Octavio Becerra

The Lazy Ox Chef Cycle: Josef Centeno to Travis Chase

The Lazy Ox Canteen is known for many things: The New American menu peppered with global influences. A soundtrack booming with The Animals and Soft Cell. The compact dining room outfitted with naked light bulbs and a pair of ox horns. Its unassuming setting -- a calm Little Tokyo street near Skid Ro ... More >>

Gary Menes: The Son Also Braises

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here. "Being a cook was out of the question," Gary Menes says of his childhood aspirations. The reason: his father. And why do you suppose Menes' father wanted him to become somethin ... More >>

Cochon 555: "Porkapalooza" Hits the House of Blues

If the air seemed a bit heavier with the scent of bacon along the Sunset Strip last night, it was due to the pork-centric carnival that rolled through the House of Blues on Sunday: the second annual L.A. stopover in the nationwide Cochon 555 tour, an event combining five chefs, five whole heritage-b ... More >>

California C.H.E.F.S. Host Foie Gras Super Dinner

In protest of California's rapidly approaching foie gras ban, C.H.E.F.S. (the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards), an organization that sounds like an maniacal conglomerate out of a James Bond film, or perhaps a culinary-slanted take on the Avengers, announced yesterday that it will ... More >>

Pinot Bistro Closing on Feb. 19

The old adage says "April is the cruelest month," but perhaps it's February in the restaurant business. After 20 years, Joachim Splichal's Pinot Bistro (of the fantastic pork rillettes) closes its doors on Feb. 19. To celebrate its two decades, the Studio City restaurant is offering giveaways and ... More >>

Palate Food + Wine: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Last Night: The 2011 James Beard Foundation Awards The Winners

J. RitzOutstanding Chef nom Suzanne Goin and Best NYC Chef winner Gabrielle Hamilton on the green carpet outside the JBFAs. ​ We Californians have a reputation, however fictional or exaggerated, for looking on the bright side of things. So when it comes to reporting on the 2011 James Beard Fou ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Judges Cochon 555's Traveling Pork and Wine Bacchanalia

Cochon 555: The Heritage Pig Fest Comes to L.A.

Back in November, we sounded a gleeful "soooooooweeeee" when we learned that Los Angeles was confirmed as a date for the travelin' pig-palooza known as Cochon 555. For the uninitiated, Cochon 555 is a massive party suffused with the scent of molten pork, which we'll take over a shot of anything. ... More >>

Q & A With Fred Eric: Cooking with Kids, The Joy of Consommé The Restaurant as Performance Art

A. ScattergoodFred Eric at Tiara​ Fred Eric is not your typical chef-slash-restaurateur, if in fact there is a specific type (Twitter account, frozen food line, reality television appearance, child named Petal Blossom Rainbow) that encapsulates the contemporary model. The longtime Los Angeles ... More >>

Cold Noodle Competition Tonight at Starry Kitchen

N. GalutenCold soba noodles from Ichimiann in Torrance​ A series of small cooking competitions featuring well known L.A. chefs is already underway, all in the name of promoting dineLA's upcoming Restaurant Week. The first round of "quickfire challenges" began on Wednesday, September 22nd, wit ... More >>

The Importance of Butter: Some Chefs Make Their Own

Amy Scattergood​ Some might argue that the integrity of a restaurant can be measured by the quality of its bread and butter. At the best restaurants, bread and butter isn't just a hunger staver--it should present an enticing prelude to a meal, an important first impression. At Marché, Anisett ... More >>

Ears to Good Friends: 5 of the Best Pigs' Ears in Los Angeles

LA Weekly flickr pool/djjewelzpigs' ears at the Lazy Ox​ When did pig's ear begin to take over the culinary universe? Was it Eric Frechon's delicate curls of pig's ear on the best-of-hog plate at the Bristol in Paris? The whole deep-fried ear April Bloomfield introduced at the Spotted Pig in G ... More >>

There Will Be Belly: The 2nd Annual Gold Standard Food and Wine Event

If you happened to be looking for Octavio Becerra, Ludo Lefebvre, Leo Bulgarini or Susan Feniger yesterday, they were all at the Petersen Automotive Museum, and no, they weren't ogling over the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame. Ludo was busy churning cornichon sorbet out of his Pacojet to adorn cups of cold ... More >>

Palate Food Wine: Bring-Your-Own-Vinyl

Photo credit: WinkChris Ramos at the turntable​With its own wine shop and an eighteen-dollar corkage fee, Glendale's Palate Food Wine provides little incentive to BYOB, but has still found a way to create a house party atmosphere. The Sunday afternoon event BYOV (Bring Your Own Vinyl) invite ... More >>

The Raw, the Cooked and Everything in Between: Taste of the Nation

The raw and the cooked--and everything in between--were showcased at Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation fundraiser event in Culver City on Sunday. Many of the participating local chefs were big on crudo, while others preferred carbonizing their protein. The sheer number of chefs and food busin ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Perry Farrell and Macy Gray Surprise at L.A. Weekly's L.A. Weekend, Plus We Get Krafty at the Grilled Cheese Invitational

Other than the term "swine flu," we learned several very important things over the weekend: Bea Arthur (RIP) made a damn good leg of roast lamb, there is definitely a limit to how much grilled cheese one can consume, and that the Belvedere vodka served at our L.A. Weekend festival -- yeah, that stuf ... More >>

Animal's Vinny Dotolo Added to Jonathan Gold Carnivore! Panel With Feniger, Becerra and Peel -- Saturday Noon at LA Weekly LA Weekend. Plus, Kogi Taco Truck on Friday and Dogs From Let's Be Frank on Saturday

Anne FishbeinAnimal's Vinny Dotolo, the scarfed one, will be talking meat. Vinny Dotolo and partner Jon Shook are incapable of keeping their fleshly tendencies out of every possible course at their Fairfax restaurant Animal -- consider that their most talked-about dessert is the bacon-chocolate cru ... More >>

SELF-PROMOTION PICK OF THE WEEK

The 10 Best Dishes of 2008

Hot dogs and hominy, blowfish and a fine cup of joe

Octavio Becerra's Fine Palate

On his own at last, chef has opened a dream of a restaurant

Tiara Cafe: Fashionably Fred

Freshwiches, vegan chic and cupcakes from Fred Eric, L.A.'s chef of invention

Octavio Becerra Goes Solo With Palate Food + Wine

Chef breaks away from Joachim Splichal's Patina empire with his own restaurant and wine shop

Transcendent, Transitory Tapas

Ludovic Lefebvre’s temporary contemporary

Fajita pitas, Octopus Tacos, and the Birth of California Cuisine

25 moments — over 25 years — in L.A. restaurants

Gilding the Pumpkin