Wines to go with barbecue: tastings at Rosso Wine Shop, Silverlake Wine

What wines to go with ribs, burgers and potato salad? To help you find out, Rosso Wine Shop in Glendale and Silverlake Wine are holding tastings of barbecue-friendly wines this weekend.

Rosso Wine Shop's picks:

Jean-Francois Fayel Costieres de Nimes Rosé 2009 France

Sampietrana Negroamaro 2007 Italy

Teira Zinfandel 2008 California

Tastings of all three wines will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. $10 per person. 3459-1/2 Verdugo Road, Glendale, (818) 330-9130, www.rossowineshop.com.

On Sunday, Silverlake Wine will hold its "7th Annual Memorial Day Barbeque Wine Tasting," with barbecue from the First Assembly Baptist Church: "ribs, links, chicken, etc."

The wines:

L'Hortus de Bergerie "Rose de Saignee" Languedoc 2009 France

Chateau de l'Eperonniere Savennieres 2007 France

Maquis Lien Red Blend Colchagua Valley 2006 Chile

Parrone Malbec Reserve Mendoza 2006 Argentina

Huber Dornfelder Santa Rita Hills 2006 California

3 p.m. Sunday. $20 per person. Reservations required. 2395 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 662-9024, www.silverlakewine.com.

--Betty Hallock

Look who's grillin': 'Ribs on the Roof' at the Peninsula; chef Daniel Humm does lamb kebabs; Campanile's Memorial Day barbecue

Ribs, Beverly Hills-style: When I think about the Peninsula in Beverly Hills, I think about high tea in the hotel's Living Room, or maybe cocktails sipped fireside while Antonio Castillo de la Gala plays the piano. Ribs grilled on the rooftop aren't what first come to mind. But starting last weekend, that's exactly what happens on the swanky Roof Garden. A $55 prix-fixe menu (you can also order a la carte) starts with a "composed skewer" of grilled duck sausage, charred pineapple, Bard Valley dates and heirloom watermelon. Entrees include 24-spice rubbed pork ribs; chicken with apricot barbecue sauce; grilled Alaskan halibut; or T-bone steak. Whole Maine lobster is offered for $15 more. Sides are baked Okinawa sweet potato and pepper and corn slaw. For each table, a platter of desserts. 4 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays until Sept. 5. Free valet parking for dinner guests. 9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 551-2888, www.peninsula.com/beverlyhills. 

Lamb skewers a la Humm: Click here for a video of Eleven Madison Park chef and recent James Beard award winner Daniel Humm grilling lamb skewers (finished with lemon zest and parsley -- nice touch). He admits that he "would rather have on shorts." See the recipe after the jump. 

More BBQing: Pulled pork, barbecued beef ribs and chicken wings are on the menu at Campanile's annual Memorial Day barbecue. To go with: grilled corn on the cob, creamy potato salad, cole slaw, and tomato, cucumber and basil salad. Strawberry shortcake is dessert. $45 per person. 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday. 624 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 938-1447, www.campanilerestaurant.com.

--Betty Hallock

Photo: Peninsula Beverly Hills executive chef James Overbaugh.

Credit: Peninsula Beverly Hills

Attention, carnivores! May is National Barbecue AND Burger Month!

Imagine my surprise when I showed up at work and found not one but two wonderful e-mails in my inbox. As if our (finally improving) Southern California weather were not enough, apparently May is National Barbecue and National Burger Month!

Needless to say, I can barely contain myself. I don't know whether to go out to dinner to celebrate ... or give myself some sort of smoky facial by hovering over the grill tonight.

In honor of this holiday, we're going to compile some of our favorite burger and barbecue recipes from the L.A. Times' test kitchen's archives.

In the meantime, I'm curious to know what you think are the best joints in town. Where can you find the best burgers and barbecue in Southern California?

I've already picked some brains to get the list going -- and most are around Los Angeles, so we need to broaden the range. Add to it. Challenge it. I double-dog dare you.

Here goes....

Better than a food truck: the Kogi BBQ Scion xD Mobile at the L.A. Auto Show

If you’ve always dreamed of having the Kogi Korean BBQ truck permanently parked outside of your house, soon you can. With Scion's help, you will be able to put Kogi in your driveway and, even better, in your garage.

Imagine a customized Scion xD Mobile with an aluminum grill in the pop-out trunk, cooking utensils and sauces in the pop-out taillights, and a sink to clean up in one of the rear-passenger doors, all retractable by remote control. Arm yourself with good meat and good company and you’re ready for a tailgate, a fantastic outdoor party or a family dinner of Korean BBQ tacos on the front lawn. Awesome.

The auto company teamed up with Mike Vu and his MV Designz shop in Santa Ana to create the customized Scion xD officially for the Korean BBQ truck (whose dedicated foodies follow the truck around by its Twitter updates), but also to spark the imagination of car buyers about ways they can customize their own xD. It debuted at an auto show in Las Vegas last month and is now at the L.A. Auto Show; after its tour, the customizable xD will be available for sale (and is planned to be adopted by Kogi and used just like its trucks).

See more photos of the mean, lean Korean BBQ machine and read the full story at our Money & Company blog here.

RELATED:
L.A. Auto Show: Kogi BBQ Scion, with working grill, to hit the L.A. streets after auto show tour
Food truck profile: Little Spoon dessert truck rolls across Los Angeles

-- Kelsey Ramos

Photo: Scion Kogi xD Mobile, customized by MV Designz, on display at the L.A. Auto Show. Credit: Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Los Angeles Times

Latest recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

All recipes that appear in the L.A. Times' Food section are tested and perfected in our test kitchen before they're deemed fit to print. (That means you don't have to worry about a trial run before serving one of our recipes to company.) Rest assured, they should work the first time out of the gate. Here's a look at this week's recipes:

Small Bites: Build Your Own BBQ at Zeke's, Mr. Cecil's bottles barbecue sauce

Multi-Meat Meal Deal: Because sometimes you like mixed grill, Zeke’s Smokehouse (with locations in West Hollywood and Montrose) has begun offering a “Build Your Own BBQ Special” (3-10 p.m., Mon. - Thu. & 11 a.m-4 p.m., Sat. - Sun.) that lets diners choose two meats (pulled pork, pulled chicken, smoked ham, 1/4 dark meat chicken, hot link) and two sides (baked beans, collard greens, mashed potatoes, green beans, potato salad, cole slaw, apple sauce, kettle chips or fries) for $9.95. 7100 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. (323) 850-9353. 2209 Honolulu Ave., Montrose. (818) 957-7045l, www.zekessmokehouse.com.

Barbecue in a Bottle: Mr. Cecil's California Ribs has bottled their signature barbecue sauce and is selling it at all their locations ($8.25) as well as at Cost Plus ($6.99) and a few gourmet markets including Monsieur Marcel and Bel-Air Foods. 1224 W. Pico Blvd., L.A. (310) 442-1550. 13625 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 905-8400. 1209 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach. (310) 546-5400. www.mrcecilscaliforniaribs.com.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Bob Carey / Los Angeles Times

Small Bites: Steven Arroyo sells Church & State, Mr. Cecil’s opens today in Manhattan Beach, Lemonade opens Thursday at MOCA

Beachy barbecue: California-style barbecue joint Mr. Cecil's California Ribs, which already has locations in West L.A. and Sherman Oaks, today opened its newest spot. Formerly Le Creperie Café, the downtown Manhattan Beach outpost features a bar and a new 60-seat dining room that dishes out beef ribs, St. Louis-style ribs, smoked tri-tip, catfish and more. 1209 Highland Ave., Manhattan Beach. (310) 546-5400, www.mrcecilscaliforniaribs.com.

Church & State changes hands: Yassmin Sarmadi has negotiated a purchase of ownership from Steven Arroyo, co-owner, of Church & State. Thankfully, Walter Manzke is still the chef. 1850 Industrial St., L.A. (213) 405-1434, www.churchandstatebistro.com.

New museum cafe: Lemonade's newest location opens Thursday at 11 a.m. when it becomes the official cafe of MOCA in downtown L.A. 250 S. Grand Ave. L.A. (213) 628-0200, www.lemonadela.com.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Chef Walter Manzke (third from right) looks over a dish before it goes out at Church & State. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Sampler Platter: Warm ice cream, canned bacon, secret fast-food menus and West Coast vs. East Coast barbecue wars

Cali-style burgers in Philly, secret fast-food menus, a new barbecue joint in Mid-City West and more in today's food news roundup.

--Unilever is working on producing "ice cream" that can be sold at room temperature. Popsop
--The Smokin’ Joint barbecue restaurant opens at 3rd Street and La Cienega Boulevard. Sweetzer + Blackburn
--Food Marathon visits -- and likes -- New York BBQ on La Brea Boulevard.
--Need a bacon fix but too lazy to cook it? Enjoy some Tac Bac - Tactical Canned Bacon. Think Geek
--How to order off the secret menus from In-N-Out Burger, Fatburger, Jamba Juice, Kogi BBQ and Starbucks. Squid Ink
--Gizmodo says Chipotle's new iPhone app, which allows you to build your meal, add special instructions, send your order to any Chipotle outlet and pay for it, "sets the standard for deliciously unhealthy fast food convenience."
--The New York Times hops on the Mexican hot dog bandwagon.
--Food She Thought reviews Ortolan's Bourdeaux dinner, held Aug. 26.
--Pat Saperstein of Eating LA reviews Allston Yacht Club. Los Feliz Ledger
--P.Y.T., the hot new burger joint in Philadelphia, has people raving about their "California-style burgers" -- even Roots drummer Questlove. Burgatory
--The winner of Ben & Jerry's "Do the World a Flavor Contest" is Toni Gunnison of Mount Horeb, Wis., who invented a caramel ice cream with almonds and a caramel swirl.

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: Pecan-crusted spareribs with Kentucky bourbon barbecue sauce. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Korean BBQ Festival and Cook-off Saturday

Our own Russ Parsons will join chef Evan Kleiman and LA Weekly food writer Jonathan Gold to judge the Korean BBQ Festival and Cook-off Saturday from 12 to 8 p.m. at Summit on Sixth.

Hosted by Yelp and located in the heart of Koreatown, you can gorge on kalbi, bulgogi and more from 10 local restaurants including: Beverly Soon Tofu, Beul Dae Po (Star BBQ), Ham Ji Park, Moo Dae Po, Park's BBQ, Seoul Jung, So Hyang and Soowon Galbi.

Highlights include an eating contest with a mystery ingredient at 2 p.m.; a cooking demo at 3:30 p.m. and the cook-off at 5 p.m.

The after-party starts at 8 p.m. at nearby R Bar.

Location: parking lot, Summit at Sixth: 3223 6th St., L.A. 
Cost:$10-15 per plate of food.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: A waitress prepares bulgogi beef next to a plate of kimchi at a North Korean restaurant in Beijing. Credit: Nick Fischer / Bloomberg News

Sampler Platter: Sonoran hot dogs, Central American chicken, coffee taste test

Sonoran hot dogs, Central American chicken, bad meat becoming good power, BBQ at Verdugo and more in today's food news roundup:

• Tesco's program to convert spoiled meat into power outrages vegans. Los Angeles Times
• Is is Lars Kuprik Backman the real Swedish Chef? ABC
• Coney Island Nathan's could be saved by landmark status. N.Y. Daily News
• Robot chefs run restaurant in Japan. Fox News
• Wolfgang Puck sued for "overly slick" floors. TMZ
• Sabores Sin Fronteras: The Sonoran hot dog crosses the U.S.-Mexico border. NPR
• Kokomo owners may turn Eat Well space on Sunset into K2. Eater LA
• BBQ and beer at Verdugo next two Sundays. Eating L.A.
• Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's both beat Starbucks in Slate's coffee taste test.
• KCRW's Rob "Martini Shot" Long loves Central American chicken. LAist
• LA Foodie checks out J N J Burger & Bar-B-Q.
• A con man who claimed to be friends with Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay has been jailed for fraud. BBC

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Pollo Campero's three-piece chicken meal. Credit: Pollo Campero