Sampler Platter: Fat is the new normal, Eating Valley Blvd, XIV's vegan tasting menu, protecting Kentucky bourbon

Food art, bourbon, red onions and fat acceptance lead today's food news roundup.

-- Alton Brown says he doesn't see "Good Eats" lasting much beyond next year. Show Tracker
-- Chef Michael Mina’s vegan tasting menu at XIV. To Live and Eat in L.A.
-- Fat as the new normal: Saying no to diets, fat acceptance and questions about whether extra pounds really equal extra risk. Los Angeles Times
-- If you like art with your food, don't miss Wayne Thiebaud's iconic cupcakes on display in a retrospective at the Pasadena Museum of California Art until Jan. 31. Eating L.A.
--New food blog, Eating Valley Blvd, devoted solely to 8 miles of Asian eateries on Valley Boulevard between the 710 and 605 freeways, goes live.
-- Congressman Ben Chandler urges his fellow Kentuckians to protect the state's signature bourbon and horse industries. Lexington Herald-Leader
-- Gourmet Pigs declares Spago one of dineLA's best deals.
-- What to eat at Tanzore's Diwali party in Beverly Hills this week. Grub Street LA
-- Ma'Kai (Santa Monica) may close and be replaced by a Red Onion. Eater LA

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Wayne Thiebaud's "Four Sandwiches" (1965) puts its own spin on the theme of uniformity. Credit: Hackett-Freedman Gallery

Sampler Platter: URBNMKT, deep-fried fair food, Eric Ripert, bacon iPhone sleeve

-- L.A. has deep-fried pickles, olives, s'mores, Twinkies, frog legs, White Castle burgers and more. But Texas has deep-fried butter. Star-Telegram
-- Salma Hayek cusses out hostess at Chateau Marmont. Radar (log-in required)
-- "Avec Eric," chef Eric Ripert's PBS cooking show, debuts this weekend.
-- Delicious Coma's online recipe organization system.
-- A new version of surf 'n turf: the Land, Sea and Air burger. Eat Me Daily
-- The bacon iPhone sleeve: so right it's wrong. Engadget
-- Oregon and Washington bicyclists fighting to use fast-food drive-throughs. Los Angeles Times
-- Gourmet Pigs reviews Brian Redzikowski's revamped BondSt menu.
-- Savory succotash at Reservoir. Caroline on Crack
-- URBNMKT, farmers markets and football at USC. Food GPS
-- Russians say "Nyet" to effort to curb drinking. Los Angeles Times "We're not drinking," a construction worker says while gulping down cans of beer at noon on a weekday. "We're just killing our hangovers."

Oh, beer ... is there any logic you can't defeat?

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Yevgeny Chasovskikh, left, and Oleg Korbu in Alyokhnovo, outside Moscow, kill their hangovers with a bottle of vodka. Credit: Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times.

Culinary SOS: Sazerac cocktail

According to Viji Anton Shook of Rancho Palos Verdes, Stella! in New Orleans makes the most divine Sazerac with Cognac and Absinthe. So Viji wrote to Culinary SOS for help:

The drink is smooth with honey overtones making it a perfect elixir for a hot summer night. I would love to recreate a bit of New Orleans here in LA. Would you be able to get the recipe? Thank you.

Actually Viji, thank YOU. We love it when Times Test Kitchen Manager Noelle Carter has an excuse to test a cocktail recipe. Here's your recipe. Cheers!  

And here's a look at other recipe requests we've recently answered.

--Rene Lynch 

Photo credit: Ken Kwok / Los Angeles Times

Sampler Platter: Macadamia mash, choco-bacon, Twitter's downside

Macadamia mash, choco-bacon and the dark side of Twitter lead our Friday food roundup.

• Raw cooking with Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Ros, who makes a macadamia mash.
• Glenfiddich Distillery will release a 50-year-old, single-malt Scotch whisky that will sell for about $16,500 a bottle. BBC
• Terroni to expand into large, new space. Eater LA
• If you're going to host a luncheon for sufferers of celiac disease, make sure the food is free of lactose and gluten. The Local
• Dan Akroyd and Jon Bon Jovi briefly take over the kitchen of "East Hamptons hot spot" Georgica. New York Post
• Cheripan: the best Argentinian food in Tijuana? Gastronomy
• What beer will the White House serve at Obama's "summit" with Professor Gates and the police officer who arrested him? New York Times
• Chocolate-covered bacon for $1.27 a slice in Colorado. Cafe Society
• File under Tortured Logic: When new food trucks move into a neighborhood, there is often conflict as they compete for business against long-running food trucks and bricks-and-mortar businesses. (We call that capitalism.) Since many of these new food trucks use Twitter to market themselves, the (occasionally violent) conflicts are Twitter's fault. Midtown Lunch

-- Elina Shatkin
Photo: Singer Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Ros plays his guitar with a bow. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Four Food Events You Should Know About: You've finally met your matcha

THURSDAY

Michael Voltaggio The former Bazaar chef is taking his highly anticipated turn guest-cheffing at Breadbar's hatachi series. The weekly series features eight small plates created by the guest chef, each priced at $8. Voltaggio's chosen theme is "An experience of texture and flavor, an artistic series of small plates." David Haskell, formerly of BIN 8945, will do the wine pairings and work the front of the house. Breadbar Century City, 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. 6 to 10 p.m. Guests must order a minimum of three dishes. (310) 277-3770. www.breadbar.net.

Cooking Korean Join cookbook author and Food section contributor Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee as she talks about her new book, "Quick and Easy Korean Cooking: More than 70 Everyday Recipes." Her book includes recipes for appetizers, snacks, soups, hot pots, rice noodles and entrees. It also devotes an entire chapter to kim chi. Lee is a first-generation Korean American and has written about food for The Times, Eating Well and Korean Culture. Korean snacksand drinks will be provided. Pacific Asia Museum, 46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena. 7:30 p.m. Program included in museum admission, $9 general, $7 students and seniors. (626) 449-2742, ext. 20. www.pacificasiamuseum.org.

Matcha maker If you're a fan of the delicious powdered ceremonial Japanese teacalled matcha, then you'll want to make a reservation to attend a special matcha-themed night at Le Palais Gourmet. Chef and owner of Jin Patisserie, Kristy Choo, will make matcha-infused desserts including cakes, chocolate and creme brulee. Hot and cold matcha drinks will also be served. So, hurry up and find out why the Buddhists have been drinking the super-healthy beverage for more than 800 years (and why it retails for $50 per 30 grams). Le Palais Gourmet, 401 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills. 6:30 p.m. $40. RSVP required, (310) 271-7922. www.lepalaisgourmet.com.

Getting rummy in the O.C. Enjoy cigars and rum under the Southern California stars as the nearly 40-year-old Cellar restaurant hosts a decadent four-course dinner paired with Appleton sipping rum and Royal Jamaica cigars. The Cellar, 305 N. Harbor Blvd., Fullerton. 6:30 p.m. $69.95. (714) 525-5682. www.cellardining.com.

--Jessica Gelt

Photo:Trio of pots de creme with matcha, dark chocolate (bottom left) milk chocolate (right) and white chocolate (rear). Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Bacon Bits: Vodka, chocolate and pancetta

All the recent bacon news that's fit to print...

Andy Richter: "Oh, God, it's awful!"
Conan O'Brien: "It's really that bad?"
Andy: "I don't know what's worse, the smell or the taste."
Conan: "I can smell it from here. It's like fermented Bac-O bits."

• What are they talking about? Andy Richter tastes Bakon, a new bacon-flavored vodka, on "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien."
• This seems like a niche inside a niche, but apparently there's a market for "Chocolate-Covered Bacon -- The Radio Show."
• What's the difference between bacon and pancetta? The Detroit News explains.

-- Elina Shatkin

National Martini Day may or may not be next week

It has come to my attention, via a press release for tequila, of all things, that June 18 is National Martini Day. I have to admit I got really excited and began dreaming of all the delicious martinis I would drink and where I would drink them and whether or not I would take a bath with one.

Then I turned to Google to learn more about the hallowed holiday. Much to my chagrin, I couldn’t find anything conclusive about the actual existence of the happy day, which was very likely dreamed up one gin-soaked midnight by a PR firm.

So, I’m left high and dry (quite literally), unless someone out there can send me something more conclusive. But before I sign off, I’d like to leave you with my very first memory of a martini:

It’s 1988, I’m 12 years old and “Vice Versa” starring Judge Reinhold is playing at the AMC theater at the El Con Mall in Tucson. In the film, Reinhold plays a dad who swaps bodies with his son (body-swapping was a popular plot line in the ‘80s), and there is a scene involving the boy-in-man’s-body confronted with a martini.

I remember sitting in the big-box darkness beside my mother in her “Put Your Brahms Around Me” T-shirt, and staring at the drink on the screen, its crystal-clear coolness in that perfect glass with the slender stem, punctuated, as it were, by a perfectly green, globular olive, and thinking, “How beautiful! I want one!"

When I turned 21, I would have three.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: A martini at Comme Ca made by bartender Joel Black. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times.

Got bourbon? Then you're off to the races

  

Giddyup!

And prepare to raise a mint julep to toast the winner of this weekend's Kentucky Derby.

-- Rene Lynch 

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Photo caption: A bottle of Maker's Mark bourbon is dipped in the signature red wax. Credit: Ed Reinke / Associated Press

Cinco de Mayo recipes: tuna tostadas, carne asada, chicharrones . . .

 

If you are like me, you're always looking for an excuse to break out the chips and guac. So I was happy to dig through the Times Test Kitchen's archives for some recipes in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Still, I wanted to come up with something ... different. (Nothing against refried beans, mind you!)

So this is a photo gallery of the menu I came up with:

There are grapefruit margaritas to start, along with appetizers including radish salsa, tortillas and chicharrones de queso -- roughly translated as fried cheese, tuna tostadas with chipotle mayo and queso de chiva fundido con pipián verde -- roughly translated as more cheesy goodness. For the main course, choose from green corn tamales, El Cholo's famous chiles rellenos, carne asada tacos, achiote-marinated fish tacos, duck tacos with a chile-cherry compote (I told you I wanted different) and two types of veggie enchiladas.

But I wasn't completely nontraditional. I did include guacamole. And, for a finisher, flan. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

-- Rene Lynch

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Photo credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Tequila versus sake: Multicultural boozing

Whatever quirks of culture may divide us, it’s comforting to know we can bridge them with one act: drinking. Specifically, drinking alcohol. Nearly every culture takes pride (sometimes undeservedly so) in its native libation, from Russians with their vodka to Canadians with their Molson.* On Thursday,  you can take your pick of cultural-based boozing, exploring fermented rice wine near downtown or fermented agave plants in Hollywood.

Mystery of Sake: Jizake Investigation
Sake will be paired with hors d’oeuvres from local restaurants such as Good Girl Dinette, Urth Caffe, Shojin, Roy's Hawaiian Fusion, Rock 'n Fish and more. Benefiting the Little Tokyo Service Center, which had to give up hosting the L.A. Tofu Festival after it grew too popular, the tasting features 40 sakes with seven breweries flying in from Japan for the event. Head to the VIP room, where sake sommeliers Melanie Chang and Toshio Ueno will lead a tasting of eight additional choices, including Kikusui Setsugoro Genrokushu (a revival sake from the Genroku era) and Sechubijin Tokubetsu Junmai.
7 to 9:30 p.m., California Science Center, 700 Exposition Park Drive, L.A. $60 general; $100 VIP. (213) 473-1615, www.ltsc.org .

Small-Batch Socials: Tequila Ocho
If wine can have a terroir, why not tequila? Ammo's new monthly tasting series kicks off with an evening led by Scott Haro of Tequila Ocho. He'll focus on single-estate tequilas known for their "complexity rather than consistency of character."
5:30 to 7:30 p.m.; Ammo, 1155 N. Highland Ave., L.A. $20. (323) 871-2666, www.ammocafe.com

* If a Canadian EVER makes fun of American beer, you can win the argument with one word: Molson.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Left: Bottles of tequila at Rivera in downtown. (Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times). Right: Sake at Bar Hayama in West L.A. (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times).