Elina Shatkin

The gourmet cupcake bubble should have burst -- long ago. For some reason, it hasn't. New bakeries claiming they specialize in cupcakes seem to pop up every month. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff? How do you know which bakeries are selling desiccated supermarket cupcakes at inflated......

After 16 glorious, fatty months, I'm filing my last story for L.A. Weekly. Instead of a windy "fare thee well" post, I decided to conduct my own exit interview, answering the top 10 questions I am asked. This has been an amazing job, and I was lucky to have it......

We've been fans of Menu Design in America since it came out last autumn. It's big, beautiful and lovingly curated by Taschen editor Jim Heimann, an obsessive menu collector and self-admitted menu thief. Now that we've had time to pore over the book, which features plenty of menus from Los......

We have seen it, the promised land. The soda dispenser of the future. A machine so sleek it should be in a technology museum and so smart it can dispense more sodas than you can imagine. If you haven't tasted Peach Mello Yello or Raspberry Coke Zero, have you truly......

Cooking Crazy Learn about Futurism, Surrealism and the development of French and Italian art in the 19th and 20th centuries by touring LACMA's collection, then heading to Surfas to sip wine and prepare a meal inspired by Salvador Dali's Les Diners de Gala and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's Futurist Cookbook. Welcome......

If nations were built on the Principles of Pie -- flaky crust, freshly made filling, everything baked with dedication and love -- we'd likely have a more contented, albeit fatter, populace. Until then, there's Republic of Pie, a newish North Hollywood cafe. Open since mid-January, the cafe is spacious, warm......

Among the potato chips, soda and lotto tickets at Fujiya Market, you'll find aisles stocked with slabs of fresh tuna, daikon radish, tinned mackerel, ponzu, furikake, natto and a dozen varieties of soy sauce. Located at Clinton and Virgil, a block south of Melrose, Fujiya looks like a typical corner......

Make Leap Day William happy: Buy a Leap Day cocktail and receive a free sidecar created by The Edison's bartenders. Also, 40% discount on cocktails, beer, wine and selected food items. (As with every Wednesday, all wine by the bottle is half-off.) WHEN: 5 - 7 p.m., Feb. 29 WHERE:......

It's not just breakfast all day, it's free breakfast all day today at IHOP, which is offering a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes to each guest from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m in honor of National Pancake Day. In return, diners will be asked to make a voluntary donation......

Some of our favorite young chefs made Zagat's first ever Los Angeles 30 Under 30 list (aka how to make anyone over 30 feel inadequate). The honorees include Nyesha Arrington (Wilshire), Joshua Drew (Farmshop), Jordan Kahn (Red Medicine), Ilan Hall (The Gorbals), Casey Lane (Tasting Kitchen), Craig Thornton (Wolvesmouth), Giselle......