Practice makes perfect

Sometimes I hear from someone who mentions a place that just opened and asks why I haven’t reviewed it yet. Do I want to let some other publication beat me to the story? They’re often surprised when I respond that I’m not concerned about this possibility. Any restaurant is likely to have problems when they…

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A tasty plate of history

I used to be an avid historical reenactor, demonstrating skills like woodfire cooking, baking, and traditional brewing. My closet contains costumes from various eras, some with stains and scorch marks from feasts of decades ago, and my kitchen cabinet has cookware that I crafted on a potter’s wheel and pewter forge. It can be thrilling…

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A delight, but not ready for prime time

Thai cuisine was once regarded as unlikely to succeed in America because it was too spicy, too sour, too strange to American tastes. The breakthrough came because a rock band promoter named Tommy Tang opened a restaurant that not only softened the more assertive flavors, but had a menu that carefully described the unfamiliar items.…

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Two slices of bread with ideas between them

History books say that the idea of putting meat between slices of bread was invented by an inveterate gambler sometime in the 1770s. John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich (and yes, there is a town in England called Sandwich) was a talented civil servant, patron of music and sports, and also a member of the notoriously…

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Variations on a culinary theme

I was in a restaurant where the menu lists signature dishes, and it caused me to think about what my actual signature looks like. This is a distinctive scrawl that inspired my wife to remark that it always looks like I happened to have a pen in my hand during an earthquake. On the bright…

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The future is now for California Japanese

It has been 40 years since the movie Blade Runner and the cyberpunk movement in literature depicted a future world in which Asian, particularly Japanese, culture blended with a future high-tech California. It was a chaotic, visually fascinating place where billboards writhed and morphed, strange electronic music pulsated, and food was elegantly presented but almost…

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All the ingredients for greatness

As far back as the 1930s, dining in California was noted for a casual blending of indoor and outdoor spaces. The emphasis is on the casual – movie stars showed up in fancy dress at restaurants on the Sunset Strip, but their home entertaining was more likely to be a barbecue on a covered patio,…

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An old idea, but new to you [restaurant review]

One of the more enjoyable food fads of the previous decade was putting cross-cultural things in tacos, such as pastrami with sauerkraut, fried chicken with mashed potatoes, and of course Korean bulgogi with kimchi. Hermosa Beach was host to an establishment that received lasting but unfavorable publicity for foie gras tacos, among other concoctions, and…

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The overachieving kitchen

When I heard Lunada Market was launching a restaurant, I had some assumptions about what they’d serve. The place already had a deli with a salad case and a full produce section, so it would be easy to make a menu of cold cut sandwiches, throw together some cheese and charcuterie trays, maybe offer guac…

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The menu as metaphor

I have sympathy for the people who write menus for creative restaurants, I really do. I used to consult on menu design, and have experienced the struggle to put the essence of a unique dish into a few words. It’s made immeasurably more difficult by the fact that there are so many regional and stylistic…

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