Melissa Caskey

Mirabelle Restaurant is going all out to celebrate its 40th year in business on the Sunset Strip with live music, a red carpet and celebrities. But this won't be a party just for the sake of partying: Owner George Germanides is teaming with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and donating all the......

What do Steve Jobs, Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Chew have in common? They'll each be recognized during the next annual Taste Awards. Contrary to the name, the award ceremony, held January's 3rd in Hollywood, honors not just food but style and home lifestyle programming in television, movies, radio......

Former "Next Iron Chef" contestant and renowned L.A. chef Andrew Kirschner is set to open his first restaurant by December 1. Tar and Roses on Santa Monica Blvd., between 5th and 6th streets, will house a highly touted wood-burning oven, which should make for some earthy, rustic flavoring. Some restaurants......

An 18-course truffle dinner for $350, a multi-chef foie gras feast for $175. What's next? A $100 truffle burger. Last week, Umami debuted the MNO Burger, as in "Money is No Object." Created by Umami owner Adam Fleischman, the MNO Burger is a variation on the ever-expanding chain's truffle burger,......

Magic Castle officials announced via Twitter that they hoped to be back in business by Friday night. They should know more in the next two days about the attic fire that erupted yesterday, just before 12:45 p.m., according to our sister blog, The Informer. The Los Angeles Fire Department was......

Starting tomorrow, four L.A. restaurants will participate in Tasting Table's 10-day "Haute Lunch" promotion, offering a prix-fixe two-course lunch for $20. (Pay with a Chase Sapphire credit card, and they'll thrown in dessert.) The promo, which runs Nov. 1-11, includes Lucques, Cube Cafe & Marketplace, Mezze and The Spice Table......

Next time you pour a glass of bubbly, or crack open a can of PBR, or bust into a bottle of Two Buck Chuck, consider reaching for a strawberry. Though heavy drinking may lead to stomach damage, a new European study shows that strawberries can help protect and lessen the......

A new lawsuit accuses water bottle companies of lying to consumers in California when labeling their plastic products as "100 percent biodegradable and recyclable." State Attorney General Kamala D. Harris names three companies in the "greenwashing" suit, filed in Orange County Superior Court earlier today. State law forbids companies from......

Stay away from high schoolers in Boston who drink more than five cans of soda every week. A Boston-area study found that teens who consumed five or more sodas in a week had a higher tendency for violence. They were also more likely to have consumed alcohol or smoked within......

Got a frenemy you've always wanted to throw things at? Invite them to this weekend's Tomato Battle to engage a violent tomato war. The price is a bit steep ($59.99, or $39.99 if you enter the promo code "club tomato"), but the event's charity partner is the Los Angeles Food......