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 -- and 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 
-- From poutine to New Mexico cuisine, a look at Portland's food carts. Los Angeles Times
-- Hershey considers making a bid to buy Cadbury. It needs more than $17 billion to top offer from Kraft. Wall Street Journal
-- Salon launches a food section
-- Paula Deen hit with flying ham! WHEC
-- Pennsylvania police will withdraw theft charges against two students who refused to leave a tip at a pub for what they said was bad service. The Morning Call
-- Ben & Jerry's debuts Maple Blondie ice cream in honor of Vermont native and Olympic gold-medalist snowboarder 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: Dr. Billy Ingram / Getty Images

Beer bars are blooming in Los Angeles: Stout opens in Hollywood, Surly Goat to open in West Hollywood

You can find plenty of places in Los Angeles to drink an apple cosmotini or an organic artisanal rosemary-and-mint mojito, but for craft beer Los Angeles can be a humbling city. Not long ago, beer aficionados had few options for finding quality suds in L.A. These days...

A handful of new beer bars, such as recently opened Stout in Hollywood and soon-to-open the Surly Goat in West Hollywood are making the city more amenable to suds sippers. And after 18 painful months of red tape and construction (mostly red tape), the Eagle Rock Brewery just last week began brewing, making it the only dedicated commercial brewery operating within Los Angeles city limits. Co-founder Jeremy Raub hopes to release the brewery's first three beers by the end of the year.

Read the full story here.

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: 30 taps prominently line the copper bar at Stout, a new beer bar in Hollywood. Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times.

Sampler Platter: bacon popcorn, useless kitchen appliances, Pabst brewery for sale

Want to see more useless kitchen appliances than you can find in SkyMall? Or badly named Chinese knockoff brands? Or squash blossom quesadillas? You've come to the right place.

--You think they've put bacon in everything, then you discover bacon popcorn! Uncrate
--20 of the world's most useless kitchen appliances. Restyle Your Kitchen
--Gather your pennies, hipsters. Pabst Brewing Co. is for sale. New York Post
--Husband leaves his wife after she forces him to eat cake for every meal. Metro
--40 chefs under 40, only one from L.A.: Matt Molina (#38), Mozza executive chef. MNN
--Kiss My Bundt needs to sell 5,000 mini-bundt cakes in the next few weeks to stay open.
--The wackiest Chinese knockoffs. "Nalencia" oranges? Yum. Business Insider
--A photographic ode to the po'boy. New York Times
--Costco bans Coca-Cola due to pricing dispute. Consumerist
--Wine DJ iPhone app, which helps you pair music with vino, launches.
--Berkeley cracks down on Cupkates truck. California Taco Trucks
--First it's pumpkins, now an Eggo shortage. Signs of the end times? Google
--Food Court LA becoming Spacecraft-designed gastropub? Blackburn + Sweetzer
--Squash blossom quesadillas on the Gold Line. 99 Cent Chef
--MillerCoors contributes $500,000 to water education. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
--"Eating Animals," Jonathan Safran Foer's new pro-vegetarian book, gets a mostly positive review from the Los Angeles Times and a meh one from the New York Times.

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: Rochon Armwood of Mother's in New Orleans stands firmly behind the restaurant's po' boys. Credit: Alex Brandon / For The Times.

Hollywood is ground zero for L.A. beer? At least this weekend

When the first tap at the Hollywood Brew Fest is pulled sometime around 2 p.m. Saturday, it will officially mark the start of an all-day affair celebrating craft beer. But it will symbolize much more. 

Organized by Brian Lenzo of Hollywood Boulevard’s Blue Palms Brewhouse, the Brew Fest will bring to an end to what has in many ways been a landmark year for craft beer in Los Angeles. The Brew Fest will be the third and final all-day festival dedicated solely to small-batch brewers this year, and it will take place in a neighborhood that’s rather suddenly emerged as a safe haven for adventurous beer drinkers. 

As the Henry Fonda-adjacent Blue Palms has cemented itself as a place to go for a constantly rotating tap list, the last 12 months have seen the arrival of two key beer destinations in the neighborhood. Boho boasts a beer list handpicked by Ryan Sweeney of beer-bar Verdugo, and Essex features a tap lineup from Christina Perozzi, the self-described “beer chick” and former Father’s Office-manager turned author. What’s more, burger-and-beer bar Stout on the Cahuenga corridor should be up-and-running any day now, opening just a short stroll from Boho and microbrew-focused diner Lucky Devils.

"I really hope it's not a fad, and I don't think it is," says Perozzi, who recently published "The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer" with Hallie Beaune. "That's like saying boutique wines were a fad, and we'll go back to Ernest & Julio Gallo. Craft beer is one of those things that, once you taste it and experience it, you can't really go back to drinking mass-produced, light, fizzy yellow water."

Eagle Rock Brewery finally ready to start brewing beer

"Three months of construction and 15 months of red tape." That's how Eagle Rock Brewery co-founder Jeremy Raub describes the labyrinthine process of securing the necessary inspections, approvals and permits demanded by city, state and federal laws. Yesterday, he received the final permit that allows him to start brewing beer, which he hopes to begin doing by the end of the week.

Brewing in 15-barrel batches, the first batch will be an English-style mild black ale with a low alcohol content and a dark color caused by plenty of dark-roasted malts in the mix. Following that, he'll make a crisp Belgian-style beer but with less coriander and orange than you typically find in witbiers. The third batch looks to be a hoppy, floral extra pale ale. 

Sampler Platter: Veterans Day deals, Toshi Sushi celebrates anniversary, Ruby Tuesday gets posher, bacon envelopes and chocolate mousse Peeps

Even among fast casual eateries there's a caste system. And Ruby Tuesday wants to move out of the neighborhood it shares with Applebee's and Chili's and into the classier 'hood alongside Olive Garden and Outback Steakhouse. All this and more essential food news:

--Speaking of Applebee's, they're giving a free meal to Veterans today. Krispy Kreme giving away free doughnuts. Consumerist
--Ruby Tuesday upgrades with fancier decor, more expensive food. New York Times
--Toshi Sushi, "greatest omakase bargain in Little Tokyo," celebrates anniversary. Sinosoul
--Mendocino Farms to open 2nd downtown venue at 5th and Flower streets. Blog Downtown
--Portland brewer makes beer from Bac-O Bits, Nutella and more. Houston Chronicle
-- Food pioneer: Chef Fergus Henderson. The Times
--The folks who made Bacon Salt bring you Bacon Envelopes. J&D Foods
--Crispy tripas at Rambo's Taco Truck in Eagle Rock. Gourmet Pigs
--Miniature finger-food plates: Absurd or absurdly practical? The Kitchn
--Everyone loves the cheese dust. Dorito's DIY commercial contest returns.
--Burlingame officials try to run Curry Up Now truck out of town. California Taco Trucks
--Chocolate mousse-flavored Marshmallow Reindeer Peeps, new for the holidays.
--A roundup of pumpkin-based restaurant specials. Caroline On Crack

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: Toshihiko Seki, owner and chef of Toshi Sushi in downtown Los Angeles, prepares a plate of sashimi and rolls. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

A belly full of booze and braiiiins at the Newport Beach Zombie Pub Crawl

On Saturday afternoon in Newport Beach, if you're so inclined, you'll have the perfect excuse to get dead drunk. Go ahead, stagger from bar to bar, moaning and drooling on yourself. Tear at your clothes and scream "braiiiins" if you feel like it. No one will stop you.

That's because it will be Zombie Pub Crawl day, the one day of the year that you can act like a hopeless drunk without actually being one.

Organized by the website localhipster.com (which devotes itself to the noble pursuit of curating and highlighting happy-hour specials in Orange County), the inaugural Zombie Pub Crawl represents some definite Halloween event-planning synergy. Zombies are very much en vogue this season, and alcohol never goes out of style.

Better yet, though, the parallels between a zombie and a besotted human are uncanny: a lack of motor function; an insatiable appetite; a tendency to groan indecipherably; a sallow, jaundiced appearance; disheveled clothing marked by stains of an unknown provenance; bad breath; and a generally uncouth countenance are just the beginning.

To read the rest of Jessica Gelt's story, click here.

Photo: Headed to the bar. Participants in a Zombie Pub Crawl in Minneapolis. Credit: Amy B. Nelson Mingo.

Sampler Platter: Reviving British food, hipsters make PBR more popular, Stefan Richter says something arrogant

Stefan Richter surprises no one with his arrogance, agribusiness throws its weight around and more food news in today's roundup.

-- Sorry, hipsters. Your ironic consumption of Pabst Blue Ribbon made it more popular -- and more expensive -- than other lowbrow beers. NBC Los Angeles
-- "I think America knows that I won Top Chef," says Stefan Richter. LAist
-- Sweets and schadenfreude: Cake Wrecks makes it into the New York Times.
-- California agribusiness pressures Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to nix Michael Pollan lecture. Los Angeles Times
-- Don't wear your sweatpants to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Washington Post
-- A recipe for bite-sized bacon caramels. The Kitchn
-- Bears love eating from minivans. Los Angeles Times
-- Hoping to incite “serious contemplation of a robust culinary tradition,” British Food in America, a new online mag “dedicated to the discussion and revival of British foodways,” launches. News items will appear “forthnightly." Cheerio, old chap.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Canned food from explorer Ernest Schackleton's 1907-09 Nimrod expedition in Antarctica, part of Britain's "robust culinary tradition." Credit: Chris Walker / Chicago Tribune.

Three Food Events You Should Know About: Your Oktoberfest weekend begins with beer

ONGOING

Oktoberfest goes global October is for Oktoberfest, but at the Culver Hotel that doesn't mean all German food all the time. Instead the iconic, wedge-shaped hotel will serve an "Around the World" Oktoberfest menu (throughout the month) that pairs beers with their matching cultural comfort food. You get five courses in all, beginning with Germany (sausage, bacon and potato salad and Hefeweizen); then moving on to Japan (sesame-crusted ahi tuna and Sapporo); Southern California (organic butternut squash ravioli and Angel City Ale); Colorado (braised Colorado lamb and Hoptoberfest); and finally Mexico (churros with vanilla ice cream/Dos Equis). Best of all? The price. Dinner is $28; make that $38 with beer pairings. Sign me up! Culver Hotel, 9400 Culver Blvd., Culver City. (310) 558-9400. www.culverhotel.com.

SUNDAY

Tasting Abbot Kinney Join what's being dubbed an urban adventure with the very first Taste of Abbot Kinney. Walk the famed street on an eating and drinking tour of its many popular establishments. If you buy a ticket, you can get a taste from almost every restaurant on the street including the Tasting Kitchen, Joe's (which is also hosting a bartending competition), Marla's Kitchen, Three Square and Equator Cafe. Certain places will also offer wine or Champagne. Ticket holders will also receive discounts at many of the street's retail shops (Salt, Surfing Cowboys, Patio Culture and more). Proceeds benefit Inside Out Community Arts, a nonprofit that brings arts education to underserved L.A. school children. Check-in is at 920 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. (310) 397-8820. www.tasteofabbottkinney.com.

A tea tour If you're a tea fan, you might want to consider joining Kuvlov (founder of the Valentine's Tea Festival) for an in-depth tour of the Fowler Museum's exhibition "Steeped in History: The Art of Tea." The exhibition (and tour) focuses on the history and culture of tea in the East. The tour will be followed by a lunch created by chef Kristy Choo of Jin Patisserie. Last of all you'll wind down with tea purveyors 1001 Plateaus and a tasting of rare (and aged) Chinese teas. Fowler Museum, north campus, UCLA; enter campus lot 4 at Sunset Boulevard at Westwood Plaza. L.A. (310) 825-4361. www.fowler.ucla.edu.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Craft brewers rethinking rice beers

Though the grain is derided in many circles, a handful of brewers are using it in ales for a crisp, delicate flavor that can easily pair with lighter fare. Read more here.

Photo: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times

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