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 Times blog Jacket Copy delves into "The Big Fat Duck Cookbook," published in the U.K. and U.S. this month:
Its price tag -- $250 in the U.S. -- is enough so that most cooks would think twice about turning its pages with a wet or oily hand. It may be part cookbook, part work of art -- which seems apt for a book about the cuisine of the Fat Duck Restaurant.
Read more here.
 From L.A. Times blog Babylon & Beyond:
According to a report by the Deutchse Presse Agentur, Germany's news agency, a Lebanese trade union is planning to sue Israel for claiming that the Jewish state has propriety over traditional Arab cuisine such as falafel, tabbouleh and hummus, which Lebanese consider their own.
Read more here.
 For anyone wondering what to serve at tonight's first and only Biden-Palin VP debate, coverage of which begins at 6 p.m. PST, consider a Baked Alaska. It's a dessert that was funny even before John McCain selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. (For really funny, you might want to tune in to SNL this weekend; to see Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, click here and here.)
A Baked Alaska is a hot-cold dessert, a thin sheet of cake topped with ice cream, encased with an insulating layer of meringue, then put in a hot oven for a few minutes or fired with a brulée torch. The meringue keeps the ice cream from melting, which is a pretty neat trick. In many older recipes (ice cream lover Thomas Jefferson gets credit for a version of this dessert), an eggshell of liquor is perched atop the dessert, then flambéed. Think fast-melting Arctic glacier.
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 Ferran Adria is coming to Los Angeles and he'll be signing books at Cook's Library. For a certain group of people (and you know who you are), that's all that needs to be said. It's like finding out Beck is playing Cafe Largo. Adria may not be the best chef in the world or run the best restaurant in the world, as he claims in the subtitle of his new cookbook "A Day at El Bulli", but he is almost certainly the most-talked about. And if you're over by the Beverly Center on Oct. 14 between 3:30 and 5 p.m., you can meet him in person.
Working with wild creativity out of a tiny restaurant on an isolated stretch of the Spanish coast, Adria has led the way for the hyper-modern school of cuisine sometimes known as molecular gastronomy. In the past, his cookbooks have been lavish crosses between lab manual and artist's catalogue, documenting both technique and philosophy. And they've been hugely expensive, too -- selling for better than $200.
His new book, published by the British art house Phaidon, is selling for only $50 ($32.97 on Amazon!). But if any corners were cut in its production, it's hard to see where. (more after jump)
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 You’ve got a little time –- until Jan. 1, 2011, to be exact –- to get your fill of those chain restaurant foods that you’d rather not know too much about. That’s when chains with 20 or more restaurants will have to post calorie information on menus and menu boards, under a law signed this week by the governor.
I’m guessing it will be one of those ignorance-was-bliss moments. Just as I never look at the clock when insomnia strikes so I can fool myself into thinking I got enough sleep, I don’t want to know too much about those fries or that buttermilk bar or burrito. For me, the number of calories might be better left unsaid.
On a recent trip to New York I found myself at an airport Starbucks, hungry and in desperate need of caffeine. I left the stand with drink in hand, but passed on the pastries –- thanks to the posted calorie counts. Everything that appealed to me was 400 to 500 calories –- nearly a third of what I can eat in a day and not gain weight.
Which brings me to wonder what will happen in California once those chain restaurants let us in on their nutrition information.
During the summer, three-quarters of the people surveyed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that nutritional information on menus would affect what they ordered. We’ll see. Maybe it will only affect how guilty we all feel.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
 There are sure to be a lot of big-screen TVs tuned in to the vice presidential debate on Thursday, when Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin square off in St. Louis. Some of those big screens will be at Social Hollywood, where Generation Obama hosts a viewing. Debate-watching young activists will be sipping cocktails and eating chicken "faux gras" (hey, if men and dinosaurs coexisted, then you can get "foie gras" from a chicken) from Michel Richard's bar menu.
Social Hollywood, 6525 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Call (310) 836-2009 to RSVP. Event starts at 5 p.m. Debate starts at 6 p.m.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo: Sarah Palin. Credit: Mandel Agan / AFP/Getty Images
 Marco Pierre White (aka "the godfather of rock-star chefs," "enfant terrible of the British restaurant scene," etc.) retired from the kitchen in 1999 but has recently embarked on a television career; last year, he was head chef on the third season of the British "Hell's Kitchen" series. It seems he's on a mission to solidify his status as "the first celebrity chef."
We caught up with him for a Q&A during his visit to L.A. this week. He's promoting his coming TV show, an American version of "The Chopping Block," produced for NBC by Granada America (which also brought us "Hell's Kitchen"), in which couples compete for a shot at having their own Manhattan restaurant. The show is expected to air sometime next year.
The chef notorious for applying the "10-second throttle" to his cooks (according to his 2007 memoir "The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness and the Making of a Great Chef") has opened 30 restaurants and now has his sights set on the U.S.
With stocks plunging and the economy in crisis here, what advice do you have for anyone trying to open a restaurant now?...
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 If you thought the lines at Philippe the Original were bad already, wait until Monday, Oct. 6, which marks the historic restaurant's 100-year anniversary. On that day, three generations of the Binder family (who have owned Philippe's with two other families since 1927) will be on hand to help sell the restaurant's heart-stopping roast beef French dip sandwiches for a dime. That was the price the meaty, juicy sandwiches were sold for when they first appeared on the menu in 1918. The price of coffee, which normally sells for a dime, will be slashed in half to a nickel.
If the Dow continues its downward spiral and the House remains deadlocked on what to do about the financial crisis, the monstrous line that will surely snake around the block Monday may resemble a bread line more than a party. But no matter, those are prices to wait for these days. And Philippe's French dip sandwich, with liberal amounts of signature hot mustard, is worthy of dedicated, solemn, slow-line celebration, which is just what you'll find Monday, so make sure to bring some sort of cane chair. And please, be gentle on the restrooms -- which with an estimated 2,200 customers daily and up to 4,000 on weekends are on the edge already.
Philippe the Original, 1001 Alameda St., L.A. (213) 628-3781.
-- Jessica Gelt
Photo of the counter at Philippe the Original by Jay Clendenin for the Los Angeles Times
 On Monday the L.A. chapter of the American Institute of Architects will announce the finalists for their 4th annual Restaurant Design Awards. The Dish got a sneak peek at the results, which were culled from more than 40 submissions:
Restaurant: Blue Velvet designed by Tag Front; Comme Ca designed by KAA Design Group, Inc.; Katsuya Glendale designed by Starck Network/DesignARC; Luckyfish designed by Tag Front; Mozza Osteria designed by Kelly Architects, Inc.; R+D Kitchen designed by stenfors/Associates architects.
Cafe/Bar: FOOD designed by Fleetwood Fernandez Architecture; Kitchen 24 designed by Spacecraft/Torres Architects; LAMILL designed by Formation Association/Rubbish Interiors; Monsieur Marcel designed by New Theme, Inc.
Lounge/Nightclub: Elevate Lounge designed by Tag Front; oneworld Lounge at LAX designed by Gensler.
The judges -- one of whom is Patina's Joachim Splichal -- have already picked the winners and the results will be announced at a ceremony Oct. 16. In the meantime AIA/LA will open up voting for the People's Choice Awards next week, so put on your thinking caps. My vote goes to Blue Velvet 'cause I love the whole brooding, '80s-noir thing they've got going on; oh, and the co-ed bathroom with the crazy sinks -- how weird is that?
Voting begins Monday at www.aialosangeles.org. Deadline to vote is Monday, Oct. 13.
-- Jessica Gelt
Photo of the pool and patio at Blue Velvet by Tyson Ellis, LOOK Photography.
Web Scout covers the backlash over Goop.com (where Gwyneth Paltrow seems to be positioning herself as a sort of Martha Stewart):  Gwyneth Paltrow's new lifestyle/advice website, Goop.com, went up yesterday in preview form, but the backlash is already well underway. The site will be a collection of recommendations and musings from Gwyneth herself about things that make her life special.... but the road ahead looks bumpy for this little operation! It's not just that no one wants to take life direction from the girl who has it all -- though that's a powerful thread in the criticism of the site. There are also some more basic technical problems on display, starting with the layout of the two-page site. It's not clear why she bothered to put it up with so little content on it. It feels like something that won an award for Web design in 1998.
When you click on the fork and knife icon, you get an essay about how she loves "to travel, to cook, to eat, to take care of my body and mind, to work hard...," etc.
Photo by Luca Bruno/Associated Press
 Sometimes when cookbook authors are out promoting their new books, they’ll run into each other and have dinner. Grant Achatz and Thomas Keller are taking that several steps further. Achatz, named chef of the year for the United States by the James Beard Foundation this year for his work at Chicago’s Alinea, worked for Keller for several years at the French Laundry and credits him as a career-changing mentor. So when the two learned that Achatz’s “Alinea” cookbook was going to be published at the same time as Keller’s new “Under Pressure,” the two cooked up a plan to host a series of three dinners rotating among Alinea, the French Laundry and Keller’s New York City restaurant Per Se.
Of course, Achatz and Keller being who they are, these aren’t going to be your rote “here’s a couple of recipes from my book” menus. Instead, they’ll be 20-dish blowouts with each chef preparing half the menu in alternating courses. The dinners will be held at Per Se on Nov. 11, at Alinea on Dec. 2 and at the French Laundry, Dec. 9. Each meal will be limited to the first 65 people who sign up.
And as you might expect, Achatz and Keller being who they are, the meals won’t come cheap. The dinners will run $1,500 per person. But hey, that includes matching wine pairings for each course and signed copies of both books!
For more information, contact the restaurants: Per Se (212) 823-9450; Alinea (312) 867-0110 and the French Laundry (707) 754-4175.
--By Russ Parsons
Grant Achatz and Thomas Keller at the French Laundry's 10th anniversary celebration (Photo from the French Laundry).
 It's only fitting that MGM Mirage's partner in building the 76-acre, $8-billion CityCenter in Las Vegas is Dubai World. This is the same Dubai firm that built the 300 man-made islands, shaped to resemble planet Earth, just off the coast of Dubai. Both developments are privileged and glittering mini-cities within larger anything-goes metropolises.
In the great cities of the world, even manufactured ones, privilege can be defined by eating and drinking, not just well but decadently. Which is why Aria, the resort and casino at CityCenter's heart, is working to position itself as the crown jewel of Vegas dining destinations. Its success, like everything in Vegas, will be measured in dollars, but for now the line-up looks like a solid bet. Here it is:
1. Masayoshi Takayama of New York's Masa will open Bar Masa, which will have both a casual dining space and a formal area called Shaboo. Shaboo promises to deliver an "exclusive dining experience" in a "private dining universe."
2. Michael Mina will helm American Fish, which, according to a release, "will draw inspiration from the bounty of American lakes, rivers and coasts, with a menu featuring refined American cuisine."
3. Julian Serrano, who headed up the kitchen of the Bellagio's Picasso, will open an eponymous restaurant that will offer "various menus at different price points." There will also be a raw bar and a lounge serving tapas.
4. Jean-Georges Vongerichten will open Jean Georges Steakhouse, which will be a sleek, contemporary take on the American steakhouse.
5. Sirio Maccioni, who owns New York City's Le Cirque and Circo, plans to bring classic Italian flavor with Sirio.
6. Chicago chef Shawn McClain (Spring, Green Zebra, Custom House) will open Sage, which will focus its menu on sustainable seafood, artisanal meats and "farm-to-table" produce.
7. Also expect Jean Philippe Maury's decadent JP Patisserie, offering signature chocolates and hand-crafted desserts.
If you hit rock bottom on the Strip, Aria also plans to open a buffet.
-- Jessica Gelt
Artist's rendering of CityCenter
 Restaurant and travel critic Elmer Dills, whose radio and television reports spanned nearly three decades, has died at 82. Dills died Monday at Pasadena's Huntington Memorial Hospital, according to KABC-TV Channel 7, where he dished out his reports on Southern California dining. He developed his vast knowledge of food and wine while working with the State Department. He entertained heads of state and other VIPs before leaving the diplomatic service after more than 20 years. Dills then was the host of a KABC-AM (790) talk show on dining and travel before becoming a KABC-TV regular reporting on area restaurants. -- Associated Press
Photo of Elmer Dills from Los Angeles Times
 Husband-and-wife cookbook authors Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford (at left, in Thailand) are more peripatetic than your average food writers: Their six books have covered the cuisines of Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and most recently--with "Beyond the Great Wall"--China. Recently, I caught up with them by phone at their home in Toronto, where they're planning a seventh book, organizing culinary tours of Thailand (where they have an apartment), and launching a new website.
Q: Your new book is about Burma; why Burma?
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 The environmental cost of bottled water is becoming an increasingly hot-button issue as the race for the White House pivots around renewable energy versus off-shore drilling.
However, political lines aren't the only ones being drawn in the heated debate. Restaurants are taking a stand by phasing bottled water out in favor of its simple cousin: filtered tap water.
On Thursday, Neal and Amy Fraser of Grace restaurant will hold a small fete at 10:30 a.m. to talk about why they will no longer sell bottled water. This announcement is pointedly being rolled out the day before the Sundance documentary "Flow," which is about the "world water crisis" and its connection to bottled water, is released. Steven Starr, the film's producer also will be present to talk about the film.
In an e-mailed statement, Neal Fraser said, "In the restaurant business we are constantly looking at the supply chain .. .pumping greenhouse gases into the environment to truck water around when we can get it from the tap, shouldn't be part of that supply chain."
Guests can expect hors d'oevres, and a "Tap water challenge" which will pit tap water against bottled water in a taste test. Maybe that's something we should all try at home. For more on the bottled-water battle go to ThinkOutsideTheBottle.org.
-- Jessica Gelt
Photo: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times
 Over the weekend, my older daughter presented me with an annotated list of the types of pasta she currently will and won't eat. With visual aids. On the yes column: penne, ziti, fusilli. No: spaghetti, fettucini, lasagna. Since I was rolling out sheets of pasta on my old Atlas machine at the time (which makes the three she doesn't like, but not of course the three she does), this was somewhat disconcerting. (For the record, Isabel ate the ravioli that I gave her.)
So last night I made garganelli, to dry for any future pasta crises -- and just because I'd never done it before. It required that I cut up sheets of pasta into 1 1/2-inch squares, roll them around a pencil and press them into a gnocchi board (right, with garganelli). Time consuming, yes, but fun in a meditative kind of way and a cool way to use an under-utilized kitchen tool (the board, not the pencil). It's a calming activity too, handy if you're watching Monday Night Football or, say, a political debate. And with Tom Brady out for the season and moose-hunting suddenly an acceptable qualification for the vice presidency, occupational therapy is going to be critical in the coming weeks.
Gnocchi board, about $6 at Surfas in Culver City, Bay Cities Italian Deli in Santa Monica and various sources online.
-- Amy Scattergood
(Photo of garganelli pasta and board by Amy Scattergood)
 Kristopher Keith and his design firm Spacecraft are currently in various stages of putting together four new restaurants and bars in Hollywood and one in Pasadena.
First there's Adolfo Suaya's Deluxe, which is on Cahuenga near Selma and has been decked out by Keith to resemble something out of an Ayn Rand novel. The classically Art Deco bar and restaurant (Keith says that Eric Greenspan from the Foundry will most likely do the menu; Greenspan confirms that he is currently in negotiations with Suaya) is full of rich mahogany wood and the long bar, broken into two sections by a towering fireplace, is backed by a 10-by-50-foot emerald stained glass mural that features what looks like a large blimp and rows of city smoke stacks.
"I wanted to go for a sort of artistic Gotham City vibe," Keith says. Upstairs the ladies will be pleased to find a plush, red-walled dressing room with vanity mirrors and elegant chandeliers. (You can see more detail shots of Deluxe on Eater L.A.)
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 As guest DJ on KCRW's "Guest DJ Project" this week, Sang Yoon, chef-owner of Father's Office restaurant-bars in Santa Monica and Culver City, says that "as well as you can get to know me through my food, you can equally get to know me...through the music."
Luckily for those of us who'd like to get to know this burger-making savant, Yoon says, "I play the music at Father's Office that I listen to--that is just literally my iPod for better or for worse."
So what is on Yoon's iPod? If the five songs he plays as guest DJ are any indication Yoon is a man who likes his rock 'n' roll on the sentimental side. His play-list includes U2's misty-moisty "Unforgettable Fires;" Helen Stellar's mournful, piano-laden ballad "IO;" Radiohead's sorrowful "Bullet Proof," ("I listen to that when I need to be melancholy. Maybe sometimes if you understand despair, you can understand being happy," says Yoon.); the wispy-sweet acoustic guitar-driven ditty "St. Augustine" by Band of Horses; and the driving youth-adrift anthem that is "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" by the Arcade Fire.
All those weepers could elicit a few tears-in-your-imported-Belgian-lager, to be sure, but they do set an intimate, sophisticated mood. If Yoon ever has an outside DJ gig, however, I hope I don't have to fend off hordes of vicious indie rock fans waiting to snatch my seat.
Hear Yoon's whole guest DJ session here.
Father's Office, 1018 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 393-2337; and 3229 Helms Ave., Culver City, (310) 736-2224; www.fathersoffice.com.
--Jessica Gelt
Photo courtesy of KCRW
Stop at the omelet station, grab a made-to-order mocha frappe, accept a tin of home-baked cookies or make sure you visit when you're hungry for lunch -- because the Mexican-food buffet looks terrific. This is the way real estate agents in Malibu, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles are luring each other to view homes that have just come on the market. Read the story in today's Home section by Times staff writer Ann Brenoff.
--Susan LaTempa
 Taco trucks are back. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge today overturned an ordinance passed in April by county supervisors that made it a misdemeanor to park a taco truck in one spot for more than an hour. Read more here.
A reveler is doused with tomatoes during La Tomatina, the annual food fight in Bunol, Spain. Each year tens of thousands of people hurl truckloads of tomatoes at one another, sending knee-deep rivers through the small town. See photo gallery here.
Despite the recent brouhaha over Wine Spectator magazine's bequeathing its award of excellence to a fictitious restaurant, Restaurant Guy Savoy in Las Vegas is celebrating its own Wine Spectator award with a special wine pairing offering. From now until Oct. 18, the wine pairing price with its Menu Prestige tasting menu is $100 (regularly $150) "in honor of Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence title."
 The Menu Prestige is served for the entire table (for $290 per person, not including the wine pairing): oysters in an ice gelée; a tasting of caviars; foie gras and an artichoke black truffle soup; roasted veal chop with young vegetables braised in veal jus; a selection of fromages affinés and citrus salad; and fondant chocolat. Available Wednesday through Sunday night.
Restaurant Guy Savoy, Caesars Palace, 3570 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, (877) 346-4642.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo of Guy Savoy's "colors of caviar" by Los Angeles Times
 Step No. 1 on the menu at the Counter (the build-your-own-burger chain's newest location opened in Marina del Rey this month) is to "choose a burger." And one of the options under "choose a burger" is the "burger in a bowl." Nothing about a burger in a bowl seems right.
It's a bed of greens -- "lettuce blend" or "mixed baby greens" -- with your choice of meat patty and toppings, served in a shallow bowl, like a salad. (At least the "protein style" In-N-Out burger -- also no bun -- is wrapped the same way a regular burger in a bun is wrapped, and eaten the same way a burger with a bun is eaten. There's still some burger experience there.)
At the new BLT Burger in Las Vegas, "The Stripper" is a stack of a 7-ounce beef patty with lettuce, onion, bell pepper and avocado. No buns. (Kids, cover your eyes!)
Early on, there were bun complaints at Govind Armstrong's new 8 oz. burger bar on Melrose -- as in a bun too large for the burger; others thought the bun a good juice-sopping size. But no bunless options on the menu.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo of the Counter's "burger in a bowl" by Betty Hallock
 Whether you like it or not, "Beverly Hills, 90210" is back. The iconic teen drama of the '90s has received a millennial face lift, a truncated name (it's just "90210" now) and a fresh cast imbued with the same weird plastic qualities as Brenda, Brandon, Kelly and Donna.
Also back is the Peach Pit diner, where the hormone-addled teens hang out and gossip. The diner's exterior is actually the Kokomo Cafe on Beverly, which used to be Eat Well but morphed into Kokomo this year when the latter was ousted from the Farmers Market (Farmers Market owner A.F. Gilmore Co. decided not to renew Kokomo's lease).
The cafe has announced some special "90210"-inspired menu items to debut in conjunction with the series (which begins Sept. 2) and run through September.
The thought of eating a "Mr. Wilson Burger" or a "Tabitha breakfast," which is "named in honor of Tabitha Wilson ... an aging former Hollywood starlet who enjoys her liquor a little too much," fills me with dread. But I'm not in the tween demographic that will be screaming for their parents to take them to the Peach Pit.
You might catch a glimpse of these label-conscious Twitter fiends at Kokomo on Sept. 2 when the restaurant celebrates the series premiere by offering complimentary "90210" menu items from 2 to 4 p.m. Just don't try to order the "90210 breakfast" (a bottle of Dom Perignon and fresh strawberries and cream, $250) -- they're not giving that one away.
-- Jessica Gelt
Photo by Jordin Althaus / the CW, copyright 2008, the CW Network
 L.A.'s facing a sushi chef crunch, according to Katsuya Uechi (executive chef of the Katsuya restaurant empire), so he's doing something about it by opening a sushi school in collaboration with Japanese food supplier Mutual Trading Co. Read more here. Has sushi in L.A. been on the decline? Gluey, overseasoned rice? Too-large slices of fish? Out-of-season fish? What other atrocities lurk out there?
Photo of sushi by Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times
When Jon Rowley talks about salmon, you’d better listen, even if he’s saying something you might not like. Rowley is the Seattle food marketer who “invented” the Copper River salmon, setting up the marketing program that rescued one of the truly great fish of the world from the cannery. And Thursday he published a piece on the Gourmet magazine website explaining why you should never eat raw salmon unless it has been frozen.
“Salmon tartare — eye-catching, fun, hip and tasty — has become a popular menu item in many top restaurants. Celebrity chefs prepare it on television. Mainstream magazines, newspapers, and cookbooks feature recipes. Raw salmon dishes — tartare, crudo, sushi, marinated and cured salmon—are growing in popularity. But unless that fish has been frozen first, it would be wise to pass,” he writes.
That’s because of Diphyllobothrium latum, a tiny tapeworm larva that is carried by freshwater fish. (though salmon live most of their lives in the ocean, they are born and spawn in rivers.) The only way to prevent it, Rowley writes, is to freeze the salmon at below minus-31 degrees for more than 15 hours.
Rowley’s piece comes on the heels of a Chicago man suing a restaurant for a tapeworm he claims he ingested while eating an undercooked salmon salad in 2006. That tapeworm grew to 9 feet long before it was removed. Rowley says some worms have been found that were as long as 30 feet. Though they are not fatal, they can result in anemia.
-- Russ Parsons
 After chef Josef Centeno left Echo Park's Lot 1 the last day of July, owner Eileen Leslie closed the restaurant to regroup, then reopened nine days later with a new chef. Leslie picked Craig Karas, formerly executive chef at Chicago's Weather Mark Tavern (where he is still part owner). Karas has redone Lot 1's entire menu, which now includes brunch. Brunch was always something Leslie wanted to focus on (see the large banner, left, adorning the restaurant).
Leslie, who declined to comment on the lawsuit she filed against Centeno, says that the liquor license is still a "work in progress." Brunch items include banana-stuffed French toast with coconut-rum syrup; a recent dinner menu offered scallops with asparagus and truffle oil. As for lunch, you might find a flat iron steak sandwich with red onion jam on a baguette. No "bacos" (Centeno's specialty) now at Lot 1, though, nor, for the moment, anywhere else.
Lot 1, 1533 W. Sunset Blvd., Echo Park, (213) 481-8400. Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner Tuesday through Sunday, 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.; and brunch Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
— Amy Scattergood
Photo of Lot 1 restaurant by Amy Scattergood
 Since this week’s release of the list of celebrities who worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, the old saw about Julia Child being a spy has been resurrected once again. This has been around forever, but is always greeted as a revelation by newcomers to the world of Child.
There’s not much truth to it, depending on what you mean by the word “spy.” Julia was certainly not involved in any covert acts. In the first place, can you picture a 6-foot-2 woman with Julia’s voice operating undercover (of all places, in China, where she was stationed)? Furthermore, can you imagine an intelligence agency hiring a spy fresh out of college whose only work experience has been writing advertising copy for a department store?
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 After being open for nearly a month the Stork supper club, adjacent to the Hollywood & Highland mega-mall, is ready for its close-up. Wednesday night more than 500 party people surged into the venue for its official grand opening fete.
The skirts were small and the drinks were stiff as the crowd got down to the music of DJ Marshall Barnes. The club looks like a concrete warehouse with modernist lines and a stark lack of decoration. A large outdoor smoking lounge and bar has uber-close views of the Kodak Theatre sign and also of the restaurant patio in a lush courtyard below.
The restaurant's menu was created by prolific restaurateur Steven Arroyo and the kitchen is helmed by former 750 ml chef Greg Bernhardt (who will move on to oversee Church & State, which Arroyo says will open after Labor Day). Arroyo describes the food at the Stork as "modern French American," adding that it's "not fine dining, just fun dining." Think burgers, BLTs, fish and chips and salads. Arroyo says the restaurant, which is open Tuesday through Saturday, is filling up on most nights so reservations are recommended.
-- Jessica Gelt
Photo credit: Jessica Gelt
 Yesterday Eater L.A. reported that chef Remi Lauvand was no longer at Citrus, although at the time the claim was unconfirmed. Citrus' publicists have confirmed that Lauvand and Citrus at Social "have parted ways" and that "in the interim sous chef Omri Aflalo is the acting executive chef. Aflalo trained under Michel Richard at Citronelle, in addition to working with Gary Danko at Restaurant Gary Danko and with Michael Mina at Aqua."
Whether Lauvand left on his own or was asked to leave remains to be seen. Some speculate that the restaurant wasn't doing the type of business that was expected of it, especially since Richard wasn't actually in the kitchen. On April 9, Times Restaurant Critic S. Irene Virbila gave Citrus an enthusiastic three stars but noted, "Lauvand is turning out very polished food at Citrus at Social. Big question: Will the coterie of fine diners from the Westside make it this far east on a regular basis? And will the condominiums and the W Hotel in Hollywood be built in time to save the day? From the looks of it, they don't seem to be turning the tables much, even on the weekends."
No further details are available at this time, but check back here for updates.
-- Jessica Gelt
Photo credit: David Sprague for The Times
 This weekend score some choice cookbooks along with those vegetables and greens! On Sunday, the Culinary Historians of Southern California will be holding their annual used cookbook sale at the Hollywood Farmers' Market. Thousands of books have been donated for the sale, including hundreds from the collection of best-selling cookbook author Anne Willan. Proceeds will benefit the culinary collections of the Los Angeles Central Library.
What: Used Cookbook Sale at the Hollywood Farmers' Market
Date: August 17, 2008
Time: 8:00a.m. to 1:00p.m.
Location: Hollywood Farmers' Market (Ivar Blvd. between Sunset and Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood)
Admission is free.
-- Noelle Carter
Photo credit: Karen Tapia-Anderson / Los Angeles Times
 After 12 years of celebrating the finer qualities of the--no, not tasteless, but delicately flavored--soft soy bricks known as tofu, the Little Tokyo Service Center has decided to discontinue the event.
"We initially put on the festival as a fundraiser and as a way to drive people to Little Tokyo," says Noelle Ito, the center's director of development. "We've been successful at both. When we started it was just a small event but last year we drew more than 25,000 people over the weekend."
So why stop now?
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 I have seen the future, and there is food. But I’m not sure there’s quite enough for me. Not yet anyway. Like millions of other folks, I just bought an IPhone 3G. For someone who barely learned how to dial his old cell phone, it’s quite a marvel (even if my daughter just shakes her head pityingly at half of the things I’m amazed at … that was so 2004!).
And like millions of other folks, one of the first things I did was run right over to the App Store (not literally run, of course, because with these new machines you can do it over the Interweb!). Unlike millions of others, the first things I looked for weren’t games, but anything related to food. I did find some things, but food as a topic doesn’t seem to be nearly as popular as Crash Bandicoot.
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 Unless you're Mia Farrow, it's highly likely that you've caught some Michael Phelps -- I mean, Olympic -- fever. So have some restaurants around town:
West at Hotel Angeleno is offering opening ceremony dishes for $8.88 such as "chicken javelin throws" (chicken skewers). The obsession with the number 8 continues: Boa Steakhouse is offering a four-course "Infinite Deal" menu (steaks and sides such as Caesar salad, garlic whipped potatoes and mac-n-cheese), for $88.08 per couple. The deal is available for 88 days.
Vinoteque is kicking off its Olympic-tied events with a special $8 menu during the opening ceremony, aired on its jumbo flat screen TVs. Other events include Sunday's "Dream Team" brunch in honor of the U.S. men's basketball team.
Darren's in Manhattan Beach is offering an Olympic menu with dishes that represent countries participating in the Games -- Spanish charcuterie and Manchego cheese (Spain); spicy ahi tartare over sweet rice cake (Japan); pan-seared frog legs (China); marinated shrimp and queso fresco (Peru).... During happy hour (5 to 6:30 p.m. weekdays), these dishes are half-price. And unlike at the opening ceremony procession, there are no diplomatic problems about which country follows which.
West at Hotel Angeleno, 170 N. Church Lane, West Los Angeles, (310) 476-6411. Boa Steakhouse, 8462 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 650-8383. Vinoteque, 4437 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, (310) 482-3490. Darren's, 1141 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, (310) 802-1973.
-- Betty Hallock
Photo credit: Roslan Rahman / Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
 Tim Zagat, co-founder of the Zagat guide, predicts that restaurants big and small will soon be looking for ways to provide more nutritional data to diners and offer more healthful, calorie-conscious fare. And far from ruining the dining experience, he said, it could end up being a selling point.
"I think it’s kind of to be expected," Zagat said of Los Angeles County's foray into calorie labeling on certain menus. "People have a right to know what they are eating."
He said he's also mulling over ways to convey that information to readers of his instantly-recognizeable burgundy guide that began compiling customer reviews long before it was trendy to do so. "There’s a greater sensitivity to this kind of thing than ever before, and it can be made into a positive. The restaurants that are able to anticipate and get ahead of the curve are likely to do it and do well."
Sure, there will be some people turned off by it, he said. But he compared it to the ban on smoking in restaurants. While some smokers were put out, nonsmokers were elated and data shows that those non-smokers returned to dining out in droves, he said.
"People aren’t going to stop eating out. It's making sure that they know what it is that they are eating, which I think makes fundamentally good sense," he said. "You're empowering your customers."
--Rene Lynch
Photo credit: Zagat Survey
The Olympics haven't even started and already California has made history. For the first time ever, a shipment of foreign strawberries -- California-grown strawberries, to be exact -- entered China on Tuesday. And whom do we have to thank? Read more here.
Photo credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times
Craft brewers making rum and whiskey? Food section videographer John Vandewege heads to Ballast Point, San Diego's first licensed distillery, where a couple of guys who know how to make beer are trying to figure out how to make the hard stuff-- and please their palates in the process. Read freelancer Jenn Garbee's story, too.
A law that would bar new fast-food restaurants from opening in South Los Angeles for at least one year sailed through the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday. The Times' Molly Hennessy-Fiske and David Zahniser were there, and have all the details.
 Anyone wanting a "baco" fix best get themselves over to Echo Park's Lot 1 before closing on Thursday night, which will be chef Josef Centeno's last night behind the stoves. Centeno and the restaurant's owner Eileen Leslie are parting ways.
Centeno, previously at Opus at Wilshire and Western, has drawn favorable attention from Los Angeles restaurant journalists since Lot 1 opened in early May with him in the kitchen. The chef said via cellphone this afternoon that he wants to open his own restaurant, but not anytime soon. "I'm going underground," said Centeno. "I'm not going to cook for a while."
Lot 1, 1533 W. Sunset Blvd., Echo Park, (213) 481-8400.
-- Amy Scattergood
Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times
 After 11 years in business caterer and restaurateur Jennie Cook is being forced out of her current Culver City location at 9806 Washington Blvd. by skyrocketing rent. August 8 will be the restaurant's last day. She will relocate her catering business, Jennie Cooks, to the Silver Lake area (3048 N. Fletcher, near San Fernando) in late August.
"I'm trying not to call my landlord names in public any more," says Cook who recently sent a strongly worded e-mail blast about her current predicament to the 2,100 customers on her e-mail list.
When Cook first opened Cook's Double Dutch on once sleepy Washington Blvd. her rent was $3,500. She's currently paying $7,000 and she says her landlord is angling to up her rent to $9,000. Last year she says he refused to renew her lease and she has been dealing with swiftly escalating rent ever since.
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Even if you were planning a big East Coast-style lobster bake to celebrate the summer, the FDA's warning to avoid eating lobster tomalley still shouldn’t pose a problem. The tomalley is the soft green paste inside the lobster's head and it is easily avoided — in fact, most people spoon it out and discard it anyway. Generally, if it is eaten, it is mixed with mayonnaise to make a sauce. There is no evidence that problems with the tomalley affect the rest of the meat in the lobster.
The FDA warning came about because of red tide conditions in the northern Atlantic states and Canada, where most of the Maine lobsters are caught. (Read what Times Health Editor Tami Dennis had to say here.) The toxins produced by this algae bloom are captured and concentrated in the tomalley, and eating it can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning. Cooking does not reduce the toxins.
Because the red tide conditions are limited by geography, this warning does not include local Pacific spiny lobsters--the season for which begins in the fall--or Florida spiny lobsters, which begin their season this week.
--Russ Parsons
 Bid farewell to hydrogenated oils and trans fat. They are already harder to get in nationally marketed products, and California's governor has told the state's restaurants to find something else to put in their food. But Times Health Editor Tami Dennis reminds us to please -- please, please, please -- remember that "no trans fats" isn't another way of saying "eat more."
 Actually, chef-restaurateur Hans Rockenwagner is from a town in southern Germany called Schliengen, not Berlin. Nonetheless the Berliners (jam-filled donuts) at Rockenwagner's new Santa Monica bakery were flying off the shelves this morning. Maybe because the locals know that Friday is the only day they're made--or maybe because JFK's famous speech has been in the news of late, thanks to Barack Obama's current European tour and Obama's speech in Berlin. (Click to listen to both speeches, via YouTube.) Politicos need to eat too, especially those with a sense of place-name irony. Rockenwagner, who was behind the bakery's pretty wooden counter-top (which he made himself) this morning, pointed out that, technically, it should be "Ich bin Berliner." Unless one is wearing a jelly-donut suit. Rockenwagner's Berliners--pillowy, sugar-dusted, filled with Julius Meinl raspberry jam--were so yummy I wouldn't mind wearing a few of them, if only for the sake of German grammar.
If donuts aren't your thing, there's plenty to choose from, all made at Rockenwagner's Washington Blvd. location and brought in (sandwiches are assembled on-site) daily. Raspberry jam-filled Linzer cookies, all those pretzel rolls, and a catalog of tiny sandwiches: tuna on brioche, salami on a pretzel roll, turkey and provolone on tiny pretzel baguettes. The coffee is also from Vienna, Austria-based Julius Meinl; the house-made muesli is soaked overnight in a milk-cream combination and loaded with walnuts and grated apples. "The original muesli recipe," says Rockenwagner. "In Switzerland they put whipped cream on it." Ah. Something to wear with that donut suit.
Berliners, $2 from Rockenwagner Bakery, 311 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 394-4267; also at 3 Square Cafe, 1121 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. (310) 399-6504; and at the bakery at 12835 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles. (310) 578-8171 (where the photo was taken, since they were out of Berliners in Santa Monica by the time I got there).
--Amy Scattergood
photo by Amy Scattergood
 Joachim Splichal's Patina Restaurant Group has been playing musical chefs lately. Patina executive chef Theo Schoenegger is leaving Splichal's Disney Hall flagship to open his own restaurant in Vegas (Patina reps say no word yet on his successor); Cafe Pinot exec chef Kevin Meehan took over at Paperfish in March, replacing that restaurant's exec chef Yanni Koufodontis. Now Cafe Pinot has named a new executive chef: Gypsy Gifford. (Music stops.)
Gifford--born in England, raised in San Diego--is a CIA alum and a 2-year veteran of Rocco DiSpirito's now-closed Manhattan restaurant Union Pacific. She was chef de cuisine at Bao 111 and executive chef at Rain, both in New York, before moving back to California three months ago. Gifford unveiled some of her new dishes on Tuesday night at a cocktail reception held at Cafe Pinot's pretty garden patio (olive trees, library). Among them ("Joachim said, 'By the end of the month, it's your menu.' ") were Banyuls-glazed organic beets with housemade ricotta cheese, spiced Macadamia nuts and citrus vinaigrette; a duo of Wagyu carpaccio and Kona Kampachi tartare; and a "counting sheep sandwich" (below, left).
The latter is a stack of roasted lamb on toasted ciabatta with sheeps' milk cheeses, sheeps' milk yogurt sauce, cucumber and lamb's lettuce salad. "It's a tribute to my insomnia," said Gifford. "Kind of like a Philly cheese sandwich crossed with a schwarma." A woman exec chef AND schwarma. Sounds like somebody won this round of musical chefs. Like maybe we did.
Cafe Pinot, 700 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles. (213) 239-6500.
--Amy Scattergood
photo credit: Patina Restaurant Group
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 When I was in culinary school, I had a pair of black Emeril clogs that I wore a whole lot more than I watched Emeril's show. Leather uppers, non-skid heels, closed back, and so comfortable that I wore them until they wore out. Then came the Age of the Orange Croc, during which Mario Batali made it acceptable —nay, culinarily chic — to wear twin neon pontoons instead of actual shoes on one's feet. An aesthetic nightmare, but at least the camp factor was high. (See M. Ruhlman and A. Bourdain; Press Release! The Golden Clog.) Let's just say that I didn't buy shoes for a long time. But my dog finally chewed through my last pair of old comfy shoes the other day, so I asked Corina Weibel, chef-owner of Canele in Atwater Village — and inveterate clog-wearer — where to go shoe shopping. She sent me to a little shop in Larchmont, where I found perhaps the coolest clogs ever (above).
Made by Pennsylvania-based Dansko for nurses, chefs and other on-your-feet professionals (yes, like writers: don't forget all that nervous pacing), they've got stapled leather uppers, polyethylene heels, thermoplastic polyurethane toe boxes, Poliyou footbeds, rocker-bottom outsoles... whatever. They're red patent leather. Sorry, claret patent leather. My daughter stared at them silently for a moment, said, "Follow the yellow brick road," and left the room. Your Judy Garland, my Elvis Costello. (Click here to hear the Costello song, circa 1977.)
Dansko Professionals, about $120 at Village Footwear, 248 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles. (323) 461-3619. Or check the Dansko website for a retail locator.
— Amy Scattergood
Photo credit: Dansko.
 Got tuna? Maybe not for very long. Tuesday about 200,000 fishing boats — almost the entire Japanese fleet — stayed in harbor on a one-day strike to call attention to the economic squeeze they are suffering due to rising fuel prices. As a result, sales at the giant Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo dropped by 25%.
And Toshihide Kawai of downtown L.A.’s International Marine Products sent an e-mail to many of the chefs who shop at his wholesale market warning that seafood supplies might be limited through the rest of the summer. Squid fishermen struck in June, mackerel fishermen are planning a strike in August and, most important for the Southern California market, the Japanese deep-sea tuna fleet is planning on taking two to three months off sometime after the first of August.
David Lefevre, chef at seafood-centric Water Grill, says he hasn’t seen any real effects yet, though he’s aware of Kawai’s warnings because he’s a regular customer there. As far as he’s concerned, it’s just one more bit of bad news on the horizon.
“Really, it’s kind of like that with everything these days,” Lefevre said. “We’re in a really bad situation where gas is going up and products are getting more expensive across the board.
"The toughest part as a restaurateur is we have to pay more for product but still we’re in such a tight economic market that people don’t want to pay more for their meals. Ultimately, what we have to do is try to make sure we still have great product, and still have it at a price people are comfortable with.”
There may be a silver lining, though. Jesse Marsh, fisheries research manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, points out that most of those boats are longliners that contribute to the overfishing of bigeye and yellowfin. And if those tuna become harder to get, maybe that’s a good thing.
“It will be interesting to see what the long-term impact of this is — whether the increase in [fish] prices will lead to a drop in demand, and whether the increase in fuel prices results in a long-term change in fishing.”
— Russ Parsons
Photo by Mark Boster
 Getting picky kids to eat their vegetables is an age-old parental problem. Like age-old: Scientists say that kids are wired to prefer sweet, bland things since they weren't generally poisonous. (Ironically, they are now.) Three recent cookbooks, "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld and "The Sneaky Chef" (and its sequel) by Missy Chase Lapine,  suggest that the best way to solve this problem is not by talking to your kids or getting them to gradually expand their immature palates or cutting up carrots like palm trees (worked for us). No, the way to solve this is by sneaking purees of healthful ingredients into popular foods. Your 7-year-old hates broccoli and loves fried chicken nuggets? Great, just hide the broccoli in the nuggets.
The books have become bestsellers, maybe because of the legal battle they've generated (charges of "vegetable plagiarism," as Seinfeld's comedian husband termed it), or maybe because they've landed some high-profile play (Oprah!) or maybe because, well, it sounds like the perfect solution for health-conscious parents desperate for a way to get their kids to ingest all that magical spinach without force-feeding.
But the larger implications (ethical, gastronomic) seem strangely, glaringly missing from the debate. If you hide the broccoli in the chicken nuggets, or the cauliflower puree in the mac 'n' cheese, or the carrots and avocados in the chocolate fondue, aren't you telling your kids — or your partner, as Lapine's sequel is geared towards picky "husbands" — that it's OK to keep eating junk? Secrecy is not something I want to teach my kids, nor is the nutritional value of a quarter-cup of avocado puree worth that price.
Sure, the recipes might taste good. Oprah sure seemed to love them, and Seinfeld's chocolate fondue was pretty yummy (albeit the consistency of brownie batter, faint notes of avocado), though how healthy it really is I don't know — there are no calorie or nutrient counts in these books. But I want my kids to learn to appreciate the Hass avocados I buy at the farmers market. Or to crunch into a raw carrot with pleasure instead of cooking it for 12 minutes and hiding it in an avalanche of cocoa powder and sugar. Kids don't appreciate being lied to. And they always find out. "I'd yell at you," said my 7-year-old daughter, Sophie, when I asked her what she'd do if I hid, oh, beet puree in her lasagna. "I'd give you a time-out."
— Amy Scattergood
Photo credit: Collins ("Deceptively Delicious") and Running Press ("The Sneaky Chef")
 Last fall I blogged about the acorn-finished pigs that La Quercia, the Iowa prosciutto makers, and organic pig farmer Jude Becker were raising and selling to chefs and restaurants across the country. While the prosciutto from last year's pigs won't be ready until next summer, La Quercia's Herb Eckhouse has already gotten glowing reports on the first deliveries — sausage, guanciale, coppa, pancetta and other items that require less curing time than the prosciutto. Eckhouse recently emailed that last year's project has been so successful that they're planning a second.
Acorn Edition II is now underway, with orders being taken for about 100 more Berkshire pigs — up from 50 in last year's inaugural group. The pigs go for $3,000 if you're a return customer, $3,200 if you're new to the pig subscription program. (Yup, that's really what it's called.) But they're going fast — Charlie Trotter just bought two, as did Nate Appleman of San Francisco's A16.
And for those mindful of this spring's catastrophic weather in the upper Midwest, Eckhouse says that they were lucky: The flooding only slowed down construction on La Quercia's expansion and soaked their basement. Becker said by phone that his farm was fortunate too; their corn crop was ruined, but "all the rain is creating a bumper crop of acorns." Becker reports that he's also enlisted his local Boy Scout troop, which turns a profit by harvesting the nuts and selling them to Becker. So not only will La Quercia's next round of charcuterie be made from Berkshire pigs finished on acorns — but acorns gathered by Iowa Boy Scouts. Wow. I hope they get a special badge for that, like in Italian.
La Quercia, 400 Hakes Drive, Norwalk, Iowa. (515) 981-1625. www.laquercia.us. Those interested in the Acorn Edition program can also contact Jennifer Snierson at The Chefs Warehouse, (310) 909-3316.
— Amy Scattergood
Photo courtesy of Herb Eckhouse
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Times blog Jacket Copy delves into "The Big Fat Duck Cookbook," published in the U.K. and U.S. this month:
