St. Helena, Calif. —  Highway 29 winds along the floor of the Napa Valley through Yountville and St. Helena and up into Calistoga, passing by vineyards that produce some of the most celebrated and expensive wines in the world. The road, lined with rows of grapevines planted along sun-dappled hills, is…

I like to make up fantastical stories for people I see at dive bars. I can entertain myself for hours, subsisting on nothing more than sips from a sweating glass of vodka soda and my imagination. The divey-er the bar, the better. In a dim room that’s always night, the…

If you were looking for an excuse or occasion to make pie, mathematicians have got one for you. On March 14, math aficionados like myself celebrate Pi Day — the number that represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Denoted by the Greek letter π, this peculiar…

With apologies to Allen Ginsberg: I am seeing the best minds of our middle-school generation destroyed by Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and iPhones, Teenagers on the cusp of young adulthood dragging themselves out of bed each day to mainline TikTok and Snapchat, Measuring themselves by the yardstick of uber-filtered Kardashian perfection…

The photos and videos began flooding in Feb. 27. In a region of Oaxaca famous for its flavorful mezcal, a wildfire was raging dangerously close to the town of San Lucas Quiaviní. Massive plumes of smoke choked the horizon as the flames drove toward the town of 1,700. At nightfall,…

Last week Roy Choi was looking for the telltale signs: a lot of cursing, a lot of eyes rolling back with every bite. He was secretly launching a new taco stand — his first L.A. restaurant debut since 2016 — and as the crowd began to grow at his no-frills…

A beleaguered union effort among show performers and stable hands at Medieval Times’ Buena Park castle has met its end. The American Guild of Variety Artists, the union backing workers who organized in Buena Park as well as at another location of the popular themed dinner theater in New Jersey,…

Neighborhood residents snapped pictures of their guava cheese pastelitos and greeted old friends inside Café Tropical in Silver Lake on Thursday. It was a sweet reunion for the cafe’s patrons who have missed the Cuban institution since it suddenly shuttered in November. At Thursday’s soft-reopening event, new owners Danny Khorunzhiy,…

Red ripe tomatoes, juicy pineapple and tongue-scorching peppers — the produce aisle at the grocery store is full of possibilities for cooking a great meal, but it can also be a great starting point for a prolific garden. There are many types of produce on store shelves that can be…

NEW YORK —  When I’m in New York, the thing I love to do more than anything is eat. Slabs of roast pork, skin as brittle and sweet as toffee and bathed in vinegar garlic sauce at Dominican spots in Washington Heights. Cheesy, cheap pizza slices in Midtown Manhattan. West African…

Ongoing Series Columnist Jenn Harris joins your favorite celebrities to explore their go-to cuisines and restaurants in Los Angeles. Jidori Chicken, if you’re reading this, Justin Chien is a fan. A big one. Chien, who plays a Taiwanese triad pistoriophile in the Netflix series “The Brothers Sun,” buys what he…

The days of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in California schools may be numbered. A new bill aims to ban from public schools food products that contain artificial dyes, including the ingredient that makes Cheetos pop with their signature yellow and red colors. Lawmakers argue that developing young minds are harmed by…

California diners are awaiting the release of Michelin’s full 2024 guide, but today the global restaurant compendium released another preview of its top restaurants in the state. Out of 10 restaurants newly added to the California guide, nine are located in the Los Angeles area. “I think for me, I’m…

There’s no substitute for the low tables and frenetic energy of Thai restaurant Holy Basil, but it’s possible to re-create some of chef Wedchayan “Deau” Arpapornnopparat’s culinary magic at home. At his downtown and Atwater Village restaurants, he and partner Tongkamal “Joy” Yuon riff on vibrant curries, seafood specials and…

Jonathan Santana opened the sole bricks-and-mortar Dominican restaurant in the Los Angeles area last summer. He was a teenager in the 2000s, though, when he first considered that his family’s recipes might be the basis for a business. Among eight siblings, his mother, Maria (nicknamed “Machi”), was known as the…

Last Friday, after having been shut for nearly six years, one of L.A.’s most scenic farmers markets reopened to so much excitement that nearly every food vendor sold out of their goods. The Santa Monica Mountains provided a striking backdrop to tables heaped with cabbages and carrots and vibrant purple…

Two days after the food hospitality operator at a fashionable downtown hotel shuttered its restaurants and laid off its food and beverage employees, a new third-party management company moved in and hired a whole new set of workers, according to a complaint filed with the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.…

On a busy section of La Cienega Boulevard at the edge of Culver City, bordering Pico-Robertson and Mid-City, Mandrake can be easy to miss. The bar is tucked between nondescript art galleries and auto repair shops, with a blinking, white neon martini-shaped sign that guides you to its narrow entryway.…

SEOUL —  In February 2014, a British YouTuber known as the “Korean Englishman” uploaded a video that would change the fate of an instant noodle company halfway across the world. The video features his friends and family eating a cup of Korean instant noodles against the backdrop of familiar London sights.…

On your next Trader Joe’s run, you can skip the steamed chicken soup dumplings. More than 61,000 pounds of the grocer’s frozen Steamed Chicken Soup Dumplings have been recalled this week because of a possible extra ingredient: bits of plastic from someone’s pen. On March 2, Beaumont-based CJ Foods Manufacturing…

Sweet Lady Jane When Julie Ngu woke up to the news in December that the beloved bakery chain Sweet Lady Jane had abruptly closed all six of its locations, she turned to her partner and jokingly asked, “Can you imagine if we bought it?” Matt Clark responded with a serious…

Running along the trails that whipsaw through the oak forests of the Palo Alto hills, I was hit with a musky, skunky smell that made the hair on my neck stand up. I don’t know if it was a mountain lion, but something in the deep recesses of my brain…

Los Angeles is home to a bevy of coffee shops, but only one is owned by Quentin Tarantino. The director’s highly anticipated cafe recently opened adjacent to the newly relaunched Vista Theater, purchased by Tarantino in 2021, and now Pam’s Coffy is serving custom-roasted coffee and throwback vibes daily in…

It was a typical Sunday at El Zarape. Families enjoyed Mexican food and good vibes at the East Hollywood restaurant inside a strip mall on Melrose Avenue as CicLAvia shut the street down to traffic. But the next morning, when the first cook of the day showed up Monday at…

“Menudo is always good. There is good menudo and there is better menudo.” This statement was from Arnold Jimenez, Coachella chief of police and a judge in the 1982 California State Championship Menudo Cookoff held in Indio. Menudo cooks are bearers of tradition, adding a pinch of this or that…

In 2018, the popular Northgate González supermarket chain announced plans to shutter its downtown Santa Ana store to make way for a development project of apartments and retail space. It wasn’t the most earth-shattering news for the region, but it was upsetting to many Mexican American families in the heavily…

Jered Standing, a popular L.A. butcher and a champion of ethical and sustainable meat sourcing, has died at 44. According to a report from the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner, he was found dead Feb. 22. In 2017, Standing opened his Hancock Park shop Standing’s Butchery, which quickly became a…

One day when she was 12 years old, Barbara “Sky” Burrell, owner of Sky’s Gourmet Tacos on Pico Boulevard, saw a neon, taco-shaped sign in the window of a local restaurant in the town where she grew up. The glowing image, in Waukegan, Ill., outside Chicago, captured her curiosity. She…

“Sacred” wouldn’t be too strong a word to describe the stature of one-pot rice dishes among the culinary traditions of the coastal American South. Their names — red rice, dirty rice, bog, jambalaya, hoppin’ John, perloo — speak as much to regional vernacular as they do to textural distinctions or…

The price of the turkey on rye half-sandwich from Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant in Los Angeles, purchased through the delivery app Grubhub, starts around $17. But at checkout, the costs mount. With additional fees and sales tax, the cost of a sandwich delivery can hit over $26.00. Plus tip. L.A. County says…

Holy Basil Atwater Village The fragrance of Thai chiles, fish sauce, from-scratch curry paste and wok-fried meat and seafood wafts from a small alcove in an Atwater Village shopping center, drawing throngs of customers. The second location of Thai restaurant Holy Basil recently opened in the Atwater Canyon complex, and…

Turkey is considered an excellent choice for fat-watchers, provided that some caution is exercised. Registered dietitian Evelyn Tribole says it’s important to read labels and compare products for fat and cholesterol, instead of choosing foods for their “halo effect.” “When people start eating foods that have a healthy reputation, they…

An easy, flavorful and low-fat lunch or dinner salad recipe that uses honey-roasted turkey breast: Island Turkey-Rice Salad

Guitars flutter, an accordion wheezes and a singer unwinds the triumphant tale of Fernando Ochoa Jauregui, a Modesto-area builder of food trucks and trailers. “He still parties just because he feels like it,” the lyrics go. “But what he enjoys the most is partying with a banda at festivals in…

Ounce for ounce, turkey compares favorably with beef and pork in terms of the amount of fat it contains, although dark meat tends to be slightly higher in fat than white. A 3-ounce serving of cooked, skinless turkey breast has at least half the calories of lean beef or pork…

There are already a few cars idling when I pull into the parking lot at Worldwide Tacos. It’s midafternoon and the leaning palm trees behind the sloped, burnished-cherry building cast long shadows in the street. As I park and walk over to the street-side window, another customer follows me. “Have…

I am the last person you should talk to for romance advice. Notoriously single and allergic to commitment, I’m not sure that I’m qualified to even categorize a restaurant as particularly romantic. But if prompted, as I was during last week’s Valentine’s Day festivities, I’ll tell you to plan a…

Three women who ran a Lancaster-based beverage company were ordered to pay more than $14 million in combined penalties for allegedly defrauding and misleading investors over a three-year period, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. She Beverage Co. and its executives — Lupe L. Rose, 54, and Sonja F.…

After federal inspectors found potentially deadly bacteria in samples of its products, Modesto-based Rizo Lopez Foods Inc. recalled all of its packaged goods this month, including various types of cotija cheese, yogurt and sour cream. The bacterium in question, Listeria monocytogenes, can cause listeriosis, a foodborne infection that is often…

It’s a Sunday afternoon at the San Francisco Coffee Festival at Fort Mason, and Jay Ruskey, founder of Frinj Coffee, is standing at his booth in front of a row of lush green plants wrapped in burlap. He picks up a Chemex and pours some of the aromatic, freshly brewed…

Coming this summer is a new state law that bans unadvertised service fees, surcharges and other additional costs that are added to the end of a bill for meals or delivery service. On July 1, Senate Bill 478, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in October, is set to…

I do not understand more than a few words in Mandarin or Cantonese, though my grandmother can read, write and speak both languages. Growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, she only ever spoke English to me and my sister. She wanted us to know English, be American and experience…

At first glance, the scene unfolding on a leafy, half-crowded patio in West Hollywood looks like any other gastropub on a Sunday afternoon. In one corner, a table of nine celebrates a milestone birthday around a vase filled with 21 delicate pink roses. In another, a table of five carries…

No matter the culture, whatever the era, primal human wiring governs a truism: When a chef trundles a cart into a dark dining room and sets food theatrically ablaze, heads will turn from every direction. At Array 36, an upscale Chinese restaurant in Temple City with a fantastical multimillion-dollar design,…

Jonathan Whitener, a chef-partner of Los Angeles restaurants Here’s Looking at You and All Day Baby, died at his home Wednesday night, according to a report from the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner. He was 36. A representative at the L.A. County medical examiner‘s office confirmed he was pronounced dead…

These days, Snoop Dogg has his mind on his cereal money. The hip-hop star, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and fellow rapper and label head Master P, whose real name is Percy Miller, are suing the cereal conglomerate Post Consumer Brands, alleging it ruined their chances of diversifying the…

PAPANTLA, Mexico —  In this Mexican city, some girls dream about a crown made of vanilla. Papantla adorns its Corpus Christi festival reinas, or queens, with the vanilla orchid’s thick brown stems woven, twisted and bejeweled into aromatic crowns — a nod to the spice’s place in the town’s history. Centuries…

I’m not going to name the sandwich shop I’m referencing in this article, because I don’t believe in throwing shade that eclipses the sun. But the locations in Italy are world-famous, and the restaurant has since opened shops in Los Angeles, New York and Las Vegas. Never underestimate the allure…

Six days after restaurant workers at a hip downtown hotel filed cards to organize a union, the hotel’s food operator declared it would shutter the dining establishments that employed them, the latest in a string of showdowns and confrontations between workers and employers in L.A. area restaurants. The case is…

PAPANTLA, Mexico —  Long gone are the days when heaps of green vanilla pods were drawn into town by mules and laid out on woven mats to dry in the sun, perfuming the streets before being packed up and sold abroad. In this corner of eastern Mexico, known as “the city…

Manzke and Bicyclette, a duo of restaurants from two of L.A.’s most celebrated chefs, are set to close March 2. It’s the latest in a handful of notable early-2024 closures — and follows roughly 70 shuttered restaurants and bars in 2023. Walter and Margarita Manzke, whose lauded restaurant République will…

Vanilla is much more than a dessert ingredient in Papantla, a city in the Mexican state of Veracruz once famous for producing the spice. Local artisans braid vanilla’s dark stems, and several restaurants offer a variety of vanilla-infused dishes. Irma Cortés Ramírez, a chef at Nakú, created Shrimp in Vanilla…

LONDON —  Over the bar of a 200-year-old pub in southeast London hangs a sign: “For the people of East Greenwich, by the people of East Greenwich.” What might sound like a pithy slogan is in fact the truth. The Star of Greenwich, which almost closed for good last year, has…

Working as a server at the Warner Bros. commissary in the 1960s, Antonio Gutierrez routinely waited on the tables of Hollywood heavyweights. Frank Sinatra. Jane Fonda. Francis Ford Coppola. Barbra Streisand. And Jack Warner, the head of the Burbank studio. Gutierrez had emigrated from Mexico a decade earlier with the…

Imagine a California where you can buy a beer at your favorite bar or restaurant, take it outside and drink it on the street with a friend. That could soon be a reality, if state and local officials clear the way. A bill proposed by California Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San…

Mid East Tacos A popular pop-up from one of L.A.’s most notable Middle Eastern chef-restaurateurs returns this week as a permanent restaurant in Silver Lake — with new items and ambition for even more to come. But Mid East Tacos started as an off-menu burrito in Glendale. Armen Martirosyan began…

TIJUANA —  The wood-paneled cart arrives at the table with an air of ceremony, pushed by a server, usually a gentleman in a white shirt, black vest and tie. On it sit all the elements required to prepare a beloved salad that was invented right here, according to the lore, at…

FONTANA, Calif. — At meeting after meeting, activists, social justice groups and residents took their turn at the lectern in the Fontana City Council chambers in the fall to sound off against Mayor Acquanetta Warren. Their denunciations of the city’s first Black mayor were relentless, and their anger resonated beyond…

Imagine a convention center the size of about 10 football fields filled with endless rows of specialty food products. One booth is hawking Wagyu beef jerky, another wants to introduce you to gochujang cheese. There are cauliflower snack puffs, pickle dip, plant-based shrimp, a plethora of nonalcoholic beverages and Snickers…

Some of the top chefs in Los Angeles are in the running for some of the country’s most prestigious culinary honors. Each year the James Beard Foundation Awards recognize a bevy of chefs, restaurateurs, beverage professionals, bakers and beyond. Wednesday morning the foundation released the list of semifinalists for 2024,…

The mezze platters at Ladyhawk in West Hollywood are an armful for staff, an eyeful for customers and the swiftest, most celebratory introduction to the restaurant’s elegant Lebanese cooking. Servers hoist table-size black-lacquered trays from the open kitchen’s counter, hurtling them through the dining room toward their destinations. There is…

Rob Gentile is just about to open West Hollywood’s “most exciting” new Italian restaurant. Construction is nearly finished. The menu is being created. In the space that used to house old-school Italian joint Madeo, Gentile will be serving up Italian food with an emphasis on local ingredients, including specialties such…

Song-tae Kim and 17 of his friends from church chattered boisterously, some fueled by soju, with the remnants of their dinner — black bean noodles and spicy seafood noodle soup — spread out in front of them. For dessert, they passed around slices of Korean pear they had brought from…

GUATEMALA CITY —  One of Debora Fadul’s earliest childhood memories is traveling in the backseat of her family’s sedan as her father negotiated long, windy roads to far-flung and verdant villages in Guatemala’s interior. In the countryside, her father trained schoolteachers to become better educators while Fadul absorbed knowledge about the…

Chrissy Teigen and David Chang weren’t supposed to make “Chrissy & Dave Dine Out.” Not exactly. The pair had briefly teamed up for an episode of the 2019 Netflix docuseries “Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner,” where they trekked to Morocco and dug up lamb from the dirt. But Chang, chef and…

Almost two months after Silver Lake coffee shop Café Tropical shut its doors, former employees who worked there say they are still missing hundreds or thousands of dollars in final paychecks that never went through. The nearly 50-year-old Sunset Boulevard restaurant closed suddenly in late November as debts and a…

Five suspects, including one juvenile, have been arrested and charged in connection with the Jan. 2 ransacking of Ruben’s Bakery & Mexican Food, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference Tuesday. Luna said the juvenile, about 13 years old, is the suspected driver of the white…

There are no hamburgers at Ace Burger, a tiny restaurant on Valley Boulevard, on the same block as Pepe’s Finest Mexican Food. But there’s a short menu offering chicken burgers and New Orleans-style chicken wings. The chicken burger is not the chicken burger you’re probably thinking of. No ground meat…

If I had to choose one word to encapsulate the creative surge that propelled L.A.’s food culture forward last decade — a momentum that confirmed the city’s status as a global culinary destination, a spate of nonconformism that continues to influence how we think about restaurants — it would be…

New Smorgasburg Vendors One of the region’s top food festivals and culinary incubators just returned from its annual winter break with nearly 60 food vendors — and 10 of them are new. With the 2024 debut last Sunday of Smorgasburg Los Angeles, the L.A. Times 101 Best Restaurants-awarded festival introduced…

After dozens of reports of illnesses potentially linked to raw oysters, public health officials across Southern California are warning consumers to ask where the shellfish at their favorite seafood joint comes from. The Orange County Health Care Agency became the latest in the region Tuesday to warn its residents about…

Ongoing Series Columnist Jenn Harris joins your favorite celebrities to explore their go-to cuisines and restaurants in Los Angeles. Michael Chow likes to name-drop. “I did a movie called ‘55 Days at Peking,’” he says, seated at the sushi counter at Matsuhisa in Los Angeles on a recent Friday morning.…

My first introduction to brunost, a brown cheese popular in Norway, was through my good friend Jo Stougaard in summer 2019. She had recently returned from a Viking Ocean cruise around Northern Europe. And she couldn’t stop raving about the brown cheese. She tried it on waffles during a local…

Sweet Lady Jane, a bakery beloved by Angelenos and a celebrity clientele, unexpectedly shuttered six locations on New Year’s Day, citing a lack of sales that prevented it from paying its “treasured employees.” But for some former workers at the dessert chain, the message rang hollow. For nearly seven months,…

Last weekend, when my family was shopping at Costco, one of the free sample lines caused a shopping cart traffic jam. It was the new Bibigo Korean-style crunchy chicken with sweet & spicy sauce, featured in this month’s Costco coupon book (it’s $4.50 off!). I got in line. If there’s…

Lynn Yamada Davis, a social media star known for her fast-paced and kooky “Cooking With Lynja” online tutorials, has died. Hannah Shofet, Davis’ eldest daughter, confirmed Friday to The Times that her mother died Jan. 1 at Riverview Medical Center in New Jersey from esophageal cancer. She was 67. In…

Wrapped inside a fresh or dried corn husk is a soft maíz cake known intimately across the Americas as tamales. A closer look beneath the husk reveals centuries of history beheld by generations of hands, known by many other names, and through a great plethora of recipes. From the Hopi…

After 2½ years, L.A.’s most celebrated Ethiopian restaurant is ready to reopen its dining room. And Genet Agonafer, its semi-retired chef and owner, is ready for a return to the flurry of excitement, the hugs from longtime guests and the glow of candlelight along Fairfax Avenue. When the pandemic temporarily…

One of California’s most iconic roadside destinations closed suddenly this week, though guests hunting for a bowl of split pea soup might find it in Buellton again someday. The century-old Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant and hotel — beloved for its namesake soup, picturesque windmill and Scandinavian-themed dining facilities — shuttered…

Nearly a decade after emigrating from Mexico, Ruben Ramirez Sr. and his wife, Alicia, had opened the business that would provide for their family for years to come. It was the ’70s, and they started small. First came a store selling Mexican products. They later expanded to a carniceria —…

People often ask me where to find the best Peking duck. It’s a question that comes up year-round, but more frequently during the holidays. And especially around now, with Lunar New Year celebrations on the horizon in February. Strangers slide into my DMs wanting to know which restaurants prepare the…

In her family’s Granada Hills kitchen, Kristine Jingozian, one of the founders of Rose & Rye bakery, takes a tray of fresh nazook out of the oven — the flaky, rolled, traditional Armenian pastries that have a butter-and-sugar filling, scented with vanilla and burnished golden on top. Brown paper boxes…

The ubiquity of the espresso martini can’t be understated. Especially within the last five years, the cocktail has become a staple on bar menus across Los Angeles and beyond. In Highland Park, a new restaurant is hoping that those who want the experience of the trending cocktail, sans alcohol, can…

The distinct flavor of Calpico, the Japanese cultured milk drink, and fresh mandarin juice combine to fruity-citrusy, tangy effect. The original Garibaldi cocktail features two ingredients: Campari and orange juice (proportion is everything). The key to any Garibaldi is its texture; it should be properly aerated for fluffiness, or froth.…

Peer behind the bar of your favorite L.A. restaurant or watering hole these days and you’ll spy bottles of nonalcoholic spirit replacements sharing space with your usual rum, whiskey, tequila and vodka labels. You’ll notice no-alcohol cocktail menus are more widely available, and the lists of NA cocktails are getting…

When I was a tender adolescent, maybe 11 years old, I was at my friend Jane’s house for a sleepover. Jane’s older brother Mark had friends over too. One boy we deemed especially cute, so we decided to mix a drink for him. We poured Coke into a glass, then…

If you’ve spent time in major metropolitan areas that are not Los Angeles, you know, at least anecdotally, one thing to be true: We’re not much of a drinking town. Maybe it’s for health reasons; maybe it’s because states like California have embraced other ways of, uh, taking the edge…

For the past three decades, it seemed there was only one cake worth having at your graduation, birthday, bridal shower or wedding. The cake sitting on top of the pedestal in the middle of the celebration table, the one being shoved into newlyweds’ faces and ushered out in neat slices…

For many, the start of the new year calls for a list of resolutions. A fresh start and newfound inspiration for whatever it is you’d like to accomplish. I know myself and my limitations. It takes more than my digital calendar switching over to January to motivate me to do…

Quite possibly the MVP of the Italian bakery, pignoli are the nutty, soft, textured cookies found in any Italian cookie spread worth its salt. Named for their topping of a scattering of pine nuts, Sicilian pignoli — also referred to as amaretti con pignoli — involve almond flour or marzipan…

As the complete and utter trash fire that is 2023 comes to an end, I feel compelled to highlight the one-offs and trends in the food world that I hope to never see again. Here’s to a brighter, more delicious 2024. Unhinged dunking People chewing with their mouths open, the…

Cuccidati are classic Sicilian cookies that are like grown-up Fig Newtons and make an appearance around Christmastime. Flaky dough is filled with a fig or mixed-fruit jam. Enjoy as-is or top them with icing and sprinkles.

Thick, nostalgic and filling, this family recipe from Garibaldina member Amanda Lanza — who also is the chef-founder of the club’s popular Bar Bene series — is a riff on a classic Italian breakfast cookie or biscottoni. Meant to be enjoyed with a glass of milk or espresso, it’s a…

One of an Italian bakery’s most beloved creations, this tricolor treat stacks three layers of red, green and white (or pale yellow) cake to resemble the Italian flag, then smears the top with melted chocolate. Before diving into these beautiful, colorful cookies, however, note that rainbow cookies are a bit…

The woman in the brightly colored shawl is beautiful. But she does not look happy. Or, at the very least, she wears a wry expression, one that suggests something in between boredom and belligerence. Chef Chris Bianco long remembered that look. For years, he wondered what happened to the portrait…

Uchi and Oheya A national sushi brand with a ravenous fandom just landed its first West Coast restaurant, launching in West Hollywood — with another L.A. sushi bar soon to follow. Uchi, founded in 2003 by James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef Tyson Cole, sprouted from Austin before expanding to Miami,…

Sticky and chewy with crags of crispiness, these cookies are Christmastime must-haves across Puglia and beyond. Garibaldina member Michelangela “Lina” Pompilio, from Adelfia Canneto in Bari province, fondly remembers her mother and grandmother in the kitchen preparing them each year, and for decades she’s continued the tradition too. Both online…

The stereotype of the Italian nonna, or grandmother, attempting to feed you until you burst holds true — especially at the holidays. No sooner had any family member walked through her door than my own nonna would lay out a tablescape of antipasti, already arranged and plated under a sheath…

Is L.A. a biscuit town? We’re quickly becoming a pizza town. It’s definitely a bagels town, too. One could successfully argue that the collective appreciation for carbohydrates is on the upswing. There are some really great biscuits here. And there have been, for a while now. David Lefevre’s cheddar bacon…

Royal Lobster A restored 1940s Texaco gas station is serving plump Maine-caught lobster rolls and lobster salads in Koreatown. Royal Lobster, from husband-and-wife team Justin Sok and Ashley Cho, opened its first location in Waikiki roughly two years ago but after regular suggestions and pleas from vacationing customers, decided to…

Though the release of the 2024 Michelin Guide to restaurants across California is still months away, the world-famous guidebook just teased seven new additions, and three of them are in Los Angeles. The Michelin Guide awards star ratings, and to earn a “star” from the company is widely considered one…

Charred red pepper and fresh strawberries make a delicious drink with an extra hit of smokiness from ancho simple syrup. Everyone will love this savory-ish alcohol-free cocktail. Just don’t call it a mocktail.

Up until last week, I had no Christmas tree in my house. The ancient shoeboxes holding decorations were still in the garage, no stockings hung on the fireplace. Gifts were still unwrapped. I take care of my mother, who will turn 89 two days after Christmas, and after some recent…

Pineapple juice, coconut milk, guava nectar, lime juice and a dash of Tabasco come together for a refreshing tropical booze-free beverage with just a hint of heat.

Use caution when attempting to make the aptly named Red Alert nonalcoholic cocktail from Danny Trejo’s latest cookbook. The first step, alongside boiling ancho chile syrup, requires fire-roasting the pepper over an open flame or directly under a broiler, from which mine caught fire. I’m standing in my kitchen using…

Every morning, Julissa Corado rises with the sun to prepare her day’s worth of goods. By noon, she and her mom load their white van with soup-filled pots, orange Home Depot buckets and a cast-iron griddle to heat up tortillas. Then, they head to a corner of Los Angeles that…

Making chocolate is a sacred process, particularly for descendants of the ancient Mesoamerica, and for those looking to reconnect with ancestral practices, like Stephanie Villegas of Xochitl Vegan, a concept and pop-up restaurant based in L.A. Known for her vegan hibiscus tacos, Villegas also hosts artisanal chocolate classes where she…

Several years ago, Vahe Keushguerian, one of the pioneers of modern Armenian winemaking, had a daring idea — one that would involve smuggling native grapes from Iran, making wine in Armenia and presenting it to the world as a wine made in exile. Time and time again wine creates a…

In 1985 my mom received a phone call from a wrong number. When she picked up she had no idea that the man on the other end would end up being her husband and father of her two daughters. It was that phone call that turned into 33 years of…

There aren’t a ton of truly great soup dumpling places in this country, as it’s a dish generally best left to a handful of specialists. Soup dumplings are one of those particular foods, like bagels, that you don’t just wake up one day and decide to put on the menu.…

“These are likely the last tamales I will ever make,” my aunt and godmother Vicky says as she hands me bags filled with four varieties. This may not be a heartfelt prediction: In fact, Tia Vicky has made this announcement every year for the last 15 years. Still, she is…

Dec. 19, 2023 2:51 PM PT Every year for a decade now, The Times has published its annual guide to 101 exceptional restaurants. Painting an intimate portrait of Los Angeles’ current dining scene, the ranked list celebrates newcomers alongside beloved institutions and every cuisine type available at just about every…

Federal labor regulators are looking to force Starbucks to reopen six Los Angeles-area Starbucks stores and 17 other locations that were closed across the country in 2022 in a move that was allegedly done to suppress union organizing. The complaint filed by the National Labor Relations Board accused Starbucks of…

They covered themselves with hazmat suits, gloves and masks and put plastic bags over their boots. That’s how dangerous the substance was that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were examining Wednesday morning. A cadre of agents — veterans who had seized fentanyl, heroin and other illicit narcotics in previous…

When was the last time you were in Las Vegas? I visit about half a dozen times a year. When people learn this about me, they assume I like to gamble or go to nightclubs. I’m not much of a fan of either. I go for the Pizza Expo (yes,…