Margy Rochlin

If you've never heard of Erik Black's small batch BBQ outfit, Ugly Drum, check out its Facebook page. There, you'll see close-ups of big peppery slabs of ribs or Ugly Drum partner Joe Marcos standing sentry over pieces of slow cooking chicken; in one photo, long ropes of hot links......

It's easy to embrace FX's atmospheric new series The Bridge as a darkly compelling crime drama. But the part we love, the part that makes The Bridge feel so exotic, is how vividly it captures life on the U.S.-Mexico border. Set in the neighboring towns of El Paso and Cuidad......

If you read our earlier interview with Orange is the New Black's Kate Mulgrew, you'd know that her character, inmate cook Galina "Red" Reznikov, feels that improvising recipes is beneath her. But back when the real-life Piper Kerman, author of the memoir OITNB is based on, was doing time at......

Even if you've only watched a couple episodes of Netflix's new women-in-prison series, Orange Is the New Black, one fleeting glance at a group shot of the ensemble of Jenji Kohan's comedy-drama based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name and you will remember Galina "Red" Reznikov. She's the......

Food isn't at the center of Ivy Pochoda's Visitation Street. The Brooklyn-born novelist's latest is about the soul of a tight community, the forestalling of grief and the human need for companionship, all folded into a mysterious tale about two teenage girls who float into the upper New York bay......

Cleveland-born filmmaker Jason Wise was a part-time bartender and film student at Chapman college the first time he heard of the title of Master Sommelier, and of the three-part final exam one must pass to join the ranks of the London-based Court of Master Sommeliers. But when a friend of......

What is it about Christy Wilhelmi's three-minute tip-of-the-week podcast Gardenerd that makes it feel like essential listening? Is it that it's so short and informative? Or maybe that Wilhelmi's pealing bell voice makes everything garden-related -- even getting rid of pesky powdery mildew -- sound easy? Whatever it is, just......

Back in 2011, when it seemed like the entire Bay Area was seized with Chez Panisse 40th anniversary fever, Hong Kong-born, San Francisco-based filmmaker Wayne Wang (Chan Is Missing, Joy Luck Club, Smoke) asked Chez Panisse's founder, Alice Waters, if there was a role he could play. Waters suggested Wang......

When it comes to knowing Los Angeles' food mainstays, those who are visiting for the first time could do themselves a big favor by studying episodes of TNT's Southland (which also happens to be the best cop show on television). There are a handful of main characters on this Peabody......

See also: L.A.'s Wine Bars Are Better Than Ever. Here Are Our Seven Favorites Lou Amdur, may have sold his cozy, Laundromat-and-Thai massage parlor adjacent Hollywood strip mall wine bar, LOU, last March. But he still has that gift for being able to effortlessly hold forth on all things wine......