Tracy Chabala

Perhaps you aren't familiar with urfa biber, a Turkish chili redolent of chocolate and raisins, which works spicy wonders in homemade brownies or the morning's coffee brew. Or maybe you didn't know that it's possible to buy dried and ground jalapeño that isn't smoked (unlike the ubiquitous chipotle, a dried......

The lassi, a chilled yogurt drink born in the Punjab region of India, has been dubbed the world's oldest smoothie. Though it originated as a savory beverage -- a salted yogurt-milk with a few spices such as cumin -- its sweet counterparts have gained more popularity here in the West,......

Let's play a game. What can you buy for 35 cents in Los Angeles? Not the L.A. Times, not a first-class stamp -- maybe a gumball in one of those machines outside of Ralphs? Your options are pretty limited on this piddly budget, unless you head over to Diddy Riese,......

You've been in the can for 31 years. You're 60+ years old with no work history -- unless you count restaurant robbery as business experience -- and you've got nowhere to go, no money (since you didn't pay into Social Security) and no people skills. Sure, you know how to......

The Liège waffle (gaufre Liège) is unlike any other waffle on earth. Indigenous to Belgium, they're denser and sweeter than their ubiquitous cousin -- the fluffy Brussels-style waffle that pops up at every Mother's Day brunch at the local Hilton hotel. Liège dough (not batter) is yeasty and filled with......

These days, a maple bacon doughnut is about unexpected as the standard rainbow-sprinkled variety -- and in the midst of the red velvet craze, it's not surprising to find a fried rendition of the ruby cake amongst the glazed, the twisted, and the old-fashioned. Still, though L.A. has been dubbed......

Oh, the empanada, that lovely pan-Latin hot pocket of goodness. Some argue the only true empanada is a fried empanada, while others argue that the best empanadas are baked. Both are delicious, any of us will agree, but in the spirit of health, happiness and freedom from free radicals, here......

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 3), we'll be bringing you periodic lists of some of the best things we've found to eat and drink around town. Ice cream sandwiches and bowls of tsukemen, fish tacos and dan dan mien, cups of boba and......