake. In the new, 350-seat Stadium Club restaurant, with its sweeping views of the field, Puck’s wood-fired-oven pizzas and Chinois salad are part of a $29.95-per-person “Chef’s Table” that includes carved-to-order meats, exotic entrées, and a selection of fruits and cheeses. A la carte service offers such items as crab-cake appetizers and on-the-bone filet mignon sauced in port wine with Maytag blue cheese. To dine here, though, you do have to be a club member, or a guest of someone who is, or cough up 215 bucks for a ticket.

But the hoi polloi haven’t been ignored, either. The price of a ticket often includes promotional Dodger merchandise, such as beach towels, hats or flip-flops. And food in the concessions has come a long way since peanuts and Cracker Jack. Jody Maroni’s cheddarwurst or spicy andouille sausage smothered with fancy grilled red and yellow peppers and onions (available at designated kiosks) has become the chichi alternative to good old Dodger Dogs. Fans can wash these down with a Gordon Biersch beer and a side of garlic fries or peppery jalapeño peanuts. Beyond burgers and dogs, you can get King Taco’s all-meat burritos and soft tacos, Pizza Hut’s individual pizzas, sold piping hot, and warm churros dusted with cinnamon sugar. Some disappointments: cold Krispy Kreme doughnuts and $5 for a 20-ounce beer.

Handy Hint: At customer service or by mail, get a little map of the stadium with color-coded designations for various food sellers. Even without a season ticket, white-glove treatment may be had. The primo seats in the luxurious dugout area (565 seats in three rows right behind home plate) include access to the smart Dugout Club Lounge and pre-game Chef’s Table. Or meals may be ordered from uniformed waitpersons roaming the Dugout seat section. Ticket information: (323) 224-1-HIT; general information (323) 224-1400 or (800) 6-DODGERS; ticket options: season-ticket prices per game $40 to $6; single game tickets $215 (Dugout Club includes meals and parking) to $6, parking $6; luxury-suite rentals, (323) 224-1370.

Rancho Santa Anita: Santa Anita Park, L.A. County Arboretum, Sierra Madre lunch or afternoon tea.

“I always consider racetracks to be an important tourist destination,” wrote Andrew Beyer, the author of Picking Winners. Being a famous handicapper and all, he has his reasons, but even for those of us unfamiliar with racing, the pageantry of the sport, the power and beauty of the thoroughbreds and the glorious shimmer of the jockeys’ silks on parade creates an outing worthy of the moniker “Sport of Kings.” Plus, the Santa Anita race-course facilities serve pretty darn good food, all year round. The racetrack, which sits on the old ranch property once owned by Southern California gold-mining king E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin (credited with bringing thoroughbred racing to SoCal), was built in 1934 by movie mogul Hal Roach and was the haunt of early show-business tycoons. Now, with more than 2,000 horses stabled here, the facility trains thoroughbreds throughout the year. Start with breakfast at Clocker’s Corner, watching the horses as they are put through their paces in the inner training ring, at the practice gate or on the grass track. The place opens at 5:30 a.m. (enter Gate 8 from Baldwin Avenue and follow signs), and by 6, the railbirds and professional clockers, stopwatches in hand, have gathered at the west end of the grandstand to time the horses’ speed for handicapping. Bettors, huddled around the steam of coffee cups, pore over their racing forms to plan their wagers.