Besha Rodell

Exploring the LAPL menu collection is an ongoing project in which we'll take a close look at the menus owned by the Los Angeles Public Library. Read about the project here. It's amazing how often menus discovered in the LAPL menu collection narrate the history of Los Angeles. Today we......

Hooray! Today is National Food Day! A day that we all celebrate ... food! Right? OK, OK, hold up. Really? National Food Day? Is this like, the all-encompassing version of National Hot Dog Day and National Ice Cream Day and all those other days that were dreamt up by some......

Test Kitchen was born in August 2010. Located in the lower level of Townhouse, the restaurant that would become Sotto and Picca, it was a culinary experiment, a rotating pop-up that featured different chefs and menus every night. During its 2010 run, from August to December, Test Kitchen held dinners......

The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Michael Voltaggio, chef and owner of ink. When he answers the phone, Michael Voltaggio is somewhere on the East Coast, cooking at an event with chefs......

Umami Burger's Pasadena location opened yesterday, making it the 14th location of the chain -- if you count Umamicatessen. The original opening date had been slated for Oct. 17, but it seems that the restaurant took a little longer than expected to come together......

Every vegetarian knows that there are some restaurants that simply aren't for them. I hate to say it, because the dinners at the Scuola di Pizza (the subject of this week's restaurant review) are some of the most fun around, but this is one of those places. The focus is......

This week's restaurant review takes a look at the Scuola di Pizza, and in particular its Thursday night salumi bar, a project by chef Chad Colby that will go from one to four nights a week in January. We hope you'll find time to read the review in its entirety,......

Ludo Lefebvre is a busy dude. His restaurant collaboration with Animal chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo is set to open in the next few months, with a possible fried chicken concept to follow. And his new cookbook, LudoBites, hit shelves last week. In celebration of the new book, we......

There are plenty of opinions out there about trends that are played out. People are sick of small plates. Down with communal tables. Recently, there was even an internet screed against bar food (what's up with that?). All of this is basically a backlash against trends in dining in general......