(Gerry Furth-Sides) Chao Krung Thai Restaurant is such a landmark across from The Grove that owners, Boon and Supa Kuntee haven’t changed their anniversary sign out front for two years. Founded in 1976, Chao Krung holds the distinction of officially the second Thai restaurant in L.A. and since the first Thai cafe at ...
(Gerry Furth-Sides) Arrive 15 minutes before the 11:00 AM opening and there is already a zigzag line of customers forming, eyeing new arrivals. The place does 800 covers a day during the week-end, and that’s a lot even considering the cafeteria style service. The phenomenal host and manager, Aron Celnik is alr...
Even knowledgeable foodies may anticipate that the “sorghum” in Chef Keith Shutta’s Butternut squash sorghum “risotto” on his new TART Restaurant menu is a syrup. But when the chef presented the dish, it turned out to be the grain that the chef pops from tiny, globular grains of white sorghum to make a kin...
This Little Piggy went to TART. Often when we eat at TART it feels like a good idea to take Chef Keith Shutta’s food home to be sure it tastes as good as in the festive air of the restaurant. We did this with the Blackened “Beelers” natural pork chop with sweet potato & hominy hash […]...
A “star” baker as a relative with a closely guarded recipe automatically bestows bragging rights onto an immigrant family. The family of Marlo Gertz of Marlo’s Bakeshop in San Francisco is no exception. But unlike so many recipes that have disappeared (like my Viennese grandmother’s tissue paper strudel), Marlo not only...
When I test drove a marvelous vintage Porsche last month I had no idea I would soon be tasting caviar at about the same price. Among the most famous and expensive of the precious eggs, Almas (“diamond” in Russian) costs about the same price pound per pound at $25,000 for 1 kg or $700 per ounce. […]...
Seaweed may first have made American news decades ago as a kooky Asian health food fad, popular with “hippies” but these days the intriguing ingredient has moved onto more sophisticated and fashionable international circles. Dishes can be as lavish as the tony new grazing dishes on the posh Norwegian Cruise Lines at sea. A s...
The historic Venice Whaler has been standing guard at the foot of the Venice Pier right on the Pacific Ocean beach for 70 years. And what a place. The place on its own screams, “Location, location and location” but Head Chef (and avid surfer), Nick Liberato, hails from Philadelphia and combines wast and west coast cuisines...
Any excuse is good enough reason to write about Frank Sinatra for me. Mario Marino was recently tapped to host the Frank Sinatra-Audrey Hepburn exhibition at Bergemot Station to usher in the year of the Sinatra centennial, co-sponsored by KJAZZ and The Grammy Museum. He was already legendary when he became a long-time customer o...
Named in honor of a town near the Taj Mahal, Agra Café is as praised among experts for serving properly spiced and consistent authentic regional dishes, such as Balti as it known among USC students for being about the most popular Indian restaurants in Los Angeles. Tucked in the back corner of a small shopping plaza, [&hel...
Gerry Furth-Sides 
Barbara Hansen 
Chef-owner Alain Cohen 
Roberta Deen 
Jose Martinez 
Nivedita Basu 