Los Angeles Restaurants

Chopped Viewing with Brandon Boudet Chef Brandon Boudet of Little Dom's, Dominick's, Tom Bergin's Tavern, and 101 Coffee Shop participated as a contestant on the high-intensity Food Network sho...

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With Los Angeles voters deciding on three ballot measures today (D, E and F) regulating marijuana dispensaries, here's some food for thought: Pigs fed marijuana stems, roots and leaves on a far...

Food GPS - Food. Drinks. People. You wanted the best? You got the best! KISS frontmen Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have helmed one of the most bombastic rock bands in history, so it comes as no surprise that their restaurant efforts would be similarly grand. On May 8, they helped Rock & Brews partners Michael Zislis and Dave Furano launch a Torrance branch, which is #3 in a projected 100-link chain of rock-themed biergartens that will fan out from Southern California over the next five years. At the Torrance opening, which generated funds for the Wounded Warrior Project, Simmons and Stanley shared insights into their efforts as restaurateurs. At what point did you know you would become restaurateurs? Paul Stanley: Well, I’ve always been a foodie. The struggle’s always been not to be a fattie. But at the same time, I think your palate develops as you get older, and one thing you find and that becomes apparent, is that you don’t die. In other words, you don’t want to compromise your food, you don’t want to compromise the experience of the food, and what Rock & Brews allows you to do is be in an atmosphere that’s comfortable, and also bring your kids, and have food that arguably you would be very proud to serve at home. We really are about the total experience, with family, but also a place that you can go at night to have a date, get out with your friends, and again, have one of the 80+ craft beers, artisan pizzas, it’s really about the food and the atmosphere. How involved are the two of you in the food, design and drinks at Rock & Brews? Gene Simmons: Actually quite a bit. We, above and beyond the community aspect of it, we talk about the kinds of foods that appeal to local tastes. For instance this morning we were talking to our chef about how Hawaii is not the same thing as Los Angeles. Paul was suggesting that we choose things about the menu that make it more aligned. What were you suggesting? Paul Stanley: Just talking about expanding the menu… We want to make sure that the experience feels great, but not strange. Not just having weird food in the name of expanding the culinary variety is ridiculous. We’re sticking with real steak… Mayo? Yeah, you can have mayo, but how about a great aioli? How about a great beer? Beer has become like wine, people now talk about the notes, they talk about how it affects your palate, about the finish. We’ve got beer, again, and we’ve got everything that celebrates the music that is classic rock. The reason it’s classic is because it’s classic. It’s classic in the way that Beethoven is classic. So, this is a way you can go with your friends, you can also bring your kids and say, “This is what I grew up with.” There have been other restaurants, obviously, that have been around for decades, and perhaps what we’re doing, is celebrating the present by acknowledging the past, as opposed to living in the past. This isn’t a museum. This isn’t a mortuary. You’re not going to find costumes and guitars and that kind of stuff. This is about today, living today and acknowledging where we all came from and what we love. Gene Simmons: I just want to say that we don’t worry about anything else except running our race. When you’re running a race, don’t look over your shoulder to see what anybody else is doing. Just be the best that you can be. It’s the same philosophy that we have as a band, as individuals, you’ve got to do something you’re proud of, so this encompasses a lot of different things. If you look around, by the way, besides the gluten free pizzas, and the gluten free beers, and the craft beers and how many choices, how cool is it to be able to sit here – this [booth with four tap handles] is electronically designed, so that it’s its own entity – so you can decide to pour your own beers. You swipe your card and you can make it a real experience, above and beyond the food, beyond the community, you want to be able to see your kids outside, the cool people in here,

There was a lot of speculation about what would become of the space formerly known as Playa on Beverly Boulevard when the restaurant closed earlier in March. About a week and a half ago, restau...

The future very rarely produces what we expect it to, or what we are lead to believe it might produce by science fiction writers. Where are the flying cars? The teleporters? But instant, from-t...

May is burger month, so it seems almost obligatory that Squid Ink get around to one of those "Best of" lists. But after eating 30 burgers in 30 days, declaring our favorite upscale burger and cho...

Sometimes the ramen gods hear you, don't they. Tsujita Annex, the little ivy-covered outpost of the larger Tsujita L.A. ramen palace across Sawtelle Blvd., opened recently serving big bowls of ...

On June 18, Wolfgang Puck will team up with New York superstar chef David Chang (of Momofuku fame and this year's recipient of the James Beard Outstanding Chef award) and Roy Choi to host a che...

Food GPS - Food. Drinks. People. $5.50 for a kouign amann?! Culinary legend Thomas Keller charges a mere $4 for the Brittany inspired baked good in Beverly Hills, yet Les Madeleines proprietor Romina Rasmussen has the gall to charge $5.50 for an equivalent version in the sleepy flats of Salt Lake City. Sure, Keller and his vaunted crew have crafted a great version with buttery layers of pastry and a caramelized sugar shell. However, it’s the Les Madeleines version, which is somehow spelled Kouing Aman, that I’d be more inclined to repeat. Her [queen] features a thin, crisp coating, and flaky, pull apart layers of concentric pastry that clearly contain butter, but don’t come off as too rich or sweet. Rasmussen even turns the pastry into bread pudding, which from the looks of it, would probably defeat the purpose of her initial restraint. Food of the Week: Les Madeleines Kouign Amann