Enough pie to reach the sky in KCRW contest

Bring on the pie! And the pie ... and the pie. One hundred and fifty pies. Sour cream apple blueberry. Apple and more apple in every variation, including one with bacon and smoked paprika. Lots of pumpkin pies (no surprise in November). Maple sweet potato pie with pecan brittle topping. Chocolate banana cream pie. Savory duck pie.

Welcome to the KCRW-FM (89.9) "Good Food" show pie contest, an event inspired by host Evan Kleiman’s summer project of baking a pie (almost) every day. Kleiman, the emcee at Saturday's contest, wore a pie pin embroidered by her friend Jill Smolin. She introduced herself as "your pie god," to lots of cheers.

Sampler Platter: The beef whisperer, L.A.'s best tearooms, milky science and weird bacon products

What do goat milk, Gwyneth Paltrow and bizarre bacon products have in common? They all make an appearance in today's roundup of totally inessential food news.

--Meet the beef whisperer. He can tell a cow's age, gender and breed from one bite of meat. The Independent
--Iconic Mel's Drive-In closes today in Seal Beach. OC Register
--Morning Edition anchor Chery Glaser's five favorite L.A. tearooms. KCRW
--What carbonation really tastes like: sour. Wired
--Twelve weird bacon products you won't believe. Delish
--Poring over facts about milk: cow's, goat's, soy, almond, rice and hemp. Los Angeles Times
--Please enjoy this sausage necklace. Pahl-Fleischer
--Litigious Monster Energy threatens actual movie monster. Consumerist
--Gwyneth Paltrow shows you how to make a light Spanish dinner of tortilla espanola, poached shrimp and bread with tomato sauce. Goop
--Sam Sifton on Daniel Boulud's DBGB Kitchen & Bar. (New York Times) In the meantime, Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn in Las Vegas will shutter. (Eating Las Vegas)
--OpenTable announces its 2009 Fit for Foodies winners. No surprises in terms of L.A. restaurants: The Bazaar, Osteria Mozza, Palate, Street.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Views of the Huntington Botanical Gardens are part of the charm of the very English tearoom. Credit: Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times.

Are we farmers market failures?

Here in Southern California we love our farmers markets. But do we love them as much as the folks up north in Davis? Or back east in Ithaca, N.Y.? Or in Sunset Valley, Texas, for god's sake? Apparently not. American Farmland Trust is running a national online poll to determine the best farmers market in America and the only Southern California market in the Top 60 is Santa Barbara's. 

Now, there's no arguing that there are great farmers markets all over the country these days. But Ithaca? Given the weather up there, how long can it be open? Two weeks in August?
No, I think the problem is that maybe we've grown just a little complacent. Certainly the Santa Monica and Hollywood markets ought to be on that list. And for that matter, so should Torrance and Pasadena's Victory Park. And I'll bet you can think of a couple more.

Markets in the competition are divided into three size categories, depending on how many vendors attend them. The smallest markets are 30 vendors or smaller and the leading vote-getters so far are something called Smart Markets at Mason, in northern Virginia, and the Collingswood, N.J., farmers market. The Fresno State farmers market is third.

Mid-size markets have between 30 and 55 vendors. Leaders are the Capitol market in Charleston, West Va., the Historic Lewes, Del., Farmers Market, and the Farmers Market at Minnetrista in Muncie, Ind. 

Leading the big-market competition are the Davis market, just outside of Sacramento, Ithaca and Sunset Valley. Where in the world is Sunset Valley? Or, maybe more to the point, where in the world is Santa Monica? There's still time to right this grievous wrong. Vote early and vote often.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo: Alex Weiser at the Santa Monica farmers market. Credit: David Karp / For The Times

The Restaurant Design Awards: Downtown L.A. wins big

Earlier this week we posted a list of local finalists for the first nationwide Restaurant Design Awards, noting that downtown L.A. was heavily represented. We might even have gone so far as to call downtown L.A. a design mecca. (OK, I admit it was I who called it that, and now I have to admit that I was right.)

In last night's ceremony, held by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles, three out of six Jury Award winners are from downtown L.A. The jury consisted of L.A. Weekly restaurant critic Jonathan Gold; downtown nightlife baron Cedd Moses (wait a minute, downtown nightlife baron ... just kidding, we trust Moses to be objective); design partner Michael Palladino from Richard Meier & Partners Architects; and graphic designer Louise Sandhaus.

And without further ado, the winners are (follow that jump):

Downtown L.A. restaurants dominate Restaurant Design Awards' list of finalists

This year marks the first nationwide Restaurant Design Awards. The awards will be bestowed upon the lucky winners by the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles on Friday. Hopefully, a number of you fine people have already voted for your favorite contender. And I trust you used your discerning taste to vote for a local. The local finalists are listed below, with commentary by me. (Because you care what I think. Yes, you do!)

Restaurants:

• AK Restaurant + Bar (Too bad Conny Andersson is out of that space now! It's so pretty and smooth and green-hued.)
• Bottega Louie (This downtown pleasure palace is a place of bright-white wonder.)
• Chaya Downtown (Wow, downtown L.A., way to represent.)
• Drago Centro (What? More downtown. Trend story?)
• Luau (Never has a Tiki bar been so un-kitchsy.)
• Rivera (I think the judges must live in a loft on 7th Street.)

Cafes/Bars:

• Huckleberry (A fresh look as good as the pastries?)
• The Lab Gastropub (It's like watching "2001" through beer goggles.)

Lounges/Nightclubs:

• The Conga Room (L.A. Live gets a cuddly RDA hug.)

The fact that downtown L.A. accounts for more than half of the local finalists is a bit of a coup. It is true that a whole bunch of restaurants have opened in the area lately. Can we dub downtown a design mecca? I love dubbing things. Look for the list of winners to post here at The Dish at 7 p.m. Friday.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Bottega Louie. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Fighting to save culinary program, scholarships for L.A. high schools

Even though L.A. Unified isn’t renewing its contract with a program called C-CAP, or Careers through Culinary Arts Program, some high schools may continue the contracts on their own.

C-CAP offers teacher training, internships, scholarships and other services. It charges schools $3,500 if they have one teacher. A few weeks ago, it awarded nearly $600,000 in culinary scholarships to 34 L.A.-area high school seniors.

Mitzie Cutler, director of C-CAP in Los Angeles, says she sent information packets to all the principals in an effort to convince them the program is worth funding.

Andi Phillips, who teaches cooking at Marshall High, says her students plan to raise money with a cupcake auction. She’s also contacted the school’s alumni group in hopes of raising money.

At Roosevelt High, however, the culinary program closed this spring. Roosevelt, one of the schools in the mayor’s partnership program, is converting from a year-round to a traditional calendar. The culinary program was cut for budget reasons, says Nadia Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s program.

The teacher in the program, Patricia Farley Terry, says her students are upset and disappointed. She has 26 years of experience at Roosevelt, and won’t be unemployed, but she will have to teach another subject, either at Roosevelt or elsewhere.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Ariel Rogers, from Manual Arts High School, won one of the top scholarships earlier this month. Photo credit: Axel Koester / Los Angeles Times)