Tien Nguyen

Next weekend, April 30th through May 1st, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books celebrates the book. You know, those text-y files you download and read on your Kindle or iPad or, as they were once known, those pieces of papers inked on both sides with words, bound together between......

It's hard to believe it's been only been a year since Roy Choi and the Kogi crew opened up Chego, Choi's version of Los Angeles expressed through bowls of rice smattered with the diverse flavors of the city. After doing the food-truck-as-bar-food thing at the Alibi Room, Choi moved into......

This was far, far more exciting than UConn v. Butler: this past Friday, the Baja-style meat tacos of Mexicali Taco Company bested the seafood tacos of Mariscos Jalisco in LA Taco's NCAA-March Madness style Taco Madness 2011 and was crowned king of LA taco-dom. At times, the spread was less......

In the history of barters, there have been a few notables: a red paper clip for a house. Fifteen million dollars, Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, and three first round picks for Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorley, and Mike Krushelnyski ("The Trade"). A beautiful scarf for a dirty old dust cloth. To......

A few days ago, we listed 10 Places to Get a Damn Good Cup of Coffee. As many of you pointed out (passionately) in our comments, however, there are coffee shops not on the list that also make a great cup. And so, for your handy reference, we mapped L.A.'s......

Intelligentsia's founder, Doug Zell, told us in 2009 that "LA got a later start in terms of the very best coffee can offer, but they seem to be embracing it with the religious zeal of a convert." The conversion didn't happen overnight, but the good word has finally spread. Coffee......

In the first part of our interview with Ricky Piña, the guy behind Ricky's Fish Tacos told us about growing up in Ensenada, learning how to cook from his mother and grandmother, and going back and forth between Los Angeles and Baja before finally settling in Los Angeles in 2004......

Ricky Piña is the "Ricky" in "Ricky's Fish Tacos," who, according to some, slings the best fish and shrimp tacos this side of Baja. When Ricky tweets his hours -- currently Thursday through Sunday, around 11:30 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. -- a line of people shows up at......

The stretch of Main Street between Union Station and the UPS facility where you go to pick up packages after Brown Shorts thrice refuses to leave your package at the door while you're at work is pretty much unremarkable save for LAX-C (a by-the-bulk Asian grocery store) and a row......