Oktoberfest

Happy National Lager Day A Beer Venn Diagram

Today is National Lager Day, a grassroots holiday started as a way to celebrate the many faces of the world's most produced type of beer. But what the hell is a lager anyway? Is it an ale? Is it a style of beer? Is it a corporate marketing term expertly concocted to roll off the tongue so perfectly ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Hanal Pixan Cooking Class, 626 Night Market, Long Beach Food Swap, L.A. Magazine Food Event Hollywood Oktoberfest

Chichén Itza's Hanal Pixan Cooking Class and Dinner Chef Gilberto Cetina of Chichén Itza, author of the new cookbook Sabores Yucatecos, hosts a cooking class called Hanal Pixan, which shows how to prepare traditional Mayan foods for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). A four-course sit-down din ... More >>

The Bruery Reserve Society Barrel-Aging and Beer Geek Radio

This month The Bruery in Placentia opens up their Reserve Society membership for the third year. Mark your calendars for Thursday, Oct. 25, to sign up for this beer subscription -- one will likely keep you stocked with harder-to-find Bruery bottles for 2013. Reserve members get 15% off purchases and ... More >>

Your Oktoberfest Round-Up: Beer, Brats, Pretzels More Beer

L.A. Oktoberfest -- October 20-21: Bust out the lederhosen for this one, because it's likely to get a little crazy. This two-day festival at the Vanguard in Hollywood sounds like a scene from the movie Beerfest: busty Bavarian babes, beer song sing-a-longs, roving accordion players, stein-holding co ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 9/17 - 9/21

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Rice, seemingly so bland and innocuous, harbors the same deadly poison beloved by Victorian mystery writers." Consumer Reports Warns of Arsenic in Rice. "At most regular restaurants, the communal table is awkward at best, ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Septemberfest, Beauty and the Barrel, March of Dimes Signature Chefs Luxury Chocolate Salon

Septemberfest Billed as America's answer to Oktoberfest, this beachside festival will feature more than 150 beers, plus food trucks and live performances by Petty Cash and Black Crystal Wolf Kids. WHAT: Septemberfest WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2-6 p.m. WHERE: Santa Monica Pier COST: $40

Farid Zadi's Couscousfest Returns: Oktoberfest North African Stoner Food

Oktoberfest doesn't just mean sausage and sauerkraut -- at least not when Farid Zadi busts out his tagine this weekend. On Sept. 22 and 23, the French-Algerian chef and owner of the recently opened Spanish Fly Gastropub in Koreatown brings back his Couscousfest for a third year. Larger in scope than ... More >>

5 End of Summer California Beer Releases To Buy Now

Beer is an unorthodox object to fetishize. When you see a half-dozen men dressed from business to bro, outpacing each other in a parking lot on their lunch break for a few remaining limited-release beers, how else can this phenomenon be described? Our no. 1 beer to buy is eliciting this response all ... More >>

Top 5 Mexican Beers: What to Drink Before Tequila

Let's face it, Mexico isn't exactly a major player in the current craft beer revolution. But that doesn't mean that its long tradition of easy-drinking European-style lagers is something to be overlooked. Sure, the cerveza market is just as consolidated and macro-dominated as the United States' was ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 4/30 - 5/4

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Goan restaurants are almost nonexistent in the U.S., perhaps due to the fact that the region enjoys such a resort-town popularity in India that few of its chefs would ever imagine emigrating their bustling hotel kitchen posts. ... More >>

10 Best Beer Bars In Los Angeles

With craft beer L.A.'s current unyielding obsession, it seems crazier than a 55% ABV beer that four short years ago that we were celebrating, along with dozens of tube sock-clad homebrew club sorts, the first local bars to land coveted cask-conditioned ales on tap. My how that fedora-topped draft be ... More >>

Interactive Sausage Rare Beer at The Yard

jamesjustinSausages await consumption ​ If you've been to Hot Doug's in Chicago, then you already know the adage. "There are no two finer words in the English language than 'encased meats', my friend." True. And if there's anything in this world that could possibly trump a fresh, handmade saus ... More >>

2 Great Weekend Food Events: La Feria de Los Moles Oktoberfest at Lucques (Beer! Lederhosen!)

La Feria de Los Moles: The 4th annual Mole Fair is an all-day event, featuring 13 moles from the states of Puebla and Oaxaca, the two states known for the estimable sauce. Come prepared, as last year's event drew about 20,000 people. The fair is organized by the immigrant community of Puebla and Oax ... More >>

Two Local Brewers Win Big at the Great American Beer Festival

Jason E. KaplanThe crowds converge on GABF​ Over a dozen L.A.-area craft brewers traveled to Denver last week to compete in the 30th annual Great American Beer Festival -- arguably the oldest and most prestigious national beer competition outside of Europe. This year, 526 breweries submitted 3 ... More >>

Das Beer Boot: Best Oktoberfest Song Ever

Sure, it's an advertisement masquerading as a German pop video, but we have to agree with Europopped that Das Beer Boot may be the best Oktoberfest song ever. The 1:50 parody is actually the work of a couple of Americans aping every stereotype of German culture -- lederhosen, beer, techno-pop -- in ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Fried Cereal & PJ Party, The Un-Curry Table, Cube Marketplace Warehouse Sale, Taste of Italy, dineLA

Courtesy of Charles PhoenixCharles Phoenix displays his fried cereal.​Here are five alternatives to the numerous Oktoberfest-ivities happening this weekend. Fried Cereal & PJ Party: LA's perpetual retro kid Charles Phoenix will be prepping and serving up his latest recipe, Fried Cereal. A mix ... More >>

4 Places to Celebrate Oktoberfest This Weekend

Tim Sheerman-ChaseMunich's Augustiner Beer Hall during Oktoberfest​ With just over a week left of Oktoberfest, it's time to don the lederhosen, bust out the bierkrug, and hop on a redeye to München (Lufthansa will fly you there and back this weekend for $2,079.22). Or if that's not an option, ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: The Big Lebrewski, Whole Beast Feast, Septemberfest, Pesto Madness, Social Sundays

The Big Lebowski, where the White Russians never stop flowing.​We've already mentioned the three-day Precious Cheese Feast of San Gennaro (think: Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, food and carnival games), and in case we forget, Jar is also celebrating its 10th anniversary with a special dinner bene ... More >>

Three Houses That Would be Modern Masterpieces (But Aren't)

Michael HernandezYou will be assimilated: the Borg ship lands in L.A.​ Despite what Dwell Magazine says, you don't have to be rich and live on the Westside to have a forward-thinking modern house. So take note you students of SCI-Arc, you patrons of Pomona School of Architecture: these three S ... More >>

Norse Hollywood Dining Vikings Plunder Alpine Village Oktoberfest

​It started like any other Family Fun Day at Alpine Village's Oktoberfest. Kids in tiny dirndls and lederhosen, parents enjoying a Paulaner responsibly, people laughing and relaxing while sharing a mutual love of all things Bavarian. At times it seemed like the ghost of Herman Prey could be he ... More >>

Top 5 Weekend Food Events: Oktoberfest, Taste of Taiwan, GOOD Food Festival, KCRW Pie Contest, Pig Parts and Beer

Guzzle & NoshIt's always a party when you bring out the pig's head.​ Farid Zadi's 2nd annual couscous festival, originally scheduled for Sunday, was cancelled (of cous, it was) as the chef is in the process of opening his first restaurant, but you can still head out to Arcadia for the Greek F ... More >>

Bockwurst Fight: Wurstküche Vs. Berlin Currywurst

N. GalutenBockwurst from Wurstküche​In Los Angeles, we have access to a lot of sausages. They come in many different sizes, hail from almost every continent on earth, and boast a diverse representation of the animal kingdom. They can be raw or cured; smoked, grilled, boiled, fried, or steamed ... More >>

From Rated G to Around R: 2010 Food Halloween Happenings

Photo: Andy ReaserSome good, morbid Día de los Muertos creative fun.​ We've all been getting into the groove of fall foods and pumpkins and such. And in case you haven't stepped foot in a drug or grocery store since September, it's also that time of year when high fructose corn syrup gets shi ... More >>

HALLOWEENY HOOTENANNY, CELEBITY EDITION

Last Call for Booze with Fresh Produce Bulgarini Gelato in Hollywood on Thursday Nights at Yamashiro

Photo courtesy Yamashiro​ It's never too late to create new traditions in this town. Just think, Cinespia screenings didn't even exist a few years ago. So it's fitting that the Thursday night farmers' market at Yamashiro restaurant, perched high above Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, became a new ... More >>

YET ANOTHER WURST OF TIMES

Top 5 Just-For-Drinks Restaurants

Los Angeles may well be ground zero for the let's-meet-for-a-drink cocktail culture, what with all the aspiring Sammy Glicks running around. And the city is crammed with bars and restaurants that cater to them, most of which have the plastic, glossy newness of a TCA chemical face peel. For the rest ... More >>

BEST WURST OF TIMES

Our Favorite Happy Hours

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

New Culinary Historians Website, Jonathan Gold Podcast, Free Root Beer AND A 1894 Trifle Recipe

Any residual high school class-cutting guilt can now been assuaged by a fantastic modern invention: podcasts. The Culinary Historians of Southern California (CHSC) has launched a new website that includes podcasts of recent lectures. That means you can catch Jonathan Gold's recent talk on regional c ... More >>

BEER HERE!

Two Little Piggies