Exclusive, with photos: A sneak peek at Lindy & Grundy, opening Tuesday

Back in January, we published our profile of Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura, the cleaver-wielding butcherettes who have been setting up their sustainable meat store on Fairfax Avenue.  Since then the women have been hard at work putting the finishing touches on their butcher shop, leaving the city in suspense for the opening. Some were so antsy, in fact, that they jumped the gun in announcing the opening.

The duo's thousands of Facebook and Twitter followers are likely privvy to the meticulous inspections and multiple bumps in the road that have pushed their opening more than a month behind schedule. But this afternoon we finally received word that Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured, and Organic Meats is finally ready to peddle its first pork jowls.

Naturally, we wanted to give you an exclusive sneak peak of the shop in its final stages. A virtual tour with smellevision would be helpful, because upon walking through the front doors we were slammed with the scent of smoking cedarwood and roasting meat. Decked out in chain-mail aprons, Nakamura was meticulously breaking down pork parts for house-made sausages and Posada and their two  employees were busy loading the smoker, testing recipes and quartering chickens.

The store, which opens Tuesday, will offer sustainably raised beef, lamb, pork, sausage, poultry, cheese and aged meat. Sausages are being stuffed for opening day; varieties include kimchi pork, sweet and hot Italian and classic lamb. Nakamura's signature "gateway" sausage (part tofu, part chicken) will be available once they settle in. They will sell a house blend of ground beef in freezer cases, along with stocks and other prepared items. The store will also have a rub and spice station where customers can work with the butchers to create specific spice mixtures for the meats they're purchasing.

The doors will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, and they plan to have an official opening party within a few weeks. The celebration will be a welcome one, after the series of delays.

"Getting this place open has been our lives." Posada says. "We couldn't have done this without each other."

For photos of their nearly completed sustainable butcher shop, keep reading.

--Krista Simmons

Follow me on Twitter @kristasimmons

Lindy & Grundy opening update

You may have heard earlier Thursday that Lindy & Grundy, the sustainable butcher shop that is generating Mozza-size anticipation, is opening Friday. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Erika Nakamura and Amelia Posada have a few more hoops to jump through before they can start slinging beef cheeks.

"We're still excited and kinda tired, but it does give us a couple of extra days to pull ourselves together," Nakamura said. "A while back Amelia and I made a commitment to ourselves to not get too upset over the things we have no control over. It's about a concrete ramp that needs to be extended. ... I have a very good feeling that it'll be Tuesday, but I don't want to jump the gun."

-- Krista Simmons

twitter.com/kristasimmons

Photo: Erika Nakamura and Amelia Posada in their West Hollywood home. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Unappetizing: Small businesses face several tax changes

Ugh. April 15 looms on the horizon.

Tax preparation will be more complicated this year for small-business owners and foodie entrepreneurs such as Liane Weintraub, chief executive of Tasty Brands (shown above). So is there any good news on that horizon? Thankfully, yes. New rules for the 2010 tax year could boost savings on federal taxes, according to this article in Monday's Business section. "We need all the breaks we can get, tax-wise," Weintraub said of her organic snack food firm in Calabasas. 

Photo: Liane Weintraub. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Is pie the new cupcake?

 
Cupcakes became so popular over the last few years that upscale bakeries sprang up across the nation to offer them in red velvet, mocha and chai latte. A fan site featured pictures of cupcake tattoos on aficionados. But new versions of the all-American favorite — pie — are increasingly popping up at bakeries and restaurants. Pie has replaced cake at some weddings. There are pie happy hours and pie shooters served in shot glasses. Read more in today's Business section.

Photo: A banana-cream "Simple Pie" is displayed alongside "Cutie Pies" at Simplethings Sandwich & Pie Shop in Los Angeles. Credit: Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times

L.A. loves to eat on the cheap; dineLA says fall Restaurant Week sets record

DineLA announced that its fall 2010 Restaurant Week has set a record, "providing the city a $5.2-million economic boost" during Oct. 3 to 8 and Oct. 10 to 15. The prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus offered by participating restaurants drew 158,000 diners, according to a release. 

Nearly 300 restaurants offered three-course lunch and dinner deals (priced at $16 to $44), making dineLA -- now in its sixth season -- the largest restaurant week in the country. 

"The program increased the number of participating restaurants by 28% and still increased the average estimated revenue for participating restaurants by 5.6%," says Mark Liberman, president and chief executive of L.A. Inc. (the Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau).

Estimated sales of $5.2 million are based on the number of dineLA-specific covers reported by each participating restaurant.  

"It was a great success for us," says chef Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose. "We had a full house every night ... And I'll tell you, it ain't like that every night. It was a great turnout."

The next Restaurant Week is scheduled for Jan. 23 to 28 and Jan. 30 to Feb. 4, 2011. 

-- Betty Hallock

Photo: A salmon dish by Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose. Credit: Mark Hanauer/For The Times.

Thanksgiving dinner will cost you more this year

 
Don’t loosen that belt in preparation for Thanksgiving just yet.

A report from the American Farm Bureau Federation says ingredients for the classic holiday meal -- including turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie mix, sweet potatoes and the bread used for stuffing -- will cost U.S. consumers about 1.3% more this year than last. Read on:

RELATED:  

Go to LATimes.com/Thanksgiving for dozens of the L.A. Times Test Kitchen's favorite holiday recipes.

Photo: Potatoes gratin forestiere. (Click here for the recipe.) Credit: Kirk McKoy 

The McRib is back! The McRib is back! The McRib is back!

Public health advocates loathe it. Barbecue purists are appalled. But legions of McDonald's fans await Tuesday's nationwide return of the McRib sandwich, a pressed pork patty with no ribs, 26 grams of fat and a committed cult following. Read more in today's Business section but before you go, vote: Yae or Nay on the McRib.

Photo: Elusiveness is part of the McRib's appeal. The nationwide promotion that starts Tuesday marks the first time in 16 years that the McRib will be available at every U.S. McDonald’s at once. Credit: McDonald's

Bristol Farms grocery chain sold

Struggling against mounting pressure from big-box food retailers, grocery chain Supervalu Inc. has sold off its Bristol Farms stores to a team of local management and a West Coast investment firm. Bristol Farms, based in Carson, operates mostly in Los Angeles County and is known for its organic products and seasonal edible gifts, thanks to an in-house catering service that cooks up everything from gourmet pastries to full holiday meals — all with upscale prices to match. Read more in today's Business section.

Photo: Mary Ferguson shops at the Bristol Farms market in South Pasadena. The chain has about 1,500 employees and pulls in more than $200 million a year in sales, Chief Executive Kevin Davis said. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

[Updated] There's just no stopping the Nom Nom

Is this a record for a reality TV show?

The L.A.-based Nom Nom Truck has rolled to an unbelievable five straight victories on "The Great Food Truck Race." Even more amazing -- they've done it without winning a single "truck stop" challenge, which gives the underdogs a shot at toppling the front-runners.

This week's challenge underscored the power of the banh mi Vietnamese sandwiches that are sold by the Nom Nom truck:

The three remaining food trucks pulled into Jonesborough, Tenn. To date, the trucks have been selling their wares in cities that are pretty hip to the whole food truck thing, like L.A. and Fort Worth, Texas. But Jonesborough, a quaint little town of 5,000, had never seen a food truck. Would the townspeople even care? Would they go for the tried-and-true burgers sold by the L.A.-based Grill 'Em All Truck or experiment with the French flair of the cuisine sold by the San Francisco-based Spencer on the Go Truck? Well, it looked like all 5,000 townspeople showed up to find out what this food truck fuss was all about -- and it seemed like nearly all of them got in line for Nom Nom, even though some had no idea what a Vietnamese sandwich was, and couldn't even pronounce banh mi with some gentle coaching.

Then came this week's "Truck Stop" challenge, the best one yet. Host Tyler Florence brought the remaining contestants to, believe it or not, Old Man Johnson's Farm, down by the river. There, he told the contestants that food trucks are nothing new, they just used to be called chuck wagons. And this week's challenge put the contestants' cooking skills to test in a game that so far has been dominated by Nom Nom's brilliant marketing skills: They had to make a five-course meal over an open fire, just like in the old days. Well, the twist "worked." Nom Nom crashed and burned, and Grill Em All ended on top. The prize was a stunner: The opportunity to park the truck at a local auto show, where they were guaranteed to do  a solid night's business, while Nom Nom and Spencer had to look for customers in Jonesborough, which basically shuts down each night by dusk.

Given this turn of events, it looked like Grill 'Em All had this week won. But then came the shocking totals:

What happened to Melrose Avenue?

Among the funky boutiques, tattoo parlors and foodie restaurants that line eclectic Melrose Avenue, there's a new sight that has longtime store owners and shoppers alarmed: a glut of empty storefronts and for-lease signs. Since the recession began, shoppers have lamented the closure of some of their favorite businesses, such as longtime vintage haunt Aaardvarks and Italian restaurants Louise's Trattoria and All' Angelo. Remaining merchants have complained about light foot traffic and weak sales, prompting them to slash prices to move inventory. Has the once-trendy Melrose Avenue shopping area lost its cachet? Read more in today's Business section:

Photo: Shoppers are scarce and stores are vacant along Melrose Avenue, once a destination shopping area that attracted locals and tourists from around the world. (Michael Robinson Chavez, Los Angeles Times / August 25, 2010)