Maryland

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 >>

Taylor Boudreaux of Napa Valley Grille: On His Table Yours for dineLA 2013

"The smoother the skin, the juicer the pulp, especially with limes and lemons," says Taylor Boudreaux, the chef at Westwood's Napa Valley Grille. Boudreaux is walking around the Original Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax, picking up produce. It's not his usual shopping spot, but Boudreaux is a bus ... More >>

Robert M. Parker Jr. Steps Down as Wine Advocate Editor

In a stunning turn of events, the Wall Street Journal reports that Robert M. Parker, Jr., the single most driving force in the wine industry in the last 30 years, wine's most influential critic and populist, is stepping down from editing his influential journal The Wine Advocate. According to Let ... More >>

Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Recalled for Listeria Risk

We're still fond of you, TJ's, and we're hoping we can work this out, but your empty promises about caring for our health and safety are beginning to make us sick (literally). Coming on the heels of recalls this year of barbecue chicken salad (Listeria, July) and peanut butter (Salmonella, Septemb ... More >>

SoCal's Own Chris Kluwe Fights for Marriage Equality -- And Against Bigotry in the NFL

Walking across the Macalester College campus, Chris Kluwe passes unnoticed. As usual, the 30-year-old Vikings punter is dressed down: a pair of brown flip-flops, black basketball shorts, and a baggy zip-up sweatshirt. A backward World of Warcraft hat pins back his shaggy brown surfer haircut, a give ... More >>

Anais Fournier: Alleged Monster Energy Drink Death Leads To SoCal Lawsuit

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been made aware of as many as six deaths and 18 hospitalizations that might be linked to drinking the high-caffeine energy drink Monster, which has its corporate offices in Corona. (Monster disputes any links). It turns out one of those deaths involved a 14 ... More >>

World's Best Father Photo Series (and Calendar): Dad Baby Food

A new father snaps baby thumbing knowingly through an applesauce-smeared copy of Ada or Ardor. Another day, he tucks a Budweiser into the crook of her soft little arm as she sleeps, drooling and burbling away, and, with a few iPhone heroics, updates his Instagram to the applause of family members a ... More >>

And When She Was Good by Laura Lippman: Our Book of the Week

According to the people who track these things, there are roughly 170,000 new books published each year in the United States -- an alarming percentage of which arrive, unbidden, at the L.A. Weekly office. Each week, we'll offer a snapshot of a newish book that's caught our attention. Just as there ... More >>

Rapper Wax on 'Rosana' and Little Mamacitas Who Don't Play

I recently meet up with local rap sensation Wax, whose raunchy hit "Rosana" is all over radio and YouTube. (Its equally raunchy video is below.) We're at Melgard Public House, and I'm informed that I just missed something newsworthy. "Just before you got here, there was a homeless guy that pulled do ... More >>

College Just For Illegals? National Dream University Launches With Help of UCLA

Oh boy. Illegal-immigrant haters are going to love this one. The UCLA Center for Labor Research along with the National Labor College have established a virtual school just for undocumented migrants -- the National Dream University. It's for those who live under the radar of official legitimacy: I ... More >>

You Can Have Your Cake and Decorate it Too at Duff's Cakemix

It's the day after the opening of Duff's Cakemix in West Hollywood, the place where you decorate cakes instead of ceramics. And business is good. TV celebrity, baker and pastry chef Duff Goldman is there himself. He's living in Santa Monica while the new place gets established -- actually two new p ... More >>

$1 Million Tomato Sauce Contest

Is your sauce made with the right stuff?​If you've ever tasted a jarred pasta sauce and thought, "I can do better then that" (after one more can of Chef Boyardee, who hasn't?), Dave's Gourmet, known for their Insanity Hot Sauce, has launched a national contest to find America's next great sauc ... More >>

First Lady Praises Olive Garden Changes

Anne Fishbeina forkful of spaghetti at the Olive Garden​ How many years does it take to set down a salt shaker? For the Olive Garden (read Jonathan Gold's review here) and Red Lobster restaurants and their four sister chains (LongHorn Steakhouse, the Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze and Seasons 5 ... More >>

Tommy Keene, Power Pop's Dark Knight

Chris Rady ​Power pop, like bubblegum before it, is often viewed as the domain of skinny-tie moptoppers singing ditties about girls and cars. Longtime power pop icon Tommy Keene, however, doesn't fit this stereotype. His moodier music accentuates the "power" in power pop, building his muscular ... More >>

Arrow Advertising: The Wal-Mart of Sidewalk Sign Spinners

Anne FishbeinThe spin masters​ If you've driven Lincoln Boulevard in Marina del Rey recently, you've probably seen Tom Tucker. He's the guy not wearing a chicken suit, not draped by a sandwich board, not dressed like a gorilla. Tucker is the guy standing on the corner dancing, smiling, flippi ... More >>

Jim Dickinson Rides Again; Vernon Wray's Wasted

Dragging You to Hell: An Interview with Noise Musician and Video Collagist Walter Gross

The parting shot from "Dopamine" by Walter Gross. Boy finna drown.​The audio-visual work of L.A. resident Walter Gross isn't something you should expect to love immediately. It's not water cooler fodder, or something to sneak a glimpse at while the boss is in the other room. (Though it's decid ... More >>

Your Hungry Cat Expansion Update: David Lentz to Open THC #3 in Santa Monica

Anne Fishbeinlobster at The Hungry Cat​ The Hungry Cat, David Lentz's decidedly more upscale and cocktail-oriented version of a Maryland fish house, will expand to Santa Monica. Eater reports that Lentz will take over the old Brass Cap location by Giorgio Baldi near the Pacific Coast Highway. ... More >>

James Lee, Suspected Discovery Channel Hostage Taker, Was Convicted Of Immigrant Smuggling

​The strange saga of James Lee, the man suspected of taking hostages at the Discovery Channel's Washington, D.C. headquarters this week, keeps getting more bizarre. ABC News reports that in 2003 he was convicted of smuggling a woman into the United States from Tijuana. It's an odd revelation ... More >>

The Continuing Adventures of Squeak E. Clean

The star-studded N.A.S.A. project by L.A.'s best-connected producer gets a remix

A Recipe From the Chef: Wolfgang Puck's Soft-shell Crab Tempura

A. ScattergoodWP24's soft-shell crab tempura with fried spinach​ If you head to downtown Los Angeles, just past the vast complex that it LA Live, to the newly opened Ritz-Carlton, and press the elevator button for WP24 and the 24th floor, you will come to a restaurant that is not only Wolfgang ... More >>

Nosaj Thing Remixes The xx, Plots 'Magical Properties Tour' with Daedelus and Jogger [MP3]

We've been preaching the gospel of Nosaj Thing, Jogger and Daedelus individually and as a pack for a long time now, and now the fearsome LA three is converging around a mission: to make a half-circle around the continent. Beginning (where else?) in Palm Springs, the three acts, all part of Daedel ... More >>

Rich Ideas and Rich Sounds: An Interview with Matmos

A. J. FarkasMatmos​Matmos is taking part in the LA Phil's West Coast, Left Coast events at Disney Hall on November 21, alongside and in collaboration with Terry Riley, the Kronos Quartet; Incubus guitarist/composer Mike Einziger also premieres a piece that night. We gabbed on the phone with Ma ... More >>

Suzpree Sneak Peek: Char Sui Tacos and Oxtail Dumplings -- Advance Bites of Suzanne Tracht and Preech Narkthong's Evolving New Project Unveiled Tonight at Jar

Margy RochlinIn Development: Suzpree's eggplant saladEverytime Jar chef/owner Suzanne Tracht and her chef de cuisine Preech Narkthong visit Narkthong's hometown of Bangkok, Thailand, they return with ideas for new dishes, antique silk purses and fairly crazy-sounding tales of two massages a day and ... More >>

Grumbling Continues Over Obama Bypass of Villaraigosa Aide

Yesterday the National Council of La Raza issued a statement expressing approval of a meeting between President Obama and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which NCLR president Janet Murguía called "a step in the right direction toward immigration reform." The group's previous statement, issued Mo ... More >>

Monster Truck Parking Lot: Reflections on Big Wheels, Little Dudes and Truck Balls

Drew Tewksbury Twenty-three years ago, a cinematic meteorite slammed into the American landscape. The 1986 DIY film was Heavy Metal Parking Lot and it portrayed nothing more than its namesake; the unruly Schlitz-drinking, ape-drape-adorned metal heads meandering in a Landover, Maryland parking lot b ... More >>

Wale 2.0: On the Eve of his LA Show, DC Rapper Talks Twitter Dangers, NCAA Football, and Why Most Interviewers Suck

An interview with Wale by Brandon Perkins Rest assured dedicated Web 2.0'ers, DC rapper Wale has not forsaken Twitter. One of the most committed Tweeters this side of Japanese school children, Wale had sworn off the message posting website after a particular Tweet got him in trouble with the DJ S ... More >>

Record Reviews: Soulja Boy, Beach House, Cadence Weapon

"Yahhh!" confirms this 17-year-old has his finger on peers' music pulse

Endangered Radio

. . . Is Good is really good, but are its days numbered?

Art Pick: Abo Ovo, Tue., Feb. 7

All Families Created Equal

The responsibilities of gay parents

Dirty Prices

Governor and Barbara Boxer push ethanol

Slack Dreams

Animal Collective

Jason Roe, DVD Don

Hollywood OVERHEARD

Hollywood OVERHEARD

An Unexpected Stay of Execution

Supreme Court reaffirms inmates’ right to fair trial

If It Happened Here

A bioterrorism attack on Los Angeles might look a lot like this

Letters

American Idyll

Whatever happened to dirty bombs and homemade polio?

Letters

Thank$ a Million

Uncomfortable questions about the outpouring of disaster donations

Puzzlers

The Jigsaw Seen’s psych-pop succeeds slowly

Scary Movies

Joe Berlinger’s worked-over Blair Witch 2; Marc Singer’s lovely Dark Days

Letters

Death on the Menu

Letters

Body Politics

Stripping and pedophilia onstage

AIDS activists fight to keep HIV reports confidential

Ask, But Don't Tell

Zealots Target Sierra Club

Immigration activists working to usurp Club elections