Three enjoyable ways to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Saturday, Feb. 10. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

• Three enjoyable ways to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday
• The next storm in SoCal may come by Feb. 17
• Where to have a prosperous Lunar New Year feast in L.A.
• Take our L.A. Times news quiz. This week, it’s all about Taylor Swift, SoFi Stadium and soggy weather.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper

How to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday

Diehard football fans are eagerly waiting to watch the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs face off in Las Vegas during the Super Bowl LVIII tomorrow.

Taylor Swift enthusiasts are planning to watch the game for a totally different reason: the romance between Swift and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

After all, Swift and Kelce’s love story is one we’ve been waiting for. At least that’s according to my colleague Amy Kaufman.

Another reason to swoon at the big game? Usher is set to bring his own romantic charm to the halftime show.

Now that you’re hyped up, here are some ways to celebrate the big game, no matter why you’re watching.

Try some non-Taylor Swift recipes for game day

Swift and Kelce may be dominating the discourse, but that doesn’t have to be the case in your house. If you’re not into recipes themed around their romance — yes, there have been “Karma” quesadillas and “Bad Blood” waffle fries — stick to the classics.

My colleagues on the Food team pulled together some of their favorite recipes, such as extra limey guacamole that tastes like a margarita, oven-baked nachos and buffalo-style chicken wings. None of those recipes takes more than an hour to make and all can easily feed a crowd.

Head to a sports bar for food and drink specials

Food is often an afterthought at many sports bars, but it doesn’t have to be for Super Bowl LVIII. Several Los Angeles-area sports bars are offering limited menu items and discounts for the big game. Spacious BiergartenLA in Koreatown blends German and Korean flavors for dishes like gravy-doused German fried rice. At Brooklyn Avenue Pizza Co. in Boyle Heights, you can order the sports bar’s staples such as hot wings dusted with Hot Cheetos and an elote old-fashioned with guajillo honey and roasted corn.

Track if our sports analyst’s predictions come true

The 49ers haven’t won a Super Bowl in 29 years. The Chiefs are playing in their fourth Super Bowl in five years. Only one will take home the Lombardi Trophy. Our NFL writer Sam Farmer breaks down the matchup. Check his predictions throughout the game (and make some of your own).

The week’s biggest stories

A storm of historic proportions unleashed record rainfall over parts of Los Angeles, endangering the city’s homeless population, sending mud and boulders down hillsides and knocking out power to more than 1 million people statewide.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

California storm

• A monster storm triggered hundreds of mudslides across Los Angeles. Why do they happen?
• L.A.’s monster storm was even worse in some areas than the alarming forecasts.
• The unloved L.A. River just prevented a flood disaster. Can more of its water be saved?
• How California’s storms are projected to become more extreme with climate change.

Rebecca Grossman trial

• The body of a boy struck and killed by a car bore the imprint of a Mercedes front grille, a medical examiner testifies at the Grossman trial.
• A tearful mom describes horror as a car sped through an intersection, killing her two sons.
• ‘I wish I had not looked away’: Grossman’s texts show she was distracted before crash.

Politics

• The Supreme Court appears wary of blocking President Trump from the Colorado ballot.
• Long before he took on Trump, Adam Schiff’s pursuit of tough justice defined his career.
• Schiff supporters air ads focused on GOP rival Steve Garvey in the California Senate race.

Grammys 2024

• The 2024 Grammys winners list.
• All the best and worst moments of the 2024 Grammys, as they happened.

More big stories

• Five Marines died when a military helicopter crashed en route to a Marine air station in San Diego.
• “Daylighting,” a new law that California drivers must know to avoid a ticket next year.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom has gone viral for shoplifting at Target. Well, sort of.
• Woodland Hills reels from record-setting heat and rainfall as extreme weather takes toll.
• Rents are finally falling — but not in Orange County. People are feeling the pain.
• At risk of eviction in L.A.? These outreach workers are looking for you.

Get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times. Subscribe here.

Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

A new Kobe Bryant statue is a reminder of the star’s everlasting influence on the Lakers. A little more than four years after a helicopter crash killed Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others on board, it’s still impossible to separate the on-court achievements that earned Bryant the honor of a statue from the circumstances that make it impossible for him to be there to celebrate them.

More great reads

• An ex-NFL player died in custody. His grieving family demands to know what happened.
• He sought justice for George Floyd. His next target? Record labels.
• King tides are arriving in California. Here’s what they can tell us about rising sea levels.
• Mariachis, struggling since the pandemic, get a tiny home in Boyle Heights.
• Meet the man who has tasted everything on the Cheesecake Factory’s ridiculously long menu.
• Is that new Oscar category a good idea?
• What kind of movie premieres in a strip club? Harmony Korine’s “Aggro Dr1ft.”

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your weekend

(Fangyu Ma / For The Times)

Going out

• 🍽️ Where to have a prosperous Lunar New Year feast in Los Angeles.
• 🚴🏽 Not a Super Bowl fan? Visit a new lending library in El Monte or catch a mural bike ride in NELA.
• 🏞️ Want to get more out of your time in L.A.’s great outdoors? Give back to it.
• 🛍️ The best Palm Springs shops to find Midcentury Modern gems are stocked with surprises.

Staying in

• 🏈 Super Bowl LVIII: Start time, teams, betting odds and halftime show.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for tailgate burgers.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

L.A. Affairs

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

(Kate Dehler / For The Times)

I ran into three of my exes. Was the universe trying to tell me something? In a city of about 4 million people, it is possible for you to run into the three ex-loves of your life: at a random house party, at a concert you weren’t supposed to be at or at a restaurant you switched to last-minute.

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor

Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.