Food and Cooking

Tacos in L.A.: Your Ultimate Guide

If you're living life correctly, every day is National Taco Day. We know that. But hey, why not take another opportunity to celebrate something awesome, and something we do better than anyone else (ha, ha, New York Times, that was a very funny joke). In order to help you celebrate properly, we've ... More >>

Hispanic Heritage Month at Xiomara on Melrose

October is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and though finding great Spanish-influenced food is as easy as stepping onto an L.A. street corner, you could seek out Cuban-influenced California cuisine at Xiomara, a restaurant that's been at the Hancock Park end of Melrose Ave. for a decade. A Freedo ... More >>

Jobless Seniors to Get a Hand from Mexicano

You'll feel good when you eat at Mexicano, the new restaurant planned by Jaime Martín del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu of La Casita Mexicana. Not just because you've had a delicious meal, but because you'll be eating food prepared by jobless older Latinos who've been given a place to work and eat. The ... More >>

Hakkasan Beverly Hills: First Look

There's no sign outside of Hakkasan Beverly Hills, just a menu on the sidewalk and a cryptic symbol above two huge doors, covered in geometric metal lattice, that are practically impossible to open. Not to worry: A woman dressed in her restaurant uniform -- in this case, a tight black lace dress wit ... More >>

Brunch at Bucato: Octopus Hash and Green Eggs and Ham

A couple of weeks back, Bucato started serving brunch on weekends. It happened just a tad too late for consideration and mention in our review of Bucato, so I thought I'd stop by this past weekend to check it out. At brunch, chef Evan Funke presents some of the same dishes from the dinner menu, and ... More >>

Best of L.A. 2013: The Readers Poll Winners

For only the second year ever, we asked you to nominate your favorite places in Los Angeles -- and then vote on the finalists. Here are your picks, along with a link to the staff winner in each category. Best Adult Store The Pleasure Chest 7733 Santa Monica Blvd., W. Hlywd. (323) 650-1022, thepleasu ... More >>

Casey Lane's Downtown Restaurant The Parish Closes

The Parish, chef Casey Lane's downtown restaurant, has closed. The beautiful two-story farm-to-table gastropub, the upstairs deck of which resembled more the deck of a 19th century ship than the patio of a modern bar and restaurant, closed suddenly after Monday service. "At the end of the day, the ... More >>

Now Open: Orsa and Winston

After a week of preview nights open only to MasterCard holders, Josef Centeno's newest restaurant is open to the public as of this evening. Centeno is billing Orsa & Winston as an Italian/Japanese omakase restaurant. The 33-seat restaurant is a return to fine dining for Centeno, who in recent years ... More >>

Marcella Hazan, 1924 - 2013: A Letter From Italy

When I moved to Florence to work on my dissertation, I knew that it would be a learning experience. While I knew that I would be delving into sixteenth century archives to search for clues about the Medici's shopping habits, I didn't realize that it would be my own shopping habits -- for parmigiano, ... More >>

The Stocking Frame: First Look

Located on the quiet end of Hill Street, The Stocking Frame has been open since early July in the ground floor of an old brick building. The name references the 1917 building's original function as a garment factory -- a stocking frame is a mechanical knitting machine that was widely used in the tex ... More >>

Sake Day 2013: Sake is Better Than it's Ever Been

Most designated days celebrating a specific food or drink originated as a marketer's ploy. Not so with Sake Day. In Japan, the first day of October marks the official beginning of the sake brewing season -- a tradition that dates back more than a thousand years. Outside of Japan, Oct. 1 has become ... More >>

September Restaurant Roundup: Ludo's Fried Chicken, Mas Tacos Mystery Omakase

We've cooed over cronuts, farm-to-table fare and inventive cocktails. Now we're back to L.A.'s most iconic food: tacos, fancy and otherwise. Chef Ricardo Diaz recently opened Colonia Taco Lounge in La Puente. Crunch into guisados-style tacos, sip craft beer and enjoy free parking. There are about a ... More >>

6 Great L.A. Restaurants for Dolmades, or Stuffed Grape Leaves

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 3), we'll be bringing you periodic lists of some of the best things we've found to eat and drink around town. Ice cream sandwiches and bowls of tsukemen, fish tacos and dan dan mien, cups of boba and glasses of booze. Read on. The semantic ... More >>

Petty Cash Taqueria: This Week's Restaurant Review

This week, our main review considers Petty Cash Taqueria. Read the full review over in the food section, or see below for a quick rundown. Backstory: Petty Cash is in the space formerly occupied by Playa, John Sedlar's Latin restaurant which closed in March. Restaurateur Bill Chait brought in chef ... More >>

Your National Coffee Day Primer: Events, Giveaways and More

Sunday is National Coffee Day. Although here at Squid Ink, every day is coffee day. Seriously. This blog is powered by espresso. With that in mind, we thought we'd bring you a compilation of our best coffee coverage -- all the studies, openings, cafés we adore and more, as well as a few events ha ... More >>

Petty Cash Review: Fancy Tacos and Mezcal in Mid-City

Urasawa Unseated in Zagat's 2014 Los Angeles Restaurant Guide

"America's favorite" quote-laden guide book doles out "praise" and "scorn" once again with its 2014 guide to Los Angeles restaurants, out today. Though many complain that the guide is "outdated" and "unreliable" in the age of Yelp, Zagat ratings still make a "splash" every year when they're released ... More >>

Hot Commodities: 6 Dried Chiles to Try at the Spice Station

Perhaps you aren't familiar with urfa biber, a Turkish chili redolent of chocolate and raisins that works spicy wonders in a homemade batch of brownies or the morning's coffee brew. Or maybe you didn't know that it's possible to buy dried and ground jalapeño that isn't smoked (unlike the ubiquitou ... More >>

Phorage in Palms: No on Banh Mi, Yes on Pho

Bánh mì is one of those sandwiches for which ratios are very important. At its best, a kind of alchemy happens -- a sandwich that is greater than the sum of its parts. But when those ratios are off, when the magic doesn't occur, the sandwich actually becomes less than the sum of its parts. At Pho ... More >>

Bon Appetit's Grub Crawl Comes to Los Angeles

After naming Alma as their best new restaurant of the year, Bon Appétit is bringing their "grub crawl" event to Los Angeles. On October 26, the magazine will host both a day and night grub crawl, the daytime crawl hitting Venice and the evening crawl making its way through downtown. Tickets to ea ... More >>

L.A. Beer Week: Your Guide to This Week's Beer Pairing Dinners

Now in its 5th year, L.A. Beer Week seems to have become more than just an opportunity to ween people off of Miller Lite, graduating itself into a massive ten-day, two-county affair with emphasis on even more sophisticated explorations of local beer. Sure the tap takeovers and special beer releas ... More >>

Coffee Commissary Opens This Weekend in Burbank

After some four months of renovations and repainting, Coffee Commissary will officially open this weekend in Burbank. Located right on the busy corner of Alameda and Olive Avenues (which, if you ever got lost on your way here, channel your inner Liz Lemon and remember that, yes, Olive just turns int ... More >>

JiST Cafe: Great Breakfast and Lunch in Little Tokyo

Right around the corner from Little Tokyo's strip of noodle shops on 1st St. sits JiST Cafe, a breakfast and lunch spot that opened quietly about three months ago. A quick walk from L.A. Superior Court and police headquarters, JiST is a sunny little spot, with exposed brick walls inside and an outdo ... More >>

At Bucato, Vegetarians Eat Just as Well as Their Carnivorous Counterparts

Bucato is one of those restaurants where you could eat a fully vegetarian meal and not even realize it. Evan Funke's new Italian restaurant at Helms Bakery in Culver City (and the subject of this week's restaurant review) has its share of meaty pleasures -- many of the pastas are sauced with thick r ... More >>

Bucato Review: Evan Funke's Helms Bakery Restaurant Triumphs

WSJ Reports Anti-Quinoa Backlash Border Grill Recipe for Quinoa Fritters

There are a lot of quinoa haters out there. At least that's what The Wall Street Journal would have us believe. The front page of the Sept. 14-15 weekend print edition carried the headline: "Foodies' Ingrained Loyalty to Quinoa Sprouts a Backlash." While we liked the headline writer's clever play o ... More >>

Making Sure Your Kopi Luwak Coffee Is The Real Sh--

If you're paying $225 a pound for civet poop coffee, you want to make sure you're getting the real sh ... deal. Some say that the taste of the world's most expensive coffee beans, which pass through the digestive tracts of Asian palm civets when they eat coffee cherries in such countries as Indones ... More >>

5 Restaurant Picks from Gino Angelini

Where the Chefs Eat is an ongoing series in which we ask a local chef to give us his or her favorite dining options. This week, we check in with Gino Angelini, chef at Angelini Osteria and RivaBella. For almost 20 years, Gino Angelini has been one of L.A.'s most respected Italian chefs. At his own ... More >>

L.A. Beer Week Events: Rare Beers, Guest Beers Brewers

L.A. Beer Week runs Thursday, Sept. 19 through Sunday, Sept. 29. It's a time to celebrate beer -- favorite local breweries and nationwide friends -- to visit the hard-working bars and bartenders that serve us, and to make new friends with other pint-bearers. There is an incredible array of events th ... More >>

All the Thai Food You Can Eat: Restaurant Discounts A Festival

You can't have too much of a good thing -- that is, if you like Thai food. Next week you'll be able to prove this at two events that will provide all the curries, noodles, grilled meats and spicy salads that you could dream of. The first ever National Thai Restaurant Week kicks off Monday, Sept. 2 ... More >>

A Fantastic Cuban Sandwich at Moore's Delicatessen in Burbank

Hidden in Plain Sight is a new series in which we take a new look at an established restaurant. In our lust for newness and our obsession with "bests," the fantastic unsung places that make up the bulk of our city's dining sometimes get overlooked. Here we aim to acknowledge, examine and (often) cel ... More >>

The First Los Angeles Ramen Yokocho Fest: Crowds and Ramen Burgers Steal the Show

Going to a food festival (especially one being held for the first time) is always a risky thing. As these things always seem to be held during the summer, there will be heat. There will be crowds. And, above all, there will be lines. Which brings us to this past weekend's first annual Ramen Yokocho ... More >>

Now Open: Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Downtown

After much anticipation, Stumptown Coffee Roasters opened in the Arts District of Downtown this week, a 7,000-square-foot space that houses a roastery, a training facility, a huge back area for wholesale operations and, last but certainly not least, a cafe. Stumptown's first shop opened in Portland ... More >>

A Little Pizza & A Lot of Wine at South End on Abbot Kinney

New Venice eatery South End is finally upon us, and dare we say: it's sort of a strip mall dining dream come true. Located at the southern tip of Abbot Kinney -- hence the name -- South End was formerly a B1 Bakery before revamping under the wing of Mario Vollera (formerly of Barbershop) and chef Fr ... More >>

Water Grill Review: New Santa Monica Outpost of the DTLA Classic Does Many Things Well

Girasol's Two Stars: Readers Respond to Besha Rodell's Review

Roadside Eats Now Open in Hollywood Free Chips & Drink Today

Roadside Eats, a new Southern-inspired sandwich shop, will open for lunch today, September 12 at the Arclight complex. It'll join the growing list of restaurant options -- Stella Barra Pizzeria and Veggie Grill, to name some -- conveniently close for hungry movie-goers unsatisfied with just theater ... More >>

5 Great Cheese Shops That Go Above And Beyond The Call of Dairy

According to the USDA, the average American eats about 30 pounds of cheese a year. The French have us beat -- closer to 45 pounds per person, per year -- but then again, they've got fromageries on every corner and will often eat cheese after the meal, when Americans are grabbing an ice cream cone. ... More >>

This Week's Review: Water Grill in Santa Monica

This week, the new Water Grill in Santa Monica is the subject of our restaurant review. Head over to the food section to read the full review, or check out the list of spoilers and extras below. History: The Water Grill downtown has been in operation since 1989, and last year underwent a facelift t ... More >>

Venice and Sepulveda: Moo Moo Thai, Howard's Bacon Avocado Burgers A Baskin-Robbins

Los Angeles strip malls are made for Thai food and burgers. The low ceilings, faded posters and open, smoky kitchens are what give strip mall eateries their unique appeal. The table you're sitting at probably needs a napkin or two pushed under one leg to balance it out, and there's a 50-50 chance th ... More >>

5 Great Restaurant Bars in Los Angeles

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (coming out Oct. 3), we'll be bringing you periodic lists of some of the best things we've found to eat and drink around town. Ice cream sandwiches and bowls of tsukemen, fish tacos and dan dan mian, cups of boba and glasses of booze. Read on. Are you th ... More >>

TLT Food Expands to Downtown Today

The success just keeps coming for The Lime Truck, Orange County's first big name to emerge from the food truck wars of aught ten. After a winning run on the second season of the Great Food Truck Race, The Lime Truck looked to expand northward. Their first brick-and-mortar venture, dubbed the acronym ... More >>

Q&A with Jeremy Fraye: Rosé is the Perfect LA Drink, and Why Pink Wines are Masculine

Rosé is having a bit of a "moment" right now. On al fresco tables around town you'll spy bottles of pink wine sweating in the late summer heat; there is no more perfect companion for a picnic. Ranging in color from light onion-skin pink to a deep strawberry, rosé is now as must-do for restaurants ... More >>

5 Great Chicken Liver Dishes in Los Angeles

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (coming out Oct. 3), we'll be bringing you periodic lists of some of the best things we've found to eat and drink around town. Ice cream sandwiches and bowls of tsukemen, fish tacos and dan dan mian, cups of boba and glasses of booze. Read on. It wasn't ... More >>

Western Ave. and 8th: Bangladeshi Ramen, Korean Sushi Salad Shady Soondae Guk

Last we checked in on the strip malls of Koreatown, there were unfortunately named pizza places, spicy fried chicken wings and a Thai spot with a bus parked inside. This time, we've headed south of Wilshire to a strip mall brimming with fresh fish, ramen and perhaps the shadiest dining establishment ... More >>

Girasol Review: CJ Jacobson's New Studio City Restaurant Doesn't Always Succeed

The chef's stint at Noma is a clear influence but the execution sometimes trips him up.

5 Cool Spots for a Grab-and-Go Mango Lassi

The lassi, a chilled yogurt drink born in the Punjab region of India, has been dubbed the world's oldest smoothie. Though it originated as a savory beverage -- a salted yogurt-milk with a few spices such as cumin -- its sweet counterparts have gained more popularity here in the West, and the mango ... More >>

This Week's Restaurant Review: Girasol in Studio City

This week, our review considers Girasol, the new restaurant from CJ Jacobson in Studio City. You can read the full review over in the food section, or get an abbreviated taste below. Chef: CJ Jacobson is best known as a Top Chef contestant, having appeared in both seasons three and ten. In between, ... More >>

Jewish Holiday Cooking Advice from Shiksa in the Kitchen A Chicken Recipe

The Jewish holidays -- well, any holiday really -- require heavy-duty planning, cooking, coordinating and grocery shopping. To ease some Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur (the holiday where Jews starve all day and binge all night) stress, we turn to Tori Avey, also known as the Shiksa in the Kitchen, for ... More >>

Should Tipping Be Abolished?

Yesterday in The New York Times, restaurant critic Pete Wells made his case for doing away with the tipping system. He's hardly the first person to make this argument. In recent months, Slate has run articles about getting rid of the practice, as has Business Insider. There's even a MoveOn.org petit ... More >>