Fork-in-the-road sculpture will be site of food drive

The folks behind Pasadena’s 18-foot-high, fork-in-the-road street sculpture are at it again.

This time, they plan to use the giant utensil for a food drive.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, volunteers will collect nonperishable food items at the site of the whimsical sculpture at the intersection of South St. John and Pasadena avenues.

The food drive will benefit Union Station Homeless Services, which holds a Thanksgiving dinner each year in Central Park at South Fair Oaks Avenue and East Del Mar Boulevard.

The fork sculpture started off as a prank to celebrate the 75th birthday of Bob Stane, who owns the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena.

Philip Coombes, a friend of artist Ken Marshall, came up with the idea for the food drive. People can remain in their cars because volunteers will be standing by with bags for the food, Coombes said.

The Pasadena real estate broker said he wanted to put another positive spin on the fork, which went from birthday present to guerrilla art.

“It makes you feel good to help other people,” Coombes said. “At least, it makes me feel good.”

The fork was erected on Halloween and since has become a piece of impromptu public art in Pasadena.  Stane and his friends have now proclaimed the site as Fork Plaza.

“We’re trying to make it one of the biggest food volunteering projects ever in Pasadena,” Stane said.

Coobes is still looking for volunteers for the event. Anyone interested can contact him at phil@agentphil.com.

—Nicole Santa Cruz

Photo: Pasadena's newest piece of street art, "The Fork in the Road," at South Pasadena Ave and St. John Avenue will be the site of a food drive this weekend. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

More breaking news in L.A. Now:

Alleged scam aimed at African American churches in Southern California to be investigated

Delays expected on Metro Blue Line for track installation

Police seek attempted rapist in Thousand Oaks

Parts of 91 Freeway to be closed early next week

Ventura County man arrested for reportedly paying teens to spit on him

Plant-munching aliens stopped at U.S.-Mexican border

U.S. customs and border protection officials not once but twice nabbed intruders furtively attempting to enter the country this week from Mexico.

But the intruders weren’t illegal immigrants. They were pests known as pale-striped flea beetles, which chew holes and pits in leaves and represent a threat to California’s agricultural industry. Beetle larvae feeding on plant roots have caused serious crop damage in the Imperial Valley in the past.

According to Billy Whitford, the agency’s director of port operations in Calexico, the pests were discovered Monday during inspections of two separate shipments in the port’s cargo import facility. In the first shipment, the pests were discovered in more than 700 boxes of fresh red oak lettuce, red romaine and arugula. The second shipment  contained more than 800 boxes of mizuna, coriander and tango produce. Both shipments were sent back to Mexico.

“We are not only aggressively combating the flow of illegal narcotics and preventing people from illegally entering our nation,” Whitford said in a statement. “We also dedicate the same amount of effort to preventing pests such as the pale-striped beetle which pose risks to our borders.”


--Teresa Watanabe

A Gold Line to good food

Our Food section has a great guide to eating opportunities opened up by the MTA's Gold Line extension into the Eastside, which opens Sunday. Here's a taste:

Call it the sushi-torta express. Set to start running on Sunday, the Gold Line Eastside Extension is a direct, six-mile shot from Little Tokyo to East Los Angeles. It's also a light-rail lifeline to the incredible variety of restaurants that surrounds each of the eight new stations: izakaya, bakeries, marketplaces, taquerías, burrito stands, sukiyaki joints, sandwich shops, roast goat specialists and seafood emporiums.

Once the train pulls out of the Little Tokyo depot and leaves behind downtown's sushi bars and ramen-ya, it crosses the 1st Street bridge, dips underground for a couple of stops and comes up again after Soto Street, passing the burritos, cemitas and mariscos of Boyle Heights.

The scenery gives way to softly rolling hills, the Pomona Freeway overpass and, as you pull into the platform at the East L.A. Civic Center station, you see the canopies designed by Clement Hanami that look like huge California poppies. It almost feels like a theme park ride.

Except better. At the next stop, you find yourself directly across the street from a shop that makes some of the best tortas ahogadas in L.A., a sandwich of succulent pork stuffed into a crunchy-around-the-edges bollito, drowned in a sauce of tomato and arbol chiles, topped with slivers of red onion and served with juicy limes.

You have arrived.

Read the full story.  View interactive map.

Photo: The Gold Line swings right by Purgatory Pizza. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

L.A. council to consider banning smoking in outdoor dining areas

A proposed ban on smoking in Los Angeles’ outdoor dining areas is back before the City Council after months of deliberation.

Introduced in mid-2008 by Councilmen Greig Smith and Dennis Zine, the ordinance drafted by the city attorney’s office would bar customers from lighting up within a 10-foot radius of outdoor seating areas at restaurants and food courts. Under the current draft, smoking would also be prohibited within a 40-foot radius of mobile food trucks and refreshment kiosks.

The rules would exempt bars, nightclubs for the 18-and-older crowd, and venues closed to the public for private events. If the City Council approves the ban, there would be a six-month public education period before the rules are enforced.

Most unclear, however, is who would enforce the rule. Councilman Tom LaBonge, chairman of the Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee, said members would discuss those details, as well as the possible penalties for violations during an 8:30 a.m. committee hearing Tuesday at City Hall.

-- Maeve Reston at L.A. City Hall

Monterey Bay Aquarium report: Demand for seafood leading to oceans' decline

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has been working for years to improve the health of the planet's oceans, and today it has announced new collaborations to spread the word through chefs, seafood buyers and others.

The aquarium, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, released a report today on the state of the oceans. Prospects for the oceans are improving with a growing consensus to manage wild and farm fishing, the report says. But it also sets out significant problems that remain for the oceans and cites the human demand for seafood as the primary factor in the oceans' decline.

It also released a "Super Green" list, developed with the Harvard School of Public Health and the Environmental Defense Fund, of seafood that is healthy for people and the planet. On the list are some albacore tuna caught in the U.S. or British Columbia, wild-caught salmon from Alaska and pink shrimp from Oregon, among others.

The minivan: lunchbox on wheels for Yosemite bears

It’s official. Those discerning car critics, the black bears of Yosemite, have voted the minivan their most sought-after vehicle.

Not to drive, of course; just to break into.

Year after year, hungry bears have made minivans their first or second choice among SUVs, sedans, sports cars and other vehicles in their search for food. The bears – clever foragers – choose minivans even though sedans and SUVs are more plentiful in Yosemite National Park.

Or at least that’s the conclusion of an article in this month's issue of the Journal of Mammalogy, which published a study of 908 bear-on-vehicle break-ins from 2001 to 2007. According to the study’s authors, bears searching for the most calories (who knows when they’ll eat again?) at the least risk (in this case, harassment by park rangers) judged minivans as their best bet.

The minivan earned this dubious distinction for a variety of reasons, but the primary one was: They reek of food.
 
Study authors surmise that minivans are more aromatic than other cars because they are designed for families with children, “and small children in particular are notorious for spilling food and drink while riding in vehicles.” Researchers also suggest that minivan passengers are more prone to leaving coolers and bags of food in their vehicles.

Yet another factor, according to the study, is that bears can open a rear side window on a minivan like a pop-top on a beer can.

What, then, was the author’s advice to minivan owners?  Store your grub in a food locker on your way into the park.

-- Carla Hall

Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Asian business owners say food regulation on noodles threatens custom

For 25 years, the El Monte-based Kim Tar noodle factory has been making fresh rice noodles to supply hundreds of Asian restaurants and supermarkets in Los Angeles and around the country.

But a state law requiring manufacturers to refrigerate the pasta instead of allowing it to be stored at room temperature according to custom threatens to wipe out this popular Asian food staple from the American menu, critics say.

“The health inspectors don’t understand our culture,” said Tom Thong, owner of Kim Tar, the noodle factory. “We’ve been eating it this way for thousands of years and we’ve never had a problem. Everyone from Southeast Asia knows that if you put the noodles in the refrigerator it would be ruined.”

The issue first came to light when a San Francisco noodle factory was recently cited by state inspectors for violating the law, which states that such food should either be kept at or below 41 degrees or at or above 140 degrees.

Firefighters are warned to lay off energy drinks [Updated]

On the cover of the daily "Incident Action Plan" for the Station fire is an unusual warning: "No energy drinks."

Even though firefighters expend a tremendous amount of energy, officials said high levels of caffeine in many energy drinks can be dangerous.

"It's been a concern," said Nathan Judy of the U.S. Forest Service. "When they drink those things, it dehydrates them."

Judy said that during a previous fire some years back, a firefighter consumed four cans of Red Bull in one day and went into diabetic shock. Since then, fire officials have warned crews to re-energize in other ways, he said.

"Drink water, drink water, drink water," Judy said. He also said that the meals served to firefighters each day are high in calories because firefighters are "going through calories like crazy on the line."

Breakfast this morning at the Hansen Dam fire camp included scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage, hash browns and grits. Judy said lunches are hearty, sometimes consisting of two sandwiches, and that dinners often include lots of pasta, chicken and other meat.

Instead of energy drinks, officials ask firefighters to think about replacing salt, sugar, water and calories as a way to gain a boost. Posters bearing an outline of a slim, energy drink can with a big red strike through it are scattered around the camp.

Mark Whaling of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said firefighters do other things in preparation for work on wildfires as well. They include keeping their socks dry and sanding, oiling and reshaping the wooden ends of their hand tools so they are comfortable for long stretches of labor.

[Updated at 6:22 p.m.: Paul Yoffee, a spokesman for Red Bull, said there are no medical findings that connect someone drinking four cans of Red Bull and going into diabetic shock.

"There are no dangers or drawbacks associated with the consumption of Red Bull, and we are confident in the safety of our product.... We absolutely agree that people need to hydrate themselves, as Red Bull is a functional drink and not a thirst-quencher. Thus, individuals should make sure that they drink lots of water when engaging in physical activity and drinking Red Bull."]

—Ari B. Bloomekatz at Hansen Dam

Photos: Firefighter Ryan Doyle of the Mill Creek Hot Shot crew, top, breaks for a drink of Gatorade after cutting a fire line at the end of Oak Crest Drive in Sierra Madre. At right, another crew member clutches a water bottle while taking a rest.

Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Famous Oak Glen apples are safe for now

With fire raging down the mountainsides Monday, the phone at Los Rios Rancho in Oak Glen just kept ringing. It rang so much that manager Devon Riley changed the number on his answering machine.

"I had three ladies on the phone in tears," he said. "They said they heard the apple orchards had burned up."

Despite some close calls, the apples that made this town famous have so far escaped unscathed in what fire officials have called the Oak Glen III fire.

The fire has burned 1,000 acres and was 25% contained as of Monday afternoon. Oak Glen, which sits at 5,000 feet in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains, was evacuated, though many residents stayed.

The fire flared early Monday morning and raced down to Oak Glen Road, stopping just yards short of Riley's Farm, a landmark known for its variety of apples and reenactments of Revolutionary War battles. This weekend marks the beginning of the harvest season, and the owners feared for the worst.

"It got right down to the road; that's the closest I have ever seen it," said Scott Riley, one of the managers. "We are just lucky there were no Santa Ana winds."

He said his 3,500 apple trees had emerged unharmed. It was a different story across the street, where the mountainside was nothing but gray, smoldering ash.

Fire officials said the blaze was still a threat because of the winds and deep underbrush.

"We saw some significant headwinds today. The fire retardant is lying on top, but the underbrush is still burning," said Mike Horton, a spokesman with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

A second fire broke out near Yucaipa about 4:30 p.m. and was growing. It was under aggressive air assault Monday evening with aircraft that included the DC-10 tanker.

-- David Kelly in Oak Glen

Photo: Wilshire's Apple Shed, where you can pick apples or buy already-picked fruit. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Insect that threatens citrus industry found in Los Angeles County

Just a day after state agriculture officials started setting hundreds of traps in Orange County for an insect that endangers California’s $1.6-billion citrus industry, sources say they have found the insect in Los Angeles County.

Routine traps captured a single Asian citrus psyllid on a citrus tree at a home in Echo Park on Monday. The insect was sent off for identification and was tagged as a psyllid today.

Read the full story here.

Debate swirls in El Segundo over ice cream truck vendors

The latest public health debate brewing in the quaint beach city of El Segundo revolves around a delicacy of the sweet, frozen sort: The City Council is weighing whether to allow the city’s per capita rate of ice cream trucks to increase twofold.

For the past decade, El Segundo has had one licensed ice cream truck vendor. But earlier this month, Chekesha Palmer applied to become the second, igniting a debate among city leaders over the pros and cons of ice cream trucks.

“I think they create problems,” Councilman Don Brann said at last week’s council meeting. “I don’t see much good about issuing a permit for someone to do this in our town.”

Orange County man says he found a condom in his soup

A man in Orange County says he found a condom in his soup, and now he is suing the Mission Viejo restaurant where he ordered the bowl during an Easter Sunday brunch.

Read more at KTLA News.

Boycott of Trader Joe's over Israeli products appears to fizzle

The Trader Joe's grocery store chain finds itself in the center over a debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Organizers have called for a boycott of the chain because it stocks Israeli goods but no Palestinian goods. According to the Jewish Journal's Lilly Fowler and Tom Tugend, there were some protests in the Bay Area but apparently none in the Los Angeles area. In fact, some Jewish groups have urged people via Twitter to go to the grocery store and buy goods made in Israel:

Although “World Refugee Day,” the boycott of Trader Joe’s planned by the anti-Israel group “Don’t Buy into Apartheid,” came and went on Saturday, June 20, with no apparent incidents in Los Angeles, other cities in California did witness protestors invade the popular supermarket chain.

Kate Raphael, one of the organizers of the event, said she joined approximately 20 others as they marched into a Trader Joe’s store in Oakland, passing out hundreds of leaflets, which condemned Israel’s actions, while taking Israeli products off the shelves. Similar demonstrations happened in San Francisco and Sacramento. In Los Angeles however, the only unusual activity reported was that of local patrons walking into the national food chain to ask to buy Israeli products in specific.

More coverage from The Atlantic. Sounds like the couscous from Israel continues to sell. 

-- Shelby Grad

Photo: A Trader Joe's market at 3rd Street and La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles. Credit: Luis Sinco

Christian motorcycle gang member gets prison in bar stabbing

A member of a Christian motorcycle gang has been sentenced to eight years in prison for stabbing a rival in the stomach and trying to slit his throat in a Newport Beach bar fight.

Jose Enrique Quinones, 43, who authorities say belongs to the Anaheim-based Set Free Soldiers, was sentenced Thursday in Orange County Superior Court after pleading guilty to attempted murder and street terrorism.

Quinones was one of eight bikers who were arrested on a variety of felony charges after a brawl broke out between members of the Set Free Soldiers and the Hells Angels last July at Blackie’s by the Sea near the Newport Pier.

Atwater Village farmers market saved by the bank, won't be evicted [Updated]

The 4-year-old Atwater Village farmers market, which is held on Sunday mornings in a bank parking lot, has escaped a threat of eviction, a bank spokeswoman says.

The Wells Fargo bank has let the Glendale Boulevard market use the lot for free, but earlier this month informed the manager, Joyce Chan, the market would have to leave by June 30, she said.

But a bank spokeswoman, Jennifer Langan, said Thursday that the market won’t be evicted after all.

The bank had some complaints about homeless people who were drawn to the Glendale Boulevard site and about its upkeep. Bank and market representatives, along with someone from L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti’s office, have a meeting scheduled next week to try to negotiate a solution.

Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, known as SEE-LA, runs the market and will do what it can to resolve any complaints, said Pompea Smith, who runs the organization. SEE-LA operates several markets, including the Sunday Hollywood Farmers’ Market.

The bank has been generous to the neighborhood, residents say. In addition to allowing use of the lot, it sponsors the holiday tree lighting.

“This community struggles with gang violence and economic hardship, and the market is one of the greatest accomplishments this community has done,” said Leonora Gershman Pitts, vice chairman of the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council. “It would be heartbreaking to lose this market."

The market draws up to 2,000 people a week, she said.

[Updated 6:16 p.m.: An earlier version of this story stated incorrectly that Lenora Gershwin was the vice chairman of the Atwater Village Neighborhood Assn.]

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times

UCLA law students help taco truck operators overturn L.A. ordinance

Carne asada tacos will soon be returning to a Los Angeles street corner near you, thanks to a legal team that included students from the UCLA law school's clinical program.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner has nixed a city law that cracked down on taco trucks and other food coaches. The ordinance, approved by the City Council in 2006, forced operators to stay on the go: Trucks were prohibited from parking in the same spot in a residential neighborhood for more than a half-hour, or in a commercial area for more than an hour.
 
Commissioner Barry D. Kohn on Friday ruled that the city overstepped its legal authority. Catering trucks are regulated by the state, although local governments have the authority to impose additional regulations to protect public safety or health. Kohn found that the city ordinance was not based on either.

The legal challenge was filed by Francisco Gonzalez, who has operated a catering truck in East Los Angeles for more than a dozen years and specializes in carne asada. He received a $150 ticket in December for violating the ordinance.

A few months before that, a judge in August overturned a controversial ordinance passed by Los Angeles County supervisors that made it a misdemeanor in unincorporated parts of the county to park a taco truck in one spot for more than an hour.

-- Phil Willon at L.A. City Hall

Photo: Los Angeles Times

Celebrating 75 years of Knott's fried chicken

America’s first theme park started with chicken.

At the height of the Depression, Walter Knott convinced his wife, Cordelia, to sell her delicious fried chicken at a berry stand outside of their farm in Buena Park to earn some extra money.

Soon the lines outside the Knott’s berry farm were so long that Walter Knott began adding old ghost town buildings to the farm to keep customers entertained while they waited for his wife’s chicken and pies. The Knotts named the restaurant, appropriately enough, the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Eventually, Walter Knott added a covered wagon show, a narrow gauge railroad and the Bird Cage Theater, where comedian Steve Martin got his start.

Read the full story here.

-- Hugo Martín

And also check out this story and video about another Southern California food institution, Pink's on La Brea Avenue.

Champion eater swallows his way to victory in Culver City

It was billed by Major League Eating organizers as a make-or-break moment for one of their biggest stars. Passersby just saw two guys eating lots of giant calzones really fast.

Six-time world champion Takeru Kobayashi of Tokyo faced current No. 1 ranked Joey Chestnut of San Jose on Saturday in Culver City in what was characterized as a chance for Kobayashi to show he's still a stomach to contend with. Kobayashi, 31, won by downing almost six calzones in six minutes, a feat he accomplished by taking several mouthfuls of calzone between gulps of water.

He disagreed with the contention that he had been eating to save his name. "I don't feel that way at all," he said through a translator. "I've always been the champion."

Afterward, he posed on stage for photographers and pretended to eat his calzone-shaped trophy. The two rivals will meet again July 4th in Coney Island for the annual hot dog eating contest.

--Raja Abdulrahim

Kogi taco truck gets some competition

The not-so-new L.A. food craze involves the Kogi taco truck, an Asian-Latino fusion street food creation traveling the streets of Southern California. Now, The Times' Rene Lynch reports that Kogi has some competition from two old hands -- the Two Hot Tamales: 

Pulling up alongside the Kogi taco truck? The Too Hot Tamales.

A Border Grill taco truck will be parked tonight at 433 S. Spring St. -- outside the new Ed Hardy store -- from 6 to 10 p.m. selling $2 tacos and $5 quesadillas made with hand-made tortillas. It'll also vend potato rajas, brownies, pomegranate lemonade and more as part of downtown L.A.'s monthly art walk.

Border Grill and Ciudad chef-owner Mary Sue Milliken -- who will be stopping by, along with business partner and fellow chef Susan Feniger -- said the taco truck is a bit of an experiment. But if customers seem to enjoy it, there could be more where it came from.

Read more on the taco trucks here.

--Shelby Grad

And now, for all you vegans out there

I'm sorry for the gross-out post about cow udders and bacon-wrapped hot dogs. (Well, not sorry enough to keep from linking to it again. Here. Ewww.)

So here's a review of a vegan joint the folks at LAist were nice enough to sample. Madeleine Bistro in Tarzana.

Recommended by many other vegans, the Waffles and "Chicken" ($12) is the perfect mix of savory and sweet. The Belgian waffles are crisp on the outside, joyously fluffy on the inside. The seitan "chicken" is light with a fried crisp "skin," an amazing mix when eaten with a waffle or mashed potatoes with gravy.

The Omelet ($12) is made out of spinach, cheese, asparagus, "facon" and shiitake mushrooms and is served with home fries. Even a seasoned meat and egg eater, as we were told by our dining partner, can enjoy this breakfast marvel, except they found the tempeh bacon over powering in flavor, kicking the freshness of the vegetables to a secondary taste. Other breakfast items include wheat-free pancakes ($8), french toast ($11), seven-grain porridge brulee ($7) and a tofu scramble with tempeh bacon ($11).

Madeleine Bistro, 18621 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana, (818) 758-6971.

Trader Joe's to take out some Chinese food

Trader Joe’s has  removed some Chinese items from  its shopping list. The Monrovia-based specialty grocery chain said its stores will no longer carry single-ingredient items grown in China, such as garlic or frozen spinach,  as of April 1. The company said it was acting in response to customers’ concerns about the safety of Chinese products.   Times  USA Today

(By Jesus Sanchez)