Elina Shatkin

Aiming to preserve the biodiversity of the world's potato crop, Peruvian farmers yesterday launched a historic collaboration in which they will send 1,500 varieties of potatoes to a remote seed vault. From the potato's ancestral homeland in the Peruvian Andes all the way to the Arctic Circle, six indigenous communities......

Rob Zombie's a freaky guy. Darth Vader's a frightening one. David Lynch is just plain strange. As diverse as these three figures are, they have one venture in common: They have each lent their name to a brand of coffee. Having recently discovered these celebrity roasts, we wondered: How special......

Since it opened nearly two years ago, we've heard nothing but praise for The Bottle Room (@thebottleroom) and its well curated list of local and craft beers (24 on tap and another 60-80 in bottles), but it's not often we're Whittier-adjacent. After trying The Bottle Room's burger, however, we plan......

Chicago-based chef Rick Bayless, who graciously introduced Los Angeles to authentic music right after introducing us to authentic Mexican cuisine, doesn't want a certain Los Angeles blogger to know what he's doing. The blogger in question is Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA, who savaged Red O in his review......

To many of the 276,000 people working the gritty, grueling jobs in Los Angeles' vast restaurant industry, the conclusions of a report released today by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of LA come as no surprise. Long hours, low pay, no health care benefits, no vacation or sick-time. Then there are......

Laurel*, 27, was a short-timer in the restaurant industry. She spent eight to nine months working at a lively neighborhood restaurant and bar while studying for her college degree. She worked part-time -- everyone works part-time, she says -- or about 30 hours per week. She sums up the problems......

"Beef!" "Beef!" "Turkey!" "Beef!" The cries ring out one after another as customers crowd Hole In The Wall Burger Joint at lunchtime. This hidden gem, opened a couple years ago by Bill Dertouzos and his ex-wife Susan McAlindon (they had split well before they went into business together) officially has......

We spend a lot of time, here at Squid Ink, writing about restaurants and their food. How it tastes, how it smells, how it looks. Sometimes, we even talk about where that food comes from. Maybe we celebrate the chef who cooked it. One thing we almost never discuss: The......

Smokin' Willie's (@smokinwillies) has existed as a truck since at least last summer, but it's been in business as a producer of bottled sauces, books and grilling equipment since 2005. (1999, if you count their first aborted attempt to mass-produce and sell their sauce.) The truck's namesake, Bill "Smokin Willie"......