Beer cheese and pizza-sized pretzels: Dodger Stadium's new menu items for 2010 season

Few things about sporting events make me giddy. I mean, I like the cheering, the good-natured rivalries, the spirit colors -- but the part that really makes me swoon? Game food. So when it comes to baseball -- where it is completely acceptable to hang out with friends and guiltlessly down hot dogs and beer -- I say count me in.

Dodger Stadium understands that the food gets (almost) as much attention as the game. So Executive Chef Joseph Martin and restaurant partner Levy Restaurants have made sure that when the Dodgers play the Arizona Diamondbacks on Opening Day next Tuesday (April 13), fans will be able to munch on exciting new food while warming those bleachers.

New on the menu is the giant Victory Knot pretzel with beer cheese dipping sauce, gourmet Niman Ranch sausages and the spicy Picante Dog, back by popular demand (literally -- it has its own Facebook fan group which was dedicated to bringing it back from menu dormancy).

The new pizza-sized Victory Knot is made with two pounds of dough, topped with sea salt and served with three dipping sauces -- chipotle honey mustard, sweet cinnamon crème, and beer cheese. The calorie information wasn't available when we wrote this, but we can surmise that it's best not to try and eat one by yourself -- it’s supposed to serve four.

If hot dogs and beer cheese don’t sound like something you want to stomach for nine innings, three Health Plate carts serve healthier fare: spicy shrimp cocktail, fresh seasonal fruit salad, curried chicken lettuce wraps and sushi. Spicy tuna rolls at a baseball game, though? I might just stick with my $5 Dodger Dog.

(Keep reading about Dodger Stadium's new grub after the jump.)

Paula Deen being sued for $40 million

According to our friends over at Ministry of Gossip, celebrity Food Network chef and television personality Paula Deen is being sued for $40 million dollars. What’s the reason? In the words of MOG writer Christie D'Zurilla: “cussing on the job and, um, not cooking very much.”

Maybe Deen is finally realizing that this new healthcare bill’s calorie counting measures might not be so friendly toward those butter-filled, though totally delicious, recipes from the South. After all, imagine if she had to add nutrition facts to the recipes on her website? I would be cussing too.

Then again, she survived that ham in the face in November. I think she’ll most likely come out unscathed, saying "more butter, y'all."

Get the full scoop about the lawsuit here.

-- Kelsey Ramos

Photo: Paula Deen. Credit: Noel Vasquez / Getty Images

Better than a food truck: the Kogi BBQ Scion xD Mobile at the L.A. Auto Show

If you’ve always dreamed of having the Kogi Korean BBQ truck permanently parked outside of your house, soon you can. With Scion's help, you will be able to put Kogi in your driveway and, even better, in your garage.

Imagine a customized Scion xD Mobile with an aluminum grill in the pop-out trunk, cooking utensils and sauces in the pop-out taillights, and a sink to clean up in one of the rear-passenger doors, all retractable by remote control. Arm yourself with good meat and good company and you’re ready for a tailgate, a fantastic outdoor party or a family dinner of Korean BBQ tacos on the front lawn. Awesome.

The auto company teamed up with Mike Vu and his MV Designz shop in Santa Ana to create the customized Scion xD officially for the Korean BBQ truck (whose dedicated foodies follow the truck around by its Twitter updates), but also to spark the imagination of car buyers about ways they can customize their own xD. It debuted at an auto show in Las Vegas last month and is now at the L.A. Auto Show; after its tour, the customizable xD will be available for sale (and is planned to be adopted by Kogi and used just like its trucks).

See more photos of the mean, lean Korean BBQ machine and read the full story at our Money & Company blog here.

RELATED:
L.A. Auto Show: Kogi BBQ Scion, with working grill, to hit the L.A. streets after auto show tour
Food truck profile: Little Spoon dessert truck rolls across Los Angeles

-- Kelsey Ramos

Photo: Scion Kogi xD Mobile, customized by MV Designz, on display at the L.A. Auto Show. Credit: Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Los Angeles Times

Picking the perfect wine

Click through Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila's recommendations.

-- Kelsey Ramos

PHOTO GALLERY: A Thanksgiving feast for the eyes

Our best Thanksgiving Day recipes

This Thanksgiving, let someone else do the cooking

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood and Facebook at facebook.com/latimesfood

Photo credit: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times

Thanksgiving countdown: Chocolate bouchons

It's never too early to start thinking about dessert. Whether you want a classy change from pumpkin pie or need a gift for a dinner host on Thanksgiving Day, these velvety chocolate bouchons please the eye and the palate. Click here for more Thanksgiving recipes and desserts.

-- Kelsey Ramos

PHOTO GALLERY: A Thanksgiving feast for the eyes

Our best Thanksgiving Day recipes

This Thanksgiving, let someone else do the cooking

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood and Facebook at facebook.com/latimesfood

Photo credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Thanksgiving countdown: Kabocha squash soup with pomegranate seeds

There is a soup for every Thanksgiving -- creamy, light, sweet or spicy. Admire the bright, splashy yellows and reds in this Kabocha squash soup topped with crisp pomegranate seeds and candied pecans, and then enjoy it before your main course on Thanksgiving (or the day after with your turkey sandwich). Browse through other Thanksgiving recipes or, if you just want to drool over more beautiful food, click through our photo gallery.

-- Kelsey Ramos

RECENT & RELATED 

PHOTO GALLERY: A Thanksgiving feast for the eyes

Our best Thanksgiving Day recipes

This Thanksgiving, let someone else do the cooking

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood and Facebook at facebook.com/latimesfood

Photo credit: Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times

Kid-friendly Halloween recipes from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen

Trick or treat!

These kid-friendly recipes from the L.A. Times test kitchen offer easy Halloween fare like pumpkin face quesadillas and sweet treats such as festive caramel corn, peanut butter cookie cups and creamy tomato soup with cheesy ghost-shaped toasts. Click here for these recipes, and more.

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood and Facebook @latimesfood

Healthy Food: The L.A. food system and a no-cook cook-off

Project Food LA wants Angelenos to talk about why their city is hungry. From 7:30 to 9 tonight at the Habeas Lounge in the 7+ FIG Art Space, the organization is presenting a panel discussion called “Hungry Urbanism: Diagnosing the Los Angeles Food System,” which will discuss problems with access to healthful foods. The panel includes Kate Harvey, an urban designer, and Jennie Cooks, a chef of the Slow Food Movement. Michael Pinto, founder of Project Food LA, will moderate. Project Food LA is a group of educators, chefs, architects, planners, growers and nutritionists seeking to improve access to more healthful food in our communities.

Elsewhere.....

Vons and Pavilions are on the healthful food challenge bandwagon as well. On Wednesday, Los Angeles “Mom bloggers” are going head-to-head in a “no cook” cook-off contest live at a Burbank Pavilions store. At noon, the 10 invited contestants -- including Los Angeles blogger Jessica Gottlieb -- will take on the challenge to create a delicious “no cook” meal for a family of four. The time and price limit for these masterpieces: 20 minutes or less, $25 or less. The winner will receive $1,000 gift certificate to Vons and a donation will be made to the Vons Foundation in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

7+ FIG Art Space, Ernst & Young Plaza, 735 S. Figueroa St., middle level, Los Angeles. Validated parking in 7+ FIG parking structure.

Burbank Pavilions, 1110 Alameda Ave., Burbank.

-- Kelsey Ramos

Photo: Project Food LA

Celebrate National Coffee Day ... with the largest macaroon in the world?

While you’re drinking your cup of joe today, raise a mug for National Coffee Day, the day in which coffee addicts can rejoice in their brews and refill without shame.

When you order a cup of coffee at participating Los Angeles and Orange County Panera Bread locations, grab a coupon for a free second cup when you mention National Coffee Day and the “Pay It Forward” phrase, effective only today.

Not crazy about coffee but love the delectable desserts that go with it? Settle down with a fluffy New Orleans-style beignet dusted with powdered sugar – find the recipe from the L.A. Times test kitchen here.

And though it’s not in celebration of the best part of waking up, another great highlight of today is happening at Brentwood’s La Provence Patisserie &  Café this afternoon.

Attenders hope to witness the world’s largest Parisian macaroon, as chef and restaurateur Farshid Hakim attempts to break the Guinness Book of World Records title. Hakim and his staff began working early this morning with what they hope to be the world’s largest collection of macaroon ingredients -- almond flour, sugar, butter, cream, etc. – to create the enormous 16-inch egg white and almond delicacy.

Don’t worry, you won’t have to leave your coffee at home: La Provence will be serving Intelligentsia coffees and teas, as well as full-service meals during the record-breaking baking.

La Provence Patisserie & Café, 11677 San Vicente Blvd. For more information, call La Provence at (310) 442-1144.

-- Kelsey Ramos

Photo: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

A dining guide for USC and UCLA grads

 

Graduating from college is kind of a big deal.

After four or more years of midterms and finals, Mom, Dad, and every other relative in the western United States will want to see little Josephine Bruin or little Tommy Trojan shake the dean's hand and move that tassel from right to left.

The big question is: how to feed them all after the ceremony and into the weekend?

We picked 10 restaurants, with a variety of price ranges and cuisines, where UCLA and USC graduates and their families can celebrate a well-deserved brunch or dinner. (And thank goodness that true-blue and cardinal-red blood need not be shed in a battle over one of these restaurants: USC’s graduations begin this weekend on Friday, and UCLA’s are not until mid-June.)

So, class of 2009, after you toss your hats, get ready to fill your bellies: