This L.A. burger is so spicy, you need to sign a waiver before digging in
From a fiery burger to feasting at an entire night market of street food, here’s what’s happening in the L.A. and O.C. food worlds:
Hopdoddy Burger Bar’s Love at First Sting
What’s the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten? Habanero-laced salsa? Maybe a sauce with ghost peppers? The new Love at First Sting burger at Hopdoddy Burger Bar is made with not-so-thinly-sliced ghost peppers, habanero peppers, Trinidad scorpion Butch T peppers and serrano peppers. And the heat doesn’t stop there. Not only is the beef patty topped with all those chiles, it’s also got pepper Jack cheese and ghost pepper salsa. This burger is so spicy it comes with a mini vanilla milkshake to help put out the flames. You’ll also need to sign a waiver before digging in. The burger is $13 and is available at Hopdoddy locations through Aug. 22. Multiple locations at www.hopdoddy.com.
For the record:
9:31 p.m. Aug. 31, 2024An earlier version of this post had the incorrect dates for the OC Night Market.
OC Night Market
Unicorn grilled cheese sandwiches, taiyaki ice cream cones, rolled ice cream, cookie shot glasses. If it’s a hot food trend, chances are it will make an appearance at the OC Night Market. The food festival, by the same group that hosts the 626 Night Markets, will be at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa Aug. 25-27. There will be dozens of food vendors making a variety of Asian street food, as well as shopping, arts and crafts vendors and live entertainment. The Night Market will take place from 4 p.m. to midnight Aug. 26 and 27 and from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Aug. 28. Admission is $5 at the door; children age 6 and younger get in for free. 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, www.ocnightmarket.com.
Dialogue
Dialogue, one of this summer’s most anticipated restaurants, will start taking reservations Tuesday. Chef Dave Beran’s 18-seat Santa Monica restaurant will be open for dinner Sept. 5, and diners who signed up for the waitlist can start purchasing tickets at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Reservations open to everyone else Wednesday at 10 a.m.. Beran, who spent 10 years working with Grant Achatz and the Alinea Group in Chicago, will serve a multi-course dinner at Dialogue, around 23 of them over the span of about 2½ hours. The restaurant is in the Gallery on the Third Street Promenade, a food hall that also includes Everytable and Sloan’s ice cream. The $175 to $200 ticket covers dinner but excludes tax and alcohol. 1315 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, www.dialoguerestaurant.com.
Ink.well
It’s been just a couple of weeks since chef Michael Voltaggio closed his 6-year-old Melrose Avenue restaurant Ink., but the chef has already opened Ink.well, his new flagship restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard. Ink.well promises some of Voltaggio’s signature dishes from Ink., as well as an expanded bar program. A new, detached bar area seats triple what the previous Ink.bar accommodated and features craft cocktails by Otello Tiano and beers on draft. The restaurant is open nightly for dinner. 826 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 358-9058, mvink.com.
ALSO:
10 of our favorite tamale recipes
This Cuban immigrant family has been keeping Los Angeles caffeinated for half a century
More to Read
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.