Christine Chiao

The state of L.A.'s restaurant landscape will have you invoking Charles Dickens. It's gotten easier to find new restaurants and more difficult to settle on a favorite. Consistency is an issue and hype is ubiquitous. Chefs and restaurateurs face steeper-than-ever startup costs, while the city has (finally) received recognition for......

If you eat eggs or dairy, a doughnut missing those things often tastes like a pastry don't. Until you've bitten into one of the Caffeinated Kitchen's 35 baked renditions, found in more than half a dozen Long Beach (and several Orange County) cafes. Not leaden, and certainly not gummy or......

Kombucha is not brewed for the fermentationally timid. Fizzy, often tart, sometimes too pungent, the tea can prove a barrier point for even the most health food–forward — unless you start with the jasmine peony or the lemongrass oolong from Fine Feathers Kombucha. Husband-and-wife Jay Penev and Jodine Penev West......

In the battle for regional American pizza dominance, Detroit seldom gets mentioned with much frequency or fervency. Even in Los Angeles, conversations mostly center on New York vs. Chicago – if there's much of a fight. We've been more consumed with Neapolitan renditions after all. Chefs Alvin Cailan and Isa Fabro......

During a recent cooking class at With Love Market & Café, Karla Vasquez prepared what she described as a healthier version of a grilled cheese sandwich, using pepper Jack and pesto.   "We can use less cheese with a more flavorful kind," says Vasquez, the store's director of community programs......

Tlayuda L.A. is on one of the denser segments of Santa Monica Boulevard, a block from Western and the 101 in each direction. Parking is almost always an issue. You’ll end up drawing jagged loops around surrounding streets for a while. The search is emblematic, in a way, of the......

At Louie's of Mar Vista, there's a rare version of an African-American/Asian-American noodle soup that originated in New Orleans called yaka mein. All but non-existent in L.A., it's lovingly known as "Old Sober" to many who have stumbled out of a bar in NOLA's Bywater district after midnight.  The curative bowl......

Have you tried new wave Filipino-American food yet? Without a doubt there's a growing group of Filipino-American chefs, often second or third generation, sharing familiar flavors of their childhood across the country. It was kind of hard to ignore the array of options that cropped up in L.A. alone throughout 2015......

The Black Fig is one of the best lunch spots in the Arts District. Being that it's a cafe built inside the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), it's also one of the most hidden. The modest school café isn't visible from either Third Street or Santa Fe Avenue. And......

Tofu does not immediately come to mind when considering the long list of donut possibilities in Los Angeles.  L.A. is hope to doughnuts strewn with maple bacon, stuffed with fresh strawberries and cross-bred with a croissant. You can find doughnuts made to order to accommodate vegan and gluten-free predilections. There's a fun savory one inspired......