Michelle Huneven

Ah, the hip neighborhood cafe, that indigenous institution that springs up whenever a neighborhood has enough bons vivants, flaneurs, breakfasting businessmen, lunching girlfriends, Match.com-ers and cabin-fevered writers to support one. Venice has Axe; Hollywood has Ammo; Silver Lake has the Coffee Table. And now, Highland Park has Camilo’s Cafe. Camilo......

What can you do with a major in history? Many a parent -- and student -- has posed this plaintive question in the course of such a liberal-arts education. One answer, it would seem, is: Go to Los Angeles and open a restaurant. First, history major Suzanne Goin opened Lucques,......

The House Restaurant inhabits an older, hard-used, still handsome Craftsman home on Melrose just east of Vine, which makes it a viable, less pricey alternative to Pinot Hollywood and Les Deux Cafes. Formerly inhabited by Fabiolus, an easy-on-the-budget Italian canteen, the House has been renovated -- walls bathed in a......

When two very different people from different corners of my life urge me to visit the same restaurant, I obey -- largely out of curiosity. In this case, both friends said the same thing, that a new downtown Italian place was grievously empty at night, and most emphatically did not......

Pattaya, the modest new Thai restaurant in a mini-mall on Vermont Avenue just north of Hollywood Boulevard, has a number of things going for it. First of all, it has a parking lot, a true boon in this ever-hippifying neighborhood where spaces are at a premium. Secondly, it opens daily......

Photo by Anne Fishbein In these cooler months — when the temperature dips down below 55, appetites increase, and the need for coziness manifests — there’s nothing like a piping-hot bowl of something braised or simmered or slow-roasted in a big pot for hours. For over a month now, I’ve......

My first visit to Emmanuel, on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, was any diner’s dream. Here it was, a small Cal-French bistro with a professional wait staff, a compelling menu and food that delivered what it promised — and more. “Now,” I thought, “I won’t have to drive all the......

TWO THOUSAND was a quiet year on the dining front, a year of few fireworks. Some great old standbys launched triumphant new spinoffs: Café Talesai in Beverly Hills, Restaurant Katsu in Studio City, Saladang Song right next door to the original Saladang in Pasadena. Talented chefs starting their own ventures......