Elina Shatkin

Why does anyone need 16 amaros? "A man needs choices every once in a while," says bartender extraordinaire, Julian Cox, whose cocktail menu for Sotto, which should officially open to the public next Wednesday, is designed around Italian liquors like sambucca, Campari and grappa. Look for an amaro daiquiri made......

Fig & Olive, which recently opened in the former Republic (or Bliss) space at La Cienega and Melrose, kicks off its lunch service today. Weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., the mega-Mediterranean olive oil haven now offers a menu of "French Riviera-inspired items" (we love press release-speak!) from exec......

On March 27th, Osteria La Buca will close -- but only for nine days as the Italian eatery, "a bastion of new-generation Italian comfort food" with a secretly great lunchtime burger expands into a vacated space that adjoins the its eastern wall. Designd by Brendan Ravenhill, guests will be greeted......

More news you definitely cannot use but need to read: --Tapatio-flavored Fritos debuting in 2 weeks! --Bill Buford's Heat, about his year as Mario Batali's kitchen slave, got a film deal. --Tap rooms, bars, lives bands -- the grocery store is the hot new hangout. --Taco Madness -- the official......

When it opens on April 4th, City Tavern will boast 22 beer taps stocked solely with California microbrews like Port Brewing Co, Bear Republic, Eagle Rock Brewery, Craftsman, Telegraph and Iron Fist. The strangest element in the 2,400 square-foot bar may be the three Table Tap booths, equipped with a......

If it does nothing else, Modernist Cuisine, an epic, six-book set that weighs 39.5 pounds and boasts 1,522 recipes, will, at least, supplant the vague, widely disliked term "molecular gastronomy" with "modernist." But its funder, Nathan Myhrvold, thinks it has a loftier purpose. Modernist Cuisine is the culmination of a......

Moments ago, the James Beard Foundation announced the finalists for the 2011 JBF Awards, often called the Oscars of the food world. Los Angeles nominees include: --Michael Cimarusti (Providence) for Best Chef (Pacific) --Suzanne Goin (Lucques) for Outstanding Chef --Dahlia Narvaez (Osteria Mozza) for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Announced in February,......

Less than half an hour ago, the James Beard Foundation announced the nominees for the 2011 JBF Journalism Awards, and the Weekly's own Jonathan Gold earned two nods (for Food-Related Feature and for the M.F.K. Fisher award) as did Los Angeles magazine restaurant critic Patric Kuh, who was nominated for......

We were as confused as some of our readers when we read, last week on Eater LA, that La Bottega Marino in Beverly Hills would soon be closing. So we called owner Sal Marino. He says, unequivocally, the rumor is untrue. "It's completely false. I have no idea where it......