Ben Calderwood

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Blogs
April 30, 2012
10 Best Dim Sum Restaurants in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is a special place. While the rest of America opts for eggs and a mimosa on Sunday mornings, a good portion of Los Angelenos prefer Chinese banquet-style restaurants for their weekly fix of turnip cake and tea. The long impatient lines and lack of parking spaces on Valley Boulevard is pr ... More >>
Blogs
June 29, 2010
Brace Yourself for Avery Barrel-Aged Wild Ale No. 5
Ben CalderwoodAvery Wild Ale in its own words Of microbrewers with nationwide reach, Avery Brewing Company is unmatched. No one so eagerly flouts mass-market expectations, experiments with wild abandon and challenges conceptions and pre-conceptions about what makes a good beer better than Ave ... More >>
Blogs
June 24, 2010
Submitting to Wine and Dessert at Piccolo
Ben CalderwoodPiccolo's tiny two-by-five gianduja cream puffs Sometimes all you have to do is listen. Last night's dessert at the expanded Piccolo Venice consisted of bignole, ten pastry puffs barely larger than the dimples on a baby's cheeks, each filled with chocolate-hazelnut cream, and a ... More >>
Blogs
June 23, 2010
2nd Lunch: Unscheduled Corned Beef at Johnnie's Pastrami
Ben CalderwoodThis one is Bob's; much love to Johnnie Bob's Special--a hot pink mass of corned beef served over cole slaw and under two melting slices of Swiss on a blimp-like French roll--marks a departure from the norm at Johnnie's Pastrami, the Culver City sandwich shack worn as smooth as ... More >>
Blogs
June 23, 2010
The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on Republica Del Cacao Dark Chocolate
Ben CalderwoodRepublica Del Cacao's antique brown 75% chocolate tiles The 70% Solution journeys up river from Guayaquil, Ecuador's most populous city, in search of the sometimes problematic, sometimes magnificent Arriba cocoa bean and the burnished dark bars of chocolate rookie Republica Del ... More >>
Blogs
June 22, 2010
Hsi Lai Vegetarian Buffet: Chew With Purpose
Ben CalderwoodClimbing the hill to the temple entrance Most people visiting Hsi Lai Temple, the 15-acre Hacienda Heights campus of Taiwan's Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order, seek spiritual rather than culinary restoration. This is born out by the contents of Hsi Lai's vegetarian lunch buffet, ser ... More >>
Blogs
June 21, 2010
Triangulating Boba: In Search of LA's Best Taro Milk Tea
Flickr/permanently scatterbrained In this Year of the Tiger 2010, there are perhaps as many boba shops filling the L.A. basin as there are intersections to hold them. I imagine container ships stacking up in San Pedro Bay bearing nothing but vacuum-sealed tapioca pearls from the food factorie ... More >>
Blogs
June 21, 2010
Stellar Tofu at Meiji, Gardena
Ben CalderwoodFresh zaru tofu with candied ginger and syrup Kumidashi supreme tofu, produced fresh on-site every morning save Tuesday at Meiji Tofu's barely-there Gardena storefront, is rapturous, and comes closer to capturing the sacred alchemy of milk and rennet (i.e. cheese) than any ersat ... More >>
Blogs
June 18, 2010
Tucking In at Snug Harbor
Ben CalderwoodFortifying with biscuits and white gravy You may encounter the occasional Hollywood A-lister at Snug Harbor, a disoriented screenwriter or producer wandering out of the jeweled avenues north of Wilshire for a mug of joe and a scramble, but the über-cozy Snug is a diner for the ... More >>
Blogs
June 17, 2010
Drink Me: Bourbon
Ben CalderwoodKentucky straight flush Bourbon is an American original, that rare beast in the liquor pantheon, and one of a handful of domestic foodstuffs subject to manufacture and labeling standards as rigorous as those for Bordeaux wine or aceto balsamico tradizionale. By law, bourbon must ... More >>
Blogs
June 17, 2010
Enhancing the Vibe at Venice Grind
Ben CalderwoodPleasure cruising at Venice Grind Everything is in its right place at Mar Vista's most adequately hip coffee joint, where the beans and teas are organic, there is fresh fruit for those who abstain from refined sugar and the corkboard near the entrance is festooned with notices f ... More >>
Blogs
June 9, 2010
Pili's Tacos: Estados Unidos de México
Ben Calderwoodthe wall at Pili's Tacos The Westside comida wars are fought along a patch of Santa Monica Boulevard where numerous Mexican and Central American micro-neighborhoods converge and fruit vans patrol long into the night. The nearly invisible Pili's Tacos seeks victory via a kitchen ... More >>
Blogs
June 8, 2010
Top 10 Video Game Food References
It takes a powerhouse blend of stamina and strength to plant yourself on the couch and nudge a thumbstick back and forth for hours at a time. Why else would gamers require a dedicated line of "performance snacks?" Ok, every collaboration between gamer and grub doesn't need to be farcical and insulti ... More >>
Blogs
June 8, 2010
Hot Pot Plain and Sweet at Yojié Downtown
Ben CalderwoodTwelve "sumo" ounces of angus beef Laker fans nosing about downtown for dinner, a flatscreen TV and a means to circumvent the pulsating cacophony of L.A. LIVE are welcome at Yojié, the hybrid swish-swish house a few blocks off the Figueroa drag at Olympic and Grand. You can sam ... More >>
Blogs
June 7, 2010
The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on Tcho "Fruity" Dark Chocolate
Ben CalderwoodTcho tasting bar with proprietary flavor wheel visible on the package The 70% Solution intentionally fudges the numbers by a few percentage points (the pun, Mom's honor, is accidental) to introduce Squid Ink tasters to Tcho, the world's first internet chocolate. Producer: Tcho ... More >>
Blogs
June 4, 2010
One Knife is (Usually) All You Need
Ben CalderwoodWushof Classic 10-inch chefs and 3.5-inch paring knives Even the most prosumer home chef has found himself creeping surreptitiously down the aisles of the Macy's kitchen department, tempted by the siren song of the 23-piece cutlery set. There are boning knives, tomato/bagel kniv ... More >>
Blogs
June 3, 2010
Identity Crisis at The Habit Burger Grill
Ben CalderwoodBecoming intimate with the #1 Charburger meal Discussions about The Habit Burger Grill, the West Coast fast-patty chain spun out of a single Santa Barbara lunch shack in 1969, inevitably revolve around comparisons to other burger joints. The Habit is like In-N-Out. The Habit is ... More >>
Blogs
June 2, 2010
High on Life at North End Caffe
Ben CalderwoodWiener trifecta Creole, Opie and Tijuana are not strains of medicinal marijuana--at least not in this section of the LA Weekly online. They are the fellowship of hot dogs that compose North End Caffe's insidious, kamikaze Trio of Dawgs. Two are coiled with bacon, two are tucked ... More >>
Blogs
June 2, 2010
Eating the FD&C Rainbow at the Hostess/Wonder Outlet
Ben CalderwoodCircus of values When I would plead for Wonder bread instead of wheat as a child, my mother would tell me, as if such a warning would scare me away from the shelf, that it turns to paste in your stomach. She bought a loaf once and demonstrated how each preternaturally moist, ala ... More >>
Blogs
June 1, 2010
The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on El Rey Gran Saman Chocolate
Ben CalderwoodBurnished and broken one-kilo slabs of El Rey Gran Saman Somehow, betwixt his maneuvering around financial reform and waffling on the closure of Guantanamo and obligatory fulminating about that hemorrhaging puncture in the floor of the Gulf, Barack Obama managed something like d ... More >>
Blogs
May 28, 2010
Mitsuwa Torrance Japanese Food Fair Update: Go!
Ben CalderwoodChibaki-Ya gyutan ramen Culinary euphoria descends on the South Bay now through Sunday in the form of the chaotic, overcrowded Umaimono (delicious things) Gourmet Food Fair at Mitsuwa Marketplace Torrance. Fans of authentic Japanese eats--flown in, chefs and all, direct from Jap ... More >>
Blogs
May 28, 2010
The Trials of Westside Chinese: California Wok
Ben CalderwoodCalifornia Wok's Seafood Fantasy at home It's a ubiquitous foodie refrain: There's no good Chinese on the Westside. Followed immediately by foodie Verse Two, the commandment Go east. Since the demise of Royal Star Seafood at Stanford Avenue and Wilshire, which was aspirational a ... More >>
Blogs
May 27, 2010
Drink Me: Chartreuse
Ben CalderwoodThe Black Rock: Chartreuse, crémant champagne and crushed cacao nibs, created to toast the resolution of a certain six-season long mystery The 2005 documentary feature Into Great Silence, depicting the the pious ebb of life at France's Grand Chartreuse monastery, tested the cr ... More >>
Blogs
May 26, 2010
Cheap Sweets: Pandan Chiffon
Ben CalderwoodWedges of tinted pandan cakeCountless tax brackets away from the lurid temptations of Jamon Ibérico de Bellota, you will find this slice of minor Asian exotica: pandan chiffon cake. The pale ivy hue comes from pandan leaf, also called screwpine, a tropical shrub cultivated acro ... More >>
Blogs
May 26, 2010
Top 10 Baffling Wine Labels
Whether you accept the notion that a single nose and its acclaimed-or-reviled 100-point scale have transformed the way wine is marketed and sold, especially in the United States, today there is a superabundance of bottles at American retail and more wine neophytes are earnestly cultivating a taste f ... More >>
Blogs
May 25, 2010
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Quandary at Literati Café
Ben CalderwoodColor-mixing: Literati's Eggs Florentine You might not expect such an astutely poached egg atop your Benedict at a commonplace all-day café like Literati, but that's what you get. Tender, uniform capsules of golden yolk that flood your artisan roll the moment you prod the white ... More >>
Blogs
May 24, 2010
Taste at the Wine House
Ben CalderwoodWine in a box It can be a strange, solitary exercise, consuming wine dispensed by a computer. Purchase your access card from the order desk at the rear of the shop, steal a glance at the Wine House's Old & Rare cellars where magnum prices climb into the five figures, and make y ... More >>
Blogs
May 21, 2010
Fear and Bravery at New Capital Seafood
Ben CalderwoodOne appendage demands another The parapets of New Capital Seafood pierce the haze over San Gabriel, visible for a good distance along Valley Boulevard and Del Mar Avenue. The 11.5 acre shopping bazaar in which it sits may be anchored by 99 Ranch and Focus Department Store, but t ... More >>
Blogs
May 20, 2010
The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on Theo Costa Rican Dark Chocolate
Ben CalderwoodInto the night: 91% theobroma cacao The chocolate valet returns with a distinctive ultra-dark bar from niche producer Theo of Seattle, Washington, originator of domestically manufactured fair trade chocolate. Producer: Theo, Seattle. Bean: Costa Rican single-origin. Content: ... More >>
Blogs
May 19, 2010
Pound of Flesh: Jamon Ibérico de Bellota
Ben CalderwoodSlivers of Jamon Ibérico glisten Consider for a moment the casual brutality of the jamonera, little more than a wooden plank and a upright clamp in which to mount a leg of ham. The shank end is secured to the clamp via a spike or bolts, making it easy to shave the gelatinous fl ... More >>
Blogs
May 18, 2010
The Many Names of Mariscos Guillen La Playita
Ben CalderwoodChicharron and asphalt It may have two or possibly three names, or no proper name at all--regulars call it the blue shack, and that will do nicely. Nothing at this cash-only Venice/Santa Monica taco stand is renegade, or even all that spicy. I fear a hissing shamble of Yelpers-- ... More >>
Blogs
May 18, 2010
Squid Ink Challenge: Banh Mi ID
Ben CalderwoodBanh mi ID: the baguettesIt is not, generally speaking, good politics to wax fondly about colonialism, especially in a metropolis as prismatic as Los Angeles. That said, we will always have banh mi, the French-Vietnamese cross-platform construction of squishy baguette, pickled c ... More >>
Blogs
May 17, 2010
Earl's Gourmet Grub Preliminary Recon
Ben CalderwoodPressed Heartichoke sandwich Earl's Gourmet Grub celebrated its matriculation from well-trafficked Farmers' Market sandwich stall to full-service retail with a very soft open last week, in a sunny, modern space adjoining Venice Grind coffeehouse. Earl's shares a rear patio, a la ... More >>
Blogs
May 17, 2010
Time Out at Empanada's Place
Ben CalderwoodEmpanada's Place Arabe hot from the fryer An Argentine gentleman I used to work with packed his calabash gourd so densely with yerba maté every morning, the sound of him drawing tea through the dented steel bombilla was audible in the next room. This was the first of perhaps fi ... More >>
Blogs
May 14, 2010
Drink Me: Gin
Ben CalderwoodJuniper berries, actually heavily modified seed cones The hallowed digestive of colonial Britain, if only because it helped to mask the bite of malaria prophylaxis quinine (rethinking your gin and tonic yet?), gin is a complex spirit with a complex history. Distilled from grain ... More >>
Blogs
May 13, 2010
The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on Domori Sur Del Lago Clasificado Chocolate
Ben CalderwoodA half-kilo foodservice Domori "plaque" Consider The 70% Solution your chocolate valet, a guide to seeking and sampling premium dark chocolate at foodservice outlets and nosh boutiques across Los Angeles. 70-percenters adhere to two rules: No flavors or inclusions, as they are k ... More >>
Blogs
May 13, 2010
Usufruct, or What's Yours is Everybody's
Ben CalderwoodA Bears lime just inside the property line beckons The ancient legal principle of usufruct broadly dictates that private property can be used for the public good so long as it's not damaged in the process. This is of note to the urban forager, as it suggests that fruit and other ... More >>
Blogs
May 12, 2010
California Vegan: Inclusivity Over Authenticity
Ben CalderwoodPepper steak with veggies and brown rice California Vegan is workingman's Thai cuisine, if such a thing exists, and if working men slurped glass noodles with fake fish and kombucha for lunch, rather than carne al pastor from the taco truck across the street. You will not find th ... More >>
Blogs
May 11, 2010
Breaking Up is Hard to do at Trader Joe's
Ben CalderwoodIt's happening again The un-sulphured dried mango has gone missing. It's not the first time, but it still stings. The crystallized mango is a snacking imperative, tucked away in my kitchen, my backpack, my car. Its absence induces a kind of gustatory panic. A friend muses that ... More >>
Blogs
May 10, 2010
The Expresso Experience: Don't Let the Pun Deter You
Ben CalderwoodCappuccino duly noted The Virginia Park Farmers' Market has thus far escaped the hipster cataclysms of the Ocean Park and Hollywood Markets. There are no fixie valets to be found and bedhead hair is nominal. The scrum of prep chefs hustling after first-pick produce that marks ... More >>
Blogs
May 10, 2010
Le Pain Quotidien's Uncommon Good
Ben CalderwoodLe Pain's warm welcome The Santa Monica PQ is an excellent place to collect an espresso and brioche after shopping the nearby Wednesday and Saturday farmers markets. (If you glimpse the special overfilled pâte à choux--resembling Pac-Man with a mouth jammed full of pastry crea ... More >>
Blogs
May 7, 2010
The Wood Cafe's Fuzzy Logic
Ben CalderwoodHow big is it?Everyone knows the basic algebra of a diner is starch plus protein divided by coffee³--pancakes plus bacon or eggs plus potatoes in a myriad of ways for breakfast, bread plus meat (e.g., the Wood's tumescent 8-ounce Niman Ranch Woody Burger) for lunch.
Blogs
May 7, 2010
Drink Me: Vodka
Ben CalderwoodLucques Gimlet with fava bean purée, green olives, feta and grilled bread First in an occasional series of spirit lessons where Squid Ink picks up the tab. The etymology is a dead giveaway. Vodka originates from the Slavic voda, or water, which illustrates just how fundamenta ... More >>

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