Bar Hayama

Despite living within walking distance of Bar Hayama, I finally went for the first time last night for dinner. The outside is unassuming and easy to miss, but inside is a nice spacious shelter from the traffic on Sawtelle. The seats around the large fire pit were already taken, but we nabbed a table [...]

Healthyca’s New Menu – also Press Panini – NoHo/Studio City

Okay, I don’t usually get excited about sandwiches. They’re not really my… thing. It’s not that I avoid bread or anything, it’s just that I tend to prefer my carbs in pasta form, or as roasted or fried potatoes.
So —
you’ve gotta appreciate it when I go nuts about this new sandwich I tried.
Backstory: [...]

Restaurateurs - Tell me About Rising Food Prices and Declining Spending

I am working on an article for this site about the rising price of food, coupled with a decline in consumer spending; how is it (if at all) affecting businesses. I am looking for some input from local chefs and restaurateurs. If you are interested in answering a few questions and giving your take on [...]

The 411 on Valley “Fro-Yo”

If you’ve lived in Southern California anytime in the 80’s, chances are, you tried a dish of  Penguin’s Frozen Yogurt.  This chain was the king of yogurt during that decade.  There seemed to, literally, be one on every corner. 
What you may not have known, (I didn’t) was that Dannonactually created the first frozen yogurt back [...]

Malan Noodles

On our never-ending quest to try hand-made noodles, the BF and I drove to Hacienda Heights to try out Malan Noodles. When we walked in, the woman who worked there grabbed an order sheet, some water in styrofoam cups and pointed us to an empty table.

At the front of the restaurant is a refrigerated case [...]

Las Fuentes

I love Mexican food, but I’ve been rather wary of it ever since I got severe food poisoning at Poquito Mas a couple years ago. Don’t get me wrong now. I’ve had Mexican food - good Mexican food - several times since then, but I still approach new Mexican restaurants or ones I [...]

Pho Show

Pho Show just had their grand opening this week, so I went to visit for dinner tonight since it’s so close to my office. Since it’s on the west side and it is called Pho Show, I didn’t go in with my expectations too high.

While waiting for the rest of my party to arrive, [...]

Cherry Picking @ Northside

One of my favorite things about the end of spring and the beginning of summer is the abundance of cherries. And what better place to get delicious cherries than right off the tree?

Last weekend, I went cherry picking. I was afraid that it was going to be too late in the season for good cherries, [...]