Royal/T in Culver City closes this month

Royal/T, the Japanese maid cafe, eatery and art space in Culver City, is closing at the end of July.

Opened in 2007, Royal/T brought Los Angeles weekly Tokyo Nouveau Champagne brunches, waitresses dressed in playful maid uniforms and the cafe's signature milk tea, among many culinary- and art-related workshops, exhibitions and events.

The shop bids farewell with final events held at its space beginning this weekend. Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon, Royal/T hosts a tea workshop with Paper Architect. Learn tips and tricks for planning an ultimate tea party from Nancy Caldwell while munching on an assortment of sandwiches, scones, desserts and freshly brewed tea. Purchase tickets online at www.royaltworkshop.eventbrite.com.

A closing brunch will mark the final cafe service at Royal/T on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with live music featured throughout the afternoon. The cafe's last scheduled shindig is a pop-up dinner in collaboration with Cordero Negro from 6 to 9 p.m. July 26 and 27. The evening's 12-course tapas tasting menu is $45 per person and will include dishes like chorizo sausage with succotash and saffron corn veloute, herbed goat cheese, stuffed pequillo peppers with basil infused olive oil, and Spanish flan. Make reservations online at www.corderonegro.com/popup.

What's next? Royal/T's owner Susan Hancock plans to take the brand on the road with various events and pop-ups.

8910 Washington Blvd., Culver City, (310) 559-6300, royal-t.org.

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Photo: Royal/T storefront. Credit: Royal/T

Bon Appétit Grub Crawl is set for July 13-15

After experiencing many a pub crawl abroad, the founders of Grub Crawl came back to the States with a business venture: to lead guided tours--not of bars--but restaurants. The company has been taking groups of foodies on a series of grub crawls around the Bay Area since 2009 and now brings the idea of food "crawling" to L.A.

The Los Angeles edition of the Bon Appétit Grub Crawl will be hitting up three delicious neighborhoods to dine July 13-15.

The tour starts on Friday in downtown L.A. with stops at Cole's, Umamicatessen, Las Perlas and Seven Grand. Next up on the tour, continued on Saturday, is Hollywood and West Hollywood with Mozza, Scuola Di Pizza, Pour Vous, Street, the Spare Room and Night + Market on the itinerary. Saturday's crawl will conclude with a live music performance by Vacationer at the Roxy. The final leg of the tour will include eateries on the Westside with visits to Father's Office, Sotto, Picca and Lukshon. Yum...

Attend the entire three-day event for $200 per person or pick one of the three-neighborhood food crawls for $80-$100. Tickets can be purchased online.

Bagrubcrawl.com.

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'Food and Food Systems in the 21st Century' at UCLA's Fowler Museum

On Aug. 11, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., TedxLA Miracle Mile presents "Food and Food Systems in the 21st Century" at UCLA's Fowler Museum.

Spawned from the nonprofit organization TED, TEDx is a program of independently organized events that bring together people from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design (hence the name TED) to engage in the sharing and spreading of ideas. Next month's TEDx gathering at the Fowler will examine food and food production on a local and globalized scale. Speakers will address what is obsolete and what is up to par -- politically, socially, economically and culturally -- in the context of today's rapidly growing human population.

The event will be a merging of minds with guest speakers such as Jason Kelly Johnson and Nataly Gattegno of Future Cities Lab and Jonathan Todd of John Todd Ecological Design. Also joining in on the discussion of food will be Tara Kolla of Silver Lake Farms, Ken and Kathy Lindner of Lindner Bison, Laura Avery of Santa Monica Farmers Market and "Righteous Porkchop" author Nicolette Hahn Niman, among others.

The daylong event includes a pre-event mixer with access to the museum, a catered box lunch by Auntie Em's Kitchen and a post-event wine and cheese reception. Tickets are $60 for general admission or $48 for students, seniors and Fowler Museum members.

308 Charles E. Young Drive North, L.A., (310) 825-4361, fowler.ucla.edu.

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Photos: From left, Tara Kolla, Ken and Kathy Lindner, Laura Avery.

Credit: Tedxaltavistala.com

The Getty's celebrity chef series returns April 4

The celebrity chef series is back at the Getty Center in Los Angeles as well as the Getty Villa in Malibu. The series, beginning April 4, connects food and wine with the collections and exhibitions at both museums.

The first of the series will take place at the Getty Villa and will feature Frances Mayes, author of "The Tuscan Sun Cookbook." The event will include a book signing and discussion led by Mayes on her culinary adventures and life in Tuscany, Italy, followed by a three-course prix fixe lunch based on recipes from the new cookbook.

While at the Getty Villa, visitors can tour the Roman-inspired gardens featuring fruit trees, fragrant annuals and perennials used by the ancient Romans in cooking. Daily tours of the gardens are free.

The book signing and lecture are free although advance tickets are required. The prix fixe lunch is $75 per person or $90 per person with wine pairings. For more information on the schedule of events in the celebrity chef series, visit www.getty.edu.

17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, (310) 440-7300, getty.edu.

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5 Questions for Chris Cosentino

Chris Cosentino is executive chef of Pigg, the all-things-pork stand opening inside Umamicatessen downtown. Since his first executive chef position at Incanto in San Francisco, Cosentino has co-created Boccalone Salumeria, gained recognition for his expertise in offal cookery, appeared on the Food Network's "Next Iron Chef America" and even started a line of clothing and shoes.

What’s coming next on your menu? There are so many things at Pigg that I'm excited about,  including a selection of cured hams that are not typically available here. My favorite is Broadbent from Kentucky, which has a smooth, buttery texture with subtle flavors of maple and apple. We're also making brainaise, which is aioli with cooked and blended pig brains, served with fries and crispy pig ears. 

Latest ingredient obsession? This is not an ingredient you’ll see at Pigg ... but lately it has been sea urchin bottarga, which has so much depth of flavor. I serve a cold salad of beef tendon, Meyer lemon, soft herbs and then I grate the sea urchin bottarga over the top. It's my version of surf 'n' turf.    

What restaurant do you find yourself going to again and again and what do you order? I've been consistently eating at Bäco Mercat for both lunch and dinner. I really like everything, but the bazole is such a great lunch with the al dente noodles, delicate herbs and a combo of pork and beef topped with a sizzled egg. For dinner, I love the chicken liver and foie gras mousse with kumquat marmalade.

The one piece of kitchen equipment you can’t live without, other than your knives? My spoons for tasting. I have an obsession with collecting them and I have so many I even have names for them. Big Bertha is one, and I also have a spoon called the Palladin, since it was given to me by Jean-Louis Palladin back when we did an event together ... he spooned me.   

What’s your favorite breakfast? I am a sucker for a great bagel, cream cheese and some smoked fish.  For everyday, I have multigrain toast with peanut butter, a piece of fruit that is in season and an Americano coffee. I always have to have an Americano.

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Photo: Chris Cosentino

L.A.-based Scout Regalia's garden kits

Spring is near. If you are thinking about going beyond last year's efforts of purchasing CSA boxes and farmers market produce to finally start that back-door or balcony garden, now is the time to consider.

Scout Regalia, a Los Angeles-based multitasking design practice in Echo Park, has a few options to kick-start your garden with do-it-yourself or assembled garden kits and reusable garden tags.

The company, established in 2006 by Benjamin Luddy and Makoto Mizutani, enhances everyday living with designs that correspond with space, furniture, home products and sustainability. The design firm participated in HDTS 2011 at High Desert Test Sites last October in Pioneertown.

Also featured on Scout Regalia's website is "cutsheet project," a series of instruction sheets created to help with at home projects such as the do-it-yourself planting table.

The garden kits range from $95 to $200. Scoutregalia.com.

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Photos: Scout Regalia.

3 Events: L.A. Beerathon; Westside Connections; wines at LACMA

Beer, beer, beer: $55 will get you into the first L.A. Beerathon happening throughout downtown Los Angeles on March 31. The route featuring 26 bars, which means 26 beers, won't be released until the week of the event and the names of the venues will be released one at a time starting 26 days beforehand. Stay updated on the event's details by checking out www.labeerathon.com. 

LACO + foodies: The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra teams up with Jonathan Gold, Susan Feniger and Michael Ruhlman for Westside Connections, a chamber music series exploring the relationship between music and food at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. Gold, Feniger and Ruhlman will discuss food-themed music in the three-concert Thursday-night series starting March 1. Ruhlman takes on the first event of the series with the music of Rossini, Puccini, Falla and Paul Schoenfield; Gold joins the program on March 22 with music by Bach, Bernstein, William Bolcom, Timothy Andres and Dohnányi; and Feniger will lead the discussion April 5 with the music of Saint-Saëns, Martinů and Ravel. Tickets are $45 per person or $120 for a three-concert subscription. 1310 11th St., Santa Monica, (213) 622-7001, laco.org.

California living: Paying homage to LACMA's California Design, 1930-1965: "Living in a Modern Way" exhibit, Ray's & Stark Bar is serving a custom wine flight featuring California wines from Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Sommelier Paul Sanguinetti has selected the featured vintages including J Vineyards' Brut Cuvée 20, Medlock Ames' Sauvignon Blanc and Balance's Red Field Blend. The tasting costs $18 for 3-ounce pours of the three featured wines. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., (323) 857-6180, raysandstarkbar.com.

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Photo: Ray's & Stark Bar at LACMA. Credit: Dustin Downing

Pop-ups in Venice: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, Alma and Kali Dining

Lately, pop-up dining central might be the neighborhood of Venice. Maybe it's the by-the-beach location or its bobo residents. Whatever the reason, here are a few to check out:

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing took over the old Capri space on Abbot Kinney Boulevard late last year. The pop-up kitchen is managed by chefs Brian Dunsmoor of Axe and Kris Tominaga of Joe’s Restaurant. The restaurant was due to end its stint this month but is now in negotiations to extend the operation in the same space for an additional six months while a permanent space is secured; good news for all those who have yet to try the restaurant's reasonably priced, market-driven dishes. The restaurant is open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. 1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, wolfinsheepsclothingrestaurant.com.

Chef Kevin Meehan of Cafe Pinot started hosting dinner parties in Culver City earlier this month through his new project, Kali Dining. The pop-up dining experience features a frequently changing menu and location. Meehan prepares and serves a four-course prix-fixe meal for guests in a casual, intimate environment. The dinner series, which costs $65 per person and currently runs Wednesday to Sunday, is on in Venice through early March. And did we mention that he hunts his own hogs too? Kalidining.com.

Another pop-up restaurant new to the scene in Venice is Alma. With only a couple of weeks under its belt, the eatery serves weekly changing three- and five-course prix-fixe dinners ($35 and $55,  respectively) Wednesday through Saturday. Housed inside cafe Flake on Rose Avenue, Alma is the brainchild of Dinelle Lucchesi, a former director of an underground social club in San Francisco, and Ari Taymor of San Francisco's Bar Tartine and Flour + Water. Taymor's creations will highlight American cuisine with dishes such as garlic and oyster stew; smoked lentils, carrot, milk skin and nettle; and popcorn with chocolate and soy caramel. 513 Rose Ave., Venice, almafoodandwine.tumblr.com.

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Top photo: Kevin Meehan of Kali Dining; bottom photo: braised wild hog with smoked potato puree, peas and prosciutto. Credit: Mike Sanfratello. 

Girl Scout cookie season is back! And there's an app!

I've already finished a box of Tagalongs, with a box of Thin Mints underway. They got me on my way off the slopes at Big Bear mountain Sunday. Yes, Sunday...

It's Girl Scout cookie season and favorites such as Samoas, Do-si-dos, Shout Outs and Trefoils are now literally a touch away with the Official Girl Scout Cookie Finder iPhone app.

The free app helps users find cookies by way of the iPhone's GPS to read your location and show cookie sales nearby, or by ZIP Code to find them in areas other than your current location.

The app also features data such as the start and end of local cookie seasons and specific locations of sales to satisfy those cravings before the season ends March 25.

Whether you buy for yourself or those in your office, proceeds from the seasonal sugar addictions support Girl Scouts in your community. www.girlscoutcookies.org.

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Plan Check opens today in West L.A.

West L.A.'s Little Osaka neighborhood welcomes a new addition to Sawtelle Boulevard with Plan Check, which opened its doors to the public Wednesday.

The restaurant incorporates architectural elements to make for an industrial appeal -- kudos to the neighborhood's culture bustling with architects, developers and designers -- and features communal tables, booths and a large outdoor patio.

Chef Ernesto Uchimura of Umami Burger takes the reins at this new joint alongside barmen Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix of Harvard & Stone, La Descarga and Black Market Liquor Bar.

The menu features American comfort food with dishes such as the blueprint burger ($11) with smoked blue cheese, pig candy bacon, fried onions and steak sauce; smoky fried chicken ($12) with gravy, yam preserves and spicy pickled okra; and short rib pot roast ($15) with red wine, bone marrow turnover pie and sweet n' sour mirepoix. The bar program includes cocktails like the godzilla ($10) and bento box ($10); craft beer, wine and a variety of Japanese whiskeys. The moonshine house soda, with flavors like yuzu and tangerine, is pretty good, too.

Plan Check is open 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

1800 Sawtelle Blvd., L.A., (310) 288-6500, plancheckbar.com.

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Photo: Plan Check. Credit: Howard Wise