Celebrity Chefs

Wolfgang Puck, David Chang and Roy Choi Team Up For Chefs Dinner at Hotel Bel-Air

On June 18, Wolfgang Puck will team up with New York superstar chef David Chang (of Momofuku fame and this year's recipient of the James Beard Outstanding Chef award) and Roy Choi to host a chef's dinner at Wolfgang Puck at the Hotel Bel-Air. The dinner will consist of five courses of Asian-inspir ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain Debuts Parts Unknown on CNN

Anthony Bourdain's new CNN show Parts Unknown debuted last night on CNN. The show, which is very much like his Travel Channel show No Reservations, which ended in November of last year, took us last night to Myanmar, a country that only recently began allowing outsiders in, let alone western film cr ... More >>

Badass Chef, Meet Badass Chef

More Events: Beer & Taxes at Mohawk Bend, Muddy Leek Beer Pairing A Duff Goldman Takeover

Beer & Taxes at Mohawk Bend This weekend Nick Underwood, a tax accountant whose clients range from comedians to startups, will offering free tax advice and one glass of beer in the afternoons at Mohawk Bend. Sign up for a 30-minute session online. WHAT: Beer & Taxes WHEN: Sat.-Sun., April 6-7, 12 p. ... More >>

More Events: Food Tour, Cookbook Signing Kids' Harvest Workshop

A Taste of Santa Monica Destination Food Tours will lead a three-hour food tour of Santa Monica with samples from participating restaurants. Some of the restaurants on the tour agenda include Border Grill, Hosteria del Piccolo, M.A.K.E. and N'ice Cream. WHAT: A Taste of Santa Monica WHEN: Friday, M ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain is Giving Sex and Dating Advice in Cosmo

Last week during Anthony Bourdain's Reddit Q&A, when someone asked him why he decided to do The Taste, he responded "I liked the idea that it was the most unlikely thing I could do." At the time I thought, "hmmm ... not really the most unlikely thing you could do." And now that point has been proven ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain's Reddit Q & A

A little over an hour ago, Anthony Bourdain jumped on Reddit to answer fan questions. A lot of familiar territory was covered -- why he left the Travel Channel for CNN, why he decided to do The Taste, what his favorite thing to eat in a multitude of places was.

Q & A With Nigella Lawson: On Her New Cookbook Nigellissima, The Taste, And Whether There's Too Much Food on TV

As always, Nigella Lawson has a lot of balls in the air. Her new show The Taste with Anthony Bourdain, Ludu LeFebre and Brian Malarky, has turned out to be quite a hit. At the same time, she's just released her 9th cookbook, Nigellissima, which celebrates the flavors of Italy. We sat down with her o ... More >>

Top 3 Weekend Food Events: Proyecto Jardin Clean-up, Marcus Samuelsson at Post and Beam Health Propaganda Talk at Zocalo

Proyecto Jardin Winter Clean-up "Every Day Is Earth Day" is Proyecto Jardin's motto. The garden behind White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights supplies produce and medicinal plants to the community, and also is home to a park and exercise area. Join this cleaning session to prepare the soil for spr ... More >>

Is There a Place for Vegan Cooks on The Taste?

We're guessing there won't be many vegan dishes featured on ABC's new show, The Taste. On last week's episode, three vegan cooks got a smackdown when the judging panel sampled the non-meat offerings. "I suspect vegetarianism," intoned Anthony Bourdain, as if someone had just served him a dirty soc ... More >>

A Recap of The Taste: We Took a Bite. Did You?

Well, kids, The Taste premiered last night on ABC with much fanfare. We sat, we watched, we followed the (trending!) tweets and we're here to recap. Just in case your DVR didn't work, or you just want to relive it all in print. The premise -- as previously mentioned -- is a mash-up of The Voice and ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain Coming To L.A. for Show At Pantages Theater with Roy Choi

As part of his "Guts and Glory" tour, Anthony Bourdain will be coming to Los Angeles for a show at the Pantages Theater on April 16 of next year. L.A. chef Roy Choi will join Bourdain on stage for an evening of (according to the press release) "candid, often hysterical insights about their life's wo ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Jar's Taco Party, Rick Bayless at Red O, El Coyote Firefighter Salsa Contest Vegan Chili Cook-Off

Taco Party at Jar Suzanne Tract's WeHo steakhouse is taking inspiration from L.A. street food this Thursday with a special menu featuring things like char siu pastor with roasted pineapple and lobster tacos with lobster butter. Plus, free shot samples of Peligroso tequila will be served at the bar. ... More >>

Anthony Bourdain's Top 10 No Reservations Episodes

Today on his blog, Anthony Bourdain pens a long and thoughtful piece about his 10 favorite episodes of No Reservations as the show's run comes to an end. Bourdain will be leaving the Travel Channel for CNN, where he will host a similar show that will launch next year.

The State Department Unveils the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership

We thought we were going to a small reception at the State Department. It was day 3 of the Association of Food Journalists annual conference, this year held in Washington D.C. As we stood in line to undergo the rigorous security clearances needed to enter the building (we had been asked to provide d ... More >>

Q & A with Anthony Bourdain: The End of No Reservations, CNN Throwing a Drink in Alan Richman's Face

See also: Anthony Bourdain: 5 Unexpected Lessons He Taught Us Last Night. See also: Anthony Bourdain's Baja Episode of No Reservations Will Make You Want to Cross the Border Immediately. Anthony Bourdain has a lightness to his voice. It's jovial, almost, which is unnerving. "This is the longest I'v ... More >>

10 Great Cookbooks for Summer

Sure, you may have a dozen newly opened gastropubs within Yelp distance from where you live. Or food trucks. Or, arguably best of all, neighborhood taquerias. But in summer, when L.A. farmers markets are loaded with gorgeous produce, sometimes it's more fun to cook your own dinner. Just to prove you ... More >>

L.A. Food & Wine Festival: Rosé, Ribs, and Summer Heat

After a weekend filled with many bottles of rosé and short rib sliders, the second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival wrapped up Sunday afternoon at L.A. Live after four days of chef-driven tastings, demos, samplings and other events that featured some of the top culinary talents in the countr ... More >>

Lucky Rice Night Market Coming to L.A.

Lucky Rice, the New York-based Asian food festival whose "culinary council" includes the like of Anthony Bourdain, David Chang, Marcus Samuelsson, and Masharu Morimoto, is moving out west -- well, further west that is. On the heels of its Las Vegas event back in June, Lucky Rice laid out plans for i ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Wine Tasting at the Royce, Hollywood Indie Night Market, Marcus Samuelsson at the Hammer Gertler Brothers Pop-Up at Shade Hotel

Wine Tasting Experiences in the Royce Royce manager and director of wine Eric Espuny will host a series of wine-tasting classes this summer where guests taste the best seasonal wine and focus on particular regions and varietals. In addition, guests will learn tips for ordering and buying wine. The ... More >>

Gwynedd and Guy: One Woman Cooks Her Way Through Guy Fieri's Cookbook

"Remember Julie & Julia? This is like that but with more Sammy Hagar." That's the tagline for the brilliant blog, Gwynedd & Guy, in which one woman, writer Gwynedd Stuart, attempts to cook her way though Guy Fieri's cookbook Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' it. Livin' it. Lovin' it.

Vendimia: The Incredible Baja Wine Festival You've Never Heard Of

See also: Anthony Bourdain's Baja Episode of No Reservations Will Make You Want to Cross the Border Immediately. See also: 'Stick a Fork In It' column Tijuana Sí!. Like many Southern Californians, and of course, Anthony Bourdain, we've been relatively obsessed with Baja lately, especially upon hea ... More >>

Jamie Oliver Is Back with Meals in Minutes. Do We Like Him Again?

We've pissed off Jamie Oliver again. But this time, it not what we're allowing our children to be served in the school cafeteria, as was the case on Food Revolution. It's what we're serving them at home. It's what we're cooking. It's the fact that clearly we can't be trusted to navigate a market or ... More >>

Food Network Update: Record Ratings in January Trisha Yearwood is Getting Her Own Show

Hulu​Thanks to gems like Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, the Food Network reported the highest ratings in the network's history in January. Overall, the network was ranked seventh in cable primetime television, and their viewership was 40 percent higher than one year ago. Celebrity Cook ... More >>

Wolfgang Puck Employees Reach Settlement

We don't know whether the swans at the recently reopened Hotel Bel Air are unionized, but several other Wolfgang Puck employees resolved a major labor dispute this week. On Tuesday, a judge gave preliminary approval to a $500,000 settlement that resolved claims by nearly 2,000 current and former emp ... More >>

A Rawkin' Guy Fieri Drinking Game

Sometimes there are things that are out of your control. What the office orders for lunch, say, or what you're forced to watch when you're at Uncle Bob's house, trying to fulfill your New Year's resolution to Visit the Relatives More. If your Uncle Bob, like a startling large number of men, platoni ... More >>

5 Paula Deen Holiday Recipes We Don't Want To Try

Paula DeenPeek-a-boo, y'all.​In the spirit of the season, we thought we'd go through 2011 Rose Parade Grand Marshal Paula Deen's rich, buttery collection of online holiday recipes and highlight a few stand-outs. Deen is the author of cookbooks, magazines and hosts "Paula's Best Dishes" on the ... More >>

My Last Supper: The Next Course, At Least For Albert Adría Roy Choi

amazon​In My Last Supper: The Next Course, author Melanie Dunea's sequel to her first book by the same name, the pedigreed photographer rounds up a new crew of 50 high-profile chefs and includes a recipe from each in the book's appendix. The main draw here is the same as in her first edition ... More >>

Mario Batali Hires Media Maven

Drea Bernardi via her Twitter profile.​It took five months and nearly 50,000 resumes, but Mario Batali has finally filled the Media Production Coordinator opening he posted back in April on Monster.com. The coveted job goes to Drea Bernardi, a New Yorker who loves food, is fluent in Italian ... More >>

Jamie Oliver Restaurant Victim of Rioting

JamieOliver.comChef Jamie Oliver posing for his TV show, "Food Revolution," which did not feature sous chefs manning the barricades.​Dewey-cheeked British chef and would-be L.A. school lunch reformer Jamie Oliver had his restaurant attacked amid the rioting that has erupted in the U.K. followi ... More >>

Top Thai Chef Comes to L.A. A Recipe for Duck Larb

Barbara Hansenchef McDang​Royalty just left Los Angeles. Now it's coming again. The royal personage arriving this week is chef McDang (real name ML Sirichalerm Svasti) of the Thai royal family. Not content to rest on regal laurels, McDang has become a culinary celebrity in Thailand, appearing ... More >>

Lucky Peach: The New Food Journal From David Chang & Friends Is Here

​Lucky Peach, the food quarterly from Momofuku's David Chang, debuted yesterday. It's an enormous amount of fun, as you would expect, kind of like Grand Street crossed with No Reservations. This makes sense once you run down the list of contributors: Anthony Bourdain, Harold McGee, Ruth Reichl ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Samples New York's Best Eateries During Beard Weekend

ABC Pulls Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution: Watch Some Dancing, Drink Some Chocolate Milk

Jamie Oliver​ If you tuned in last night to see Jamie Oliver, with or without his tomato suit, fighting the good fight on the streets of Los Angeles, if not in its public school cafeterias, you will have been disappointed. And though you doubtless enjoyed Dancing With The Stars as much as we d ... More >>

Don't Be a Mayo Swoosher 99 Other Tips from Chefs

Food Network​The May 2011 issue of Food Network Magazine claims to give you the "100 Greatest Cooking Tips (of All Time!)." These are the "greatest" tips, presumably, because they come courtesy of "the top chefs in the country." Los Angeles represents well, with a number of our city's chefs ... More >>

Mario Batali Seeks Production Coordinator

Want to work for Mario Batali? The web-savvy chef has teamed with job site Monster to find a production coordinator who can help him prepare for shoots, manage his video archives, format his recipes and scrub his orange clogs with a toothbrush. (Okay, only three of those are listed as job duties.) ... More >>

Jamie Oliver's L.A. Food Revolution: The First Episode Reality TV As Work-In-Progress

ABCJamie Oliver with a demo cow​ Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution premiered last night, as most of you probably know. It was the first of the six episodes of the second season, which is taking place in Los Angeles. We can actually say is taking as opposed to took place, since the show is still b ... More >>

Somebody Stole Guy Fieri's Lamborghini

Food Network/Alan PoulinGuy Fieri​ Ah, the perils of fame, money and expensive cars. And no, sorry, this is not a Charlie Sheen story. Food Network star Guy Fieri (Minute to Win It, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) had his $200,000-plus Lamborghini sports car stolen, and not just ripped off by an ... More >>

Why The LAUSD Didn't Let Jamie Oliver Into Their Schools: The Real Reasons [Chart]

Many here in Los Angeles were perplexed when the LAUSD refused to let British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver into their schools to film season 2 of his Food Revolution show. Banned from the cafeterias of this city's public schools, Oliver staged a campaign -- in the press, on Facebook, in a tomato suit ... More >>

[Updated] Jamie Oliver Launches L.A. Food Revolution Truck

jamieoliver.comJamie Oliver's Food Revolution truck​ Update: Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Truck (@FoodRevTruck), which debuted yesterday at the TED conference in Long Beach, is not your average food truck. It looks a bit more like an 18-wheeler crossed with a Che Guevara T-shirt shop. The bi ... More >>

Jamie Oliver Fills A School Bus With 57 Tons Of "Sugar" In Carson Why L.A. Might Have Been A "Big Mistake"

A. ScattergoodJamie Oliver and a school bus filled with sand​ As you probably know by now, Jamie Oliver's Los Angeles Food Revolution is currently in its second week. Day 1, or the first day of shooting for Oliver's ABC reality show, was last Tuesday, which the British chef marked with the op ... More >>

A Recipe From the Chef: Eric Ripert's Roasted Chicken with Za'atar Stuffing

WileyEric Ripert's roasted chicken with za'atar stuffing​ After we sat down at the Chateau Marmont for a 2-part interview with Eric Ripert, we asked the Le Bernardin chef for a recipe from his new book, Avec Eric. Sure, they're all good, but which one should we go home and make now -- and publ ... More >>

What Your Sausage Won't Tell: Q A With Cracker Barrel Line Cook Dan Keller

Twitter user NewCookDanSausage or Bacon?​To some folks, news reports on the latest tensions in Lebanon simply means a customer didn't particularly care for that salty country ham biscuit (clearly one of those crazy Californians) at Cracker Barrel, arguably the mightiest of all chain diners. Th ... More >>

Q & A With Ming Tsai: His New Book, PBS The NASCAR of Food Television

A. ScattergoodMing Tsai poolside at The Standard in Hollywood​ If you spend any time watching cooking shows on PBS, you'll know who Ming Tsai is. Or if you've read any of his cookbooks -- the fourth, Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals, has just come out -- or watched old Food Network television. Or s ... More >>

Q & A With Ming Tsai, Part 2: "Confusion" Cuisine, The Importance of Cookbook Pictures Why We Need To Go To Grandmother's House

A. ScattergoodMing Tsai poolside at The Standard in Hollywood​ In the first part of our interview with cookbook author and longtime television cooking show host Ming Tsai -- yes, he has a restaurant too, if you're anywhere near Wellesley, Mass. -- the chef talked about the evolution of food T ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Avec Eric, A Culinary Travelogue Eric Ripert's Homemade Butter Recipe

​Ya, ya we all know not to judge a book by its cover. And then we do it anyway. Consider Avec Eric, the latest from Eric Ripert that looks like yet another food television show in hardcover form. And it is, complete with another hot-as-hell Top Chef judge as the star. But when you get into the ... More >>

Chef Michael Chiarello Ditches Napa Valley (For a Day) For His L.A. Book Signing

NapaStyleMichael Chiarello's latest cookbook, Bottega: Bold Italian Flavors from the Heart of California's Wine Country​Does your perfect vacation involve a private tour and tasting at a Napa Valley winery? Do you count the tiny towns of Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga among your ideal de ... 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 >>

Wolfgang Puck’s Bar & Grill Export at L.A. Live

Spago Jr.