Alton Brown

Happy Star Wars Day: Alton Brown, Blue Milk Death Star Tomatoes

Tomorrow is May the Fourth, which means it is Star Wars Day (say the date quickly if you don't get it, or go to the comic book store for Free Comic Book Day and say the line out loud. Surely someone will fill in the blanks (see also: Pee-Wee Herman in Texas)). Of course, if you, like Disney, would ... More >>

Best New Cookbook For Old Fashioned Apple Pie Science Geeks: The Science of Good Cooking

We're going out on a fact check limb, but it's probably a pretty safe assumption that reader demographics for Cook's Country magazine are a bit different from those who pick up $625 copies of Modernist Cuisine. And yet two new cookbooks from America's Test Kitchen founder Chris Kimball and Nathan My ... More >>

James Beard 2012 Award Winners

The James Beard awards are the food equivalent of the Oscars: prestigious golden whatsits, fancy dress event, silly acceptance speeches, requisite grouching about the whole thing being rigged. Oh, yes, and lots of highly talented people getting much-deserved recognition. This year's awards ceremony ... More >>

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Twitter: 10 of Our Favorite Food-Related Tweets

Twitter turned six years old this past Wednesday, which means six years of communicating via intermittent bursts of 140-character sound bytes and six years of convincing ourselves that even the most mundane of thoughts are worthy of a megaphone. According to the official Twitter blog, there are now ... More >>

NASA Seeks Volunteers for Astronaut Cooking Challenge

Are you unemployed? Hungry? Have you always wanted to be an astronaut? NASA may have just the job for you. The space agency is seeking six volunteers to live on a simulated Mars base on a Hawaiian lava flow for four months to test meals that could be served on an eventual mission to Mars, Sci-Tech ... More >>

Dutch Ovens: 5 Other Kitchen Tools You Won't Need to Buy If You Own One

​I got into an elevator empty-handed one recent morning and by the end of a short two-story ride, was the proud owner of a bright orange Le Creuset Dutch oven. A recently married co-worker who'd likely been inundated with new cookware from the registry was trying to get rid of it, for free. "M ... More >>

Read This Now: Lucky Peach Issue 2

​If your tonkotsu-stained pages of the first issue of Lucky Peach are no longer functioning reasonably well and you're tired of ramen (okay, right), you can get over to your nearest applicable bookstore (or Momofuku restaurant or Whole Foods) and buy a copy of the new food-as-lit magazine. T ... More >>

And Now, A Brief Message From Alton Brown

Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page​

Taste Awards Nominees Announced: Anthony Bourdain, Alton Brown Steve Jobs

Taste Awards​What do Steve Jobs, Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Chew have in common? They'll each be recognized during the next annual Taste Awards. Contrary to the name, the award ceremony, held January's 3rd in Hollywood, honors not just food but style and home lifestyle programming in television, ... More >>

Monday Morning Food News: Happy Halloween

Guzzle & NoshChocolate!​Happy Halloween. Here's the food news you need to know this fine morning. The rise & fall (& return?) of Mr. Jelly Belly. [Business Week]Barney's Beanery has ghosts, maybe. [LAT]Alton Brown on hosting Iron Chef & the end of Good Eats [WSJ]Chocolate's bittersweet legacy: ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/17-10/21

Flickr/Lauren Manning​ In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Can you get a vegan mi quang? This is Echo Park. You shouldn't have to ask." Central Vietnamese in the O.C. ... or Echo Park. "And rather than the 'Select' and 'Start' printed on the controller, ... More >>

Cookbook Of The Week: Alton Brown's Good Eats 3 Is Really Good Nostalgic Eats

amazon​Alton Brown's just-released Good Eats 3: The Later Years is, as we are told on the front jacket flap, The End. Per Brown: "Everyone knows that part three is the end (unless, of course, you're Bond or Potter), and expectations run high." Yes, after ten years of watching Brown investiga ... More >>

The Chew An Exclusive Clip of Michael Symon

​Daytime talk show The Chew, which may or may not rhyme with The View on purpose, premieres Monday, and we can't wait. Mostly because we're just so curious about what this show will really look like. It promises to be a groundbreaking and innovative take on exploring life through food, style ... More >>

Top 5 Good Eats Episodes Alton Brown's Good Eats 3: The Later Years Cookbook Out Soon

Amazon​If you've been in Alton Brown withdrawal since the Food Network aired the last episode of Good Eats back in May, perhaps secretly watching episodes on YouTube when you should have been watching, well, the Food Network I guess, you now have something to look forward to. Brown's third Goo ... More >>

And Now, A Brief Message From Alton Brown A Suggestion

Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page​

Hyde Lounge, Voyeur, Industry -- Celebrity Hotspots -- Cited After Investigation Finds Food Hard to Find at These Night Venues Permitted as Restaurants

NBC4As Alton Brown might say, 'Them's good eats.'​Updated at the bottom: The ABC tells LA Weekly Voyeur was cited for alleged "lewd conduct." Also, it gives details of some of the other allegations. First posted at 11:40 a.m. It's no big surprise to anyone who goes out in L.A. that a trio of ... More >>

And Now, A Brief Message From Alton Brown

Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page​

Portola Coffee Lab and "The Best Fresh-Roasted Coffee in the World"

T. NguyenPortola's Show No Mercy espresso​ Portola Coffee Lab is not one to shy away from hyperbole. Take, for example, its unabashed declaration that it has "the best fresh-roasted coffee in the world". Or the title of a recent post on its blog: "Our Coffee Roaster is Saving the Planet." C ... More >>

And Now, A Brief Message From Alton Brown

Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page​

Neil Strawder: From Bank to Barbecue

Kevin ScanlonNeil Strawder​ Like the best chefs, Neil Strawder commands his kitchen with confidence and ease, only his kitchen is a big-ass, brand-spanking-new trailer, a movable feast of barbecued ribs, rib tips, brisket, turkey and pastrami. And he does not sell chicken. "Why do I need to d ... More >>

Neil Strawder: From Bank to Barbecue

And Now, A Brief Message From Alton Brown

Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page​

And Now, A Brief Message From Alton Brown

Screenshot of Alton Brown's Twitter page​

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 5/9-5/13

Flickr/Lauren Manning​ In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Everybody knows what a deli is supposed to be: an enormous dining room, stinking of garlic, bolstered by corned beef and chicken in a pot, with giant halvah displays teetering by the cash register. ... More >>

Noooooooooooo! Alton Brown to End "Good Eats"

​One of our favorite cooking shows ever, right up there with the Galloping Gourmet when he was still a drunk, is finito. Alton Brown announced yesterday that after 249 episodes, his Food Network show Good Eats is done. (Chicago Tribune reports Brown announced it as his first post on Twitter, b ... More >>

2011 James Beard Media Award Winners

​It's a case of local boy makes good -- make that two local boys -- at this year's James Beard Awards. Our own Jonathan Gold won the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award while Patrick Kuh of Los Angeles magazine won the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award. In the first ever ... More >>

Camp Blogaway 2011 Update: Registration Is Officially Open

Camp Blogaway​ If you're reading our food blog, chances are good that you might have your own food blog. You might write about recipes, restaurants, chef crushes, or even obscure flavors of Kit Kats. And whether you have 10,000 loyal followers, or twenty casual readers of the friend-and-famil ... More >>

Top 5 Absurd But Adorable Kitchen Gadgets

Like Alton Brown, we abhor single-use utensils, but the science of kitchen gadgetry (not to mention the power of advertising) is all about convincing you to buy useless products to solve problems you don't really have. In that vein, we present our version of a holiday gift guide, for the person in y ... More >>

Q & A with Scott Conant, Part 2: Silverton, Celebrity, and Defending the Spaghetti Price Structure

Flickr user Muy YumScott Conant in the kitchen of Scarpetta Beverly Hills​ In part 1 of our interview with Scarpetta chef Scott Conant, we discussed his youth; how rejection from a plumbing program lead him to the life of a chef; what it felt like to get that first three-star review in The New ... More >>

The Thursday Edition: A Roundup of Newspaper Food Stories

SapphireBlue22stack of newspapers​What's the country reading today food-wise? Here's a roundup of some of the food-related stories from other newspapers, many of which print their food sections mid-week. And remember, even if you don't actually buy papers these days (or not; this paper is free ... More >>

A Day With Wolfgang Puck: GMA & The James Beard Awards

Wolfgang Puck​If you're sitting at home this morning wondering what to cook for dinner and happen to have a whole chicken, a jar of mustard and a bottle of Port lying around, you might want to turn on the television sometime between 7 and 9 a.m. Wolfgang Puck will be cooking his recipe for pan ... More >>

Q & A With Marcel Vigneron, Part 2: Supplying Top Chef, Ditching Silverware & SyFy TV

In the second part of our interview with Bar210 chef Marcel Vigneron, the Top Chef alum continues the conversation about life at The Bazaar, recommending Top Chef contestants, and his new lounge gig at Bar210, which opened recently in the former Trader Vic's location. Read the first part of the inte ... More >>

Top 10 LA Cooking Supply Stores: Cook Like a Pro At Home

Here's the situation: you just received the latest issue of your favorite food magazine. As you flip through the glossy pages of recipes and food porn, you spot it: the recipe you're going to make for dinner. But one glance at the ingredient list leaves you stumped. Where in the world do you buy Hun ... More >>

2010 James Beard Finalists Announed: Suzanne Goin, Matt Molina, Michael Cimarusti, Jonathan Gold, Patric Kuh Nominated

James Beard​Twitter is at it again. The 2010 James Beard Award Finalists were announced this morning via the foundation's Twitter account. L.A's Suzanne Goin, of Lucques, AOC Wine Bar, Hungry Cat and Tavern was nominated for Outstanding Chef, while Matt Molina of Mozza and Michael Cimarusti of ... More >>

Plate Spinnings: Listings From the Past Week

Some food for thought from local, national and international news sources from this past week: -- Would you pay $250 million for Hooters? Don't answer that. [New York Post] -- Seven examples of very strange international food. [Independent Traveler] -- 5 favorite cookbooks from Alton Brown. [Wall ... More >>

The Next Iron Chef: Jose Garces Takes the Podium

The Food NetworkIron Chef Jose Garces, with Alton Brown​If you watched the final episode of The Next Iron Chef last night, you know by now that Chef Jose Garces will take his place on the Kitchen Stadium podium, next to Mario Batali, Bobby Flay, Masaharu Morimoto, Cat Cora and Michael Symon. I ... More >>

Eric Greenspan Dishes on The Next Iron Chef: No Spoilers, No Grasshoppers

When Eric Greenspan of The Foundry on Melrose was eliminated in the first round of this season's The Next Iron Chef, the only Los Angeles chef in the contest left the building--or the kitchen. Since Greenspan's elimination, the ranks have been culled further: second to go was Holly Smith (Cafe Juani ... More >>

The Next Iron Chef: The First Chef Off The Kitchen Island

It's a safe bet that grasshoppers will not be on the menu at The Foundry at Melrose, now or ever. Eric Greenspan, the only Los Angeles chef on this season's The Next Iron Chef, which is set in LA, was eliminated in the first round yesterday. The 10 chefs were each given a difficult ingredient (sea ... More >>

Next Iron Chef Eric Greenspan: Will The Foundry's Cuisine Reign Supreme?

After stints in the kitchens of Alain Ducasse, Rocco Despirito, David Bouley and Ferran Adria, the jocular Eric Greenspan made a quick leap from sous chef to executive chef at Joachim Splichal's Patina, then opened a place of his own, The Foundry on Melrose, two years ago at age 32. Now the culinar ... More >>

Squid Ink (Shore Leave)

Notes on Eating and Drinking in L.A.

The Happy Rise of Cookbook Sales: Michael Ruhlman's Book "Ratio" Hits Bestseller List

Ruhlman.comRatio jacket cover​It's not only Julia Child's books that have been topping the charts: next week Michael Ruhlman's most recent book hits the New York Times bestseller list. "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking," which came out this spring from Scribner, is ... More >>