Sampler Platter: Taco tables, community gardens and chicken shortages

Is Dijon mustard elitist? We ponder this among other issues in today's Sampler Platter.

• LAist crawls the taco tables and trucks of Highland Park.
• Henry's Farmers Market, a swank health-food and grocery store, opened Wednesday in Woodland Hills. Daily News
• Sean Hannity attacks President Obama for ordering Dijon mustard on his burger. Gawker
• Supporters of the Crenshaw Community Garden hope a partnership between the school and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office will let the garden bloom once again. LA Beez
• Franchises not cooperating, long waits and chicken shortages; the day after the Oprah/KFC chickengate, Consumerist analyzes What Went Wrong. And El Pollo Loco now says (via YouTube and Twitter) that it'll accept KFC-Oprah coupons on Mother's Day.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: The popular Tacos La Estrella truck in Highland Park

Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Updated: Oprah in hot water with chicken lovers on Twitter

 

What is it with Oprah and farm animals? First, Oprah was in trouble with the beef industry. Now, it's chickens.

Some chicken lovers -- as in those concerned about the welfare of our fine-feathered friends -- are mad at The O for promoting Kentucky Fried Chicken coupons for a free, two-piece grilled chicken meal. As for everyone else? They can't get enough.

How successful is this giveaway? There are lines, lines, lines at KFCs everywhere. And consider this note at the Oprah website: Due to heavy demand, you may experience some slowness navigating to the website. Please be patient and try again later.

But some critics are calling foul (Sorry! Couldn't resist) on Oprah. They say it's hypocritical, particularly since Oprah has tried to shed a spotlight on farm animal cruelty -- a spotlight that helped lead PETA to award her its "Person of the Year" honors. On Twitter, @civileater and others are urging opponents to voice their opinion using #oprahkfc. (You can read more about this blogger's objections here at Civil Eats.) 

Hmmm. All adds up to lots of traffic: Maybe that's why Twitter's been so slow today.

A spokeswoman said that Oprah's intent was simply to give families a financial break during these tough economic times. (Here's what one Twitterer, @nickolausjoshua, had to say about it: Free KFC!!!!)

On a mildly related front, it's worth mentioning that it's International Respect for Chickens Month. And that we, uh, had two-front page Food section stories today about, um, buying them and marinating them.

-- Rene Lynch

Join us on Twitter @LATimesFood

This week's L.A. Times recipes

 

All recipes that appear in the L.A. Times' weekly 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, it should work the first time out of the gate.

Here's a look at this week's recipes:

Caribbean jerk chicken

Mediterranean balsamic chicken

Pistachio Madeleines

Thai coconut chicken

--Rene Lynch

RECENT & RELATED

Recipe for a good Mother's Day: Breakfast in bed

More recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

Join us on Twitter @LATimesFood

Photo credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Sampler Platter: Noodle water slides, canned whole chicken, Ruth Reichl undercover

Noodle water slides, apocalyptic chicken and groceries at Toys R Us in today's roundup of food news.

• Ruth Reichl goes undercover again -- and this time her disguises are way better. Gourmet
• This chicken lays twice as many eggs as the others. Why? It has two rears ... if you can believe The Sun.
• Canned whole chicken. Even worse than it sounds. Food Network
• Noodle water slide: because food should have fun too. CNET
• You will now be able to buy groceries from Toys R Us, but would you want to? Los Angeles Times
• Sunset magazine profiles 99 Cent Chef Billy Robinson. Flickr
• Corner Bakery opens in the Beverly Connection, draws a heavy lunchtime crowd. Blackburn & Sweetzer

-- Elina Shatkin