Elina Shatkin

When is a cucumber ever just a cucumber? Maybe when Groucho Marx buys one at the Whole Foods in the sky. No, not even then. And definitely not in Magan & Rodriguez's latest music video. Cucumbers, carrots, bananas, popsicles, licorice. It's a forest of edible phallic symbols as barely-clad cuties......

The day after Thanksgiving, artisan ice cream maker L.A. Creamery opens its first brick-and-mortar location, in the Westfield Topanga Shopping Center. The recipes for the 16-18 daily flavors -- like Bourbon Pecan Pie, Olive Oil & Sea Salt and Cookies & Sweet Cream -- come from Jessica Goryl (formerly of......

What happens when a prominent vegan defects and becomes an ardent omnivore? Death threats, of course. After years of living as a self-professed "vegangelical," Natasha, a well-known vegan blogger at Voracious, ended up with debilitating health problems. Her doctor urged her to incorporate animal products back into her diet. For......

"You're eating what off a truck?" a friend asked when I told him I would be sampling the wares at The Lobsta Truck (@lobstatruck). There's nothing like seafood -- tricky to source, expensive and prone to spoilage -- to fortify or chip way at one's prejudices about food trucks. If......

The second Westside-ish bakery to open in less than a week (along with simplethings), Sweet E's Bakeshop opened last Wednesday near the corner of Pico and Robertson. It's a nice addition to a neighborhood better known for kosher markets than high-end cupcakeries, but there's not much to be excited about......

Boasting the motto "Sandwich, Pie, Done" as well as the sweet and savory pies of chef Carrie Cusack (who you may know from the Eagle Rock, Silver Lake or Sherman Oaks farmers markets), simplethings sandwich & pie shop bakery opened this morning on W. Third St., offering more competition for......

Now that Ben Bailly has left Petrossian to revamp the Culver City Fraiche (which just began serving Sunday brunch yesterday), the West Hollywood caviar hub has brought in Giselle Wellman as executive chef. Formerly of Bouchon Beverly Hills, Jack's La Jolla and Mario Batali's Del Posto in NYC, Wellman's new......

It's not easy being Mäni's. When the café first opened in 1989, it was a rarity, one of few places serving high-end, semi-healthy fare. It may have been the first time I tried a archetypal Los Angeles salad, the stuff on which we Californians are said to subsist: fresh greens,......

Coolio has a fetish -- for cranberry relish. The aging rapper showed up on NPR to sample the "sounds terrible, tastes terrific" relish recipe from Susan Stamberg's mother-in-law. As odd as that may seem, Coolio a.k.a. The Ghetto Gourmet, hosts a popular online cooking show, Cookin' With Coolio, where where......

You say tor-nay-doh, I say tor-nah-doh. You say po-tay-toh, I say po-tah-toh. Let's not call the whole thing off. The tornado potato that's already touched down in Korea and Köln (with pit stops in Minnesota and New Jersey), has finally hit Los Angeles. Roaming our city since at least early......