Restaurant review: El Gaucho, Redondo Beach

There is a style of Argentine food that has become popular in Los Angeles. Swanky restaurants play sensuous tango music and serve vast portions of meat, pastas that reflect the huge Italian immigration to that country in the 1800s, and empanadas, the meat or vegetable turnovers that are the most popular snack. It’s a delightful…

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More than just slices at Village Pizza in Redondo Beach

What I like about RivieraVillage is that it actually resembles a village. Walk down Catalina and the adjacent streets and you see the kind of family-owned businesses and eccentric shops that make it feel like a small town where locals actually shop and dine. True, some of the real village essentials are missing, such as…

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South Bay restaurant news: new eateries in Redondo, holiday cooking classes, all-you-can-eat sushi in Manhattan Beach

News from Redondo…Manhattan Beach has been the focus of several recent columns, not because I have anything against the other beach cities but because that’s where the news has been. This time it’s Redondo’s turn, with openings, classes, and other interesting items. New Kids in Town… I remember being surprised when I was driving in…

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Restaurant Review – Mun’s the word at Corner Pub

Sometimes a business opens and I wonder what the owner could possibly be thinking. When I see two pizzerias a short distance from another and notice that a third place serving pizza is opening between them, I’m bemused. What does the new place think they have to offer that the existing places don’t? It is…

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Restaurant review: Banzai Beach – Eating Well on the Italian/Polynesian Border

Los Angeles has many restaurants offering eccentric combinations of cuisines – Ethiopian/Italian is actually natural thanks to the colonial era occupation of the country, but Korean/Italian and Portuguese/Greek are rather more unusual. A new Scandinavian/Turkish concept is scheduled to open soon in Culver City, which probably takes the prize. The South Bay’s current champion for…

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Fishin’ for more: Jessica Jordan’s growing empire

 Most people starting restaurants start with a concepts. Jessica Jordan and Harold Rothman created Fishbar as they went along The person who hired the eager teenager to work at Becker’s Bakery could not have known that he started a career trajectory that would include haute cuisine. They might have caught on to two aspects of…

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South Bay dining news: all-you-can-eat sushi, Uncorked and Dominique’s celebrate, Brickworks Roasthouse, Pol Roger champagne dinner at Historia Piave, and more

Managing And Announcing Change… Some restaurants have had signs in the window announcing a change in ownership for months without anything actually changing, causing puzzlement among their customers. These notices are sometimes significant, sometimes not – they could signal a complete change in ownership, or that that one partner is being replaced by someone else.…

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The Purple Orchid blossoms in El Segundo

It’s another Friday night at the Purple Orchid, and an Australian instrumental trio fusses for a while with their instruments before deciding they are ready to start playing. When they do, it’s worth the wait – the flamboyant guitar is electrifying, and the audience is riveted. Among the crowd is a middle-aged couple wearing bright…

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South Bay restaurant news: Barsha’s anniversary, Tin Roof’s Bangers and Casks, Sunday by the Sea, Jonathan Benno at Strand House, Stone at Jackson’s….& more….

Summer has ended, and restaurateurs can turn their attention from the tourist onslaught and focus on their local clientele. They’re doing it like never before – I can’t remember a week when there have been one or more food and wine events every night, but there’s one coming up. This coming weekend offers a pair…

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