Posts by Richard Foss

I have spent a lot of time around people who enjoy food a lot and love arguing about it even more, and fans of barbecue are some of the most obsessive. They’ll quibble over the proper texture of the meat, components of the rub, appropriate level of smokiness, balance of sweetness, vinegar, and peppers in…

Never Thought I’d Type This: For the first time since I started writing these columns, the Artesia corridor is the center of local dining news. I have been expecting some energy in this area, since it has high traffic, more available parking, and lower rents than the beach city downtowns, but not for so many…

When I was a kid growing up in Manhattan Beach, I frequented two Mexican restaurants: the Red Onion when my parents were paying, and El Tarasco when it was on my dime. Since our family didn’t have a lot of money, I ate at El Tarasco a lot. My friends and I would ride our…

When chain restaurants began to flourish in the 1930s, they targeted people who were driving through strange towns and didn’t know a place that served anything they liked. If visitors saw a sign they recognized, a White Castle, A&W, Steak and Shake, or one of the other popular franchises of the day, they could pull…

One of the more dubious honors presented by the NBA is the annual “Most Improved Player” award. It has been noted that the easy way to win something like this is to start out terribly, and then raise your performance to average or slightly above. I have never given an award like this, but if…

The nights are getting cool, but the local dining scene is hot as ever, with lots of openings to report and more on the way. First, though, news about a few places of note that we have lost. The Market Report: Moon’s Market offered friendly service in a cluttered, slightly shabby environment, and had a…

One of the defining moments in California cuisine was when Alice Waters of Chez Panisse surprised her customers with an unorthodox dessert: a plate with nothing on it but a peach. No sauce, no garnish, just a piece of fruit. In the1980s, when wild creativity was fetishized, it was daring to insist that something natural…

Manhattan Beach has several restaurants that are architectural showpieces, among them the otherworldly Esperanza, sleek Zinc at Shade, the retro grandeur of The Arthur J, and hyper-modern Love & Salt. Places that can’t afford the architects and decorators festoon their places with surf memorabilia, photos they purchased from the Historical Society, or kitsch to convey…

The Goat Is Dead: The Goat Hill mall on PCH had a long and storied career, beginning when it was actually a goat farm owned by an irascible Scottish lady named Mrs. Auchmoody. She won LA County Fair awards in the 1920’s but was notoriously bad-tempered and prone to suing her neighbors. The Goat Hill…

If you grew up in this area, you may not remember your first visit to the Bottle Inn. You were probably too young to drive, or to legally sample anything from the wine list, a kid dressed in nice clothes going out to dinner on mom, and dad’s anniversary, or a significant birthday. In the…

I have expat friends who live in New Zealand and stay with me when they visit family here. Their first actions on arrival follow a pattern. On the way from the airport, even before dropping their luggage, we stop for Mexican food, and within the next two days we go out for barbecue. These are…

The most expensive steaks in the world come from Japan, which is ironic for those who know history. For over a thousand years the Japanese ate no beef at all. In that Buddhist country, anyone who consumed as much as a mouthful was required to do penance for 150 days. When the modernizing Emperor Meiji…

Meat Central: There’s a lot of activity involving barbecue of various sorts in the South Bay, with one opening this week, one a few months down the line, and another relaunch of a local favorite. The established place is the former Silvio’s Brazilian Beach BBQ on the Hermosa Pier Plaza, which is now Silvio’s South…

Hermosa Happenings… After a period when most new restaurant action was in El Segundo and Redondo, Hermosa is hopping. We’ll start with doings there and then get to other cities and an event roundup… Living In A Musical?… A new Colombian restaurant called Encanto is coming to the long-empty ground floor space beneath Radici restaurant.…