Food bloggers descend on Santa Monica to meet, eat -- and tweet

Ask chef Michael Moore what he plans to serve Saturday night at the International Food Bloggers Conference in Santa Monica and you are likely to get a cagey answer.

The Aussie celebrity chef with restaurants in New York, London and Sydney says something about "a salad with cheese" and a beef dish, and seasonal fruits with vanilla. If it sounds like he's being vague, he is. He wants flexibility to change the menu up until the very last minute, depending upon the produce he finds while trolling local farmers markets this week, including the famed Santa Monica Farmers Market.

After all, he has a room full of foodies to win over, and he wants to use every advantage he's got.

"I know they are going to be tweeting and photographing and making comments on the food before the main course hits the table," Moore said. "It really has to be a reflection of what is really in season right now.... I want it to be reactive to what is in California at the moment."

Although some chefs still hold bloggers at arm's length, sneering at their ability to pass judgment with the swipe of a smartphone, Moore said he embraces them. "There's a lot of resistance among some chefs, but I'm not anti-food blogger. They report what they see and experience and that has its own integrity." He asks only that bloggers be fair -- not snarky -- because a restaurant's livelihood could be at stake.

Newest edition of 'Eat: Los Angeles' hits bookshelves

One of local publishing's biggest recent success stories has been Colleen Dunn Bates' "Eat," a restaurant guidebook that manages to be nearly as complete as Zagat yet still feel personal and informed. The 2012 edition is for sale now, with a section on food trucks. It's great fun to dip into to compare your favorite restaurants to those of the contributors (which include several Food section regulars). Because it's arranged geographically, it's a great addition to your car's glove compartment for when you're hungry and stuck in an unfamiliar part of town.

There's also a website with regular updates and features on restaurants and markets.

The book is available now in all the usual independent and university bookstores and specialty shops, as well as many local museum giftshops. It's also available for pre-order on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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It's the McRib, again

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McDonald's McRib sandwich is back

The McRib pork sandwich returns to McDonald's menu again this year. The health-conscious are appalled (it has 500 calories, 26 grams of fat and 980 milligrams of sodium, according to a Reuters story), but McRib fans are ecstatic. It seems the barbecue-sauce-smeared boneless pork patty molded into the shape of ribs just can't stay away — remember the 2005 "McRib Farewell Tour"?  

Last year the McRib returned to McDonald's nationally for the first time in 16 years, and the company's sales rose 4.8% in November.  

This year it's available at all McDonald's locations through Nov. 14. Read Twitter reactions to the McRib at Money & Co. 

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Photo: The McRib. Credit: McDonald's

Restaurant nudity in San Francisco on its way out

Public nudity is legal in San Francisco, but restaurants are looking to alter the dress code, or lack thereof, by requiring the unattired to cover up before sitting down to eat, reports Abby Sewell for The Times' L.A. Now blog.

The Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee on Thursday approved a proposed ordinance on new public nudity etiquette rules, introduced by Supervisor Scott Wiener, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. It next will be considered by the full board. 

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Photo: Naturist George Davis in the Castro district of San Francisco, where he resides. San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener recently introduced a city ordinance that would regulate nudity. Credit: Kimihiro Hoshino / AFP / Getty Images

Supermarkets pressured to snub Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls

Ben & Jerry's Schweddy Balls ice cream, inspired by the 1998 "Saturday Night Live" skit featuring Alec Baldwin as baker Pete Schweddy, isn't striking a chord with some conservative groups such as One Million Moms. Dubbed Schweddy Balls after the skit in which Baldwin tells a couple of NPR radio hosts, "Nobody can resist my Schweddy balls," the ice cream hit stores last month.

But, according to the Associated Press, the moms organization has been putting the pressure on grocery stores to keep the ice cream off its shelves because of the "vulgar" name. A Ben & Jerry's spokesman said Schweddy Balls is the company's most popular limited-edition flavor yet. (It's vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and fudge-covered rum and milk chocolate malt balls.)

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Image: benandjerrys.com

Caitlin Williams Freeman and SFMOMA's latest edible art offering

Caitlin Williams Freeman is the in-house pastry chef at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's rooftop cafe. The former UC Santa Cruz photography student co-founded Miette. Then in 2001, in what she thought would be a temporary stint, she started making pastries for her husband James Freeman's Blue Bottle Coffee locations.

When his company landed a spot on SFMOMA's rooftop, Williams Freeman used the opportunity to channel her love for paintings and photography into her baking. Now the cookies and cakes available -- for visual and literal consumption -- at the coffee bar pay homage to artworks on view in the museum's galleries.

Constantly coming up with new ideas for art-inspired desserts, edible spinoffs have included a Katharina Fritsch ice cream sandwich, with poodle-shaped chocolate cookies sandwiching vanilla ice cream; a fudgsicle-take on Ellsworth Kelly's Stele I (located in the sculpture garden); and a Thiebaud cake inspired by the museum's large collection of Bay Area artist Wayne Thiebaud's paintings.

The latest addition to the menu is a popsicle created in reference to Santa Monica-born artist John Zurier's painting "Arabella," included in the "The More Things Change" exhibition, on view until Nov. 6. The popsicle, made of fresh spearmint ice milk and strawberry, costs $5 and will be available up until the exhibition's closing day.

The next dessert in the works will be ...

Gov. Jerry Brown signs shark fin ban, sparks protest

In a bill-signing flurry Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown outlawed the sale of shark fins in California. Supporters of the ban hailed it as a coup, but chefs who prepare Chinese food say the new law is an assault on a centuries-old delicacy and culinary tradition. 

"Now it's just one more thing Chinese people cannot find in America," Thai Ong, manager of specialty store Wing Hop Fung in Monterey Park, said in an article today in the L.A. Times. The article said dried shark fin can sell for more than $2,000 a pound in California. Tsang estimated that restaurants lose on average of about $200 per table if they don't serve shark fin soup at a banquet.

The fin is prized for the soup. Because there is little demand for shark meat, fishermen resort to "finning," in which the fins are sliced off live sharks, after which they are thrown back into the water. Some sources say that as many as 73 million sharks are killed through finning every year and that about 85% of U.S. shark fin consumption occurs in California.

Despite lobbyists for fin importers and the restaurant industry pressuring Brown to veto the ban, he signed the bill into law; the ban goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012. Businesses and individuals can sell shark fins obtained before the ban went into effect until July 1, 2013. Other states that have banned the sale of shark fins are Hawaii, Washington and Oregon.

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Ketchup banned in French cafeterias? Mon dieu!

Ketchup has apparently become condimenta non grata in French school cafeterias. Tiffany Hsu writes:

In an effort to promote healthful eating and, it has been suggested, to protect traditional Gallic cuisine, the French government has banned school and college cafeterias nationwide from offering the American tomato-based condiment with any food but — of all things — French fries.

As a result, students can no longer use ketchup on such traditional dishes as veal stew, no matter how gristly, and boeuf bourguignon, regardless of its fat content.

Apparently, government researchers recommended cutbacks more than four years ago, though the new rules went into effect this week, affecting school and college cafeterias nationwide. Says agriculture and food minister Bruno Le Maire, "France must be an example to the world in the quality of its food, starting with its children."

You can read more about the ban here.

So what do you think? Sound off with your thoughts on the ban in the comments below.

Photo credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Doritos inventor Arch West dies at age 97

Arch West, a Frito-Lay executive and the genius inventor of Doritos, has died. He was 97.

West, who died last week in Dallas, came up with the idea behind Doritos when he was on a family vacation in Southern California, according to an obituary in the Washington Post. In 1966, the original crunchy, triangular corn chips were released nationally. Doritos became one of Frito-Lay's bestselling snack foods, still true today. 

West's family plans to pay tribute to his love for the snack with what seems like a fitting goodbye by tossing Doritos into his grave at his memorial service Saturday. 

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The Taste fest lines up chef panels: Ludo Lefebvre, Roy Choi, Lisa Lillien and more

The Taste festival of food and wine, hosted by the Los Angeles Times and sponsored by Food & Wine magazine, will take place Labor Day weekend over four days at three locations (downtown, Hollywood and Beverly Hills) featuring more than 200 restaurants.

The list of chefs attending The Taste is still growing -- including Michael Voltaggio, Giada De Laurentiis and Duff Goldman. And organizers have announced a lineup of chef panels: 

• “An Interview with Chef Ludo & Krissy Lefebvre,” led by Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons, will feature an in-depth look at the lives of this celebrity culinary couple, including the popular LudoBites pop-up series, the recent debut of “Ludo Bites America” on the Sundance Channel, insider cooking tips, industry commentary and more. The interview will take place from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m., during The Taste’s “Secrets from the Kitchen & Cellar” in Beverly Hills on Sept. 3.

• “California Pinot” and “Bling or Bargain” will be co-hosted by wine experts Belinda Chang, award-winning sommelier and wine director at the Modern in New York, and Justin Warner, a.k.a. the “wine rhyme enthusiast” and co-chef-owner of Do or Dine in Brooklyn. The pair will offer their unique “oeno-rap” seminars at The Taste’s “Secrets from the Kitchen & Cellar” in Beverly Hills on Sept. 3 and “Street Eats” in Hollywood on Sept. 4 (exact times to be determined).

• “Food City: The New Language of L.A.,” moderated by Times Deputy Food Editor Betty Hallock, will feature panelists Roy Choi, a Food & Wine Best New Chef and chef-owner of the renowned Kogi food truck, Chego in Los Angeles and A-Frame in Culver City; Sang Yoon, chef-owner of Father’s Office in Santa Monica and Culver City and Lukshon in Culver City; Jet Tila, chef-owner of the award-winning Wazuzu at the Encore resort in Las Vegas and part of Bistronomics at Breadbar in Los Angeles; and Mario Alberto, chef-partner of Chimú in downtown L.A. from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., during The Taste’s “Street Eats” in Hollywood on Sept. 4.

• “An Interview with 'The Hungry Girl,’ a.k.a. Blogger and TV Host Lisa Lillien,” led by Times Assistant Food Editor Rene Lynch, will offer an in-depth Q&A with the popular blogger and host of Food Network and the Cooking Channel’s “The Hungry Girl,” from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m., during The Taste’s “Picnic in the Hills” in Beverly Hills on Sept. 5.

Click here for tickets. $125 to $150 for individual tickets; packages are also available. 

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Photo: Krissy and Ludo Lefebvre. Credit: Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times