Tasting menus and a holiday feast
Happy Saturday and happy holidays. Hanukkah may be over, but you still have a little (very little) time before Christmas morning. In which case you may be doing what I’m doing — heading to my local farmers market to shop for both gifts and menus, ideally at the same time. (Does it help to have food-minded friends and family? It does.) Even more helpfully, our latest holiday cooking story features a family of farmers who’ve provided a pretty glorious menu. (Kids, if you’re reading this, it explains the citrus in your stockings.)
On the dining-out front, our restaurant critic visits a place with its own glorious menu: almost two dozen courses in a restaurant, Jonathan Gold writes, “about the size of a two-car garage.” Did we mention that it’s on the second floor of a food court behind a secret door? So much fun.
What else: Christmas beers and a few bottles of wine for drinking or gifting; more farmers market suggestions (yes, kale) and an update on how many of those farmers are coping with the wildfires; a story about how your Instagram fetish is affecting restaurants; and we check in on recent sexual harassment allegations against a L.A.-connected chef and restaurateur. Because that subject is not going away, in the food industry any more than in the entertainment industry or in politics. Where do we go from here and, to paraphrase Raymond Carver, what do we talk about when we talk about food? (Rotten Apples for food?) Excellent questions, and ones we’ll all be answering, or trying to, in the coming new year. Meanwhile, we hope you have a good holiday season, a good rest of the year — and a few more very good meals, wherever they are.
A CONVERSATION WITH YOUR PLATE
Next to an ice cream shop, up the escalator of a food court and through a scratched door with a keypad, Jonathan finds Dialogue, chef Dave Beran’s tasting-menu restaurant in Santa Monica. There Gold also finds burnt stuff, more than a few powders, an excellent pressed duck and a glass of pink, strawberry-flavored bubbles. You can experience the fun of all 20 courses his latest review.
A FARM-TO-FAMILY-TABLE HOLIDAY
Still need a holiday recipe? Andrea Crawford, who is not only a local farmer but also a baker, miller and part of a family with ties to famed California restaurants (Chez Panisse, Spago), recently cooked a holiday meal to share with us. Each dish — including flatbreads stuffed with greens; and kabocha squash with pepper and tomatoes — was composed with ingredients from the family’s farms. Plus: Chez Panisse pastry chef Lindsey Shere’s recipe for Meyer lemon tart!
FEEDING INSTAGRAM
If no one Instagrams dinner, did it really happen? Food writer Willa Young explores the connection between the social media app and local restaurants. She finds certain restaurants design menu items specifically for Instagram photos, and that some credit the app with attracting new business.
A SEXUAL HARASSMENT ALLEGATION UPDATE
In recent months, sexual harassment allegations have rocked the restaurant industry — as well as many other workplaces — around the country. Deputy food editor Jenn Harris offers a look at what’s happening with some of the affected restaurants, chefs and restaurateurs in Los Angeles.
AND FROM FARM TO FIRE
The massive Thomas Fire has ravaged more than 270,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, burning through numerous local farm areas. Food writer Gillian Ferguson checks in with local farmers, to see how they’re coping with the affects of the fire.
Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2017 Best Restaurants. If you didn’t get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.
Goldbot: You can now talk to Jonathan Gold any time you want — or at least the robot version of him that now lives on Facebook Messenger. You can ask Goldbot for a personal restaurant recommendation based on location, type of food or price. The bot will also deliver Jonathan Gold’s latest reviews straight to your device.
The Daily Meal, the food and drink website under the editorial direction of Colman Andrews, is one of our partners. Check out their stories, recipes and videos.
Check us out on Instagram @latimesfood
Check out the thousands of recipes in our Recipe Database.
Feedback? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.
Eat your way across L.A.
Get our weekly Tasting Notes newsletter for reviews, news and more.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
