Elina Shatkin

Instead of sipping a gin and tonic, why not down it as a powder, a custard or a gel? At a Grant Achatz lecture, followed by dinner and a 50-foot-long dessert that could have doubled as a Slip 'N Slide, the Chicago chef revealed some of his techniques for creating......

After eight surreal courses and their equally inventive cocktails, I wasn't sure how, or even if, chef Grant Achatz could top himself with dessert. It turns out the dessert was his pièce de résistance, the most elaborate and interactive dish of the evening -- and the most fun since we......

Frozen and chewy. Hot and cold. Chef Grant Achatz is a master of surprise when it comes to the juxtaposition of unexpected flavors, textures and scents. At his acclaimed Chicago restaurant Alinea, it's nearly always omakase, a baroque tasting menu designed to startle the palate and please it in unusual......

The strangest thing that happened in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday night wasn't the flurry of Manny Pacquaio's six-punch combos. Or the way the Philippine powerhouse turned Antonio Margarito's face into a sack of swollen hamburger meat. That was predictable. It was Jesus Soto-Karass, who jogged into the arena for an......

Long before Yelp and other online restaurant sites were all still twinkles in computer programmers' eyes, Zagat was using the power of the hive-mind to create definitive restaurant guides that were local, social and portable. That's all over. When it came to migrating the brand to the web, founders Nina......

Cementing its reputation as a haven of well-intentioned but noxious intolerance, San Francisco's board of supervisors recently approved an ordinance banning toys in children's meals that exceed 600 calories. The measure didn't explicitly refer to McDonald's or Happy Meals. It didn't have to. Apparently, the problem isn't the prevalence of......

Sometimes you want pie, sometimes you want ice cream and sometimes, no matter how much you want them together, you don't want to eat them à la mode. That's when I reach not for my revolver but for the pie shake at Polly's Bakery Cafe, which is a bit like......

When our Denver cousin Cafe Society ran an interview with chef Scott Parker of Table 6, they talked about all sorts of interesting things: kohlrabi, deep-fried organic rosebuds, alleged salt allergies. But all anyone cares about are Parker's comments pertaining to a certain website that rhymes with kelp. When asked......

In case you thought KFC's Double Down didn't have enough calories, here comes Burger King's NY Pizza Burger. Composed of four Whoppers topped with pepperoni, mozzarella and marinara sauce on a massive 9.5-inch sesame seed bun, this culinary Frankenstein is cut into six pizza-style slices. A mere serving (one slice)......

Welcome to a new feature here at LA Weekly: Eat This Now. As the name implies, it's a quick bite of gluttony -- and glory. One dish. One idea. It's what you should be eating... now. (Plus, it opens the door to another recurring feature: Please, Don't Eat This Now.)......