Sonoma

The Stave Wine and Beer Bar Opens Tonight: Where Everybody in Long Beach Knows Your Name

"What's this going to be?" a passerby yells into the cavernous, under-construction site at the corner of Broadway and Downtown Long Beach's Promenade. "Not a chain, I hope." Two weeks before the doors roll up and any Pilsner is poured, Natalie van Waardenburg and Garry Muir are walking through The ... More >>

Natural Wine: An Explanation Where to Find It

What's in a glass of wine? The answer might be surprising. Wine is basically spoiled grape juice. (Whoever first ingested it millennia ago: hat tip.) But these days wine's ingredients can also contain a laundry list of adds in's: sulfur dioxide, egg whites, oak chips, water and numerous chemical ad ... More >>

Paula Wolfert Comes to L.A.'s Central Library: Moroccan Food, Favorite Kitchen Tools Issues of Sous-Vide

If you love couscous, Moroccan cuisine and the many glorious cookbooks of Paula Wolfert (not necessarily in that order), you have someplace to be this Saturday morning. Wolfert will be speaking at downtown's Central Library in an event brought to you by the Culinary Historians of Southern California ... More >>

Wine Cellar: Master Sommelier Richard Betts on "Feral" Chardonnay

We've long been keen on winemaker Greg La Follette's Pinot Noir style, his bagpipe back story and the Friday night Bingo shirts he sports at wine tasting events. He's also weathered the wine business long enough that he doesn't worry about telling the whole wine truth, and nothing but the truth (so ... More >>

Q & A With Christina Machamer: Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay, Heading to Napa Her Anti-Establishment Wine Tasting Tips

After winning season four of Hell's Kitchen, Christina Machamer became sous chef at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at the London West Hollywood. But these days, she's traded the rapid-fire kitchen life to become the wine educator and resident chef -- albeit one with limited kitchen opportunities -- at B ... More >>

Cookbook Of The Week: Paula Wolfert's The Food of Morocco, Now That's A Cookbook

There are a handful of cookbook authors -- Diana Kennedy (hyper local Mexican cuisine), Maida Heatter (home baking), Paula Wolfert (Moroccan cuisine) -- whose personal obsession not only with cooking, but truly with a culinary culture, is so focused, so resolute, that when they finally release anoth ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Reviews Saint Estephe Menu at Rivera

Q & A With Perennial Plate's Daniel Klein: Fish Grabbing, Frog Bashing Fresh Uni Eating

The Perennial Plate Episode 54: To Catch a Frog from Daniel Klein on Vimeo. Season two of Minnesota-based chef/activist Daniel Klein's online weekly series "The Perennial Plate" is your dream project. It is you in a car with a bike rack tooling around the country getting private tutorials on thing ... More >>

Los Angeles' Dog Barking Hell

Laid-back L.A. Animal Services department takes months to stop problem barkers

The Chardonnay Symposium: Wine, Santa Maria BBQ Chardonnay Clones (Yes, Clones)

Bob DickeyChardonnay Symposium's Grand Tasting Byron Vineyard​America's favorite wine is getting the star treatment. This weekend, July 22-23, the second Chardonnay Symposium in the scenic Santa Maria Valley puts the spotlight on all aspects of the wine varietal: where it comes from (clones!), ... More >>

Wine on Tap: Restaurants Get Into the Flow

Vinson PhotographyWine Cask Santa Barbara​ Wine has always been tapped from barrels. Rarely though, except at a winery, can you drink it that way. That is changing as more California winemakers are packaging wine in multi-gallon kegs and restaurants junk bottles for tap systems. Draft wine is ... More >>

L.A.'s Underground Mushroom Network, Or How To Feed Your Urban Fungi Habitat

JGarbeeThe Mushroom Grower Tip-Off​Morels aren't exactly what come to mind when someone mentions under their breath that they grow mushrooms, particularly when that conversation takes place over homebrews in a grungy warehouse space somewhere in that nondescript area of L.A. just east of downt ... More >>

Beyond Organic: Going "Fully Traceable" with Daily Dose's Christian Page

Guzzle & NoshDaily Dose: Interior (left) and mascot.​We've been hearing about Daily Dose for over a year now, and, yesterday, we finally got a look at the market-to-table cafe set to open "some time in April" on the same block as Church & State. Like any buzzwords, "organic" and "local" have ... More >>

What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Wild Mushrooms

Felicia Friesema Giant Live Oak Chantarelles at Tutti Frutti's farm stand at the Hollywood market.​ During the summer, our local scrubby oak groves are covered with water-starved, crispy yellow field grasses. But thanks to the recent deluge we're now seeing Live Oak Chanterelles at several fa ... More >>

Restaurant Roll Call for 2010

Tannazie via FlickrTakosher tacos​With the new year approaching, we reflect on all things 2010: upscale Mexican restaurant Red O opened with a tweet war; the short-lived Test Kitchen experiment opened with big name chefs; the nation's first kosher food truck, Takosher, rolled out; and jeggings ... More >>

Kamala Harris Defeats Steve Cooley For California Attorney General

Fox 11 NewsSteve Cooley went with his gut and declared victory on Election Night. His gut let him down.​We've been saying for a while that the math didn't look good for Steve Cooley. But now we can go ahead and make it official.Steve Cooley has lost. Kamala Harris will be the next attorney general ... More >>

Top 4 Bargain Wines With Gimmicky Names: Some Are Actually Worth The Buyer's Humiliation

Big House WineThe Big House Online Rehab Room​With beer, silly names are second nature -- so much that it feels like breaking news when a brewery doesn't add a pun to every bottle label. With wine, the idiotic references have no doubt increased in recent years, but there's still that shock fac ... More >>

Choosing Sides: Flour or Corn Tortillas?

It's summer, finally, and our thoughts have turned to taquizas, or taco parties. We've got the grill. Charcoal. The carne to marinade. Sanchez. As for the tortillas, well, that's where the debate begins: flour or corn? Flour tortillas are a great compliment for grilled meats because of their t ... More >>

After Topolobampo

Rick Bayless brings his Chicago Mex to Red O

Red O Opening Next Week: Rick Bayless Comes to L.A., Sort Of

A. Scattergoodinterior of Red O​ Red O, the new Mexican restaurant with food by Rick Bayless, will finally be opening for dinner next Wednesday night, May 26th. This is the first restaurant outside of Chicago for Bayless, although it should be noted that Red O is not owned by Bayless, nor wil ... More >>

Q & A With Rustic Canyon Chef Evan Funke: Quitting Massage Therapy & Firefighting for Cooking Learning the Ropes at Spago

A. ScattergoodRustic Canyon executive chef Evan Funke​ Evan Funke, executive chef at Rustic Canyon, is as locally sourced as much of the food he puts on his plates. The chef is third generation California, went to culinary school in Pasadena, and came up through the ranks of Wolfgang Puck's k ... More >>

Dinner at the Best Chef's Table In Town: What Would 20 of L.A.'s Top Chefs Dream Up?

Imagine gathering twenty of LA's top chefs -- in one cramped restaurant kitchen -- to cook up a 50-person thank you dinner for a beloved longtime customer. No egos allowed. On the chefs' night off. Free of charge. Oh, and each chef must agree on the menu. Not going to happen? It did. The secret, ... More >>

Todd Allison Debuts at Checkers With A New Menu Allison's Recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Pesto

Checkers chef Todd Allison​The scaffolding outside the Hilton Checkers this week is just one sign of what has been going on there. The hotel has not only revamped guest rooms and downstairs lounges but has redesigned its restaurant, Checkers Downtown. The idea is to make it a top spot for dinn ... More >>

Swine Flu Deaths Covered Up In California

Neon Tommy, the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism publication, has been rebuffed by several counties in California in its attempt to obtain records of swine flu deaths.Neon Tommy​ Only after some persistence did Los Angeles County allow the USC journalists to take a peek ... More >>

Just Published: Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking A Recipe For Pumpkin Soup

PaulaWolfert.comClay Pot Cooking​Next week, Paula Wolfert's new cookbook, Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking, her 10th, officially hits the bookshelves. Wolfert--who lives, cooks, writes and tweets (@Soumak) in Sonoma, California--has received numerous awards and last year, the James Beard Foundat ... More >>

Luminous Dames at OCMA

Georgia, Agnes, Agnes and Florence

Heal the Bay's "Top Ten Beach Bummers"

Heal the Bay's 19th annual report card on 10 terrible shorelines is out -- and so, apparently, are the waters around Catalina Harbor, Cabrillo Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. All but two of the guilty beaches are located in Southern California, with Pismo Beach Pier and Campbell Cove State Park tak ... More >>

The New Cocktailians

The farmers market–loving, sleeve garter–wearing ladies and gentlemen of the bar taking over L.A.'s restaurants one glass at a time

Octavio Becerra's Fine Palate

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

Movie Reviews: Bottle Shock, Man on Wire, The Order of Myths

Also, Elegy, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and more

City Hall's "Density Hawks" Are Changing L.A.'s DNA

Bitter homes & gardens?

Globavore or Locavore

Two nights at Grace, close to home and from afar

Ignoring is Bliss

L.A. City Council blows off critics – and commissioners – and approves Mount Washington project

There’s Something About Claudia

To Succeed, Must We Secede?

Drifting Pretty

Nadine Toyoda and her girl racers

Dennis the Annoyed

Kucinich, the Cleveland crusader, battles Washington

No Match for Arnold

Democrats can’t decide on next leader

Vail, RFD

Ear of the Beholder

Danny Cohen, beyond the fringe

A New Deck

Recall talk forces Gray to make nice with Indian casinos

Marco Drops In

New fiction by T.C. Boyle

Easy Writer

Sandro Meallet on basketball, boyhood and the simple joys of writing

Them

California takes on the Fire Ant

The Divine Child

Good Lucques

Fine — if pricy — dining on Melrose

Seeking the Heterosexual Within

many ex-gays find themselves back in the closet

Warm-Weather Edibles

A guide to our advertisers

Dog Fight

Fur flies over kill rate at LA animal shelters

Keep -

A guide to our restaurant advertisers