Rome (Italy)

James Gandolfini Dead at 51

Updated at the bottom: Two HBO producers say Gandolfini died in Rome and not, as has been reported, in Sicily. First posted at 4:37 p.m. Wednesday. James Gandolfini has died, apparently of a heart attack, TMZ is reporting. The patriarch and antihero of HBO's Sopranos mob series was in Italy for th ... More >>

Taverna dei Fori Imperiali: When in Rome, Dining with Movie Stars Astronauts

One of traditional decorating elements in Roman trattorias (besides the red and white checked tablecloths, uncomfortable chairs and over bright lighting) are framed photographs of "celebrity" clients. These can often date back decades and whether or not you recognize the face in the frame, it's kind ... More >>

Roger Mahony Heads To Rome For Pope Vote Despite D.A. Priest Abuse Review

If you thought Roger Mahony being stripped of his "duties" was a cop out intended to make you think the church was doing something regarding past priest abuse and the Cardinal's strategy to transfer bad clergy away from the prying eyes of the law, you're probably right. It was a mild, public slap i ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Reviving the FDA, Vin Chaud Khmer Cuisine

Serious Eats: 5 great TV restaurants. David Lebovitz: Making vin chaud, or hot mulled wine. Gastronomy: Checking out Khmer cuisine in Long Beach. Huff Post Food: Scott Mowbray, editor of Cooking Light, writes an op-ed on "The Rise of the New Food Culture." Los Angeles Times: Why Jonathan Gold th ... More >>

Julius Caesar

Euripides' Helen Adapted for the Kardashian Era, and Other New Theater Reviews

This week our critics liked Euripides' Helen at the Getty Villa, adapted for today's celebrity age, plus the new Groundlings Sunday night show, the 24th Street Theatre's play Rome at the End of the Line, and a new political dance performance from the Indian company Navarasa Dance Theatre. In our th ... More >>

Q & A with Anthony Bourdain: The End of No Reservations, CNN Throwing a Drink in Alan Richman's Face

See also: Anthony Bourdain: 5 Unexpected Lessons He Taught Us Last Night. See also: Anthony Bourdain's Baja Episode of No Reservations Will Make You Want to Cross the Border Immediately. Anthony Bourdain has a lightness to his voice. It's jovial, almost, which is unnerving. "This is the longest I'v ... More >>

Music Picks: Rome, The xx, Aretha Franklin

Also, Cannibal Corpse, I See Hawks in L.A., Smokey Robinson and others

Make This Now: Nocino A Recipe for DIY Green Walnut Liqueur

For many, the piles of corn and stone fruits at the farmers markets are all that's needed to assert that summer has officially arrived. A glance at the calendar tells us that last week was the summer solstice, and planetary orbits are a better marker if you're looking for something concrete and pre ... More >>

Google's Los Angeles Map Gets 3D, 'Flyover' Imagery For Smartphones: VIDEO

Google just unveiled 3D maps that let you virtually fly over Los Angeles and Long Beach. The cool visuals, however, aren't available for iPhone and iPad users yet; they're only good for Google's own Android system for now. According to the company, L.A. and Long Beach are among 15 American cities ... More >>

Woody Allen on His New Film To Rome With Love and Some Very Old Themes

Painter with a camera

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 4/916 - 4/20

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "This meal need not stray too far from your preferences. Not when there are such wide-ranging options like vegan ice cream, pizza, and com ga hai nam available." 10 Best Vegan-Friendly Restaurants in L.A.: Happy Earth Day. "C ... More >>

We Have a Pope Review

Back to the Future's $500,000 DeLorean and Darth Vader Costume Sell at Hollywood Auction. Ruby Slippers Still Available

A fully functioning hoverboard...y'know...for the kids​Local memorabilia-selling powerhouse, Profiles in History did another one of their epic auctions this weekend at the Paley Media Center in Beverly Hills -- and the nerds cleaned house. Again. Compared to Debbie Reynolds' series of show-st ... More >>

Coriolanus Review

Mozza: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Angeli Caffe:99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Simone Legno of tokidoki: Italian-Japanese Fusion

Exclusive Interview: Sublime with Rome Talks New Album Yours Truly, Tour and a Slice of Humble Pie

Jena ArdellChilling with Rome, Eric and Bud of Sublime with Rome.​ We caught up with Sublime with Rome before they embarked on their summer tour with 311 to talk about their new album Yours Truly, which drops July 12. Here's what the laid-back trio had to say about their new album, their first ... More >>

Pope Sends 'Historic' First Tweet (VIDEO)

news.vaDon't strain a knuckle there, champ.​Was it something about the visit of modern-minded Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, currently in Vatican City for to receive a special wool pallium, that inspired Pope Benedict XVI to warble out his first Tweet, via Twitter for iPad, this afterno ... More >>

Kristeen Young, live at the Hotel Cafe, 5/16

Falling James​The St. Louis singer-provocateur Kristeen Young put on quite the fascinating one-woman show at the Hotel Café, defying the boundaries of technology, the laws of gravity and the mood swings of a fussy soundman. She was decked out in a style that was truly all her own, with a witc ... More >>

'Fame is Love': Mark Kostabi Premieres Con Artist, Waxes About Italian Living and Infamy

Having pushed a bevy of buttons back in the late '80s, earning himself fame, fortune and fans, all of which came at a price, the self-proclaimed 'World's Biggest Con Artist' is back and coming to a theater near you, whether you like it or not. Directed by Michael Sladek, Con Artist reveals an intima ... More >>

ODB's "Nigga Please" with All the N-words Replaced by "Slave," in Honor of the Butchering of Mark Twain's "Huck Finn" by Some Idiotic Publisher

​Some idiotic, thoroughly moronic publisher gave in to idiotic, thoroughly moronic busybody censors and republished Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer replacing the historically appropriate (and clearly condemned by the author, if you, say, bother to read the damn books...) usage of ... More >>

ALAMAR

Obika: When Not in Rome ...

Bringing the mozzarella bar to L.A.

First Bite: Okiba's Mozzarella Bar, or When Not In Rome

Christie BishopJonagold apple, portions removed​In Rome, Obika is a mozzarella bar on Piazza di Firenze, an oddly modern place not far from the Pantheon that reluctantly serves as a tourist canteen during the day and then as a frosty, rather exclusive wine bar late at night. There has always b ... More >>

Obikà Mozzarella Bar Opening in Century City & Second L.A. Location Coming Soon

Obikà Mozzarella Bar, originally a European and Asian brand with 13 stores in Rome, Milan, Tokyo, London and most recently New York, is opening its first California location in Century City's Westfield Shopping Center on September 15. Obikà, on the second floor of the mall between the food court a ... More >>

Empires of Food: A Book, A Salon Interview, A Pretty Scary Forecast

​If you're tired of rereading your sauce-spattered copy of Eat, Pray, Love -- or if you left it at the movie theatre, or on your flight back from Bali -- you might try picking up a new book with slightly larger, or at least less personal, horizons. Empires of Food: Feast, Famine, and the Rise ... More >>

Baby Ain't Got Back (Yet)

Mike Kelley and Baby Ikki wander the desert of the real

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 6/7-6/11

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "She gets her cow, you can eat as low on the food chain as you'd like, and you all drink hoppy oceans of microbrew - everybody wins!"

Madagascar

Top 10 Places To Watch the FIFA World Cup

​Tomorrow begins the the most widely watched sporting event in the world, the 2010 FIFA World Cup. And for the next month, from June to July 11th, even Laker mania will take a back seat to soccer. The World Cup, held for the first time in Africa, showcases 32 countries. And while you can of co ... More >>

Carbonara Quest: Angelini Osteria

HERE WE COME ARMENIAN

Chili John’s: Coming Home

It’s the first post-summer bite that matters

Big Beauty: Woodfired Pizza and Sam Marvin's Take on American-Italian at Bottega Louie, Downtown's Huge New Downtown Food Emporium

For sheer size, the gleaming space dwarfs NYC's Balducci's and Dean & Deluca

Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati

Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati

Boadicea

Varla Jean Merman Loves a Foreign Tongue

The Big Idea

Osteria Mozza

Bottle Opener

750ml uncorks in South Pasadena

The 20 Best L.A. Italian Restaurants

Winter Restaurants 2007 – The Italian moment and four classic delis

Ask Mr. Gold: Spaghetti Carbonara

Ask Mr. Gold

Exile in Godville

Profile of a postmodern heretic

Ask Mr. Gold

More Is More

Notes on the Taco Gap