Elina Shatkin

Angelenos have three new bars they can hit this weekend: The Churchill, Oldfield's Liquor Room and the Hollywood Magic Bar. (The opening of Josef Centeno's new restaurant, Bäco Mercat, has, sadly, been delayed until sometime in early November.) The Churchill: Over in Mid-City West (Are we really calling it that?......

A one-cent per-pound increase in the price of tomatoes may not mean much to most consumers, but to many of the workers who pick these tomatoes -- a physically exhausting job with no health benefits, overtime or sick pay -- it would go a long way toward improving their working......

In this town, stories about John Travolta and food are as ubiquitous as threadbare casting couches and sitcoms about schlubby Neanderthals married to improbably hot women. Still, this tidbit should have a place of honor in the annals of Travolta Trivia. The 57-year-old actor was in West Sussex this past......

Is it a prop from the latest Terminator reboot or the famous ice pick Sharon Stone used in Basic Instinct. Neither. It's the Corkcicle, a faux ice pick that you chill in your freezer then pop into your wine bottle......

Tomato Battle SoCal Put on your oldest, grubbiest red t-shirt for what promises to be Southern California's largest fruit fight. Throw tomatoes with wild abandon, but remember: All tomato acceleration such as water balloon launchers, tennis ball throwers and rackets are banned. Where: L.A. County Fairgrounds, Pomona When: noon -......

After 38 years in business, popular Los Feliz health food store Nature Mart will close on November 1st, reports Echo Park Patch. Founded by Matt Huupponen in 1973, the store known for its array of bulk food items, fresh fruit and vegetables and freshly pressed wheatgrass juice, has reportedly lost......

In terms of risk-to-reward ratio, the Virginia Avenue Project's annual raffle is tops. A $5 ticket enters you in a drawing to win 52 restaurant gift certificates. Yes, 52. That's one gift certificate for each week of the year. And they're good: Picca, Craft, Katsuya, Border Grill, Osteria La Buca,......

To celebrate its 1-year anniversary, The Dog Haus in Pasadena is giving away free hot dogs tomorrow, October 20th. The gourmet hot dog shop is doing so well, owners Hagop Giragossian, Quasim Riaz, André Vener and Robert and Denise Zeilstra plan to open two more locations by the end of......

Over at the Whole Foods mothership on Lincoln Avenue in Venice, things are not only getting real in the parking lot, they're getting real in the dairy section. Somebody at the store has gone to amazing lengths to create this fantastic cheese sculpture: A profile of the rare cheddar bat......

When a libation comes along trying so desperately to be chic and using more food-industry clichés than the most purple press release, we have to give it a shot. 12 Noon to Midnight (or 12NtM as the kid's aren't calling it) is "all natural," "chef crafted" and "a signature part......