Elina Shatkin

10 Great Places to Eat on New Year's Day

January 1st. The first day of the new year on the old Gregorian calendar. For most of the Western world, it's a day to start fresh, assess things, make pledges to change and maybe just beg the sweet merciful gods to make the room stop spinning because goddamn you over-indulged the night before. No ... More >>

The New Pastrami Sandwich 3 Great Places to Get One

This week we're launching a new series called Food of the Moment which devotes itself to an ingredient or dish currently experiencing an boom at local eateries. We'll then eat it, dissect it, discuss it -- and tell you where you can get some. In a Slate piece back in September, Rachel Levin chronic ... More >>

March Roundup of Restaurant Openings and Closings: Endless Tequila, Beer & More

Springtime is upon us -- you can tell by the pastel-colored clothing and cocktails around town. Hopeful newbies and restaurant industry pros to look out for this season include, Japanese ramen noodle shop owner/comedian Menji Miyata, bibimbap peddler/Bibigo project manager Matthew Kim, mixologist Sa ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 2/27-3/2

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "This may be the only standard restaurant dish anywhere in the world whose origin points to a bored 6-year-old on a playground." Jonathan Gold's 60 Korean Dishes Every Angeleno Should Know. "Nelson once worked in the lumber b ... More >>

10 Best Beer Bars In Los Angeles

With craft beer L.A.'s current unyielding obsession, it seems crazier than a 55% ABV beer that four short years ago that we were celebrating, along with dozens of tube sock-clad homebrew club sorts, the first local bars to land coveted cask-conditioned ales on tap. My how that fedora-topped draft be ... More >>

Last Night: LudoBites 8 [Photo Gallery]

This isn't technically from last night or even the night before. It's from Tuesday night, when we lived under the haze of a Lemon Moon. Today is Friday, and that means it's time for some gratuitous food porn, courtesy of LudoBites. In case you didn't win the Valentine's Day resy contest, you can sti ... More >>

Chocolate May Prevent Colon Cancer: One More Reason to Eat It

If we didn't know better, we'd swear this study was funded by a syndicate of chocolate producers, but we don't like to look too skeptically at research that reinforces our notions of how the world should be. A recent study on rats has for the first time confirmed that flavonoids such as those foun ... More >>

Deep Fried Fluffernutter at Black Market: Sandwich of the Week

Deep-frying improbable edibles is hardly new. County fair concessions maven Chicken Charlie has fried up Oreos, Twinkies, frog legs, White Castle burgers, SPAM, zucchini, Pop Tarts, brownies, ribs and Kool-Aid balls -- and that's only the beginning The combo of crisp batter and gooey center speaks ... More >>

Naan Stop Food Truck to Open Restaurant... in Atlanta

The latest Los Angeles food truck to open a brick-and-mortar location is Naan Stop (@naanstop), but they're doing it in Atlanta. Why? Because Georgia needs samosas and masala fries. In fact, it's sort of a return to their roots for Neal and Samir Idnani, who own and run the truck. The brothers " ... More >>

Hot Toddy Day: 3 Cocktails to Keep You Warm

It's National Hot Toddy Day, another holiday seemingly invented for food writers who need to fill blogs with dubious copy (cough, cough). Not that we have anything against warm cocktails. They're romantic. They're old. They're vaguely medicinal. Amid the tame Los Angeles winter, however, hot toddy c ... More >>

NYC Cracks Down on Kimchi

Bureaucrats stomp in where angels fear to tread. Health inspectors in New York City have recently cracked down on how kimchi is stored, penalizing many Korean restaurants with violation points and fines. Health inspectors view the fermented cabbage dish as a cold food, which means it must be store ... More >>

Free Sausage at Currywurst

To kick off the new year, Currywurst the new-ish sausage shop on Fairfax, is hosting a sausage party. (Sorry, we couldn't resist.) Every Tuesday in February, Currywurst will serve free sausages -- but only for 20 minutes and 12 seconds (2012, get it?) beginning at 7 p.m.

9 Appalling & Tasteless Gingerbread Houses

See this gingerbread house? The one with turrets and bay windows, candy canes on the door, licorice piping on the windows and shingles lined with gumdrops and M&Ms. That's how a normal gingerbread house looks. Some people, however, like their holiday food tinged with grim reality, which is to say tr ... More >>

Golden Road Brewpub Opening Jan. 15

The brewpub at Golden Road Brewing, which quietly soft-opened back in mid-December, will officially open on January 15th. The joint has 20 taps featuring housemade beers as well as heavily (but not exclusively) Californian selection of beers including Eagle Rock Brewery, Dogfish Head, Oskar Blues, F ... More >>

Angeli Caffe: How to Make Bread [Video]

After January 13th, you won't be able to get Angeli Caffe's fluffy, delicious bread, but perhaps this catchy 2:54 music video will help you make it on your own. Now, all you need is that industrial-size, professional-grade Blodgett oven. (Ambitious home chefs can also get a few tips on how to make p ... More >>

Saveur's Annual Foodie Giveaway is On

Saveur's annual Foodie Giveaway is on. As usual, the month-long contest is a mishmash of nifty gifts (a set of Shun Reserve knives, a cookie sampler from Elsylee) and second-rate schwag (an ugly belt, a leather recipe organizer). The vacation prize packages, however, look good.

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Winter Cocktails, Latkes, Caviar, Tasting Menus, Recovery

Winter Cocktail Launch Bartender Jaymee Mandeville's unveils her seasonal cocktail lineup featuring warming libations like Breaking Castagne (cognac, mezcal, housemade chestnut syrup, mole bitters and nutmeg), Grimhilda (apple brandy, chipotle honey, pama and lemon) and Remedy X (rosemary-infused wh ... More >>

10 Food-Themed Clothing Gifts

Miss Turkey in her custom-print hamburger bikini.​It's probably too late to purchase most of these gifts in time for Christmas, but that doesn't mean we can't sit and drool at the intersection of food and fashion. Sorry, Miss Turkey's custom-made burger bikini was auctioned off for charity mon ... More >>

Against the Rock-Hard Matzoh Ball

Guzzle & NoshMatzoh ball soup at Mezze.​It's almost impossible to find a decent matzoh ball at a restaurant in Los Angeles. Even at the finest delis, the standard matzoh ball is as large as a softball and nearly as hard. Perhaps this could be justified by some complex sociocultural explanation ... More >>

Baco Mercat: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 31) BONUS!

Guzzle & NoshBaco Mercat: The Toron.​30 Sandwiches in 30 Days is, technically, over. We, however, can't quit. Not when there are sandwiches as spectacular as the ones at Baco Mercat. Of all the new, upscale, non-deli sandwiches we've tried over the past month-and-a-half, Josef Centeno's bäcos ... More >>

Artisan House: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 30)

Guzzle & NoshThe spicy chicken sandwich at Artisan House.​Everything about Artisan House is beautiful. The stone columns. The arched windows. The Art Deco-inspired font on the cover of the corkboard menu. The elegant, dizzying phalanx of liquor bottles separating the showpiece bar from cases o ... More >>

Proof Bakery: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 28)

Guzzle & NoshAssorted sandwiches from Proof Bakery.​Some sandwiches are mighty and meaty, the jocks of the sandwich world. Others are complex, subtly layered and sloppy -- the rockers. At Proof Bakery, they are dainty and petite, like fey literature-obsessed kids. They suit the restrained but ... More >>

Eggslut Truck: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 25)

Guzzle & NoshBacon & egg sandwich from Eggslut.​Ah, the breakfast sandwich. A marriage of two disparate meals in a single dish: the sunny disposition of eggs cradled between two slices of bread. As much as it may be galling to admit, every breakfast sandwich from the hoitiest toitiest brioche ... More >>

Ready-To-Bake Cookie Dough Carries E. coli Risk

Guzzle & NoshChristmas cookies: delicious but dangerous when unbaked.​In the midst of the Christmas cookie season, it's important to remember one thing: Don't eat unbaked cookie dough. That's the upshot of a recent report published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. After a 2009 multistate outb ... More >>

Cook's Torta's: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 23)

Guzzle & NoshTorta Cubana at Cook's Tortas.​Monterey Park may seem an unlikely locale for a top-notch torta shop, but Cook's Tortas, with its diverse and clever roster of sandwiches, has made itself a home amid the dim sum houses and dumpling shops of the San Gabriel Valley. Located in what wa ... More >>

Chef Ludo Paella Dinner at Domaine LA

Guzzle & NoshPaella​Chef Ludovic Lefebvre veers from his French roots to cook a special paella dinner this Sunday at Domaine LA. Spanish importer José Pastor, who's known for trumpeting the more traditional wines of Spain and the Canary Islands, has curated a wine tasting of varietals that ra ... More >>

Banh Mi at Spice Table: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 20)

Guzzle & NoshThe classic banh mi at Spice Table​What the hell is a bánh mì these days? The sandwich, derived from the Vietnamese term for bread, was once a cheap, quick, portable fix. Now, every upscale sandwich shop worth its weight in double-smoked bacon and housemade aioli is throwing col ... More >>

Fresh Bites: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 16)

Guzzle & NoshTuna & artichoke sandwich.​ With its menu of healthyish café fare, its pale wood tables, its mellow but earnest vibe, Fresh Bites could easily be a California cliché. Fortunately, it isn't. The sandwiches are light and crisp, but they're flavorful and boast small, original touch ... More >>

Natural Harvest Semen Cookbook: We Just Threw Up In Our Mouth

Natural Harvest: The cookbook that will make you vomit without even opening it.​If beef is red meat, pork is the other white meat and termite larvae is the clear meat, what in the hell is semen? We don't want to know. [Editor's note: Thanksgiving is over. You're fasting today anyway, right?] ... More >>

Hot Mamma Pastrama at Locali: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 13)

[NOTE: An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the Hot Mamma Pastrama sandwich as the Vegan Reuben.] The stuff in the Hot Mamma Pastrama at Locali is about as close to pastrami as Rick Santorum is to winning the Republican presidential nomination, but, unlike the former Pennsylvania ... More >>

Cochon 555 Coming Back to L.A. on May 6

Cochon 555, that "Porkapalooza," that "locavore rodeo... of wine, pig and minor debauchery," will return to Los Angeles. After a successful L.A. debut in 2011, the 10-city tour of porcine bacchanalia announced its 2012 dates, which also include stops in New York City, Napa Valley, Memphis, Portland, ... More >>

Sesame Street Jason Schwartzman Iron Chef = Genius

​Sporting a cape like Liberace and hair like a demented Elvis, Jason Schwartzman visits Sesame Street for a quick turn in "Cast Iron Cook," an Iron Chef parody. Starring alongside Elmo, Schwarzman plays the discerning and dramatic judge, Super Chef, a man prone to screamed exclamations and pur ... More >>

Eat More Pork: 8 Reasons Why It's Good For You

Guzzle & NoshA shot of the menu at Palsaik​Pork is good for you, full of life-preserving nutrients and vitamins, didn't you know? We recently spotted this list of pork belly's health benefits on the menu at Palsaik Samgyeopsal, a Koreatown sam-gyeopsal house. That'd be a restaurant specializin ... More >>

Sotto's Porcetto: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 6)

Guzzle & NoshSotto's porcetto sandwich.​You say "porchetta," I say "porcetto," let's call the whole thing off. Actually, let's not. In the delectable and sometimes delicate matter of roasted pork, let's keep the whole thing on, even with the tricky issue of pronunciation. The first term, or so ... More >>

From Marina del Rey to Skid Row

Goodie Girls: Cupcake Wars Winner Annette Starbuck to Open L.A. Store

Goodie Girls​Los Angeles needs another cupcake shop like we need another stretch Humvee limo, but they keep littering the city, all the same. Goodie Girls, the first storefront from Cupcake Wars winner Annette Starbuck, opens November 20th in Glendale. She'll be offering over a dozen flavors i ... More >>

Merriam-Webster, Let's Get Slizzard

Dear Merriam-Webster: We admit it: We're not hip. We didn't know until very recently that "Like A G6" isn't about a super-advanced Steve Jobs prototype computer that can also fly jet planes. As a Professional Writer, there is one thing we do know: language. Specifically, the English language. We ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews the Flying Pig Cafe

Squid Ink Food Writers' Most Reviled Childhood Dinners

southerbornandbredgirl/flickrFried chicken livers​ With food, one person's penance is another's pleasure. Many parents view dinner-time as an opportunity, not just to share food and company with their beloved offspring, but also to exert control. Sometimes kids are picky and sometimes parent ... More >>

Squid Ink's Most Beloved Discontinued Products: Well, A Few of Them

DSL in Jaz/flickrWe hardly knew you.​ Our favorite convenience foods are like friendly co-workers holed up in the next cubicle over. We meet them, like them, grow accustomed to their presence in our lives, and then, just as soon as we realize we can't quite imagine life without them, they di ... More >>

Dispelling Rumors: A March Roundup of Restaurant Openings & Closures

Elina ShatkinSotto's liquor arsenal: for celebratory or mourning purposes​ It can be tricky to determine whether a restaurant is nearing its end. Despite conflicting and vague reports, Bistro LQ is indeed closed. We tracked down chef-owner Laurent Quenioux, who confirmed that "Yes we r closed. ... More >>

30 Burgers 30 Days: Now on KTLA and YouTube

If you watch KTLA you will have seen the recent piece on Elina Shatkin's burger odyssey, 30 Burgers in 30 Days, in which she has been eating her way through Los Angeles' burger joints. If you don't watch KTLA, you can watch the segment here on YouTube. It's good to have documented evidence, not on ... More >>

Magnolia Bakery: Top 5 Things To Eat When You're Not Eating a Cupcake

Elina ShatkinCupcakes from Magnolia Bakery.​In July, when Magnolia Bakery opened its first (but surely not its last) Los Angeles outpost, I was weary of the hype, fueled by local cupcake fanatics as much as by any PR firm. The breathless chronicling of Magnolia's search for a location, the pro ... More >>

Agwa: Liqueur or Mouthwash? It's Hard to Tell

Elina ShatkinAgwa, Bolivian coca liqueur.​Be careful leaving bottles of Agwa around. The new, mint-green liqueur made from coca leaves that are grown in Bolivia then processed and bottled in Amsterdam, looks and tastes remarkably similar to mouthwash. Perhaps you're a dental hygienist who wan ... More >>

Animal's Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo Roll With Cart For A Cause

Elina ShatkinAnimal's fried chicken sandwich.​With all the recent hoopla about fried chicken, it's no surprise that Animal chefs and recent New Yorker poster boys Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo wanted to enshrine their take on the dish. Yesterday on the Cart For A Cause truck, the dudes dished out a b ... More >>

Sneak Peek: Thirsty Crow, Silver Lake's New Bourbon Bar

Elina ShatkinThirsty Crow, Silver Lake.​ The skunk butts are long gone (rumor has it they'll decorate the dressing rooms at the Henry Fonda Theater). So is the collection of beer cans lining the walls. Few traces are left of Silver Lake's much maligned faux-trucker bar Stinkers, which closed o ... More >>

W Hollywood Debuts Station Hollywood and The Living Room

Quietly and with little fanfare, the W Hollywood on Jan. 28 unofficially opened its French brasserie, Delphine, and its two bars, Station Hollywood and The Living Room. (The hotel's long-delayed nightclub, Drai's, still has no official opening date.) Pass through Delphine's white brick arch and you ... More >>

Sneak Peek inside The Surly Goat: West Hollywood Beer Bar to Open on Monday

It wasn't the first beer-soaked lie a drunkard ever told, but it's certainly one of the most enduring. As the story goes, two German nobelmen were drinking when one fell off his beer barrel. Rather than admit he was drunk, he insisted that a nearby billy goat (known as a "bock" in German) had charge ... More >>

Meals On Wheels: A Brief L.A. Food Truck Update

Buttermilk Truck launches the evening of November 11th at The Brig in Venice (via LAist). The Grilled Cheese Truck, which launched last week, just posted this week's schedule on their website. Today, Brentwood. Tomorrow, on KTLA. Flying Pig Truck, which hit the streets in mid-October, is on Cahuen ... More >>