Grand Marnier

22 Mother's Day Food Drink Specials (Bottomless Mimosas! Cupcakes! Tiaras!!)

Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, and if you haven't gotten that one figured out yet, maybe it's time to start planning. Depending on your age and demographic, a crayoned card could work, or maybe your kid's card and a stiff drink. If you want something a bit more professional, turn the page for a ... More >>

Best New Baking Book: Bake It Like You Mean It

Really, April is the ideal time to Bake it Like You Mean it, as we could probably all use a little post-Spring Break malakofftorte à la raymo (chocolate ladyfinger cake, here filled with Kahlua cream) kitchen therapy. This is the third in a recent series of pastry books from Gesine Bullock-Prado ... More >>

Holiday Party Inspiration: 4 New Cookbooks, 4 Drink Recipes

Overheard last week: "Gawd, the entire commercial audition was filled with Christmas carolers. Glad I was just the guy in the sweater," said the guy at Peet's with a sweater hanging out of his messenger bag. In L.A., the holiday season begins early. We know you have cocktail parties to plan and gi ... More >>

Baking Books: A Baker's Field Guide To Doughnuts (Mock Krispy Kremes!) A Peanut Butter Glaze Recipe

Type "Field Guide" into the Amazon book search list, and you'll get, as of this typing, 39,688 results. These are the moments when we suspect the A Baker's Field Guide to Doughnuts, to be released in a few weeks, will come in handy. A little rainbow sprinkle, Boston cream, or old-fashioned buttermil ... More >>

10 Best Milkshakes in Los Angeles

David Lynch has written at some length about his creative meditations and the fact that for many years they were fueled by little more than the chocolate milkshake at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. We're big Lynch fans. We think his films are beyond brilliant. Still we can't help but wonder at the height ... More >>

A $100 Cocktail: The Beverly Hills Hotel Turns 100 Years Old

One of L.A.'s most recognizable grand dames turns 100 on Saturday May 12 and marks the occasion with a $100 commemorative cocktail and movie star themed cocktail list. 10 special "These Walls are Talking" cocktails, available at the hotel's off-lobby Bar Nineteen12 and the Polo Lounge, salute the Be ... More >>

5 Best Margaritas In L.A.

Ten years ago -- maybe even five years in Happy Hour time -- compiling the 5 Best Margaritas in L.A. would have been a syrupy lime mix task. Now we're awash in so many small batch tequilas and fresh-squeezed lime promises on cocktail menus that the idea of a $100 margarita is somehow (?) not terrib ... More >>

Jason Robey Debuts New Cocktail Bar at Ammo

AmmoThe Blood Orange Fizz.​Already known for its clean, California-inspired menu, Ammo hopes to be known for its alcoholic libations as well. Tomorrow, the Highland Avenue restaurant officially debuts its "Artisan Cocktail Bar," featuring a menu by Jason Robey. Robey, who previously oversaw t ... More >>

Red O's $100 Margarita is Cheap: If You Do the Math

Michael Clifford PhotographyRed O's $100 margarita​That $100 margarita they've come up with at Red O is a bargain -- really. Order a shot of just one of its components, Gran Patrón Burdeos añejo tequila, and you'll pay $75. Toss in another $25, and you'll get a whopping 16-ounce glass rim ... More >>

5 Holiday Desserts and Where to Get 'Em

Flickr/chocswirlCroquembouche​Holiday desserts get a bad rap with memories of cloyingly sweet, leaden bricks of Christmas past. Escape your fruit cake funk and end the year with these five sweets: croquembouche, panetonne, sufganiyot, stollen and the beautifully elaborate Buche de Noel. Sure, ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Intoxicated Cupcakes: 41 Tipsy Treats

​Intoxicated Cupcakes: 41 Tipsy Treats, the latest in the recent onslaught of booze-drenched cake cookbooks, certainly isn't going after any James Beard awards. But it's summer. And so it's perfectly acceptable to have a strawberry daiquiri cupcake (p. 40) followed by a piña colada cupcake ch ... More >>

Cookbook Review: Ancient Grains for Modern Meals

​Will we ever see the day when a whole grain baking book completely omits the word "healthy" in one of its many thinly veiled forms (health-conscious, nutritious, guilt-free)? Ancient Grains for Modern Meals gets pretty close. Most of the health-touting is on the publisher's sales pitch side i ... More >>

Artisanal LA Spring 2011 Photo Gallery Top 5 Eats

In case you didn't have a chance to check out the nearly 90 vendors at the Artisanal LA spring 2011 show (or even if you did and just want to revel in some food photography) here's a photo gallery of the show. From chocolate and chai to salumi and sexy aprons, there was plenty to ogle -- and ta ... More >>

For Your Consideration: Beverly Hills Hotel's 10 Best Picture-Themed Cocktails A Recipe

Beverly Hills HotelFrom left to right: the Sleepyhead, Woody to the Rescue, Status Update.​ In honor of the films nominated for Best Picture Oscars, the Beverly Hills Hotel's Beverage Manager Anthony Santiago and Beverage Supervisor Robert Rouleau have created an Oscar-themed cocktail menu at ... More >>

Booze Face-Off: Combier vs. Cointreau Orange Liqueur

It's officially summer cocktail season, and that means margaritas. We've usually got a half-empty bottle or two of tequila lying around, but the orange liqueur tends to require a debit card commitment. On the street it's known as Triple Sec (translation = triple dry), or Curaçao (a variety of Carib ... More >>

Tales of the Cocktail 2010: Your Los Angeles Mixologist Contingent

If you're typically on the receiving end of the Saturday night cocktail shaker, you may not have heard of Tales of the Cocktail, the see-and-be-seen event for cocktail and spirits professionals in New Orleans every July. If you're a mixologist, you likely at one point considered giving a seminar on ... More >>

L.A.'s Best Chocolate Shops: Because Nothing Says I Love You, Mom More Than A Sea Salt Fudge Truffle

Since we're on a tight budget (hey, the recession might be letting up but we're in no position to splurge) chocolate is our go-to Mother's Day gift. There's only a few days left until the big day so if you're in the last-minute "I need a present for Mom ASAP" predicament, we've created a neighborhoo ... More >>

Made with Sisterly Love: Spork Foods Vegan Cooking Classes Moves to West Hollywood

Sisters Jenny and Heather Goldberg have been living and working together for several years. But the co-owners of Spork Foods, an organic vegan cooking company, will no longer share the same living space when they move the business to a West Hollywood loft, a step up from their quaint home-kitchen in ... More >>

Some Like it Hot: A Round-Up of L.A.'s Spiciest Cocktails A Jalapeño Martini Recipe

How do you like your cocktail? Straight-up, salty, sweet? How about mouth-burning, butt-kicking spicy? If it's heat you crave, L.A.'s latest cocktail craze - all things jalapeño - is for you. Mixologists from Santa Monica to downtown to the Valley are turning to the Mexican-grown chili to add a kic ... More >>

Where To Spend New Year's Eve: In A Place Where Everyone Knows Your Name. At Least For One Night.

Logline for the proposed horror film, "Where To Spend New Year's Eve": Thousands of hallow-eyed would-be-revelers, in a desperate search for a party, comb the streets in their finest digs, racing against the stroke of midnight. This year, instead of staying home like a curmudgeon, or running aroun ... More >>

A Few Recipes From the Chef: Pastry Chef Jan Purdy's Holiday Cookies

When we stopped by to visit Butter Tart bakery--which is set to reopen next month--the other day, pastry chef Jan Purdy was in the kitchen, baking holiday cookies. Purdy has been working with Butter Tart chef-owner Andre Guerrero since their days together at Linq (which is now the home of Christophe ... More >>

And the Morn Shall Be Filled with Cocktail: The Champagne Cocktail's Start 4 Cocktail Recipes

For some, winter signifies the anticipation of ski trips and memories of Asti Spumante commercials (what a jerk!) For others, it means hard-won-physique-covering-puffy-coats and rising for work in the dark/returning home in much of the same. Here are some things to be thankful for: 1. It doesn't sn ... More >>

Milkshake Madness at BLD with Pastry Chef Mariah Swan 2 Recipes for Spiked Milkshakes

Mariah Swan, pastry chef at both of Neal Fraser's restaurants, BLD and Grace, had an epiphany last year. Why not take a childhood favorite, milkshakes, and make it more grown up by adding alcohol? Thus Milkshake Madness was born at BLD, held the last Sunday of every month. Swan transforms classic ... More >>

An Interview with Spago Pastry Chef Sherry Yard A Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe

sherryyard.comSherry Yard with Wolfgang Puck​Sherry Yard moves at the speed of someone who, for professional reasons, consumes a lot of sugar. But when she's not at the pastry kitchen of Spago or Cut, or overseeing the desserts of Wolfgang Puck's vast and growing empire, or writing cookbooks ( ... More >>

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