More last-minute Thanksgiving options: Fraiche, Vermont, Agura, Oaks Gourmet, Kiss My Bundt

Last-minute bakery (for candied yams too): Kiss My Bundt will be open Thanksgiving Day so you can pick up side dishes such as candied yams, sweet potato souffle, sweet or savory cornbread and strawberry butter, and Big Ol' Bundts and mini and baby bundts for desserts. For pickup on Thanksgiving, the order deadline for side dishes and Big Ol' Bundts is Wednesday at 1 p.m. (Delivery also available). 8104 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles; (323) 655-0559; www.kissmybundt.net.

Thanksgiving at Fraiche: Fraiche will be serving family-style Thanksgiving with wood-fired mushroom salad or chestnut soup to start, followed by roasted turkey (or chicken), seared duck breast or flat-iron steak, served with mashed potatoes, stuffing, mac 'n' cheese, creamed spinach, green beans, glazed carrots and cranberry sauce. Pumpkin or apple pie for dessert. $35 per person. Noon to 8 p.m. 312 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 451-7482; www.fraicherestaurantla.com. (The Culver City location is closed Thanksgiving.)

Thanksgiving at Vermont: Order Thanksgiving a la carta at Vermont; choose from starters such as butternut squash soup, crab cakes or apple endive salad and mains such as organic roasted turkey, filet mignon, halibut or goat cheese and truffle ravioli. Pumpkin pie and apple tart are on the dessert menu. 1714 N. Vermont, Los Angeles; (323) 661-6163; www.vermontrestaurantonline.com.

It's a Turkey Plate: The Oaks Gourmet is offering a Thanksgiving Turkey Plate for $19, for take-out or dine-in: roasted turkey with foie gras gravy; sage and chestnut dressing; roasted brown butter yams; grilled Brussels sprouts with pancetta and shallots; truffle mashed potatoes; and a slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Wine pairings and a beer selection available. Pre-order or same-day service. 1915 N. Bronson Ave., Los Angeles; (323) 871-8894; www.theoaksgourmet.com.

Turkey teriyaki rolls!?! Agura is offering a "Japanese-inspired" Thanksgiving feast. For $12, you can get roasted turkey breast with grilled vegetables and ginger-flavored Madeira wine sauce. The restaurant also has created a special teriyaki turkey roll (only in L.A. ... ) for $8. 514 N. La Cienega Blvd., Hollywood; (310) 289-1940; www.aguradining.com.

-- Betty Hallock

For a complete list of Thanksgiving to-go and dine-in options, click here.

Photo: Kiss My Bundt

Small Bites: Street's new seasonal menu, Kitchen 24's new cupcakes, Agura's new happy hour

Word on the Street: This Friday, Susan Feniger's Street officially debuts its new seasonal dinner menu, featuring: Argentinian/Italian ricotta dumplings simmered in brown butter and lemon with celery root puree; black-eyed pea fritters; lamb kafta meatballs; Moscow-style eggplant; toasted amaranth, chicken and spoon bread dumplings; beef tenderloin schnitzel; honey-glazed Peking quail; barbecued Hawaiian pork wrapped in banana leaves and slow-cooked over a marinade of sugar cane, pineapple and soy; and more. The new lunch menu, which debuts on Saturday, also has several additions: mini Kobe beef chili dogs; crispy lamb taquitos; Vietnamese pulled pork sandwiches; Andouille sausage and shrimp gumbo; Moroccan spiced winter squash with roasted chestnuts; Burmese lettuce wraps with lentils, toasted coconut, peanuts, fried onions and sesame ginger dressing; Hawaiian ono sashimi in spicy sesame mayo; and more. 742 N. Highland Ave., L.A. (323) 203-0500, www.eatatstreet.com.

Cocktails and cupcakes: Kitchen 24's pastry chef, Daisy Roman, recently launched a featured daily cupcake at the 24-hour Cahuenga corridor diner. Flavors include: chocolate (Monday), carrot (Tuesday), vanilla (Wednesday), pumpkin (Thursday), winter mint chocolate (Friday), buttered pecan (Saturday) and red velvet (Sunday). Kitchen 24 also debuted four seasonal cocktails, including the Sweet-Tartini with muddled cranberries, Tanqueray, elderflower liqueur, cranberry juice and lime juice; and the Hot Spiced Cider with unfiltered apple juice, Jim Beam, orange liqueur and a secret spice syrup. 1608 N. Cahuenga Blvd., L.A. (323) 465-2424, www.kitchen24.info.

C'mon, get happy: Sushi and Japanese fusion restaurant Agura, the latest addition to La Cienega's restaurant row, recently launched a happy hour that features 50% off drinks and $3 to $5 small plates of salmon nachos, fried popcorn shrimp, spicy tuna and yellowtail rolls, shrimp-wrapped spring rolls, unagi avocado rolls, takoyaki and more. (10 p.m. to midnight Monday to Saturday and 6 p.m. to midnight Sunday). 514 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood. (310) 289-1940, www.aguradining.com.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: The interior of Kitchen 24 in Hollywood. Credit: From Kitchen 24.

Are consumers losing their appetite for eating out?

Adele Cabot and her husband used to dine out three or four times a week, regularly spending $75 to $100 at a sushi bar sampling rainbow rolls and yellowtail nigiri sushi.

But that changed after Cabot, an adjunct professor of theater at UCLA, had to take a 6% salary cut. The couple now eat out half as much and frequent less expensive Mexican and Italian places.

"I just don't want to spend the money to eat out a lot," Cabot said.

With Thanksgiving this week and Christmas next month, restaurants are eager to win back customers such as Cabot who seemed to disappear amid a brutal summer for the nation's eateries. Restaurant owners are worried that tight corporate entertainment budgets, cash-conscious consumers and greater competition from price-cutting supermarkets will make for another dreary Christmas. Read more here:

-- Jerry Hirsch

Photo: Patina Restaurant Group founder Joachim Splichal, shown at his Nick & Stef's Steakhouse in downtown L.A., has been focusing on booking company parties, offering price breaks as inducements. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

It's baaaaack: dineLA Restaurant Week returns in January, no food truck this time

It's starting to feel like "Restaurant Week" all year long. The next dineLA Restaurant Week is set for Jan. 24 to 29 and Jan. 31 to Feb. 5, in which participating restaurants offer special prix fixe lunch and dinner menus.

"With strong support from the restaurant community and an increasing demand from diners across the city, this special dining program has now become a twice yearly event," according to a statement from organizer LA Inc. the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, in partnership with American Express.

Participating in the inaugural fall "Restaurant Week" in October were 260 Los Angeles-area restaurants and dineLA's Restaurant Week Food Truck, featuring a rotating roster of chefs such as Alain Giraud of Annisette and Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose (pictured above). But don't expect a Restaurant Week food truck come January. "That was just a promotional event for the fall, we'll come up with something else for next time," a dineLA representative said.

No way to get rid of your Thanksgiving guests: Food poisoning

It might well be enough work dealing with the relatives on Thanksgiving, never mind food poisoning. So here are some tips from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on food safety.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo credit:  Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Food Forward picks up grant to pick more fruit

Food Forward, the organization that harvests fruit trees all over Los Angeles and gives the produce to food banks, was awarded a $25,000 grant to move forward itself. Jewish Venture Philanthropy Fund-Los Angeles awarded the grant last week.

Rick Nahmias founded Food Forward 10 months ago and has an e-mail list of volunteers with more than 700 names. The group has picked nearly 65,000 pounds of fruit for food banks to distribute, he said Monday at a forum on hunger.

Nahmias says there are thousands of trees all over the county that need harvesting -- from a few trees in a backyard to former orchards. While citrus season is upon us, he says, Southern California has something to harvest all year long.

Food Forward has had five "picks," as it calls them, in November. Two are planned so far for December. For information call 818-530-4125.

 

-- Mary MacVean

 

Thanksgiving countdown: Scalloped oysters

How about something that's different -- yet still a classic -- this holiday? Here's your recipe for scalloped oysters.

-- Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch 

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Sampler Platter: sushi fraud, Paula Deen hit with flying ham, Portland's food carts, 11 restaurants in 11 hours

The TV queen of Southern food gets whacked with a ham at a charity event while Food Marathon leads intrepid gluttons on an epic restaurant crawl. More in today's food news roundup.

-- Sushi fraud! DNA tests reveal that "tuna" is often fake or endangered species. Wired
-- 13 restaurants in 11 hours: the 11 in 11 Food Marathon 
-- Portland's food carts, from New Mexico to poutine. Los Angeles Times
-- Hershey needs over $17 billion to top Kraft's offer for Cadbury. Wall Street Journal
-- Salon launches a food section
-- Paula Deen hit by a flying ham! WHEC
-- Police drop theft charges against two students who didn't tip. The Morning Call
-- Ben & Jerry's makes Maple Blondie ice cream in honor of Olympian Hannah Teter
-- Gift suggestion for beer lovers: "The Naked Pint." Brand X
-- OpenTable unveils list of 70+ L.A. restaurants that offer private dining services
-- The four acts of Ondal's spicy crab soup. Eat, Drink & Be Merry
-- Six reasons bacon is better than true love

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Celebrity chef Paula Deen. Credit: Dr. Billy Ingram / Getty Images

Attack of the 100-proof turkey

This Thanksgiving, binge eaters and drinkers can kill two birds with one stone. O'Casey's Tavern in Manhattan is unveiling their 100-proof turkey today, serendipitously in sync with the Heath section's cover story on the psychology behind binge eating, which researchers have found has strong biochemical resemblance to alcoholism and addiction. 

As if tryptophan wasn't enough of an intoxicant, O'Casey's turkey is marinated in 100-proof Georgi vodka, along with peach, raspberry, cherry and apple flavored vodkas for 72 hours. According to a story in the New York Post, the bird will contain one ounce of alcohol per bite. The cost of the bender ($29.95) includes vodka-infused gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and a taxi ride home (a vomitorium, however, is not included).

For those aiming to abstain this holiday season, there's the recently released Jones Tofurkey and Gravy Soda, a vegan and non-alcoholic alternative.

-- Krista Simmons

Photo credit: Karl O'Connor

Valet parking: Now accepting credit cards

How many times have you stood in the valet line to retrieve your car after a meal only to realize that you don't have any cash, forced to ask friends or maybe even worse -- your date -- to lend you money?

Starting Dec. 1, valet stations at Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza in Hollywood and just-opened Bouchon in Beverly Hills will accept credit cards. Regent Hospitality Parking, which provides valet services at Mozza and Bouchon, among other restaurants, says that valet stations here will have wireless credit card terminals and that transactions will be completed "in less than one minute."

Regent Hospitality founder Brad Saltzman says that credit cards will be accepted at other restaurants' valet stands depending on the success of the company's efforts at Mozza and Bouchon. Valet parking fees at each restaurant will remain the same ($8 for Bouchon, $10 for Mozza).

The company claims it will be the first in the country to allow guests to pay their parking fees with credit or debit cards.

Why didn't anyone do this sooner?

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: A Regent valet in Culver City. Credit: Ken Hively

Restaurant preview: The Mercantile

New York entrepreneur George Abou-Daoud has a spanking new place for Hollywood hipsters to hang. That would be the gourmet market and wine bar called the Mercantile just a few blocks west of his popular Bowery and Delancey venues. And this time, he's nabbed a name chef to do the food -- Kris Morningstar, who comes fully credentialed from stints at A.O.C. and Blue Velvet, not counting a short tenure at Casa downtown as opening chef. Morningstar will be handling both the Mercantile and the restaurant District next door (slated to open soon). Read more here:

Photo caption: Chef Kris Morningstar chats with a customer at the Mercantile, a new wine bar and restaurant, off Sunset Boulevard. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Fight the food coma: Your Thanksgiving weekend club guide

When you've had your fill of turkey and family, here's what you can do on Thanksgiving weekend.

And if you conveniently missed your holiday dinner with relatives, many clubs and bars are offering a special holiday menu.

Meet your new Iron Chef: Jose Garces

The finale of "The Next Iron Chef" was a battle of the tried-and-true versus the edgy.

It was also a battle between Philadelphia-based chef Jose Garces' Latin cooking and New York-based chef Jehangir Mehta's Indian flare.

And, at times, it was a showdown between the cantankerous food writer Jeffrey Steingarden and Iron Chef Michael Symon. Click here to read more about how chef Jose Garces was crowned "The Next Iron Chef."

The title means that Garces joins the stable of chefs  -- including Symon, Bobby Flay and Mario Batali --  "worthy" of defending their title in Kitchen Stadium on the Food Network culinary competition "Iron Chef."

But it's also a ticket to fame and, most likely, fortune: Garces said that if nothing else, the win would help boost the profile of his restaurants. He said the platform would also be "a vehicle to do good, whether it's through charity work, or supporting young culinary talent. Having that title gives you a lot of leverage."

Chef Mehta predicted that Garces "would be one of the best Iron Chefs possible...I'm flattered at being on the final stage with him."

-- Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch

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A cookbook meant to bring into the grocery store

After working all day, do you find yourself wandering the aisles of Trader Joe’s, trying to figure out what products to put together to make dinner? Wander no longer. The authors of “Cooking with All Things Trader Joe’s” feel your pain, and they are doing their part to ease your confusion.

“The Trader Joe’s Companion,” by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati, is just a bit bigger than a Zagat’s guide. And if that’s too big for pocket or purse, it can live in the reusable shopping bags that sit in your car. (Of course, you have to do the work of remembering to bring them into the store.)

And while the book is geared toward what’s sold in one particular grocery store chain, you could use it elsewhere, though in some cases you’d have to adjust the products a little.

The authors are not associated with the company; they call themselves “very devoted” fans with busy lives who use many of Trader Joe’s prepared sauces, precut vegetables and other products. For instance, their black bean soup uses canned beans, frozen crushed garlic, jarred salsa and bagged diced onions, among other ingredients.

The book also has a handy bunch of blank pages in the back for notes.

-- Mary MacVean

(Photo by Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Thanksgiving countdown: whole-grain mustard rolls

These rolls can be prepared up to three days in advance  -- or you can make them right now, and freeze them until Turkey Day. Here's the recipe:

And don't forget the butter.

-- Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch 

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Market Watch: Salad greens, Brussels sprouts, apples, grapes, persimmons and pepinos

The Burbank farmers market, now held in the parking lot next to City Hall, has occupied several locations since its founding in 1983 but has always maintained high standards. It continues to feature many more produce vendors than prepared foods and crafts, 25 of 33 stands. Much of the credit belongs to the longtime manager, Carolyn Hill, who retired in July 2008 but trained her successor, Sarah Dornbos, to continue the market's style. The event provides more than $50,000 yearly to its sponsor, the Providence St. Joseph Medical Foundation, to subsidize medical expenses for needy patients.

For four years before becoming the manager, Dornbos worked at the market as a vendor for Living Lettuce Farms, which grows a wide range of lettuces, greens and herbs in the backyards of two homes in Reseda. The farm, which also sells at the Hollywood, Studio City and Culver City markets, offers particularly fine frisée -- young, pale yellow, sweet and crunchy. Its salad greens, including arugula, spinach and mesclun, are tender, delicate and mild. The owners, David and Michelle Goldman, also have two hydroponic supply stores, and the whole lettuces, sold swathed in plastic, roots still attached, are grown hydroponically. Read more here.

-- David Karp

Photo credit: David Karp / For The Times

'The Next Iron Chef': It's Jehangir vs. Jose

For Chef Jose Garces, it was a curdled flan. For Chef Jehangir Mehta, it was the grape leaves.

The last two chefs standing in the battle to become "The Next Iron Chef" say they are haunted by such flops as they head into Sunday night's finale on the Food Network. The Season 2 winner will join an elite stable of champions including Masaharu Morimoto, Bobby Flay and Cat Cora. These culinary warriors are the ones to beat on the popular Food Network game show "Iron Chef America."

But the title goes beyond a TV game show. The winner gains immediate fame thanks to a singular standing on the Food Network platform, and fortune is not far behind.

That's a chief reason why many of the competitors -- all successful chefs in their own right -- risked all to join the competition.

"It's a huge risk to go on the show and possibly be eliminated early ... or be displayed in a negative light," said Chef Garces. "But [if you win] it brings a lot of prestige, it's an honor and a privilege to be an 'Iron Chef.' ... It's very good for business as well, let's be honest. I have six restaurants, so having that title would be great." Read more here:

Photo: Chef Garces, left, and Chef Mehta. Photo credit: Food Network

Wine Spectator reveals Top 100 Wines of 2009, but... are all wine rating systems flawed?

Now that Wine Spectator has finished dragging out the reveal of its Top 100 Wines of 2009 -- a 2005 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon was ranked No. 1 -- over a yawn-inducing three days, we have to ask: Are wine ratings an accurate and useful guide for consumers? Or are they merely a series of wildly subjective impressions based more on context and expectation than the actual qualities of the wines? That's the question Leonard Mlodinow explores in a recent Wall Street Journal story, "A Hint of Hype, A Taste of Illusion."

Given the high price of wine and the enormous number of choices, a system in which industry experts comb through the forest of wines, judge them, and offer consumers the meaningful shortcut of medals and ratings makes sense.

But what if the successive judgments of the same wine, by the same wine expert, vary so widely that the ratings and medals on which wines base their reputations are merely a powerful illusion? That is the conclusion reached in two recent papers in the Journal of Wine Economics.

He's referring to findings published by Robert Hodgson, a retired statistics professor and the proprietor of Fieldbrook Winery. A few years ago, Hodgson joined the California State Fair wine competition advisory board, which allowed him to run a controlled scientific study of its tastings.

The results, published in the Journal of Wine Economics, showed that the judges' ratings varied by ±4 points on a standard 100-point rating scale. And "only about one in 10 [judges] regularly rated the same wine within a range of ±2 points."

Kiss My Bundt needs to sell 5,000 mini bundts to stay in business

The charming 3rd Street bakery Kiss My Bundt, which we have featured a few times in this blog (since its bundts and cupcakes are so tasty) is in a bit of trouble. Due to the recession and the rising cost of ingredients such as milk, butter, sugar and Belgian chocolate, the little bakery is struggling to stay afloat.

Last week, investor Erin Hill sent out an e-mail saying in part:

Chrysta [Wilson], the owner of the bakery, has been fighting valiantly since things got tough in January, but hasn't been able to build the business fast enough. So it has come down to the next few weeks, in which she has to sell about 5000 mini bundts to raise the money to keep her doors open into the Christmas season, when business will hopefully pick up.

It's surprising news, since the bakery has become a favorite with a lot of dessert-loving people I know and is often mentioned on popular blogs. Wilson even has a "Kiss My Bundt" cookbook coming out over Thanksgiving.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: A maple bacon bundt cake from Kiss My Bundt. Credit: Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times

Small Bites: Steak with Spike Lee, celebs cook up comfort for Thanksgiving

Meat/meet with Spike Lee: Have a hankering to discuss the recondite narrative mechanisms of "Girl 6" or the New York Knicks' defense? Filmmaker Spike Lee will join Andrew Siciliano and Mychal Thompson of 710 AM ESPN for a luncheon that combines steaks and sports. Morton's The Steakhouse. 735 S. Figueroa St., L.A. 11 a.m. Tuesday. $50 (includes tax and gratuity); cash bar.

Celebs donate recipes for suicide prevention: Actors Glenn Close, Marcia Gay Harden and Joe Pantoliano, comedian Joan Rivers, singer-songwriter James Taylor, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Melissa d'Arabian, winner of last season's "The Next Food Network Star," are sharing their favorite holiday recipes as part of an awareness campaign for National Survivors of Suicide Day. Held every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, this year's campaign includes a recipe contest featuring Pelosi's chocolate mousse, Close's baking powder biscuits, Rivers' pumpkin bread pudding and more.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Spike Lee takes in a meal from a court-side seat before a Lakers-Knicks game in 2008. Credit: Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times