The New York Times Magazine

Seinfeld Writer Peter Mehlman, Credited With Catchphrases Like 'Yada Yada Yada,' Tells Us About His New Book

Peter Mehlman certainly has a flair for the English language. As a writer for beloved 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, he mainstreamed terms like shrinkage, sponge-worthy and "yada yada yada," the last of which has such a footing in pop culture vernacular that it's part of the Oxford English Dictionary. Heck. ... More >>

Books: Addicted to Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

Michael Moss' recent cover article in the New York Times Magazine, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food, served as a preview for the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter's latest food industry exposé: Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. As Moss says, processed foods are a $1 trill ... More >>

7: Water-Boiled Fish at Chung King

Celebrating this year's Best of L.A. issue -- now out in print and online -- we're counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes. 7. Water-Boiled Fish at Chung King. There are many excellent reasons to head down San Gabriel Blvd., although maybe not if you're former U.S. Commer ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/22 - 10/26

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "We're kind of worried that the folks at the big box store know something we don't, as the new seasonal catalogue has some sobering emergency food options." 6 Things on Sale at Costco.com: Your Holiday Dinner Party, My Apocal ... More >>

Read This Now: The New York Times' Profile of Christopher Kimball

If you've ever followed a Cook's Illustrated recipe the way it is intended to be followed -- that is, precisely -- and, as pleased as punch as you may have been with the outcome, nonetheless still thought, Gee, they take the fun out of cooking -- well, that's sort of the point. "I hate the idea tha ... More >>

The Master's Master

Paul Thomas Anderson on his new 70 mm film

Ruth Bourdain's Comfort Me With Offal: From Twitter to Your Local Bookstore

If you've spent the last two years laughing over the comic genius of Ruth Bourdain, you'll need no reminder that her eagerly (to some) awaited book has just come out from Andrews McMeel Publishing. If you are not among the initiated, here's a thumbnail sketch: In March of 2010, a hilarious Twitter f ... More >>

Bernie Review

Jack Black, somehow, some way, stars in the smartest American movie in ages

Food News Roundup: Farmers Challenge Monsanto, Sous-Vide Cocktails Possible Bourdain Book Deal for Marilyn Hagerty

Reuters: Organic farmers vow to continue challenging Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seeds, defying a court that ruled no controversy exists. Food Arts: Julian Cox, and others, are using sous-vide for cocktails. Call it "flash brew." Grand Forks Herald: A book deal with Anthony Bourdain ... More >>

Full Metal Jousting: Will Riding Horses While Stabbing People Ever be Cool?

"Why are cowboys cooler than knights?" Gary Kuchan asks himself, cradling the plastic pint of beer he's just picked up at a Honda Center concession stand. "Knights got their fair share of tail, don't get me wrong, but not like a cowboy." Over ten thousand spectators clad in Wranglers and Stetsons l ... More >>

Cookbooks Ranked By the Stick (of Butter)

Flickr/Mailloux​In last Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Marnie Hanel's pat-sized graphic ranks a handful of holiday-themed cookbooks by the amount of butter their recipes require. Weighing in at 176 pages and 1.6 pounds, The Gourmet Cookie Book calls for an astonishing 82 sticks of butter - ... More >>

William Shatner Sells Caution (When Deep-Frying Turkeys)

​"[William] Shatner is shameless when it comes to his acting and his public persona," wrote Pat Jordan in a September 2010 New York Times Magazine profile. "There is little he will not do, no humiliation he will not embrace, to make his fans laugh. He once boasted that he did 'not let things ... More >>

Pete Wells Named New York Times Restaurant Critic

Pete Wells​The New York Times just confirmed that Pete Wells will be that paper's next restaurant critic, ending two months of rampant speculation about who would get that coveted chair at the table. The previous critic, Sam Sifton, stepped down in September after two years at the position. Th ... More >>

Obama's Latino Election Strategy: Do Nothing, Let Republicans Hang Themselves

NBC​President Obama is one cool, laid-back dude. If he's sweating the upcoming election, you sure wouldn't know it. Even with this toilet-bowl economy, a recent New York Times Magazine piece saying he's an underdog to win reelection, and a key, Latino electorate that's not as yes-we-can about ... More >>

The Interrupters Review

Food News Roundup: Somebody Really Hates Pie, Stumptown Sold More Fun in School Cafeterias

-- In which Slate's Nathan Heller goes off on pie. Yes, pie is un-American and well, just generally terrible. Maybe somebody needs a better pie recipe. [Slate] -- Stumptown Coffee sold to a New York investment firm. [WW] -- Dorie Greenspan wins IACP best cookbook award. (Heller might want to try ... More >>

Saveur, Cooking Light are National Magazine Awards Finalists

WordRidden/Flickr​The National Magazine Awards finalists were announced yesterday, and aside from the usual suspects (The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire), never-before-nominated Cooking Light was a finalist in the Leisure Interests category -- alongside Golf Digest, Runner's World and Los ... More >>

Food News Roundup: How To Beat Off a Tiger With a Soup Ladle, Eating Dog Food The Pleasures of Consommé

-- Woman fends off angry tiger with soup ladle. [BBC] -- What if Michael Pollan is wrong? [Zester Daily] -- Diabetic's discrimination lawsuit against restaurant is hard to swallow. [Los Angeles Times] -- Two New York women eat dog food for a month to promote their product. [CBS] -- The openin ... More >>

Best Cookbook of 2010: The Essential New York Times Cookbook

J. GarbeeFrench TV "Snacks" From The Essential New York Times Cookbook​Last year, rather than crowning a single cookbook the Best Of title, we simply settled on an entire category that was consistently great -- baking. This year, the most prominent publishing category of the year, media cookbo ... More >>

Christine Muhlke Heading to Bon Appétit

Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.comChristine Muhlke​The new Bon Appétit is taking shape. After many recent changes -- Barbara Fairchild stepping down, the magazine relocating to New York City, Adam Rapoport named editor-in-chief -- Christine Muhlke, most recently the food editor at the New Yo ... More >>

Rigoberto Ruelas Suicide At LAUSD: L.A. Media's Rampant Speculation Blaming L.A. Times Is Based On One South Gate Cop's Psychological Musings

​The apparent suicide of Rigoberto Ruelas, an LAUSD teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in South Gate, has led to rampant speculation by Los Angeles TV and radio stations that Ruelas couldn't bear to live following an L.A. Times series that published the names and scores of 6,000 teachers -- an ... More >>

Movie Reviews: Anton Chekhov's The Duel, Toy Story 3, I Am Love

Also, Cyrus, The Mormon Proposition, The Lottery

Music Picks: Evelyn Evelyn, Booker T. Jones, Kaki King, Pete Rock

Also, the National, Entrance Band, Noodles, Bunbury and others

Theater Reviews: Dirty Pooh, L.A. Noir Unscripted, Looking for Trouble

Also, My Sister in This House, Paved Paradise: The Art of Joni Mitchell and more

Stage Raw: Dirty Pooh

NEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE ON THE BOYS IN THE BAND AND SURVIVAL EXERCISENEW REVIEW GO DIRTY POOH​Photo courtesy of Zombie Joe's UndergroundHow does Zombie Joe's Underground make A.A. Milne's short story, "In Which Pooh Goes Visiting and Gets Into a Tight Place," NSFW? When Winnie-the ... More >>

Funny People, Funny Business

What's no laughing matter in movies and media this week

Are You Being Served? Is He? Frank Bruni's Food Memoir Due Out This Month

Publishers WeeklyYour unanonymous critic​Now that New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni is moving out of the anonymous shadows (Bruni resigned his post in May; the identity of his replacement, not yet named, has generated much amusing speculation), his mugshot is now public record. In f ... More >>

Solutions for the Freshly Freelance

The "I don't love the inside of my car that much" edition

Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck in Collaboration With Media Farzin at Christopher Grimes Gallery

From the (Unofficial) Bigg Digg Shindigg to Sex Lives of the Microfamous: Your Ultimate Guide to SXSW Interactive

With the biggest conference presence of the entire SXSW festival, SXSW Interactive is more than just a place where, as ace SXSW Interactive Press and Publicity coordinator Tammy Lynn Gilmore put it, "you get to meet all those people you follow on Twitter." Unlike music and film, it's difficult to ma ... More >>

Goodbye Los Angeles Times Magazine

Sure, the paper's Sunday magazine has sucked for much of its existence, and erupted in scandal after getting caught cutting a sleazy business deal with Staples Center (a big, ugly national story broken by my fab ex-boss, Rick Barrs, at the now-defunct New Times Los Angeles). But from time to time, ... More >>

The Gospel According to Cee-Lo

The poet of Gnarls Barkley reveals the broken-but-beating heart of an unlikely hit

Off With Her Manolo Blahniks!

Sofia Coppola’s fashionably slight Marie Antoinette

Heady Metal, Britain's Favorite DJ, and a Defense of Americana's Best Killers

Sore Winners (and the Rest of Us) in George Bush’s America

An Island of Words

Luisita López Torregrosa on breaking the silence of infinite longing

An Island of Words

Luisita López Torregrosa on breaking the silence of infinite longing

The Story in the Soil

The Omaha rock scene, the world of the flyover people, the future of the music business, and one vicious head wound

A Passion for Cashin

Bullshit Detected

Stephen Glass, Chuck Lane and the big dustup at TNR

Injustice for All

Taryn Simon and The Innocents

Stay in Character

Coming Back to Earth

The shuttle disaster and the Quiet American within

The Year in Style

The Back Story

A Week 6 reading list

Titty Titty Bang Bang

Edited by Kateri Butler

L.A. to N.Y.

Eat this

Dogs, Bodies

Amores Perros and Chopper

Barney’s Sticky Adventure Beyond Death

The Loneliness of Linux

The First of a Three-Part Series