Michael Voltaggio

Q & A With Eleven Madison Park Alum David Nayfeld: Redefining Fine Dining His DTLA Restaurant Plans

For most of his career to date, David Nayfeld has cooked at restaurants that often rank high in either critical acclaim, cultural cachet -- or both. Next Tuesday, June 4, he'll add ink to the list, when Michael Voltaggio opens up his kitchen to the former Eleven Madison Park senior sous chef for a j ... More >>

Food & Wine Best New Chefs 2013 Announced

Food & Wine announced their highly anticipated list of 2013 Best New Chefs this morning. They did this not by sending out a memo -- well, there was one of those eventually -- but by tweeting out the list with a hashtag (#BNC25). Welcome to life as we know it. Congratulations, @MVoltaggio! Chef Micha ... More >>

Vote for Food & Wine's Best New Chef in California: Four L.A. Chefs In The Running

Food & Wine magazine's annual Best New Chef competition is up and running, and while in some ways it's just one more meaningless popularity contest aimed at garnering huge pageviews for the magazine's website, it will certainly help the chef who comes away with the title. (See Ricardo Zarate, who wo ... More >>

New Liquid Nitrogen Refreshment: Ice Cream Lab

Among the molecular gastronomic set, liquid nitrogen (Ln2) is one tool that has made a transition from behind the kitchen to front stage of a bar or dining room. The Bazaar makes its Ln2 Caipirinha 20 table-side, forming its icy cocktail Brazilian cachaca, fresh lime and sugar with liquid nitrogen. ... More >>

Cooking With Charcoal: At Hinoki & the Bird and ink., the Coal Is in Your Food, Not Underneath it

In Japan, a restaurant recently served an entire tasting menu of dirt -- dirt soup, dirt dressing, dirt risotto ... you get the idea. At Copenhagen's Noma (aka the Best! Restaurant! in the WORLD!!) you will eat burnt hay in any number of ways: coating tubes of leeks in a layer of black ash, accompa ... More >>

ink.: 99 Essential Restaurants 2013

Amateur Night: Why Chefs Hate (And Love) Valentine's Day

Amateur night. It's the term used in the restaurant business for New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day, and often Friday and Saturday nights. They're the nights when people come out who don't usually eat out. Waiters, especially snarky jaded waiters, as well as many chefs, hate these nights because they e ... 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.

Flow Chart: Which Competition Cooking Show Should You Be On?

It takes a big ego, a serious commitment to self-marketing, or maybe a certain level of tragic desperation to want to be on a reality competition cooking show. You may want to go on for the attention, or the prize, or maybe your sous chef did it and lost and you want to show him how it's done. (Yes ... More >>

The Chef's Library: Michael Voltaggio Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Michael Voltaggio, chef and owner of ink. When he answers the phone, Michael Voltaggio is somewhere on the East Coast, cooking at an event with chefs from all over the world ... More >>

Tech for Food Nerds: Chefs Feed 2.0 Launches Today

Chefs Feed, the app that launched a little less than a year ago, released version 2.0 today with a bunch of new cities and more social media interaction capabilities. Chefs Feed aims to do much the same thing as our Where the Chefs Eat posts aspire to -- that is, let the food professionals guide y ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 9/10 - 9/14

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Now we've gotta worry about what our grandmas ate?" Eating Fatty Foods During Pregnancy Linked to Breast Cancer in Offspring. "Second, and really most important, is that they do not come quickly, ever, so just put that out o ... More >>

Where the Chefs Eat: Ink's Michael Voltaggio

Where the Chefs Eat is an ongoing series in which we ask a local chef to give us his or her favorite spots for everyday or cheap dining options. This week, Michael Voltaggio, chef at West Hollywood's ink and ink.sac, tells us his favorite spots in L.A. "I was in Ensenada recently," says Michael Vol ... More >>

Food News Roundup: 11 Things You Didn't Know About Wheaties, Paul Ryan's Vegan Speechwriter Homemade French Fries

Smithsonian: The 11 Things You Didn't Know About Wheaties. LA Observed: Paul Ryan's new speechwriter is, among other things, a vegan. Bon Appetit: How to make the best homemade french fries ever. Grub Street LA: Jon Shook and Michael Voltaggio head to Baja. The Huffington Post: Nancy Pelosi's ob ... More >>

Food Writing Intern Wanted: Food, Fun Academic Credit

LA Weekly's food section is looking for interns. If your idea of fun is writing about tamales or food trucks or which local chef is secretly building a french fry oil-powered food truck in his garage AND you're currently enrolled in school and can get academic credit for an internship, then you migh ... 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 >>

Reader Letters: Are We Ever Going to Write About Man Food?

We here at L.A. Weekly like to think that we cater to people with all kinds of genders. You know, people with the male kind and people with the female kind. Hell, I hope we even appeal to all the various shades of in-between kinds. But apparently we don't cater to men, or more specifically I don't. ... More >>

The Undercover Vegetarian: Ink.

There's no doubt about it: the majority of serious food, and therefore food writing, is heavily meat-centric. There are certainly fantastic outlets, in the form of blogs and magazines and columns, which cater specifically to vegetarian readers. But as part of the regular discourse, and reviews in pa ... More >>

Michael Voltaggio's ink. Succeeds at the Intersection of Ego and Location

The 5 Things You Need Know About This Week's Review of Ink

This week's restaurant review is of ink., Michael Voltaggio's Melrose Avenue restaurant that was recently named the best new restaurant in the country by GQ magazine. We'd love it if you, you know, READ THE REVIEW, but if you're too LAZY OR WHATEVER, here's a few things you should know about the res ... More >>

California's Foie Gras Ban Will Leave Chefs and Diners Wanting. But There May Be an Upside, Too

Michael Voltaggio Named Artist in Residence for 2012 LA Film Festival

Not only will the LA Film Festival feature prominent cinematographers, directors and movies, but the annual week-long string of events will celebrate other art forms -- like food. To that end, Los Angeles chef Michael Voltaggio (Ink, Ink.sack) has been chosen to be an Artist in Residence for this ye ... More >>

Chefs' Worst Kitchen Injuries: More Fun Behind the Stoves

Cooking can be dangerous, as anyone who has spent much time in a kitchen can attest to. Now consider the hazards of a career surrounded by flames, super heated liquids and sharp objects. So we queried some notable area chefs (Ricardo Zarate! Michael Voltaggio! Eric Greenspan!) for the stories behin ... More >>

L.A. Times Festival of Books Recap: Star Chefs Food Authors

Foodists could have done worse than to spend two sun-dappled days at USC last weekend for the L.A. Times Festival of Books. TV personalities and chefs including Michael Voltaggio and Chris Cosentino flaunted their skills at the Cooking Stage, Nancy Silverton dropped by for a chat, food journalists d ... More >>

L.A. Times Festival of Books: Star Chefs, Cooking Demos Books

Cook on television; nab a book deal. That could be one of the takeaways of the Cooking Stage lineup at The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books happening this weekend at USC. Of eight chefs who will give cooking demonstrations, speak, and sign books, five are known for appearing on food shows, includ ... More >>

Food Word Clouds: Michael Voltaggios's Ink. Menu

Sure, many of us often long for the days of vellum and foolscap, or maybe manual typewriters, or at the very least dense newsprint and certain glossy Condé Nast magazines, instead of the relentlessness of Twitter's Ritalin haiku and, yeah, food blogs. But sometimes technology is pretty awesome. Con ... More >>

Ink.: GQ's Best New Restaurant in America; Picca is #6

My Last BiteDungeness crab, broccoli mayo, broccoli "kimchi" at Ink.​Michael Voltaggio's Ink., which our own critic described as "the most eagerly anticipated brick-and-mortar opening in years," has been named the best new restaurant in America by GQ. The magazine's editors along with restau ... More >>

11 New Restaurants for New Year's Eve

Anne FishbeinPicca​On New Year's Eve, restaurants celebrate with live bands, festive décor, theme dinners, exceptional ingredients, multi-course meals, tasting menus and endless glasses of bubbly. How to choose the best spot? We've selected 11 restaurants that opened in 2011 to represent a ... 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 >>

ink.sack: 30 Sandwiches in 30 Days (Day 17)

While chef fanboys scour the ink. website at 4 a.m. for a coveted reservation at the ultra-hot restaurant, it's comforting to know that us plebes can walk into the sandwich shop next door and get a taste of Michael Voltaggio's cooking with no drama and at a comparatively affordable price point. in ... More >>

Ink.: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Temporary Food Tattoos: If You'd Rather Eat at Ink Than Wear it Permanently

If you watch a lot of food television or are one of the lucky few who have actually gotten a reservation at Michael Voltaggio's Ink, you may have already made an appointment with your local tattoo artist to get a groovy new food tattoo. But if you don't want permanent ink -- or are too young to get ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 9/26-9/30

Flickr/Lauren Manning​ In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "And when you manage to get into the place, the dim blackness of the dining room -- formerly Tulipe, Jozu and the sushi bar Hamasaku -- flickers like something from a Robert Irwin installation, a re ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Recommends Ink.

Chefs Feed: Your Latest Food App

So many apps, so much food, so little time. The latest fun food app is called Chefs Feed, which was released yesterday by Credible, Inc., and it's sort of like an aggregate of all those Bon Appétit back pages where your favorite chef told you what they liked to eat on their own time. The Los Angele ... More >>

More Ink for Michael Voltaggio's Ink

Los Angeles is the land where the celebrity chef was born, where Q ratings ruled, where journalists first learned to ask, "What do you cook on your night off?'' But L.A. has never seen a phenomenon like Michael Voltaggio, whose snarling passion, antihero good looks and devotion to his chef brother h ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Ink.Sack

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 >>

And Now, A Brief Message From Michael Voltaggio

Screenshot of Michael Voltaggio's Twitter page​

Test Kitchen's Final Night: Alums Come Together To Feed You For A Good Cause

Flickr/Muy Yum​ Monday, December 13th, may be Test Kitchen's final dinner service, but Bill Chait and Brian Saltsburg's restaurant experiment is going out with a big-time culinary (and charitable) bang. For $150/person, Test Kitchen and non-profits Share Our Strength and Gettlove, are bringin ... More >>

And Now, A Brief Message From Michael Voltaggio

screenshot of Michael Voltaggio's Twitter page​

Web Surfing: A Roundup of News from L.A. Food Blogs & Beyond

-- Michael Voltaggio to open Ink next year. [Daily Dish] -- Jose Andres blasts Congress over pending school lunch bill. [Chicago Tribune] -- Just one dish: District's spam sliders. [Eating L.A.] -- Divided We Eat, on class and food in America. [Newsweek] -- T minus 3: A laid-back guide to Tha ... More >>

Test Kitchen Update: Brian Saltsburg Talks Manzke, Voltaggio, Tapas, and More

Test Kitchen​The recently opened Test Kitchen, from Bill Chait and Brian Saltsburg, continues to be in the news -- though that will happen when your restaurant features a constantly developing lineup of big name chefs. In fact, several local television stations are already in the process of se ... More >>

Fried Food Gone Too Far: Denny's Mozzarella Stick "Melt"

Denny'sDenny's New Fried Cheese Melt​ From fried Twinkies to chicken fried bacon to beer-battered cheesecake, we're no stranger to belt-busting fried foods. And while we don't condone the consumption of greasy foods with quadruple digit calorie and a weeks' worth of fat gram counts, we just co ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 6/28 - 7/2

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "The surroundings are luxurious, but the avant-garde cooking of Michael Voltaggio, who uses his tank of liquid nitrogen with the abandon that a bachelor uses his toaster oven, is anything but sedate: white asparagus lac ... More >>

Michael Voltaggio Leaves the Langham: "My Goal Is To Stay In L.A."

PHOTO: Courtesy of Bravo TV Michael Voltaggio​The LA Times reported yesterday that Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio has decided to part ways with The Langham. We caught up with the chef late this morning, just before he stepped into the kitchen at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, to get his t ... More >>

Chefs With Tattoos

A colorful rebellion against kitchen rules

Yesterday At Taste of the Nation: Photos Of Hunger-Fighting Food

Taste of the Nation Los Angeles had its annual event yesterday at the Culver City Media Park, and as usual, there was a lot of good food and drink. All ticket sales, as well as money received from charitable donations and the silent auction, went directly toward fighting childhood hunger. There wer ... More >>

Top Chef Season 6 Finale: And The Winner Is...

So the finale of Top Chef's sixth season came down to a showdown between the Voltaggio brothers. Surprise! If you didn't see that coming, you need to read up on basic story-telling. And (spoiler alert!) despite some last minute histrionics, the underdog won. Face it, it's more interesting to have th ... More >>