Ilan Hall

Top 4 Weekend Events: Food Truck Fest, Top Chef Pig Roast, Wine Dinner Food Truck Beer Dinner

Diamond Plaza Food Truck Fest Waffles de Liege, Slummin Gourmet and Dogzilla are among the food trucks gathering at the Rowland Heights plaza -- a convenient location given nearby options like Ten Ren's Tea Time, Tokyo Shabu Shabu and New Capital Seafood. WHAT: Diamond Plaza Food Truck Fest WHEN: S ... More >>

5 Places in L.A. to Get Your Poutine Fix

There was once a time, perhaps, when poutine was consumed mostly by Quebecois with a penchant for late-night drunk food. But ever since it made its way into the playbooks of hip chefs a few years ago, poutine has become a gastropub staple, up there with beet salad and blue-cheesed burgers. In its ... 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 >>

Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival: The Wine Part of the Equation

The second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival concluded Sunday, a slickly produced, three-day debauch mostly held in and around the capacious digs of L.A. Live and its Marriott property -- though neither conference room nor rooftop exhibition tent could adequately contain the assemblage of whit ... More >>

L.A. Food & Wine Festival: Rosé, Ribs, and Summer Heat

After a weekend filled with many bottles of rosé and short rib sliders, the second annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival wrapped up Sunday afternoon at L.A. Live after four days of chef-driven tastings, demos, samplings and other events that featured some of the top culinary talents in the countr ... More >>

Time Machine Chefs: ABC's New Food Show Debuts in August, or Top Chef Meets Dr. Who

If you're tired of all the repeating chef reality shows out there, then ABC's latest foray into the genre will be worth checking out. The series pilot of Time Machine Chefs will air on August 16. No, this is not a food reality show with industry neophytes getting yelled at by Gordon Ramsay dressed u ... More >>

Time Machine Chefs: A New Show About Historical Squirming Chefs, Premiers in August

God forbid we just judge chefs on the food they actually cook. No, instead we must deliver "challenges," throw "curve balls," pull strings and make them squeal and dance for our amusement. The latest in the food reality chef competition genre is Time Machine Chefs, a show based on a premise that sou ... More >>

Los Angeles Chefs Discuss Downtown L.A. at ALOUD

"We can forget all our troubles, forget all our cares and go downtown ... everything's waiting for you!" When Petula Clark sang this line in 1964 -- albeit about New York -- who could have known she was she forecasting the future of downtown Los Angeles as a culinary destination? Numerous chefs have ... More >>

Downtown L.A. Chefs Discuss The Future of Flavor

The Library Association of Los Angeles rounds up a panel of chefs on July 17 which includes some of L.A.'s most influential downtown restaurateurs, including Ilan Hall (The Gorbals), Judy Han (Blue Cow Kitchen), John Sedlar (Rivera), Ricardo Zarate (Mo-Chica) and Patricia Zarate (HomeGirl Café). Ho ... More >>

Rene Redzepi and Lars Williams at UCLA: Seaweed Ice Cream Cricket Sauce

The crowd that gathered last night at UCLA's Moore Hall to hear chefs Rene Redzepi and Lars Williams and Professor Amy Rowat give a lecture on food and science had more fun than is customary at most academic gatherings. Redzepi, the chef and founder of Noma in Copenhagen, and Williams, the head of ... More >>

Zagat Debuts Los Angeles 30 Under 30 List

Some of our favorite young chefs made Zagat's first ever Los Angeles 30 Under 30 list (a.k.a. how to make anyone over 30 feel inadequate). The honorees include Nyesha Arrington (Wilshire), Joshua Drew (Farmshop), Jordan Kahn (Red Medicine), Ilan Hall (The Gorbals), Casey Lane (Tasting Kitchen), Crai ... More >>

ROC Diners' Guide on Restaurant Working Conditions: The 2012 Edition

​In this age of food we're bombarded by facts and opinions on how, what and where to eat. We Angelenos especially like our fine restaurants and casual eateries. But where to go? There are more than 20,000 restaurants in greater L.A., according to the Weekly's Voiceplaces.com. There seem to be ... 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 >>

The Gorbals: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

The Oinkster/Maximiliano/Eagle Rock Brewery Take the Bacon at L.A. Beer Float Showdown

Steven ArmstrongChef CJ Jacobson has fun with liquid nitrogen at the third annual LABFS​ Saturday marked the third annual L.A. Beer Float Showdown. And unlike last year's showdown, which featured four local beer bars, this year's competition teamed five L.A. chefs (including three Top Chef alu ... More >>

LA Beer Float Showdown, Part III: Bigger, Bolder, Top Chef-ier

Food GPSA scene from last year's showdown at Verdugo Bar​ No LA Beer Week would be complete without an LA Beer Float Showdown, just as no ice cream would be complete without... beer? A sugary sacrilege to some, and a boozy benediction to others, beer floats symbolize the unique strain of genre ... More >>

Michael Voltaggio Previews ink. ink.sack Opens Tomorrow [Photo Gallery]

Guzzle & NoshChef Michael Voltaggio performs ballet while serving sandwiches at ink.sack, his new shop.​Fans of Michael Voltaggio will have to wait a little longer, at least until September, for the chef's sit-down dining experience. That's when ink. is (finally) slated to open. In the meantim ... More >>

Your Ilan Hall Update: Second Restaurant Scouting Report

Anne FishbeinIlan Hall​Ilan Hall, downtown's favorite Top Chef and the man behind The Gorbals, plans to open a second restaurant somewhere in Los Angeles. (Thanks to Eater for the tip on this one.) When we spoke to Hall yesterday, he said he's been looking at locations for years -- ever since ... More >>

Your De Rigueur Test Kitchen (& Walter Manzke) Update

A. Scattergoodthe bar at Test Kitchen​ As the culinary experiment of Test Kitchen winds down, the chef musical chairs act continues. Tonight and tomorrow night, November 30th and December 1st, Walter Manzke (Church & State, Bastide, ____ ) will be cooking Spanish tapas with Perfecto Rocher (t ... More >>

Meatballs Kim Kardashian = Ball-o-riffic Trend

Clint PeraltaCiao Balla​ It's the food version of crowdsourcing: Stand in line at a food truck, debate out loud about what to eat, and something like group hysteria swells through the line. And if you're at the Great Balls on Tires truck, a pun-filled, ball-o-riffic madness starts to roll off ... More >>

Buy the Kitchen a Round of Beers at The Gorbals

djjewelz/FlickrBacon-wrapped matzoh balls at The Gorbals​ When we saw the menu for Ilan Hall's The Gorbals, we couldn't help but think the Top Chef Season 2 winner's team might require liquid inspiration to pull together the downtown restaurant's weird and wonderful tangle of Scottish, Jewish, ... More >>

Knife-Wielding Robber Breaks Into Room At Downtown L.A.'s Alexandria Hotel, Gets Cards And ATM Codes From Terrified Couple

​The Alexandria, the historic residential hotel on 5th and Spring that has a checkered past, advertises rents of "$650 to those tenants that (sic) income qualify." Perhaps The Alexandria, which has long seemed poised to joint downtown's  gentrification wave, should consider raising the rent ... More >>

Eva: Intimate Bistro, Epic Meals

A place for regulars, at regular prices

Forks Up! Outstanding in the Field Tix Still Available

Outstanding in the Field​ Seats at chef-artist Jim Denevan's wildly popular communal table concept, the idiosyncratic, touring farmer-foodie collaboration known as Outstanding in the Field, have been selling out all over the country months in advance and despite their steep, if cost-appropriat ... More >>

Our Favorite Happy Hours

50 deal-driven places to get you and your wallet feeling a whole lot better

Q & A With Marcel Vigneron, Part 2: Supplying Top Chef, Ditching Silverware & SyFy TV

In the second part of our interview with Bar210 chef Marcel Vigneron, the Top Chef alum continues the conversation about life at The Bazaar, recommending Top Chef contestants, and his new lounge gig at Bar210, which opened recently in the former Trader Vic's location. Read the first part of the inte ... More >>

Hog Heaven at The Gorbals

It is hard to overestimate the appeal of a good hog in this town, the charismatic pull of a whole roasted animal with crisp skin and heat-singed ears, an apple jammed gaily between its teeth. During Thursday's Downtown Art Walk, a celebration of galleries and the taverns that surround them, the big ... More >>

The Gorbals Celebrates Downtown Art Walk With Another Suckling Pig Scottish Bagpipes

Ilan Hall likes pigs. So much so that he roasted a whole pig outside his downtown restaurant The Gorbals before it even opened. Tomorrow night, Hall will do it again, roasting a whole pig on a spit outside the Alexandria Hotel where the restaurant makes its home during Downtown Art Walk. Instead of ... More >>

99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die

Fugu to foie gras, pizza to panuchos

The Gorbals: Stomp, the Restaurant

A Jewish-Glaswegian inspiration in downtown L.A.

Photo Gallery: Jewish-Glaswegian Inspiration at The Gorbals

Need a visual aid for your print edition? Jonathan Gold visits Ilan Hall's The Gorbals. ("Hall brings a dissipated presence to the restaurant, and even when the restaurant is steaming on a loud Saturday night, he manages to clatter his pans with a certain louche flair, as if he were doing a performa ... More >>

Haggis Update: Sorry, Folks, The Real Stuff's Still Illegal

LA Weekly Flickr pool/My Last Bitecans of haggis at Buchanan Arms​Despite many reports that haggis will soon be allowed into the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says not so fast. When the BBC thought to verify the rumors that the Scottish delicacy would finally be imported (h ... More >>

The Wednesday Edition: A Roundup of Today's Newspaper Food Stories

SapphireBlue22stack of newspapers​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 on Wednesday. And remember, even if you don't actually buy papers these days (or not; this paper is ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold: Address To A Haggis

Photo credit: Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menu​Dear Mr. Gold: I've only eaten haggis with my dad in Scotland, and loved every bite. Is there a proper, classic haggis (along with neeps and tatties) in Los Angeles? Never been to Tam O'Shanter (sort of feels like "cheating"), but it's abo ... More >>

Once Bitten, Twice Fried: Best French Fries in Los Angeles, Part 2

Because we can't get too much of a good thing, here's the second installment of our quest for the city's most outstanding fries. This list (organized alphabetically) includes the pure, the gently garnished, and the heavily adorned in a world that's a vast, exciting terrain of Kennebec vs. Russet, pe ... More >>

As Pub Food Goes ... the Gorbals

... If it’s open

A Recipe From the Chef: Ilan Hall's Gribenes Sandwich

Ilan Hall, chef-owner of downtown's The Gorbals (yeah, yeah, and season 2 Top Chef), likes to play with his food as much as the next chef, particularly with offal and other interesting bits. On the menu the other day? Octopus with gizzards and lemon; tripe fries with romesco sauce; Manischewitz-brai ... More >>

Q & A With Ilan Hall, Part 2: The Gorbals' Chef on Eating Bugs, Topless Servers (Not His) Why He Loves Animal

In which we continue our interview with The Gorbals' chef-owner Ilan Hall (part 1 was yesterday). Hall spends a lot of time in motion, navigating his open kitchen and the slightly cavernous space around the downtown restaurant, which is in the Alexandria Hotel, circa 1906. The Gorbals often seems in ... More >>

Q & A With Ilan Hall: The Gorbals' Chef on the LA Dining Scene, Carpentry The Joys of Haggis

Ilan Hall has had an interesting six months, between the opening and closing and reopening of his downtown restaurant The Gorbals. But now that the building inspectors are finally happy with him--a problematic boiler necessitated the closing of The Gorbals after only a few days--he's opened for lunc ... More >>

Get Drunk in Hollywood This Weekend: Ketel One and Ilan Hall Will Feed You For Free Send You Home in an SUV

If you're planning a night of partying this weekend, you might consider picking bars in Hollywood. Like as close to Cahuenga and Hollywood as you can conveniently get. Because once you've had your share of Manhattans and gin fizzes, you can wander over to the Ketel One Canteen, eat free food cooked ... More >>

Once More Into The Breach: The Gorbals Reopens (Really) This Saturday

Ilan Hall, with Tillamook cheese at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic​So, after many optimistic false starts, The Gorbals will officially reopen this Saturday night. Ilan Hall's downtown restaurant has finally been given the go-ahead, by both inspectors and publicists, and thus will begin serving ... More >>

The Gorbals To (Re)open This Saturday: Probably, Maybe, 80% Sure It Will, Why Not?

Okay, let's try this again. The Gorbals, Ilan Hall's new downtown restaurant, will open this Saturday night, according to the restaurant's co-owner Natan Zion. Or at least he's pretty sure it will open. "About 80%" sure. Apparently they were good to go when the electricity went out just as the inspe ... More >>

The Gorbals To Reopen, Possibly Next Tuesday: In the Meantime, A Man on Stilts, A Suckling Pig, A Vat of Cotton Candy

Downtown LA's Art Walk transformed Spring Street into a mobile eatery restaurant row on Thursday night. Nom Nom truck, Dosa truck, Cool Haus, Skewers on Wheels and Marked 5 were all lined up like a haphazard convoy. But the real show was a block or so further south, where Ilan Hall had a suckling pi ... More >>

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