Ben Calderwood

The parapets of New Capital Seafood pierce the haze over San Gabriel, visible for a good distance along Valley Boulevard and Del Mar Avenue. The 11.5 acre shopping bazaar in which it sits may be anchored by 99 Ranch and Focus Department Store, but this is New Capital's court, and......

Seats at chef-artist Jim Denevan's wildly popular communal table concept, the idiosyncratic, touring farmer-foodie collaboration known as Outstanding in the Field, have been selling out all over the country months in advance and despite their steep, if cost-appropriate, price of entry. Squid Ink previously reported on these remarkable mass meals,......

The chocolate valet returns with a distinctive ultra-dark bar from niche producer Theo of Seattle, Washington, originator of domestically manufactured fair trade chocolate. Producer: Theo, Seattle. Bean: Costa Rican single-origin. Content: 91% cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla. No added lecithin......

Tendered on a mirror-like tray alongside a spare cup of water and a complimentary dish of nuts and dried fruit, your Wallenford, Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee arrives in a slender glass mug, tawny and fragrant. You are encouraged not to drink it......

Consider for a moment the casual brutality of the jamonera, little more than a wooden plank and a upright clamp in which to mount a leg of ham. The shank end is secured to the clamp via a spike or bolts, making it easy to shave the gelatinous flesh from......

The vegan chef de cuisine has three options when planning his animal-free menu. First, ignore mock-meat entirely and serve tofu as tofu and vegetables as vegetables, without subterfuge. Such is the approach at M Cafe de Chaya, those green tendrils sprouting from the Chaya empire's trunk, where plants and plant-based......

It is not, generally speaking, good politics to wax fondly about colonialism, especially in a metropolis as prismatic as Los Angeles. That said, we will always have banh mi, the French-Vietnamese cross-platform construction of squishy baguette, pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, meat and--depending on which sandwich you order where--enough raw......

It may have two or possibly three names, or no proper name at all--regulars call it the blue shack, and that will do nicely. Nothing at this cash-only Venice/Santa Monica taco stand is renegade, or even all that spicy. I fear a hissing shamble of Yelpers--watch out, the Elites are......

An Argentine gentleman I used to work with packed his calabash gourd so densely with yerba maté every morning, the sound of him drawing tea through the dented steel bombilla was audible in the next room. This was the first of perhaps five daily doses; the sack of maté rarely......

Earl's Gourmet Grub celebrated its matriculation from well-trafficked Farmers' Market sandwich stall to full-service retail with a very soft open last week, in a sunny, modern space adjoining Venice Grind coffeehouse. Earl's shares a rear patio, a landlord and clientele with the Mar Vista beanery--the path of travel is such......