Latest Posts

  • Modo Mio Celebrates 30th Anniversary

    Modo Mio in Pacific Palisades celebrates 30 years as a rustic Mediterranean dining room, intimate and friendly, serving familiar, refined, northern Italian dishes made from scratch from a loyal staff of almost as many decades.  The culinary journey takes diners from Val d’Aosta and the famous Piemonte to Lombardia, Ven...

  • A La Carte Thai Bistro: Where Every Dish Makes a Meal

    Restaurant diners at a Thai Restaurant know to order one from each category of Fried Rice & Noodles, Curries and Soups & salads, and that A La Carte means priced separately. And at A La Carte Thai Bistro. every dish is a meal in and of itself– visible by the parade of enticing colorful, original […]...

  • Ancient Samosa Makes News at India’s Tandoori Brentwood’s

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) So many food items and dishes get discovered over and over again down through the ages as though they were just invented, and lately this happens to be true with the baked samosa (rather than fried). And no wonder there is all the attention. The samosa is a fun food, street or inside […]...

  • Second Generation Continues Marino Ristorante Legacy in LA

    Second generation operated ethnic restaurants include marino ristorante in East Hollywood.   Los Angeles Magazine’s “best” pick restaurant host, Mario Marino, shares responsibilities.  Brother Sal (former owner-chef of Il Grano, La Bottega Marino), oversees the kitchen. (Marino ristorante) is one of t...

  • French Cuisine and Hospitality Shine at Historic Le Vallauris

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) Whether overseeing their Le Vallauris and Le St. Germain restaurants in Palm Springs, or catering a party of 50 in a landmark home straight up the mountain behind them (as they are here), the Belgian-American Bruggemans family and crews always makes it look and feel easy. Valuable lessons that became second ...

  • Mid-East Falafal, Sumac Transforms All-American Corn Soup at Upper West

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) Kale may be the current reigning king of home and restaurant menus, but corn remains the star of the show at Upper West Restaurant. A steady parade of waiters march out of the upscale tavern’s kitchen with what has become a signature item. Diners rave about it as “straightforward and honest,” but as [&h...

  • Midwestern Know-How at Ocean Prime Restaurant

    Sometimes you just need good old-fashioned Midwestern common sense to make a place work. Cameron Mitchell is the bigger-than-life, Ohio-based force behind the new Ocean Prime restaurant (former El Torito) restaurant at the “protected” Camden-Dayton signal on Wilshire – with no one-way Beverly Hills streets to negotiate. Th...

  • Kosher and What It is Not

    Kosher: What It is Not Kosher can be so complex that sometimes its easier, a la Michelangelo, to peel away the layers of what Kosher “is not” to arrive at its true essence. It also can clear up a lot of theories that have become urban legend, along with the idea of it being bland.  […]...

  • French-Tunisian Fire in the Belly Cuisine

    Tunisia may share a Southern Mediterranean shoreline and continental roots with Algeria and Morocco, but I’ve always been impressed and delighted that its cuisine is as distinguished, even from the most similar and familiar, Moroccan, as Vietnamese is from Chinese. You may recognize the name, Tunisia, from recent world ne...

  • The Awe-filled Offal: Not Your Mother’s Humble Pie

    Offals continue to be a favorite on Chef Alain Cohen’s Got Kosher? Café special menu -- not for sensational reasons but because they were always popular in Tunisian cuisine. Offals came into widespread use simply because farmers had to use as much of the animal as possible....