Elina Shatkin

Like Alton Brown, we abhor single-use utensils, but the science of kitchen gadgetry (not to mention the power of advertising) is all about convincing you to buy useless products to solve problems you don't really have. In that vein, we present our version of a holiday gift guide, for the......

If it seemed like Tokyo 7-7 was the diner that time forgot, well, time finally remembered. One of the last outposts of pre-gentrification Culver City, Tokyo 7-7 Diner, will be closing its doors on December 18th after 27 years in business. Sad day. $3 breakfasts. $5 lunches. Gone. Hidden from......

Offering modern spins on classic Italian cocktails, Bar Toscana, the brainchild of Italians William Perbellini and Francesco Lafranconi, is set to open in Brentwood on December 10th. In contrast to the dark, shoebox-sized, wood-paneled speakeasy vibe that's been the rage these last couple years, Bar Toscana -- located next to......

Farmers market favorite Carmela Ice Cream is back after a brief shut-down -- and this time founder Jessica Mortarotti has a brick-and-mortar creamery that set to open within the next two to three weeks. The Carmela Artisanal Ice Creamery, nestled in northeastern Pasadena, will churn out and sell the the......

Obika Mozzarella Bar, which turns cheese-eating into a religion with its "globes of cheese" floating "like Jeff Koons basketballs," has opened a new church. Like its first location, opened a few months ago in the Century City mall, this one opened last Friday in the Beverly Center......

Like the profoundest of profound intellectual quandaries, the latke vs. hamantash debate may never be fully resolved. Since 1946, when Hillel House at University of Chicago sponsored the first annual debate pitting potato pancakes against triangular cookies, great minds -- like Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman and academic Allan Bloom......

Update: I spoke to Ricardo Zarate, who says he has absolutely NOT signed a lease on a new location for Mo-Chica. When he does, it will probably be to open a second location but not to close down the first. The leak was the work of an over-eager real estate......

A roundup of food events happening in Los Angeles this weekend, December 3-6, 2010. First Fridays: There may or may not be food trucks at this installment of the popular street event, held the first Friday of each month. Fri., Dec. 3, 6-10 p.m. Abbot Kinney. (Venice) Eat My Blog......

Yes, Repeal Day is a holiday ginned up by reps for liquor companies. That doesn't mean we won't celebrate it. To be clear: December 5th marks the official end of Prohibition, the day when Utah, the last holdout of strong pro-Prohibition sentiment, finally ratified the 21st Amendment. That's how strongly......

Los Angeles, which seems to offer every iteration and regional culinary specialty of Mexico, may not need a festival like Taste of Mexico, but between need and desire lies a vast gulf. In this case, it's filled with tequila. And mescal and beer. And Oaxacan tlayudas, Guerreran ceviche verde and......