Elina Shatkin

Fish kidney curry from Jitlada. We bet neither Leo Bloom nor James Joyce ever tried this.; Credit: Jo Stougaard/My Last Bite

Bloomsday Breakfast: Mutton Kidney in the Morning

Elina Shatkin
It's 8 a.m., June 16th, 1904, and at 7 Eccles Street in Dublin, Leopold Bloom, the wandering hero of Ulysses, is contemplating a breakfast of offal, which we know all about thanks to James Joyce's piquant description: Mr. Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls......
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30 Scoops in 30 Days: Gelato Bar (Day 11)

Elina Shatkin
It's both cruel and practical that Gelato Bar limits customers to three samples. Otherwise, we'd probably be lolling at the counter and annoying the clerks as we taste our way through the shop's repertoire of dense, Italian-themed gelato flavors. Owned by Gail Silverton (sister of Mozza's pizza queen Nancy), Gelato......
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¡Viva Sangrita! Contest at The Edison Tonight

Elina Shatkin
Largely unknown outside of Mexico, sangrita is a tart, red, spicy drink not to be confused with sangria. Customarily served with a shot of tequila, the classic Mexican cocktail whose name means "little blood," finally gets its due. Tonight at The Edison, a trio of high-flying bartenders known as The......
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Picca: A Sneak Peek into Ricardo Zarate's New Restaurant

Elina Shatkin
Picca, Ricardo Zarate's west LA version of a Latin American cantina, opens June 25th. Where Mo-Chica is classic Peruvian food, Picca is decidedly modern, driven by small plates with a heavy Japanese influence. The menu is split into five sections, weighted toward causas shaped like sushi nigiri and ceviches presented......
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30 Scoops in 30 Days: Kind Kreme (Day 10)

Elina Shatkin
We went vegan once, for about three months in college, mostly because our roommates bet us we couldn't do it. We ended up living on a diet of potato tacos and Snyder's of Hanover hard pretzels dipped into peanut butter. (Anyone who automatically equates veganism with health ought to spend......
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Chowda! Judging the West Coast Chowder Competition

Elina Shatkin
We have but one stomach to give for our job. Asked to participate in numerous events, sacred and profane, we mostly decline. But when we heard the word "chowder" and "judge," -- in the same sentence, no less -- we began doing situps and working on our Mayor Quimby accent......
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30 Scoops in 30 Days: Rite Aid (Day 9)

Elina Shatkin
Aside from Sun Chips and soda, Rite Aid's most noteworthy gastronomic feature (read: its only noteworthy gastronomic feature) is its ice cream bar. In specific, the Chocolate Malted Krunch (alternate spelling: Chocolate Malted Crunch), a flavor found nowhere else on earth, as far as we know......
Beechwood (left) and chef Jamie Lauren (right)

Roy Choi Takes Over Beechwood Kitchen; Jamie Lauren Out

Elina Shatkin
Kogi, Chego and A-Frame impresario Roy Choi can add one more restaurant to his resumé: Beechwood. We heard about this a couple weeks ago, but now it's official. Chef Jamie Lauren is out and Choi is in at the sleek New American restaurant in Venice. Owner Dave Reiss has asked......
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30 Scoops in 30 Days: Saffron & Rose (Day 8)

Elina Shatkin
The most famous Persian ice creamery in Los Angeles is Mashti Malone's, but the best Persian ice cream actually comes from Saffron & Rose, a colorful shop in the heart of Little Tehran (a.k.a. Westwood Boulevard between Olympic and Wilshire), where they serve a particularly gooey and glutinous version of......
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Food Truck Friday: The Greasy Wiener (No, Not Anthony)

Elina Shatkin
New York congressional rep Anthony isn't the only wiener grabbing headlines these days, though he may be the greasiest. There's the New Jersey fried hot dog, something The Greasy Wiener truck (@thegreasywiener) claims as its specialty. The long thin dogs, reminiscent of the ones at LA's newly opened Papaya King,......