Gastronomy 101

Many cities have their own "signature" version of pizza, and proponents of each type of pizza are willing to argue all night that theirs is the best - whether it be from the source in Naples; or a large, thin New York slice; or perhaps a hearty deep dish from Chicago. Here in Los Angeles, we don't really have a "signature" pizza, except perhaps the use of untraditional toppings, made famous by Wolfgang Puck. But even so, you can get a "California-style" pizza at five different places and have five completely different pizzas even in the most definitive aspects, like crust thickness and cheese-to-sauce ratio. It would be a fine thing if we decided to make Nancy Silverton's style of pizza the definitive Los Angeles pizza. In my book, it can compete with any pizza anywhere. It's not just the variety of really good, really fresh ingredients in both unusual and familiar combinations. It is mostly the crust. A crust that was carefully created through...

The first thing I chose out of the 99 things I must eat before I die was a no-brainer. Bob's Doughnuts is pretty much a regular destination, since my husband has a love for doughnuts like no other except perhaps Homer Simpson. But even though I've had many of Bob's delicious doughnuts, I have never yet had a plain one. While this first choice of "thing" was in many ways the easiest, it still contained an element of challenge, which was to face up to all of those frosted, glazed and sprinkled donuts and absolutely turn my back on them in favor of a doughnut that is utterly and completely nude. I hope you won't be too harsh on me when I admit that I purchased two donuts - one plain and one one sprinkle. I hope Jonathan Gold can forgive for diluting the purity of his 87th thing. But this blog post is not about a sprinkle doughnut, so what transpired between the sprinkle doughnut and I will forever be a mystery as far as you are concerned. I am here to talk about ...

So last week, Jonathan Gold published his list of 99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die . When I saw this, a flash of inspiration struck me, because to be perfectly honest, I've had a hard time keeping this blog going. *checks date of last post--yep* I still enjoy it, and I love eating and cooking and drinking and taking pictures of food, but somehow something happened that I never actually thought would be--I now get paid, as my job, to write things and I spend a whole lot of my time writing things for money. That doesn't make me enjoy writing any less, especially since writing for fun is a lot more enjoyable than the stuff I normally have to write. However, when you've just spent 6-8 hours in a row writing stuff, what you want to do is plop in front of the TV or game or do some reading instead of writing. I just get kind of ... tired of it. So I've been thinking what I've been wanting is a project-something I would want to do anyway but that would give me enough...

Winter can be so gray, sometimes it's nice to have something a little bright in the kitchen. Preserved lemons not only add a cheerful yellow, but they add brightness to the flavor of things like chicken, fish, and rice dishes. Preserved lemons are a trademark of North African, particularly Moroccan cuisine. They are salty and tangy and you can use them anywhere you might normally use lemons for a little extra zing. To do them properly, you will need a month or so to spare, so make sure you decide to make them before you get all impatient to eat them. Once they are ready, it is suggested that they be rinsed off prior to using as they are quite salty. Making preserved lemons is quite easy, and there are recipes all over the internet for them. At it's most basic, all you need is lemons and salt. Let the lemons hang out in the salt and lemon juice for about a month and they are ready to go. My lemon recipe is from the book Well-Preserved . If you want to be more complex, you can ad...

It's almost restaurant week! Being a non-wealthy resident of Los Angeles, restaurant week is one of my more favorite weeks. Restaurant week takes place over two weeks during the weeknights. This year it will be January 24-29 and Jan. 31 - Feb. 5. The purpose of restaurant week is to promote local restaurants and get people out and supporting their neighborhood businesses. The benefit to you is that you get to try the restaurants at a very favorable price. You will get a three-course lunch or dinner at a set price ranging from $16-$28 for lunch and from $26-44 for dinner. This is a great way to try restaurants that may be otherwise out of your price range or to try a new place that you haven't ventured to yet. You can find the list of restaurants with their menus and pricing on the DineLA site. Let me make some personal recommendations of places that I think will provide a great value and an enjoyable experience: Angeli Caffe : Angeli has been a favorite of mine since I first m...

There are several new restaurants already in the works for next year. A couple of them I found to be of special interest: Covell: Billy Heinzman and Katy Noochla-or are the masterminds behind several great Asian restaurants (Tuk Tuk Thai, Rambutan Thai). They had wanted to open a noodle house in Loz Feliz, but that didn't work out for logistical reasons, but that didn't work out so the reins have been handed over to a friend who will open a beer and wine bar featuring local beers and a wide selection of wines. Apparently food will be limited to cheese and charcuterie, but food trucks are welcome to hang out outside. (via Food GPS ) Greenspan's Grilled Cheese: Eric Greenspan of the Foundry will be opening a new, more casual place right next door that will be all grilled cheese, all the time. I guess his win in the Grilled Cheese Invitational got him thinking. His winning sandwich (short rib, Taleggio and apricot-caper purée) will be on the menu as "The Champ" along...

There are a bunch of events happening around Los Angeles soon: Pinot Days: The First Annual Pinot Days Southern California engages all the senses with its offering of gourmet food and 400 incredible pinot noirs. More than 75 pinot producers will pour their wines at Pinot Days, including the newly-released 2007 vintage, which critics are calling pinot's best vintage in decades, and maybe ever. The three-day Los Angeles food and wine event includes two intimate winemaker dinners and the Grand Festival, a wine tasting event which gives wine lovers the opportunity to experience and enjoy some of the world's best pinot noir and interact directly with the gifted and passionate winemakers who produce them. Pinot Days Southern California begins January 15 and culminates on January 17 with the Grand Festival at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA. Event tickets can be purchased at www.pinotdays.com . Pinot Days producer Lisa Rigisich said, "Los Angeles is a real food town and ...