Newsletter: Counter: Pig’s heads and proletarian dining
Welcome to your weekend. It’s been a few days of far-too-hot weather and far-too-much politics. Again, there is L.A.’s terrific food scene to cool things down some. In this case quite literally, as Jonathan Gold considers six of his favorite cold noodle dishes. Because there are very few things that a bowl of bukkake udon won’t, well, if not actually cure, then certainly assuage. And for this week’s restaurant review, there is the Cannibal. Go ahead, make all the Sweeney Todd jokes you want; this restaurant was named for a cyclist. So, yes, there’s that bike valet: also a pig’s head, a meat-centric menu and some great beer.
We also consider breakfast-only restaurants and summer beers (as well as give a short review of the latest book by the Lucky Peach folks, if you need something to read while you’re eating). We also check out a new restaurant from two guys — formerly a hedge fund trader and a private equity executive — with an ambitious plan to make quality, casual food both accessible and affordable. No, we’re not talking about Locol, but we could be.
— Amy Scattergood
Skull candy in Culver City
Jonathan Gold takes his brother Mark out to dinner at the Cannibal, one of the latest of L.A.’s new wave of restaurants that are also butcher shops. There the two feast on a dinner of pig’s head, as well as some pretty interesting bottles of beer. There’s also a place to park your bike, if you ride one to dinner — the restaurant having been named for cyclist Eddy “Cannibal’’ Merckx rather than, I don’t know, Sweeney Todd.
Cold noodles, and more cold noodles
Because it was again way too hot in this city last week, our restaurant critic considers where to get a great bowl of cold noodles. Really cold noodles, in the form of the mool chic naengmyun at Yu Chun in Koreatown and the Sichuan cold noodles at Mian in the SGV, just to name two of the six dishes in question. What to eat this weekend? Maybe so.
Your breakfast-only update
If you spent a lot of time eating breakfast at Nighthawk breakfast bar, which served only that meal, and only at night, you’ll want to read deputy food editor Jenn Harris’ story about Jeremy Fall, the guy who opened — and recently closed — the place. Fear not, he’s opening a new Nighthawk, as well as a secret deli (i.e. with a speakeasy-type entrance) and a burger place.
Four seasonal beers for the summer
What to drink when it’s this hot? Beer writer John Verive considers saisons, farmhouse-style beers made not just to slake your thirst but also to pair with meals served outside. A picnic basket of cheese and charcuterie. A barbecue to pair with Vin Scully’s last summer on the radio.
A restaurant project aims to feed every community
Everytable, a restaurant opening today in South L.A., is an unlikely mashup: the grab-and-go bowls of food are made by a chef who used to work at Le Cirque. And the dishes, of jerk chicken and turkey-quinoa meatballs, will be priced by neighborhood. Which means that when the next outlet of Everytable opens, in DTLA, those same dishes will be about twice the price. How exactly does this work? Read Jenn Harris’ story.
The Taste is coming: Our annual Labor Day food weekend, Sept. 2-4, will be here before you know it; here’s how to get tickets.
Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers.
Check us out on Instagram @latimesfood
In the Kitchen: Sign up for our weekly cooking newsletter
Check out the thousands of recipes in our Recipe Database.
Feedback?
We’d love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.
