Los Angeles Restaurants

Food GPS - Food. Drinks. People. Do you remember the days when ceviche was confined to seafood in Los Angeles? Me neither. I was lucky enough to have a front row seat for ceviche variations featuring beef and duck at Ceviche Nights, and ...
Food GPS - Food. Drinks. People. Do you remember the days when ceviche was confined to seafood in Los Angeles? Me neither. I was lucky enough to have a front row seat for ceviche variations featuring beef and duck at Ceviche Nights, and the boundary bending continues in Mid-City at Petty Cash Taqueria, where chef Walter Manzke is front and center and one of his ceviche dishes showcases Cook Ranch Pork ($9). Petty Cash, which previously housed Playa and has Bill Chait and John Sedlar as partners, came together quickly. Manzke traveled to Manila to help his family open a second Wildflour café. Within two weeks, architect Osvaldo Maiozzi executed Manzke’s vision for “East LA meets 1980s Tijuana.” They stripped down the space, adding a RETNA wall mural sporting the colors of the Mexican flag, decorative steel beams and clusters of drop down lightbulbs. Some people might be intimidated by the prospect of “raw” pork, but we’re a long way from the Middle Ages, or even 1881, when trichinosis was still a concern. At Petty Cash, the lime-cured pork is premium, sliced from Cook Ranch pigs that feed on macadamia nuts just outside Julian. The tender meat arrives in rosy cubes, graced with creamy chunks of avocado, and delivering a united tang from pickled Fresno chile strips, tomatillo, and pickled red onions. Scallions and nopales cubes provide textural contrast, and a judicious amount of chile oil rounds out the flavor profile. If anything, people might find the dish was relatively tame. Well, at least compared to the chapulines and raicilla, which we also dispensed with at a communal table, Beastie Boys blasting in the background. Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week. Dose of Vitamin P: Petty Cash Taqueria Cook Ranch Pork Ceviche
about 6 hours ago
Paiche just opened in Marina del Rey and I swung by a couple of weeks ago to check out dinner and drinks. Paiche from the chef Ricardo Zarate is billed as a Peruvian… Read More →
Paiche just opened in Marina del Rey and I swung by a couple of weeks ago to check out dinner and drinks. Paiche from the chef Ricardo Zarate is billed as a Peruvian… Read More →
about 8 hours ago
I’ve noticed En Sushi for years in Los Feliz but never checked it out until I found myself in the area recently for lunch. We wanted something simple and light and sushi sounded… Read More →
I’ve noticed En Sushi for years in Los Feliz but never checked it out until I found myself in the area recently for lunch. We wanted something simple and light and sushi sounded… Read More →
about 8 hours ago
      The Eventbrite Blogger Tour continues for the month of May with two events. I checked out Cheese 101 at Andrew’s Cheese Shop a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t grow… Read More →
      The Eventbrite Blogger Tour continues for the month of May with two events. I checked out Cheese 101 at Andrew’s Cheese Shop a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t grow… Read More →
about 9 hours ago
I had a chance to nab my noodles partner for a meal before she headed to London for a trip. We chose Nha Trang, a Vietnamese cafe with a 5-item menu. Well, that’s… Read More →
I had a chance to nab my noodles partner for a meal before she headed to London for a trip. We chose Nha Trang, a Vietnamese cafe with a 5-item menu. Well, that’s… Read More →
about 9 hours ago
It’s been a couple of years since I last went to Wat Dong Moon Lek. It’s taken over the space next door and didn’t seem as cute and funky this time around. However,… Read More →
It’s been a couple of years since I last went to Wat Dong Moon Lek. It’s taken over the space next door and didn’t seem as cute and funky this time around. However,… Read More →
about 9 hours ago
Food GPS - Food. Drinks. People. At Pebble Beach Food & Wine, I asked 14 chefs several cultural questions, including: What was the last museum you visited? Their answers might surprise you. Geoffrey Zakarian (The Lambs Club, The Nat...
Food GPS - Food. Drinks. People. At Pebble Beach Food & Wine, I asked 14 chefs several cultural questions, including: What was the last museum you visited? Their answers might surprise you. Geoffrey Zakarian (The Lambs Club, The National Bar & Dining Rooms, The Water Club, Ocean Blue) The last museum I visited was with my daughters. We went to the Museum of Modern Art to see a Jackson Pollock exhibition last week. Rick Tramonto (Restaurant R’evolution, Tramonto Steak and Seafood, Osteria di Tramonto, RT Lounge) The Guggenheim…I just love it. The three places where I get most of my inspiration: museums, the circus – I love to go to any kind of circuses – and any kind of bazaars. I love the whole tattoo and art and piercings. I’m very much into that kind of art form. Jonathon Sawyer (The Greenhouse Tavern + Noodlecat) Cleveland Art Museum… They have a new interactive exhibit. It’s actually a new gallery they opened called Gallery One. It’s pretty cool because all of the pieces of art are connected to a computer, and there are all sorts of histories and facts and games that you can plan on it, and you can e-mail results to yourself. My son and I took Picasso’s still life of sardines and bread. They let you look at it, broke it all down into Cubist pieces, and then let you put it back together. So he and I made it, and then we e-mailed it to ourselves, we printed it out, framed it and put it on the wall. So we have the original still life of Picasso, and then ours. It was pretty cool. In the winter, there’s not a lot to do in Cleveland, so we’ll hit up the botanical garden and the Rock and Hall of Fame and the Art Museum on the regular. Susan Spicer (Bayona + Mondo) It was probably the New Orleans Museum of Art. I went to see a production of “Romeo & Juliet.” Richard Reddington (Redd + Redd Wood) The de Young for [Jean Paul Gaultier]. I actually leave for Paris tomorrow, so I’m going to go to the d’Orsay. I love the designers of the museum, the guys that did Dominus, Herzog and De Meuron. Very cool. I like the [Musée] d’Orsay. The light’s super cool. Kelly Liken (Restaurant Kelly Liken) I went to the Monterey Aquarium yesterday, and it was fabulous. Matthew Lightner (Atera) The last museum that I visited was the American Museum of Natural History in New York. STORY CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE Museums That Chefs Visit
about 13 hours ago
An apple pie bake-off with a twist opened the final installment of the UCLA Science & Food lecture series this past Sunday, in which students enrolled in the corresponding undergraduate class v...
An apple pie bake-off with a twist opened the final installment of the UCLA Science & Food lecture series this past Sunday, in which students enrolled in the corresponding undergraduate class v...
about 14 hours ago
Like a lead singer with a side solo project, AVA Santa Barbara is winemaker Seth Kunin's side gig. Because Kunin Wines is a well established Santa Barbara County-based brand -- known for its Rh...
Like a lead singer with a side solo project, AVA Santa Barbara is winemaker Seth Kunin's side gig. Because Kunin Wines is a well established Santa Barbara County-based brand -- known for its Rh...
about 16 hours ago
In food-on-television news, Masterchef Season 4 gets fired up tonight on Fox with a two hour premier -- and apparently there's breast milk involved. Judge Joe Bastianich is quoted as saying that ...
In food-on-television news, Masterchef Season 4 gets fired up tonight on Fox with a two hour premier -- and apparently there's breast milk involved. Judge Joe Bastianich is quoted as saying that ...
about 16 hours ago