Cheese

3 Places in L.A. to Get Your Raclette Fix

On a backpacking trip through Europe in my early 20's I ended up in the small Alpine ski village of Isola, France. After a long day on the slopes my friend Anne-Sophie took me to a rustic restaurant for dinner -- all dark wood and fireplace and goblets of wine. There I had my first taste of raclet ... More >>

Cheese-Making May Date Back 7,500 Years

Aged cheeses are delicious, although 7,500 years old might be a bit much. But that's how old the practice of cheese-making may be -- much older than previously thought -- according to an article in the journal Nature. Scientists have reportedly discovered 7,500-year-old pottery fragments that have ... More >>

Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Episode 2, Sauces

Squid Ink is going back to basics with Martha Stewart's Cooking School, airing every weekend through the end of the year on PBS. Join us. See also: Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Episode 1, Eggs Martha Stewart believes in studying the classics, she says, as images of Einstein, Shakespeare and Ab ... More >>

5 Best New Cookbooks For Teenagers

The upside of reality food television: all the teenagers we meet who want to hang in the kitchen in today's cool tattooed chef era. And yet most teenagers are still caught in those awkward cooking years. They don't need kid's cookbooks, or at least don't think they do. But they're not quite ready fo ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Beer Grilled Cheese Pairing, Iberico Ham Quest, Good Food Pie Contest Food Truck Battle

Beer and Grilled Cheese Pairing Night Sample exotic beers and grilled cheese at Andrew's Cheese Shop at this popular annual event, which features tastings and tutorials with beer and cheese experts. WHAT: Beer and Grilled Cheese Night WHEN: Thurs., Sept. 6, 7:30-10 p.m. WHERE: Andrew's Cheese Shop ... More >>

Cheese, Please: What's the Deal With Mozzarella?

From our 2012 Restaurant Issue, celebrating everything pizza in L.A. In L.A.'s not-so-distant pie past, family pizza night meant Friday evening quibbles over thick versus thin crust, debates over the proportion of marinara sauce to other ingredients and, inevitably, a few irreconcilable topping dif ... More >>

Heywood Grilled Cheese Now Open in Silver Lake: Of Cheese and Sandwiches

The 16th-century writer John Heywood loved cheese. So, in addition to collecting a number of heady epigrams in his book of proverbs -- "Out of sight, out of mind," "Haste makes waste," and so on -- he also wrote verses about reading books and eating cheese. And thus it makes sense we now have Heyw ... More >>

A Summer Cheese Chat With Andrew Steiner Of Andrew's Cheese Shop

Last we checked in with Andrew Steiner of Andrew's Cheese Shop, he was telling us that like farmers' market produce, soft cheeses in particular are "seasonal" -- and that we were in the middle of the wrong season (it was January). Now that we're in the middle of the right season, we circled back ... More >>

What Cookie Monster Will Be Eating at the Daytime Emmys

In case you were wondering what Regis and Kelly, Dr. Phil, Alex Trebek and Cookie Monster will be noshing on at the 39th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards presentation at the Beverly Hilton this Saturday afternoon (airing at 5 p.m. PT on HLN), here is the rundown. (If you are a starving would-be soap actor ... More >>

Raphael's Valentine's Celebration

Il Fico: Pugliese Cooking Comes to L.A.

F. FriesemaJonagold apples​ Puglia, the sliver of Southern Italy often described as the heel of the boot, is home to some of the most distinctive cooking in Italy, a plain, solid, vegetable-intensive cuisine thrumming with the strong flavors of olives and garlic, rapini and favas, wild greens. ... More >>

Xtreme Eating Awards Announced: Top 8 Worst Things To Eat

Center for Science in the Public InterestThe Cheesecake Factory Farmhouse Cheeseburger​ This year's winners of the Xtreme Eating Awards have been named, just in time for us all to continue massively overeating. The so-called "dishonorees," as if we needed more clues as to the point of this, we ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Saveur's Got The New Comfort Food Down

​Yes, we know we are supposed to be at the farmers market cooing over those Blenheim apricots meant to be slowly savored and imagining the simple tomato-basil salads that will satisfy us after just a few bites with their intense summer flavors. But even this time of year, some nights all we re ... More >>

Cookbook Review: The Glorious Pasta of Italy, Including This Fettuccine Recipe

​Sure, we probably don't need another pasta cookbook. But The Glorious Pasta of Italy by Domenica Marchetti is pretty hard to pass up -- and we have a lot of Italian cookbooks in our library. Marchetti grew up in New Jersey on handmade ravioli (her mother is from Abruzzo). And so she spends ... More >>

Food Truck Friday: The Nacho Truck

To which school of cooking, precisely, do the concoctions from The Nacho Truck (@nachotruckla) belong: baroque or stoner? The line between the two can be thin.

Grilled Cheese Week Deals A Peek at Eric Hulme's Quack Attack Sandwich

Photos courtesy of The Oaks Gourmet Market & Tender GreensA grilled cheese & tomato sandwich from The Oaks (left); Eric Hulme's GCI entry, the Quack Attack (right).​As the 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational draws nearer and National Grilled Cheese Month draw to a close, you can still g ... More >>

Cheese Store of Beverly Hills Gives Out Artisanal Food Awards

Courtesy of The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills​Not content to sit atop a throne of taleggio as one of Los Angeles' most acclaimed cheese purveyors, Norbert Wabnig has fashioned himself into the artisanal food world's equivalent of (pre-stroke) Dick Clark, bestowing a set of annual awards to art ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Sunset Magazine's The One-Block Feast

​If you're a dedicated follower of Sunset magazine's One-Block Diet blog, where staffers report on tending a backyard-sized plot of land behind their offices where they grow vegetables, raise chickens, and such to create 100% locavore meals, then you probably don't need the magazine's just-rel ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Tupelo Honey Cafe Their Two-Cheese Mashed Cauliflower Recipe

​If you've ever been to Asheville, North Carolina, a stunning city known for its quietly elegant beauty but also for its cultural diversity (fueled in the early days by Black Mountain College, a Depression-era progressive arts education institute), then you know what writer Elizabeth Sims and ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Grilled Cheese, Please! A Bologna-Peanut Butter-Pickle Grilled Cheese Recipe (Yes, Really)

​Those pocket-sized theme cookbooks on an excessively narrow subject tend to taste repetitive very quickly (veggie burgers?). And so when we received Laura Werlin's Grilled Cheese, Please! 50 Scrumptiously Cheesy Recipes, we were wary -- that exclamation point and subtitle certainly didn't hel ... More >>

A Recipe From The Cheesemaker (And Farmer): Fried Squash Blossoms Stuffed With Nasturtiums And Jackrabbit Chevre

Flickr user kelsoAwaiting Their Jackrabbit​In our two-part interview with D.J. Mitchell, the self-taught cheesemaker was telling us why he and his wife, Suellen, started making cheese. ("We bought 20 acres in the middle of nowhere... after that that first winter, when the snow melted, we found ... More >>

Q & A With Jackrabbit Cheesemaker D.J. Mitchell, Part 2: Secret Stash Not Included

J. GarbeeHandmade Jackrabbit Feta (Cow's Milk)​When we left off with our characteristically buttoned-up cheesemaker D.J. Mitchell, owner of Jackrabbit Ranch Cheese in Southern Utah, he was opening up after his regular 450 mile drive to L.A. (he works as a freelance accountant here) about why ... More >>

The FDA Weighs Tightening Regulations on Raw Milk Cheese

Adam Kuban/FlickrA Tomme de Savoie​ Somewhere in a smoke-filled boardroom, the Whey and Curds Committee is hunched over a heap of runny rounds with washed rinds, trying to figure out whether or not the Federal government ought to clamp down on cheeses made with unpasteurized milk. A recent Ne ... More >>

Cheese Rules: Andrew's Cheese Shop Owner Andrew Steiner On Why Certain Cheeses Stink This Time Of Year

Andrews Cheese ShopSteiner May Be Smiling, But He Does Not Share The February Love​Andrew's Cheese Shop owner Andrew Steiner is not one to be bashful with his opinions. If you mention you like a certain cheese that isn't tops on his list, be prepared for a raised eyebrow and the ensuing commen ... More >>

Now Open: The Cheese Store of Pasadena

Keeping cheese cool at The Cheese Store of Pasadena​ Like the object of any great passion, the world's best cheeses often play hard to get. Ardrahan, a semi-soft farmhouse cheese crafted in the viridescent fields of County Cork is no exception. Its golden tanned exterior, the product of a care ... More >>

Meeting Your Makers: Locally Made Mozzarellas

D. GonzalezBurricotta from Angelo & Franco​ The first time, it took a bit of nerve. A roadtrip down the 10, then the 60. The exchange was quick but friendly. The fresh mozzarella and burrata was worth it. But now burrata has become easier to find both at markets like Whole Foods and on r ... More >>

Fried Food Gone Too Far: Denny's Mozzarella Stick "Melt"

Denny'sDenny's New Fried Cheese Melt​ From fried Twinkies to chicken fried bacon to beer-battered cheesecake, we're no stranger to belt-busting fried foods. And while we don't condone the consumption of greasy foods with quadruple digit calorie and a weeks' worth of fat gram counts, we just co ... More >>

Cookbook Reivew: Complete Idiot's Guide to Cheese Making for the Gouda Challenged

​Weighing in at merely a couple of Velveeta slices thick, The Complete Idiot's Guide To Cheese is a rather slim showing for the typical Idiot's Guide. A seemingly irrelevant observation when you realize, at least according to the author's retail website, Leeners.com, that the Ohio-based James ... More >>

L.A. Restaurants Celebrate National Grilled Cheese Month Grilled Cheese Invitational Tickets On Sale

It's National Grilled Cheese Month, and the cooks inside the Grilled Cheese Truck aren't the only ones tossing buttery bread and cheese on a skillet. We rounded up some restaurants around town that are honoring the gooey holiday with traditional grilled cheese and tomato soup combos, as well as enti ... More >>

6 Cheese and Beer Pairings For St. Patrick's Day

Wine-and-cheese is such a classic combination that you might not think of going beyond it. But beer is a pretty terrific match for cheese too, and this is just the week to switch out your glass of Cab for a pint. Consider it an homage to the biggest beer drinking holiday of all: St. Patrick's Day. ... More >>

Valentine's Cheese: What Love's Got To Do With It

It feels only appropriate to celebrate cheese during the amorous month of February. In addition to being the main ingredient of one the most iconic romantic food symbols--the fondue pot--cheese-making is pretty much a craft of pure passion. So this Valentine's season, perhaps on a break from writ ... More >>

Top Cheeses To Start Eating in 2010: The LA Cheese Pros Weigh In On Their Wheels

The Spanish greats at The Cheese Store of Silver Lake​Another year, another chance to take a new bite out of life. For motivated foodies looking for the latest and greatest edibles to sink their teeth into, this approach translates literally. The food lover is ready already to start planning t ... More >>

Top 10 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches: A Loaf of Bread, A Pound of Cheese...

Not just your plain-Jane American cheese on toast anymore, the grilled cheese sandwich is both comfort food and cultural icon. Proving that you can do an awful lot with a few slices of bread and a hunk of cheese. From a lavish raisin bread with shortribs and tallegio to a simple aged Cheddar and tom ... More >>

Wheels of Fortune: Italian Bank Accepts Parmesan as Collateral

Photo credit: abbyladybugWheels of Parmesan cheese​With the economy questionable and no one exactly sure when the markets will rebound, it's a good time to invest in solid, verifiable assets. Banks in Italy take an even more pragmatic approach, accepting as collateral for loans something not o ... More >>

Transcendent, Transitory Tapas

Ludovic Lefebvre’s temporary contemporary

Get On Your Grill

Meltdown in Culver City

Italian L.a.

The 20 Best

A Real Pickle

Sweet, hot and wholly Toledo

The New California Pizza Kitchen

Mozza lays down the dough

Ask Mr. Gold

The Big Cheese

Rustic as He Wants To Be

Paris Trance: Searching for the Authentic at Monsieur Marcel

The Small Plate

How the little things make a meal

Dangerous Liaison

Gilding the Pumpkin

Report From the Holiday Front

The Artists of Gruyère

Te Amo Ammo

or Just What Hollywood Needed

Dough Boy

The creator of the California pizza