Kathy A. McDonald

Why not try an Italian wine with Thanksgiving dinner? Consider that most L.A. Thanksgiving dinners break away from the traditional heavier dishes of the East Coast and Midwest. It's highly doubtful that the cousins in Kansas are serving anything akin to Ammo's take home menu, featuring charcuterie plates as starters......

As every schoolgirl -- the presumed reader of The Twilight Saga books -- knows, vampires don't eat prepared food. A bit of a challenge for Monday night's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1 premiere organizers. Why? Because a film's look almost always inspires the after party's theme and......

Another celebratory day for an alcoholic drink: October 1 is traditionally known as National Sake Day in Japan and marks the official start of the sake brewing season. For us in the U.S., with only a handful of domestic sake makers, it is becoming an opportunity to expand knowledge of......

Is Silverlake Wine a religion? Consider what makes it so: Devoted followers, a weekly schedule and a straight-up welcoming-to-all philosophy of no pretension at this neighborhood wine shop that specializes in small production boutique wineries. After eight years, Silverlake Wine tastings have a set ritual. Monday night is the most......

The service doesn't just hop at Bottega Louie. It skips, jumps and pirouettes as a platoon of nattily dressed servers, runners, ballet-slippered hostesses and suited managers race across the marble floors. The energetic staff has a professional attitude and actual skills, both old school and uncommon to experience. No question......

To coincide with the fall outdoor theater performances of SITI Company's Trojan Women (After Euripides) -- the classic Greek tragedy, not an expose of USC sorority girls -- the Getty Villa's restaurant is serving dinner. Typically the scenic café is open only for lunch while the upstairs more formal Founder's......

These days, every foodstuff or drink gets a day in its honor. Did you know there's a National Pecan Cookie day (September 21)? One guess on how to observe either National Guacamole Day (September 16) or National Beer Day (April 7th). Joining these food holidays, in September, California wine will......

Free-range zebras, undeveloped California coastline as far as the eye can see and an epic house museum: Welcome to the Hearst Ranch Winery's neighborhood. Few California wineries can compete with the tasting room's charming location, in an historic old San Simeon building shaded by a grove of eucalyptus, across from......

Memphis, North Carolina, Kansas City, Texas and Santa Maria--all are barbecue styles; only one is native to California. Traced to early ranchers and vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) of the 1800s Central Coast, Santa Maria barbecue is traditionally grilled meat cooked over native red oak. Today, many restaurants are dedicated practitioners of......