Venezuela

With Dulce Rosa, an Isabel Allende Story Becomes Opera

The new work launches an L.A. Opera initiative to keep opera vital

Cookbook of the Year: Gran Cocina Latina A Spicy Bolivian Peanut Sauce Recipe

What happens you combine a culinary pedigree that includes a Latin American/Spanish market and pastry shop (Ultramarinos) and two restaurants (Zafra & Cucharamama in New Jersey) with a doctorate in medieval history? Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America, a 900-page homage to Latin American c ... More >>

Amazonas Restaurant: Koreatown's Arepa Connection

How popular are arepas, the little fried corn cakes sold on street corners in Venezuela? Back in 2010, President Hugo Chavez introduced "socialist areperas" to ensure that the country's most famous export didn't fall into capitalist clutches. He even extended an invite to President Obama to come and ... More >>

La Vida Boheme: Venezuelan Disco Punks Perform Before the Dodgers Game on Sunday

See also: Viva Los Dodgers 2012 Lineup Announced: Ximena Sariñana, Ana Tijoux, More Henry D'Arthenay is psyched for this Sunday's Dodger game, and not just because it's only the second of his life. As he tells us over Skype from his home in Caracas, Venezuela, his band La Vida Boheme will also per ... More >>

World's Most Expensive Chocolate Easter Egg Sold for $10,000

Thank you, Easter Bunny! London-based chocolatier William Curley has cracked a Guinness World Record by crafting the most expensive non-jeweled chocolate egg ever sold at auction, according to London & Partners. The 110-lb. confection sold for over $10,000 (you could buy about 10,000 Cadbury crème ... More >>

Roxrite, an Angeleno Who Became a World B-Boy Champion

Two days after Thanksgiving Day 2011, hardcore b-boy fans poured into Moscow's Nikulin Circus for the annual Red Bull BC One Championship. The event is one of the largest and best-known international competitions, tagging itself the "Official Breakdance World Championship." Sixteen of the world's to ... More >>

Tricia Tunstall's Changing Lives: A Book on Dudamel, El Sistema and the Revolution in Music Education

There's not much talk about music education these days. With all the budget crises, education cuts and Republican candidates --  none of whom seem terribly supportive of the arts -- you couldn't be blamed for thinking music programs aren't exactly a social priority right now. So you might be su ... More >>

Cafe Bolívar's 10th Anniversary, With Arepas

In December, Bolívar Café and Gallery celebrated two achievements. First, its 10th anniversary as a small, bustling Santa Monica café. Second, the arrival of a custom-made arepa machine, and the reappearance -- after a year hiatus -- of this Venezuelan dish. "On the first day we made over 200," ... More >>

Make Mine Mahler

Capybara, World's Largest Rodent, Spotted in Paso Robles: Is It Wrong to Lust for a Carcass?

AnimalPhotos.infoHydrochaeris hydrochaeris, aka the capybara​The Los Angeles County Natural History Museum has plenty of bizarre beasties in stock, many of them from creatures not found within a thousand miles of L.A. -- or within a thousand years of 2011. Which is why the museum is captivated ... More >>

Eat This Now: Churros at Churros Calientes

T. Nguyen​ We love Salina's Churro Truck and Mr. Churro and other wonderful places that offer Mexican-style churros, but every once in a while, our sweet tooth gets a hankering for the type of churros you'd find served in parts of Spain and Venezuela. These are a smaller, a bit more delicate ... More >>

Top 10 March Madness Food And Drink Picks

J. GarbeeYour Barely Buzzed Breakfast​Despite the buzz over Obama's NCAA picks (Duke, Kansas, Ohio State, Pitt), which are either perfectly practical or ridiculously boring depending on how you call your political shots, we focus our March Madness betting headaches elsewhere. For us, game days ... More >>

Simpo Pops Up for One Night in Los Angeles

Simpo​ Simpo, a moveable feast that has already hit Toronto and New York, will pop up later this week for its first -- and probably only -- night in Los Angeles. Hosted by Toronto-based chef Aldo Lanzillotta, the intimate 20-person pop-up will feature a 6-8 course, Italian-influenced meal. H ... More >>

The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on El Rey Gran Saman Chocolate

Ben CalderwoodBurnished and broken one-kilo slabs of El Rey Gran Saman​ Somehow, betwixt his maneuvering around financial reform and waffling on the closure of Guantanamo and obligatory fulminating about that hemorrhaging puncture in the floor of the Gulf, Barack Obama managed something like d ... More >>

The 70% Solution: Tasting Notes on Domori Sur Del Lago Clasificado Chocolate

Ben CalderwoodA half-kilo foodservice Domori "plaque"​ Consider The 70% Solution your chocolate valet, a guide to seeking and sampling premium dark chocolate at foodservice outlets and nosh boutiques across Los Angeles. 70-percenters adhere to two rules: No flavors or inclusions, as they are k ... More >>

The Passion of el Cristo

Osvaldo Golijov's thoroughly panamerican tribute to Bach comes to L.A.

Fast Food: Talking Food with IndyCar Driver E.J. Viso

And now, an entirely different meaning for fast food. With this weekend marking the annual Long Beach Grand Prix, it seemed like a good time to find out what an open wheel racer eats. Meet driver E.J. Viso. Now in his third year in the Indy Racing League, the 25 year-old from Caracas, Venezula, h ... More >>

Say It Ain't So, WeHo!

OKAY BY ME IN AMERICA

Beyond Belief: Atheists and the Burden of Proof

Defamation: Real and Imagined

Yoav Shamir’s new documentary on anti-Semitism finds the middle ground

Aaraya: See the Pyramids (of Salt)

Poverty looks better than ever in 50-year-old Venezuelan documentary

Dudamel in Los Angeles and El Sistema a Huge Success

We sat perhaps 100 to 150 feet away from Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl last night, watching as he whipped his wiry, pale-skinned little body around the stage like dancer whose DNA somehow got mixed up with Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek.I wanted to snack on my brie-and-figs picni ... More >>

L.A. Phil's Gustavo Dudamel: Being a Brilliant and Inspiring Conductor Isn't Enough

Not when you're tasked with saving classical music

Movie Reviews: A Woman in Berlin, A Perfect Getaway, Paper Heart

Also, Fragments, 12 in a Box and more

Brick's Picks: Goodbye Pasadena Jazz Institute, Hello JI Lounge

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

Plamegate, Reimagined as a Soccer-Mom Duel

Reformed Judy-ism

Comic-Con 2008: For Love of the Con

Big crowds, too little sleep and even less food at San Diego's fanboy mecca

Martha Argerich: Maximum Force

Pianist worth the wait

AFI: The Rest of the Fest

Our guide to films premiering during the festival's final weekend

The New Guy: Gustavo Dudamel

Strength in numbers

Brick's Picks: Spiritual Sounds

Jazz picks around L.A.

Echo Park Cuban Music Festival

Salsa, cigars, and chicharrones

Ernest Fleischmann

Scouting Gustavo

Mastery Old & Young

The Year In Night Music

Star Tracks

Preacher Pat Misfires

Mods & Rockers, Goatherds and a Sober George Carlin

Viktor vs. Viktor, Live From Independence Square

Democracy’s Heroes

Royal Coke

How the U.S. and France let the smuggling prince get away to help the war on terror

Maria Bustillos

American Idyll

Whatever happened to dirty bombs and homemade polio?

Welcome to the Jungle

Herr Reich

Should Otto make us laugh or cry?

My Three Sons

The Big Blowup

A mom’s guide to dumping Firestone tires

War Without Borders

Art Before Memory

Latin American artists offer "Amnesia"