Joshua Lurie

Fried rice has roots in China and initially provided a way to breathe new life into leftover steamed rice. But that doesn’t mean it's intended to be afterthought. Many Asian restaurants in L.A. take their fried rice seriously, featuring vibrant ingredients prepared in a variety of compelling ways. Follow this......

Micheladas — the savory, often spicy beer cocktails that originated in Mexico — have become increasingly popular and over-the-top in L.A., where you can now find them garnished with shellfish or with sticks of candy. Considering that craft beer is booming in L.A., it's surprising that so few places actually......

Sparr Heights, the sleepy north Glendale neighborhood that straddles Montrose, was apparently in need of a taco shop, and an epic one at that. So local chef Michael Ruiz, who spent the past year cooking Cajun cuisine at Preux & Proper in downtown’s Fashion District, returned to the area to......

Long Beach has plenty of breakfast spots, but none of them take the meal to the extreme that Bigmista’s Morning Wood does. Neil Strawder and his wife, Phyllis, who have filled stomachs at area farmers markets and at their Bigmista’s Barbecue & Sammich Shop, have been going big in the......

At the Original Farmers Market, longtime bartender Jason Bran — formerly of The Roger Room and Tiki No — is applying his knack for mixing and matching liquid flavors to his new juice, smoothie and produce stall called Greenhouse, which he recently opened with partner John Chae. Bran’s juices are......

When longtime video producer Bryan Sharp got an uncharacteristically lucrative gig that afforded him an opportunity to travel overseas, he typed “everywhere” into Skyscanner.com, a travel site that digs up bargain flights around the world. Four days later, he was on a plane to Bangkok, the cheapest international fare at......

Outside of Brent’s Deli or the occasional sushi bar, the San Fernando Valley food scene west of the 405 doesn't get a lot of attention. However people should pay attention to Sarig’s Bakery, which opened last summer in the back of a Northridge strip mall near Tampa Avenue and Roscoe......

Charcuterie is grounded in French and Italian culinary tradition, but Bryant Ng redirects such meaty matters toward Asia. At Cassia, the Santa Monica restaurant he runs with wife Kim Luu-Ng, Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan, the charcuterie platters ($18 to $36) riff on Singaporean bak kwa, and the results are......

Set sail for Melrose, where chef Eric Greenspan has created a garden party–like seafood oasis, Maré, behind Greenspan's Grilled Cheese (you actually have to walk through the grilled cheese shop and into its office to find Maré's unmarked door). The chef isn't known for restraint, and he goes big with......

Doughnuts have become pretty outlandish, what with the rise of cronuts and the emergence of gluttonous oddities such as a fried chicken sandwich served on sliced Krispy Kremes. Now comes Forma, a new restaurant in Santa Monica that's entering the fried-dough fray. This fashionable Italian restaurant on posh Montana Avenue......