Valli Herman

Maybe the latest crime show spinoff ought to be CSI: Seafood. More than one-fifth of the nearly 200 pieces of seafood bought at retail stores and restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut weren't what they claimed to be, according to an investigation in the December issue of Consumer......

Now that everyone's a food critic, creating a dessert worthy of a Passover feast can get extra challenging. The Jewish holiday meal requires cooks to adhere to a shortened list of kosher ingredients, which excludes leavening or any grain that can ferment. That means dessert can get dry, flat and......

The past year has been a hard one to swallow. Everywhere we look, there is some new abomination disguised as an innovation in cooking or dining. Before we start buying Tums in bulk, we'd like to suggest a few food trends that shouldn't make an appearance in 2011. 1. Baconifcation......

That glass of bubbly got you in an ebullient mood, so you invited 20 people to your place for a little holiday party. Don't panic, experts are here to help. Just think of your gathering like a theatrical production -- plus food -- and you'll have a better go at......

You love your grandma, but just not her leaden matzoh balls and grease-laden latkes. With the eight days of Hanukkah beginning on Dec. 1 (25 Kislev for those of you on the Hebrew calendar), it's time for an act of self defense; it's time for Jewish holiday cooking classes......

Wander down the hallway of the Langham Huntington, Pasadena, past the thick brocades and the crystal chandeliers and suddenly, you're confronted with the glowing black and glass door frame that is the new entrance to the new restaurant, The Royce. The former Dining Room at the former Pasadena Ritz-Carlton is......

If you're like a lot of people and never got around to carving your Halloween pumpkin into a jack-o'-lantern, don't let it go to waste, or even straight to the compost pile. You can harvest the seeds and turn them into a sweet or savory snack or garnish. And if......

It's the food version of crowdsourcing: Stand in line at a food truck, debate out loud about what to eat, and something like group hysteria swells through the line. And if you're at the Great Balls on Tires truck, a pun-filled, ball-o-riffic madness starts to roll off tongues faster than......

When cookbook author Mark Bittman shows up tonight, October 26th, for a discussion and book signing at the Skirball Cultural Center, he's likely to be a walking, talking endorsement for his new book, The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living. Since embracing his less-meat manifesto, Bittman has......

Call it chef Scott Conant's great Westward expansion: Scarpetta Beverly Hills. Conant's fourth version of the Italian restaurant opened Monday at Montage Beverly Hills in the space formerly occupied by Parq, the beautifully tiled, but ultimately unsuccessful, space that overlooked Beverly Canon Gardens. Montage gutted most of Parq, its original......