Hanukkah

Betty [Crocker] Goes Vegan! The Cookbook "Her" Recipe For Vegan Bisquick

What happens when Betty Goes Vegan? Pull out the Aqua Net and your best pair of Silver Lake stilettos. Brooklyn-based authors Annie and Dan Shannon are serving up vegan bacon cheeseburger hash, Greek sliders (with vegan ground beef), "faux cassoulet" (beans, vegan beef broth, Tofurky sausages), spin ... More >>

11 Great L.A. Chefs Tell Us Their Holiday Food Traditions

For the past couple of weeks, we've been talking to L.A. chefs about their holday food traditions. Here's a roundup of all of those great chefs and what they do for the holidays, food-wise, plus a couple of extras thrown in for good measure.

Chefs Cook At Home, The Holiday Edition: Tar and Roses' Andrew Kirschner A Recipe For Apple Chutney

This week and next, we'll be featuring the holiday food traditions of L.A. chefs. Today, Tar and Roses' Andrew Kirschner tells us about his Hannukah and Thanksgiving traditions. "Being that I am Jewish, I lean to towards Hannukah inspired treats. This year, I made some killer horseradish and leek l ... More >>

9 Great Latkes in Los Angeles

Sure, there's fun to be had cooking your own deep fried holiday foods. But sustaining this ritual for a celebration that spans eight nights? Not so appealing. Most households tend to max out at one, maybe two, latke frying sessions, since ventilation methods can only be so effective. And besides, no ... More >>

A Less Reverent Latke Recipe: A Bubala YouTube Video

Hanukkah is upon us, with its gift-giving, candle-lighting and most importantly -- a focus on eating fried food. For European Jews, that fried food is the latke. It's a time-honored dish and one that's tied to family memories and childhood. When it comes to making your own, you can pour over Joan ... More >>

Bake This Now: 3 Must-Have Holiday Cookie Recipes

Take a look at the calendar. It's time to do some major baking. Hanukkah beings Saturday; after next weekend, you'll be down to the Christmas shipping wire. And for those of us who simply use the season as a joyful excuse to eat more cookies, we'll be more than happy to take some of those Röckenwag ... More >>

3 Latke Recipes From Joan Nathan for Hanukkah

Most Jewish holidays are associated with special foods. Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is no exception. Taking center stage during the eight-day celebration, which starts this Saturday evening, are latkes, which is the Yiddish word for pancakes. The holiday commemorates religious ... More >>

Cacophony Society Prankster Group Gets New Exhibit and Documentary

50 Craziest Occupy Movements of 2011

Twenty Eleven has been a year of occupies. Occupations. Occupitudes. You get the idea. Sure, the Occupy Wall Street movement has only been around since September, but since then we've been occupying all manner of whatnot like there's no tomorrow (thanks to the Mayans, there actually might not be on ... More >>

Are You Ready to Kwanzaa?

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 >>

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 >>

10 Holiday Take-Out Menus: Where To Go for Great Food To-Go

Huckleberry CafeOld Fashioned Coffee Cake at Huckleberry Cafe​Holiday dinners are stressful enough. Ditch dinner reservations and hours in the kitchen for a ready-made holiday dinner. Step 1: pick your menu. Step 2: place you order. Step 3: pick up order. Step 4: Eat. There'll be ample time fo ... More >>

Churros for Hanukkah: Oil and Pluralism

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​Dear Mr. Gold: It's Hanukkah, and I want to have a party, but I live in a small apartment and hate frying things because the smell never goes away. I thought I would have a churros and spiked cider party instead. Where is the best place to get churr ... More >>

The Thursday Edition: A Roundup of Newspaper Food Stories

Flickr/dubh​ 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), it's where most of ... More >>

Your Holiday Heart on a String

Where To Eat Out on Christmas in Los Angeles: 5 Categories, 25 Ways to Eat Out on the Holiday

J. RitzHoliday tree cheer at the Hungry Cat Hollywood.​ With all due respect to hearty home-cooked Christmas meals centered around major hunks of proteins, tamales and starchy vegetables, it's not all that difficult to find interesting ways to eat out on December 25th in Los Angeles. Alright, ... More >>

Sinai Temple's World-Record Dreidel-Spinning Attempt: Behind the Scenes

Liz ReinhardtThere better be some chocolate gelt waiting for me if I spin this dreidel for ten whole seconds... ​ "Saben, watch my curveball!" Aaron says, throwing his dreidel out with extra oomph so that he can relish the crisp way it cuts across the table in an arc. "It's all about flicking ... More >>

World-Record Dreidel-Spinning Rager in L.A. This Weekend

Beastie Boys​Updated at the bottom: The attempt's a FAIL. First posted at 12:57 p.m. on Dec. 2. Sunday, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! Jews, JEWS, JEWS!!! If you're not burned out after raging on Saturday night, the Sinai Temple in Holmby Hills is where the after-party is. The world-record-breaking afte ... More >>

"Niggas in Paris": Jay-Z and Kanye Will Perform It 13 Times When They're Here. Seriously.

Update: At Staples Center they ended up performing "Niggas In Paris" seven times on December 11, nine times on December 12, and ten times on December 13. See also: *"Niggas in Paris": How Many Times Have Jay-Z and Kanye Performed It In Each City? *Riding Dirty With Rothkos: Jay-Z And Kayne West's ... More >>

10 Ways to Get Past a Bouncer

Lina LecaroWaiting for days at Drais? Not anymore... ​ Summer time sees an increase in club hopping for obvious reasons, but there's something about Fall and Winter nights that beckon as well. Sultry months may bring out skimpier clothing, but cold ones are undeniably more glamorous and festiv ... More >>

Ten Groups Who Never Should Have Gotten Back Together

Beware fellas, bad things may be coming your way​On New Year's Eve 2009, Chris Cornell made a Twitter declaration: "School's back in session." The implication was that Soundgarden was reuniting. However, it took several months for the official announcement. The grunge pioneers would be putting ... More >>

High Holidays: 10 Celebrities Likely to Be Celebrating Both 420 and Passover This Year

​Two very special holidays for the peoples of Los Angeles happen to fall on the same Hump Day this year: 4/20 and Passover, Day 2. One is a silly excuse to dabble in unmentionables (which a certain High Times editor claims "points us in a direction for the responsible use of cannabis") and the ... More >>

Jo Babcock Makes Pinhole Cameras with a Band-Aid Tin, Lucky Strike Pack and Mailbox (Pics)

Tucked beneath a veil of vines at the quaint Duncan Miller Gallery, photographer Jo Babcock's 22-piece first ever solo exhibition is more than just your average picture show. Under the framed photographs neatly hanging across the cream colored walls lie typewriters, ancient coffee machines, a letter ... More >>

Las Balkanieras Know What's Cooking: Borek

Kelis' milkshake may have brought all the boys to the yard in 2003, but in Germany, it's the börek that keeps the boys coming back to the yard. In this video for their song "What's Cooking," pan-European trio Las Balkanieras raps about the wonders of the savory meat pastry known as börek or bure ... More >>

Broadway Holiday

Theater Reviews: Groundlings Holiday Show, The First Jo-el, Diva on the Verge

Also, Bob Baker's Nutcracker, Broadway Holiday and more

Book Review: The Great MoonPie Handbook (The Vending Machine Review)

flickr user bonita sarita​What to say about a book -- The Great MoonPie Handbook -- dedicated to a mass-produced "pastry" that's not even a baking book? We like to think of that as an oxymoron, though it would get us thrown out of many a MoonPie-friendly home. Actually, we love this book -- th ... More >>

Stage Raw: Holiday Listings

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS NEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset LimitedHOLIDAY LISTINGS:To be honest, the quantity of theater playing this week in Los Angeles is about as thin as it gets. Still, our comprehensive LISTINGS are back up. Things do pick up in January, so ... More >>

Stage Raw: Diva on the Verge

The COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS feature will return next weekNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Helen Hunt and Tom Irwin in Much Ado NEW REVIEW GO DIVA ON THE VERGE ​ Photo courtesy of the Odyssey TheatreIn her compelling one-woman show, soprano Julia Migenes, who has sung more leading roles ... More >>

SoCal Jail Inmate Malcolm Alarmo King Claims 'Festivus' Observation In Order To Get Better Meals

The four wise people of Festivus.​It was billed as a "Festivus for the rest of us," a tradition without the commercial pressures of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and other December holidays. It was an invention of a writer and a man-made holiday unknown to the masses until it was aired on Sein ... More >>

Creep Show, Peep Show

Heavy Metal Parking Lot, photography at Hotel de Ville Eyewear and the Paul Smith anniversary party, plus saying goodbye to some of our fave haunts

WHO'S YOUR TACKY UNCLE?

Q & A With Joan Nathan, Part 2: Kosher Wines, "Newish Jewish" How Tom Colicchio (Literally) Saved Her Life

Joan Nathan​In the first part of our conversation with Joan Nathan, we drove around the hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, (via speakerphone) of this award-winning cookbook writer and authority on all things Jewish cuisine, as she explained who loves matzo in France (apparently everybody), ... More >>

The Great Latke vs. Hamantash Debate

Like the profoundest of profound intellectual quandaries, the latke vs. hamantash debate may never be fully resolved. Since 1946, when Hillel House at University of Chicago sponsored the first annual debate pitting potato pancakes against triangular cookies, great minds -- like Nobel Prize-winnin ... More >>

Q & A With Joan Nathan: Her New Book, Jewdar The Secret French Matzo Society

​Tonight's sundown is the sixth night of Chanukah. To celebrate this occasion, we check in with Joan Nathan, award-winning author of ten cookbooks about Jewish cuisine, the latest being Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France (Knopf). It's part cookbook, part inve ... More >>

Down Home Hanukkah

One Latke Trying to Find Its Place in the World: Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story

Photo: Lesley Balla​ Before you dig into your favorite latkes this week, take time to think about the little potato pancake in Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story. The quirky kid's book is supposed to be a subtle telling of the story of Hanukkah, and why ... More >>

Holiday Screenings

The Lights of Hanukkah Family Tour

Oy, Vey! Jewish Cooking Classes for Hanukkah A Latke Recipe

Flickr/slgckgcMost cooks still fry latkes in lots of grease, but not Hipcooks. ​ You love your grandma, but just not her leaden matzoh balls and grease-laden latkes. With the eight days of Hanukkah beginning on Dec. 1 (25 Kislev for those of you on the Hebrew calendar), it's time for an act o ... More >>

Bob Baker's Holiday Spectacular

DOUBLE YOUR KWANZA

DON'T JEW LOVE THE HOLIDAYS?

Hanukkah Tour

Holiday Films

Lula Washington Dance Theater: Kwanzaa Celebration Concert

Strange Love

What happens when Hollywood stops worrying and embraces the GOP

A Very Ovitz Christmas

Eat, Like, a Pig