Newsletter: A loaf of bread, a plate of seafood tacos
Happy first day of April — and no, that’s not a joke. Somehow it’s April already, which means some very good college basketball today and on Monday. It also means pretty spectacular stuff at farmers market and thus at local restaurants. (Want to see your chef out from behind the stoves? Just go to the big farmers markets in Santa Monica and Hollywood, and follow the trail of carts filled with blood oranges and fava beans.)
This week Jonathan Gold checks out a new seafood stall at a favorite downtown marketplace, where there are tacos, thankfully, but also ceviche, surf clams and patas de mula. No beer, sadly, but instead we have a story about some common mistakes you might be making when you buy your own. In other news, we have a bakery tour, an elegy for Andy Ricker’s late, great L.A. experiment, and one man’s spectacular French fry obsession.
Tostada transcendence
If you love cochita pibil, and who does not, you’ve likely spent a lot of time at Chichen Itza, the great lunch counter in the La Paloma complex near USC. Jonathan pulls up a chair in chef Gilberto Cetina Jr.’s new second stall, Holbox, and finds excellent seafood dishes: ceviche, bloody clams and a superb shrimp cocktail.
L.A. bakeries, 2017 edition
This town’s bakeries are in the midst of a renaissance, one likely to continue when Tartine Manufactury opens later this year. Where to go for crispy baguettes, outstanding rye boules, flaky croissants — and even Jerusalem bagels? We have a list of 31 of L.A.’s best bakeries.
A guide to buying craft beer
You may drink a lot of craft beer, but are you doing it right? Beer writer John Verive discusses some common mistakes we all make, inclduing buying old beer (yes, old), buying from the wrong shops, and not taking proper care of your beer when you get home. Because you probably shouldn’t drink it all at once.
Mr. Fries Man
Craig Batiste isn’t running your ordinary restaurant — rather he’s operating a French fry business out of a tiny space in a Gardena strip mall. But what fries: fries topped with sautéed shrimp and lemon garlic sauce; fries topped with chicken, bacon, ranch dressing and BBQ sauce; fries with shrimp enchiladas. Deputy Food editor Jenn Harris follows the man and his awesome Instagram account.
An elegy for Pok Pok
When chef Andy Ricker closed his Chinatown restaurant Pok Pok LA recently, it marked the end of his Los Angeles experiment (he’d closed his noodle shop down the street in the Far East Plaza earlier). Jonathan offers a brief meditation on what we’ll be missing: “something more than a catfish salad and a tamarind whisky sour on the way home.”
10 ways of cooking paella
Paella, the big-plate Spanish rice dish, can be a lot of fun to make at home. Test Kitchen Director Noelle Carter give us 10 recipes to try, including a spectacular version from a local chef, and a few vegetarian iterations.
Wexler’s Deli and other news
Great news for pastrami fans: Micah Wexler and his crew are opening a third Wexler’s Deli, in the Westfield Century City mall in August. In other restaurant news, Ricardo Zarate, the former chef at Picca as well as the now-closed restaurants Mo-Chica and Paiche, is back with a new restaurant called Mamacita: Things in a Bowl, Peruvian style.
It’s fava bean time
It’s April, which means that fava beans are loading farmers market stalls around Southern California. Noelle talks about how long they’ll be there, and what to do with them when you get them home.
The Los Angeles Times Food Bowl: Want to spend 31 days exploring the food of this city through a Night Market, forums, dinners, films, pop-ups and more dining and drinking? A monthlong food festival is coming to L.A. in May.
Food for Soul: As part of the Food Bowl festival, join chefs Massimo Bottura, Roy Choi, Dominque Crenn, Mary Sue Milliken and Mario Batali for a conversation about how we can turn the issue of food waste into a solution for global hunger. Hosted by Jonathan, at the Ace Hotel on May 5 at 6 p.m. Information and tickets here.
The Daily Meal, the food and drink website under the editorial direction of Colman Andrews, is now one of our partners. Check out its 101 best pizzas in America and other stories, recipes and videos.
Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didn’t get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.
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