8 Stories
by Richard Foss Another Hermosa Avenue Star: AttaGirl has opened in the former Dia de Campo space, and the difference in the space is phenomenal. The former rustic tropical vibe has been replaced by a sleek modern look enhanced by upbeat music at moderate levels. The menu uses Middle Eastern ideas as a springboard for […]
Sophistication Street: Hermosa Avenue has gradually morphed from a continuous party to a haven for creative chefs, and the trend accelerates with a new opening. Vinfolk is now serving in the former Chef Melba’s, and though the decor has been freshened, the softly lit elegance is the same. The cuisine by chefs Kevin de los […]
by Richard Foss One of the delights of dining out is ordering something you can’t possibly make at home because of the complexity of the recipe, special skills required of a chef, or the arcane ingredients. This is the nature of special occasion dining, of treating yourself and your dining companions to something different and […]
by Richard Foss Burger Rebirth: In a previous column, I mused that Hermosa Beach might have reached peak burger, since so many pulverized protein palaces had opened there. I may have to eat crow (made into a crowburger, of course), because eateries with that specialty continue to open. Proudly Serving, which began flipping ground cow […]
2022 was a year of extraordinary diversity in the dining scene by Richard Foss Sometimes I look at previous columns about the best restaurants of a particular year to analyze patterns. The year of Italian restaurants was followed by the march of sushi and ramen joints, and another year the sound of burgers flipping was […]
By Richard Foss Rolling Hills resident Kathy Kellogg Johnson tells the story of the founding of her family’s garden products company as though she were there, even though it happened in 1925. A young man with a new engineering degree from USC didn’t have much money or land. His father had lost his fortune […]
by Richard Foss Hermosa had a bar and grill called Fat Face Fenner’s Falloon that everybody knew because once you heard the silly name, you remembered it. Other odd names were more problematic – BamBiBu was hilarious to anyone who understood Japanese puns, but forgettable by everyone else, and even the staff at Les Joues […]