Newsletter: Counter: Venice cooking, Russian comfort food and beer

Maybe blame the approaching summer, the warmer temperatures and some great games from Clayton Kershaw, but lately we’ve been thinking a lot about beer and the beach. Well, more than usual at least.

So this week Jonathan Gold heads to Venice and the newly reworked Rose Cafe. Long a neighborhood favorite, the Rose has been given a major reboot with chef Jason Neroni. Inside the massive kitchens, Gold finds lots to love, including a pepperoni pizza paired with honey. In beer news, we check in on Highland Park’s craft beer scene, and the results of the recent World Cup of Beer. And since beer can make us all very hungry, Jenn Harris brings news of the upcoming Smorgasburg food market, as well as a chef who’s making Russian comfort food in a 1964 Airstream.

– Amy Scattergood

Rose Cafe opens, or reopens, in Venice

Chef Jason Neroni stands in the main doorway to the Rose Cafe in Venice.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

This week Jonathan heads to Venice and through the rose-painted doors of Rose Cafe, the longtime neighborhood restaurant that recently reopened with chef Jason Neroni running the kitchen. It’s Neroni’s latest project, after Superba and Catch & Release, and it’s a huge undertaking.

Where to drink beer in Highland Park

If you spend much time in Highland Park, you know about the great restaurants (Good Girl Dinette, My Taco, El Huarache Azteca, etc.). But how about beer? We check in on where to get a good pint of craft beer in Highland Park, either before or after you hit up Tacos La Estrella again.

Russian comfort food out of an Airstream

Igor Avramenko displays three kinds of pirozhki Russian bread buns outside his Pirozhki Airstream trailer in the courtyard of the Hauser Wirth & Schimmel gallery.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Deputy Food Editor Jenn Harris’ food truck of the week is Pirozhki, a 1964 Bambi Airstream from which Igor Avramenko makes the Russian bread buns. Avramenko, who is from Ukraine, uses his grandmother’s recipe for the buns, which he makes by hand, as many as 350 a day.

World Beer Cup? Yes.

Beachwood Brewing in Long Beach won the World Beer Cup award for Champion Large Brewpub during a ceremony in Philadelphia last week. Pictured are beers from the award-winning brewery.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

Beer writer John Verive reports on the World Beer Cup (yes, there’s a World Beer Cup), where recently breweries in L.A. and Orange County won big. Congrats to Beachwood Brewing in Long Beach and to Noble Ale Works in Anaheim, among others. Probably time to order a pint.

Smorgasburg comes to L.A.

Pictured from left are porridge topped with an egg from Porridge and Puffs, a cone from McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream, and tacos from Mexicali Taco & Co. The porridge pop-up, McConnell’s and a new concept from Mexicali Tacos called Califa Tacos will all be featured at the Smorgasburg market.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )

Jenn heads to the Alameda Produce Market to preview the upcoming Sunday market, Smorgasburg. She talks to Eric Demby, who created the original Smorgasburg in Brooklyn, about who’s coming (Porridge and Puffs, Califa Tacos and more) and how he recalibrated his successful project for Los Angeles.

Your “City of Gold” reminder: It’s playing. Maybe go see it. Maybe don’t go hungry, which brings us to ...

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