Monterey

58: Spaghettini with Abalone, Pickled Cod Roe and Truffles at n/naka

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 58: Spaghettini with Abalone, Pickled Cod Roe and Truffles at n/naka. A meal at n/naka, by its very nature, is full of surprises. A parade of traditional kaise ... More >>

Why Dianne Harrison Struck It Rich at CSUN

$324,000 may be just the beginning

Janis, Anyone?

PHOTO: Car Shears Fire Hydrant, Unleashes Epic Geyser on Northeast L.A.

Just as Los Angeles was breathing a sigh of relief this afternoon that the rainstorm had finally passed, some terrible driver had to go and shear off a fire hydrant in the Rose Hills. That's all it took for an epic, 10-storyish geyser...

Tasting Reception at the CA Small Farms Conference

The hustle and crowds of your local markets -- not to mention the hurly-burly nature of weigh-and-pay customer service -- can sometimes prohibit friendly catch-up and Q&A with your favorite local farmers. Touching base with them at the California Small Farms Conference (CSFC) Tasting Reception on M ... More >>

Jonathan Gold's 10 Best Dishes of 2011

Best Frito Pie Served In The Bag

Briana ValdezComal's Frito Pie in a Bag​ There is a staple of liquor stores, street fairs, school cafeterias and tailgate parties in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma (but not so much in Los Angeles, yet) that involves a snack-sized bag of Fritos, a heaping ladle of Hormel chili, maybe some day-g ... More >>

30 Scoops in 30 Days: Jerry's Soda Shoppe (Day 13)

Guzzle & NoshThe ice cream soda at Jerry's Soda Shoppe at the De Soto Pharmacy.​A spectacular ice cream float doesn't cure the pain of existence, but it goes a long way toward soothing the ache. Yesterday, while Leo Bloom was munching on mutton kidneys and we were sorting through the detritus ... More >>

Chowda! Judging the West Coast Chowder Competition

We have but one stomach to give for our job. Asked to participate in numerous events, sacred and profane, we mostly decline. But when we heard the word "chowder" and "judge," -- in the same sentence, no less -- we began doing situps and working on our Mayor Quimby accent. Last Saturday, we head ... More >>

Cookbook Review: This BBQ Book Will Make You Want To Fire It Up

​Just as we say perhaps it's about time for publishers to put the idea of an annual summer onslaught of new BBQ books to rest, a grilling guidebook arrives at our doorstep that we actually want to add to our swelling collection of books on everything seared and smoked. Fire It Up by Andrews Sc ... More >>

Your Local White Meat: Abalone

Kathy A. McDonaldAbalone and kelp thrive at The Cultured Abalone, Santa Barbara​Dining on sea snail may sound less than appetizing. Dining on abalone sounds luscious. But abalone's white, delicately flavored briny flesh is essentially that of a sea snail: a muscled mollusk, which consumes alga ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Lukshon

Saffron (Fast, Fresh, Indian) Expands to Beverly Hills

B. HansenMango lassi​ Until recently, if you wanted to eat Saffron's fresh, fast Indian food, you had to go downtown for a weekday lunch. Now Saffron has opened a second restaurant in Beverly Hills, where you can eat dinner as well as lunch any day of the week. Is this important? Yes, if you ... More >>

Eat and Drink Well for Auld Lang Syne on New Year's Eve 2011

So, it's time to plan New Year's Eve if you haven't already. Avoid the amateur's night problem by putting your 2011 celebration in the hands of restaurant pros who will handle the fine food and drink part. And save you clean-up troubles. Merriment, cheer, reflecting on the past year (which may or ma ... More >>

Late Night Dining: Juicy Burger in Hollywood

Hollywood is awash in quickie pizza joints that seem to do most of their business in the wee hours of Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. Move over pizza, now there's something meatier. Since it opened in June, Juicy Burger has drawn a steady stream of positive reviews and was even voted Best B ... More >>

With a Little Help from His Friends: Mark Gold Co. Celebrate Eva's 1st Anniversary

Anne FishbeinRemoving an unruly customer at Eva.​ When Eva celebrates its one-year anniversary on Wednesday, September 29th, big kitchen star power will take over the restaurant's compact space. "They've all been friends of mine for many years," says Eva's Chef/Owner Mark Gold of pals Michael ... More >>

5 Most Disgusting Items In The Trader Joe's Freezer Aisle

Trader Joe's is really inexpensive. To be honest, it is at times somewhat frighteningly so. But we continue to shop there, mainly because of those low prices, their large wine selection, snappy packaging and generally friendly staff. It is a brand we've come to trust, without ever really stopping to ... More >>

Last Big Sardine Cannery Closes How to Become a Sardinista

Monterey Public Library, California History Room1943 storm hitting Monterey Harbor, pushing the sardine fleet onto shore​ Today the last big sardine cannery in America is closing its doors. The Stinson Seafood plant, located in Prospect Harbor, Maine, is closing after a century of operation, ... More >>

Hide the Children: KFC Double Down "Sandwich" Debuts

KFC, Dan Kremer / AP Photo Something resembling a sandwich​Today marks the launch date of KFC's new Double Down Sandwich, a breadless creation of bacon, Monterey jack and pepper jack placed between two pieces of chicken. Fried chicken is clearly the suggested option, but you can get yours with ... More >>

PICK THE WEEK FOR SOMEBODY OUT THERE

McCall's Meat & Fish Co.: The Arrival of the Rock Star Butcher

For years, people have been asking about artisanal butcher shops, and for years, our list has been pretty much the same: Alexander's Prime Meats in San Gabriel and Huntington Meats and Marconda Meats in the Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax, with the occasional nod to the contents of the meat case ... 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 >>

A Movable Feast: LudoBites 3.0 at Royal/T Café

Brick’s Picks: Time Out

Festivals Then and Now: Lou Adler and Nic Adler Talk Monterey Pop and the Sunset Strip

The Adler posse knows a thing or two about the concert business. Lou Adler, the patriarch, is responsible for some of the great American cultural touchstones of the past 40 years, and a few of these moments are showcased on the wall of his home office in Malibu. There's the movie poster for The ... More >>

The Theory of Relativity as it Relates to California Pinot Noir: How Much is 'Best Ever' Worth to You?

Blame it on the Rain. The current issue of Wine Spectator has the phrase "BEST EVER California Pinot Noir" splashed across the front page. The editors are referring not only to Sonoma, but as far north as Anderson Valley in Mendocino County and as close to home as Santa Barbara. The reason? Near per ... More >>

Craig Strong's New Beachfront Kitchen, Wherein the Chef Demonstrates How to Stuff a Squid A Recipe

Chef Craig Strong left the kitchen of Pasadena's The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa at the end of May--after eight years and one Michelin star--and decamped for Laguna Beach, where he became executive chef of Studio at Montage in June. (Studio's previous chef, James Boyce, left for Alabama; Strong ... More >>

THE JACKS VS. THE SHARPS

Sweet Smell of Secession: Another Move to Split California

To hear Bill Maze tell it, L.A. County takes all the money generated by the rest of hard-working California and squanders it on stuff like "public services and education." Not only that, says the termed-out Assemblyman, but you've got places up north like San Francisco and Marin County that always v ... More >>

Allegiant Air to Offer Cheap Flights to Nowheresvilles

The L.A. Times carries a story that Vegas-based Allegiant Air will begin cheap nonstop flights from LAX to small cities in California and other Western states. Allegiant plans to start service May 1 from Terminal 6 to a dozen destinations that would expand later in that month. These include Medford, ... More >>

Special Tortilla Contest Edition

Corn vs. flour: Cual es mas masa?

Mods & Rejects

What to do in Los Angeles this week

Days of Lines and Poses

SxSW journal

Maude!

SXSW or no SXSW, my first sign of Texas pride was the Texas-shaped gravestone in the Texas State Cemetery I noticed outside the airport shuttle. Landed in Austin in drizzling weather; even in a crowded airplane making four stops it's easy to single out the passengers headed here – they're the ... More >>

Bowled Over

Where to find chowder in a bread bowl

14 and Shooting

Jennifer Finch’s early punk Los Angeles

wayne's world

Quadruple X

Four-wheelers do it just as fast

Mods & Rockers 2006

Stalin's Bride, the Twelve Chairs

Houses of Cards

Where to get poker-faced without leaving L.A.

A Small New Future

ALEC HANLEY BEMIS on the casualties and survivors in the war between the Cynics and the True Believers

Ask Mr. Gold

Challenging the Recall

Off

Revolving-Door Renter

Wealthy visitors supplant tenants in Santa Monica

Cheap L.A.

Other countries are more generous with home-care workers

The Grapes of L.A.

Winemaking can once again be local

Brass Roots

Hear Him Roar

Gerald Wilson, king of swing