Counter Intelligence: Le Ka's a bit of this and that, for the beautiful people

Le Ka is one of those difficult places to figure out, not because the cooking isn't good — it is, very — but because in the...

Shopping like a Parisian in L.A.

In L.A., grocery shopping is an extreme sport. Weekly, I threaten my husband that I'm going to start keeping a log detailing how many...

Compartés' Jonathan Grahm -- the new face of chocolate?

Jonathan Grahm, the owner of Compartés Chocolatier in Brentwood, is just back from a whirlwind pre-Valentine's Day tour of Japan,...

Master Class: For Valentine's Day dessert, try Pomme d'Amour

So often when people plan Valentine's Day dinners, they want to finish with a big, elaborate dessert. I prefer to go in a different...

Farmers Markets: Paso Gold rides the olive oil boom

As part of a great California olive oil boom, now at least a dozen olive oil vendors are selling at local farmers markets, up from only a...

Test Kitchen tips: Skimming fat

As you cook stocks, soups and stews, or slowly braise the evening's dinner, you're bound to notice fat rise to the surface of the pot or...

Test Kitchen tips: Testing baking soda and powder for freshness

Baking soda and baking powder are only as good as their freshness when it comes to baking in the kitchen. Used to leaven everything from...

The California Cook: Elevating the lowly lentil

As culinary fashion continues to wind inexorably lower on the luxury scale — from tournedos to beef cheeks, from foie gras to pork...

L.A. now has oodles of noodles

If the cult of ramen still mystifies you, you could do worse than to grab a counter seat at the new Little Tokyo branch of Shin-Sen-Gumi,...

Sun Noodle, the super bowl for ramen chefs

What do some of Southern California's top bowls of ramen — the tsukemen at Tsujita, tonkotsu ramen at Daikokuya...

How to bring the heat with homemade hot sauce

Maybe it's the sense of danger that reels you in at first. The crazy name, the wild picture slapped on the bottle. Before you know it, you'...

Counter Intelligence: A little taste of Cortez

What you think about Cortez is going to depend in large part on what you think about crowds, and noise, and screechy jazz, about well-...

Across the Table: Charles Phan's wine list for Vietnamese cuisine has evolved

Subtle fresh spring rolls, a rollicking green papaya salad, comforting pig's knuckle soup, fragrant lemon grass pork, "shaking" beef and...