Jessica Ritz

Jorge Velasquez puts his graffiti skills to use painting signs for the likes of Home Depot.; Credit: Photo by Ryan Orange

How a Graffiti Artist Became a Trader Joe's Sign Painter

Jessica Ritz
One of the 54 fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People Issue 2015. Jorge Velasquez grew up across from the Belmont Tunnel and Toluca Yard, the longtime treasured site for graffiti artists in Westlake. The area was "my backyard and my playground," he says. "I'd go down there, crack open......
Mannequin in state of pre–cotton candy dress for the Marie Antoinette's Head dessert at Barton G.'s pastry kitchen; Credit: Jessica Ritz

Here's How L.A.'s Most Ridiculous Restaurant Designs Its Dishes

Jessica Ritz
Which came first: the lobster or the gladiator helmet? At Barton G. on La Cienega in West Hollywood, it's the latter. The menu planning process at the decadent restaurant, which this paper's critic described as offering "food in high costume, an experience that is theatrical above all else," doesn't follow......
Elysian dining room.; Credit: Jessica Ritz

Elysian "Night In" Dinner Series Relaunches

Jessica Ritz
Is it a restaurant? Is it an event space? Is it a home for cutting edge cultural programming? These are the questions that arise when the multipurpose venue known as Elysian in Frogtown comes up in conversation. The answer is: all of the above, and then some. Any attempt to......
Designer Sean Knibb's POT lobby bar at the Line Hotel.; Credit: Jessica Ritz

How to Eat and Drink Your Way Through L.A. Design Fest

Jessica Ritz
The sprawling L.A. Design Fest kicks off over two weeks of events this year on June 13, with a heavily food and drink-oriented agenda. Its Design Hooky series fills three afternoons and evenings showcasing architecture and art studios, retail spaces, galleries and other design-conscious spaces, along with standouts in the dual sensory categories of sight and......
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The Auntie Em's Cookbook and a Recipe for a Summer Salad

Jessica Ritz
On a Friday during brunch - if you can identify the time straddling breakfast and lunch by that descriptor on a weekday - Terri Wahl takes a break to refuel on a savory and sweet spread of the hearty, seasonal comfort foods her super casual Eagle Rock restaurant is known......
Oinkster's version of Bacon Western Cheeseburger; Credit: Courtesy of the Oinkster

Second Oinkster Finally Set to Open in Hollywood

Jessica Ritz
Restaurateur and chef Andre Guerrero knows that building a new restaurant in Los Angeles isn't an exercise in speed. Nonetheless, he's now antsy because for almost two years, the less preferable for this context adjective in Oinkster's "slow fast food" slogan better describes the process of launching Oinkster Hollywood. Come the week of April 21,......
Trencher's brisket sandwich; Credit: Photo courtesy of Trencher

Trencher, a Sandwich Restaurant, Opens in Echo Park

Jessica Ritz
While some Los Angeles residents might get tired of hearing gripes about what our metropolis lacks compared to other cities, some folks decide to do something about it. Take, for instance, business partners and native Angelenos Justin Foster, Hussein Katz and Danny Zackery, who today are opening Trencher in Echo Park to fill......
Credit: Winston Chua

New San Marino Farmers Market Opens

Jessica Ritz
San Marino, known for its air of gentility and perhaps most famously as the home of the Huntington Library and Gardens, will host a new regular event starting tomorrow night. City Farm, which organizes farmers markets in unique locations, including on the Warner Brothers studio lot and at Yamashiro restaurant, kicks off the San Marino Farmers Market......