I’m sure every pizza joint on this list is amazing but I do think it’s a little lame that the only good pizza in LA is supposedly Mozza.  It’s good pizza but we all know the attitude isn’t worth going back after attempt 3 or 4.  I’ve even learned how to MAKE pizza there but don’t need to go back.  Although I will say that I was incredibly impressed with CHI SPACCA last week (review coming soon).  Stella Barra is amazing and so are a number of other joints around town!

The 38 Essential Pizzas Across the Country

The appeal of the pizza seems to know no bounds. While New York, Chicago, and San Francisco are all packing a number of absurdly great pizzerias, an excellent pie can be had just about anywhere in the country. And in just about any style: thin-crust, New York, deep dish, Detroit, bar, New Haven, Chicago, grilled, California, tomato pies, and Neapolitan among them. This last style seems to have taken particular root over the last decade with pizza-makers across the country importing ovens from Naples and churning out margherita pies topped with San Marzano tomatoes and mozzarella di bufala.

The question, of course, is which of these restaurants qualify as absolute must-stop pizzerias for the novice as well as the pizza snob. Earlier this year, Eater unveiled the Eater National Burger 38 in the grand tradition of the lists local sites have been putting out for years. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to present the Eater National Pizza 38, the 38 essential pizzerias (and restaurant pizzas) across the country.

READ MORE

Some of these are already open…have you tried any yet?

LA’s 21 Most Anticipated Fall and Winter Openings

Summer is coming to an end and that means restaurants which have been built out and worked on throughout the warm weather are finally looking to debut during the busy fall and holiday months. There’s some pretty incredible places in store, such as Josef Centeno’s Orsa & Winston, Superba Food & Bread in Venice by Paul Hibler, as well as Walter Manzke’s Republique, replacing the iconic La Brea Bakery and Campanile building. Below, a list of the most important openings in Los Angeles for Fall and Winter.

Fun from Eater!

Watch the Teaser Trailer for Next’s Bocuse d’Or Menu

Here’s the teaser for the new Bocuse d’Or menu at the ever-changing Next in Chicago. Like past trailers for the elBulli menu and the Hunt menu, the Bocuse d’Or teaser is super-intense and serious. The video features dramatic music and high speed plating in front of a black backdrop.

READ MORE

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

I SWEAR this phenomenon is also happening here in Los Angeles.  It’s driving me insane because I keep thinking I’m turning into an old curmudgeon (I’m not, I swear!).  I hope Eater LA does a similar test here in LA.  Here are my top picks for noise: Bestia and Salt Air.

Decibel Levels in New York’s Hottest Restaurants

Critics, bloggers, and Eater readers frequently complain about noise levels in New York restaurants these days. Adam Platt wrote about the “Great Noise Boom” last month, and before that Robert Sietsema offered his own take on the noise problem. With this issue in mind, Eater set out to collect hard data on some of the worst offenders. Here, now, are peak decibel levels recorded at 19 of the city’s hottest restaurants in order of loud to loudest:

READ MORE

This is by far my favorite cronuts post ever.  Clearly not all fake cronuts are made alike.

The Ultimate Food Emporium Fake Cronut Taste Test

Following the news that Food Emporium had jumped on the Cronut bandwagon, Eater headed out to try to obtain some of the so-called “creme filled croissant donuts.” The Hell’s Kitchen Food Emporium apparently sold out of their supply yesterday, but at 12:30 p.m. the Union Square Food Emporium had a counter full of fake Cronuts in four different flavors and absolutely no line. Maria, the friendly woman behind the pastry counter, reported that the knockoffs were a hit, and that just today they’d already sold around 100. So how do these croissant donuts hold up to the real deal? 

Check out what Eater had to say!

OMG…completely hysterical.  What in the world is going on with chefs with their hands/arms in fish?!?!?!?

Are Chefs With Dead Fish the New Chefs With Dead Pigs?

On the cover of this month’s issue of UK-based Observer Food Monthly, Brazilian chef Alex Atala (of D.O.M. in Sao Paulo, ranked #6 in the world) can be seen with his hands inside a fish. In the cover story, writer Allan Jenkins spends six days with Atala on the Amazon river, where they eat indigenous foods and discuss the state of Brazilian cuisine. The story also includes a photo of Atala with a dead fish draped over his shoulders. It seems like Atala and Observer Food Monthly aren’t the only ones who think chefs with dead fish make for strong cover art.

The cover of NYC chef Paul Liebrandt’s upcoming book To the Bone shows the chef with an arm inside a fish. Clarkson Potter editor-at-large Francis Lam notes over Twitter that arms in fish is “the look of the season.” In the grand history of chefs posing with food, this new fish pose — Eater is calling this the “Fish Glove“ — seems inspired by previous trends of chefs wearing food. Past iterations include the “I’m Wearing Food” pose and the “Hold-A-Pig” pose. Which chefs will be photographed with their hands inside fishes next? Only time will tell whether the Fish Glove is the new Hold-A-Pig.

I think the food world is somewhat fascinated with this movie…are you?

Jon Favreau’s Chef Film Is Shooting in Miami

The Favreaumobile is on the move: Actor/director/writer Jon Favreau is in Miami along with his fictional El Jefe Cubanos food truck to shoot his upcoming Chef movie, Eater Miami reports. An Eater tipster sent in the above photo, showing the truck in town. Ever Vine-happy, Favreau posted a video revealing that he was also filming at Versailles restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana and at the Fontainbleau hotel. According to Jaie Laplante of the Miami Film Festival, the “production is also making stops in New Orleans and Austin before they wrap.” (If you spot them in town, you know what to do.) READ MORE

Well THAT’S interesting!  :)

Behold the Covers of Lucky Peach #8: The Gender Issue

Here now, the dual covers of the next issue of David Chang and McSweeney’s cultishly-followed quarterly journal collaboration Lucky Peach, which is on its way to mailboxes and bookstores everywhere. The theme for this eighth issue will be Gender. This is the first time the cover does not tease the contents. But you will find Alice Waters, Anthony Bourdain, Ben Shewry, and hermaphrodite fish. Take it away LP:

Betwixt these two covers we fumble with issues of gender like unsure 8th graders cautiously groping each other in the sparkle of a disco ball as a slow jam plays at the school dance. Ben Shewry talks about being a dad. Alice Waters talks about being a chef. Bourdain drops some lovely fiction. A lady named Poochie uses a lot of strong language. Sequential hermaphroditism is discussed.

READ MORE

I have no idea if this cookbook is any good but honestly I don’t care - it’s just so pretty look at it!!!

Sneak Peek: The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook

Here’s a sneak peek of the upcoming Gramercy Tavern Cookbook by chef Michael Anthony and food writer Dorothy Kalins, with an intro by the one and only restaurateur Danny Meyer. Meyer tells the history of the nearly 20-year-old restaurant, and Anthony provides 125 of its “impeccable, fiercely seasonal cooking.” From the spreads, the book also contains insider looks at the fiercely beloved restaurant including a section on Roberta Bendavid’s floral arrangements. The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook comes out October 29 from Clarkson Potter (pre-order on Amazon); below, a look inside.

If you were at our house this past Saturday for the Eat+Drink FRENCH Supper Club event, you had the pleasure of tasting some of the best damn lamb on the planet (yes, it was cooked for over 9 hours).  If you weren’t there, you can watch Chef David Feau in action on September 24th on the newly launched Esquire Network (formerly known as G4). Previous promos gave you only the most fleeting glimpses of David but this one gives you what you want - DAVID!  Check it out!!!!! 

Watch a Preview for Knife Fight, Premiering Sept. 24

The Esquire Network has announced that Top Chef winner Ilan Hall’s new show Knife Fight will premiere on September 24th. The show was originally set to air this past April, but NBC Universal decided to postpone the release of the Esquire Network — a rebranding of the G4 network — by a few months to create “more original programming.”

The concept of Knife Fight remains the same. The show puts two chefs in competition with each other at Hall’s LA restaurant The Gorbals in front of “a rowdy crowd, including friends, neighbors, and an eclectic group of celebrities, food professionals and die-hard foodies .” The first episode will pit British chef Brendan Collins (Waterloo & City, LA) against French chef David Feau (Le Ka, LA),  

READ MORE

http://www.bravotv.com/video/embed/?/_vid2667677

Hmmmmmm……

Here Are the Rules of Dating a Chef From Eat Drink Love

Last night Bravo premiered Eat Drink Love, a new reality series that tracks five ladies “connected to the restaurant and food industry in Los Angeles.” The cast: Eater’s very own Kat Odell (editor of Eater LA); Brenda Urban (of the PR firm Urban + Allen; Jessica Miller (Senior Director of Sales & Events at the LA restaurant group Cardiff Giant); Nina Clemente (“one of Los Angeles’ most sought after private chefs”); and Waylynn Lucas (the pastry chef behind fōnuts). Today, Glamour called it “one of the most exciting reality offerings in years.”  READ MORE

(Source: http://www.bravotv.com/)

[vimeo 69491138 w=500 h=281]

I must shoot a video like this at a Supper Club event!!!  So cool.

Be Ready at Nobu Malibu, Part 1: The Food

On July 10, at LA’s Nobu Malibu, Eater and Canon invited 100 readers to an exclusive, private dinner where psychedelic funk band The Stepkids ambushed them with a surprise performance. It was epic. In this series, we take a behind-the-scenes look at the food, music and everything in between. 

Gregorio Stephenson knows his seafood (and a quite a few other things too). As executive chef at the beachside Nobu Malibu, he often plucks his ingredients directly from the waters that surround the stunning space. Here now, we head into the kitchen with the chef as he prepares the epic meal for the Canon Be Ready event. Watch him sear and sauce the surf and the turf, set to the tunes of The Stepkids. Stay tuned for Part II of the Be Ready video series.  READ MORE

(Source: http://eater.com/)

I’m sure Eater is making fun of us and it’s probably worth making fun of us BUT I actually drank this fancy 90H20 water at a dinner early this year. It was fancy.  It was water.

LA Restaurant Has 45-Page Water Menu, Water Sommelier

Ray’s & Stark Bar, the Patina Group’s restaurant and bar located at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will be adding a 20-item Water Menu to its beverage list next week. Eater LA reports that Ray’s & Stark GM and water sommelier Martin Riese created the list which includes waters from ten different countries including Spain, France, Germany, and Canada. The bottles range in size from .75 - 1 liter, and are priced from $8 - $16. The most expensive bottle is Riese’s own California-made water 9OH2O. Eater LA had previously reported that 9OH2O retails for $14 per bottle because it’s made “in limited editions of 10,000 individually numbered glass bottles.”  READ MORE

Well this looks like fun over Labor Day weekend…should we go?  :)

LA Times - The Taste

Don’t have plans Labor Day weekend? Now you do. Head over to LA Times | The Taste food and wine festival, August 30 to September 1, at Paramount Pictures Studios. Sip and sample your way through Paramount’s backlot as you get to know L.A.’s most-talked about restaurants and chefs.

On Opening Night, enjoy a soirée where chefs, bartenders, and event hosts will mingle with a more intimate crowd. If the farmers market is your favorite spot, become an expert in seasonal dishes at Russ Parsons and Michael Cimarusti’s Field To Fork on Saturday, August 31. Make it an all day affair and tour L.A.’s eclectic restaurants one bite at a time at Jonathan Gold and Sang Yoon’s Flavors of L.A. on Saturday evening.  READ MORE

I love this map and some of my recent faves are listed.  Salt Air (review coming soon), Bestia, Hinoki & the Bird, Riva Bella…….aaahhhhh. 

Eater LA Heat Map

More often than not, tipsters, readers, friends and family of Eater have one question: Where should I eat right now? Restaurant obsessives want to know what’s new, what’s hot, which favorite chef just launched a sophomore effort. And while the Eater 38 is a crucial resource covering old standbys and neighborhood essentials across the city, it is not a chronicle of the ‘it’ places of the moment. Thus, we offer the Eater Heatmap, which will change continually to always highlight where the foodie crowds are flocking to at the moment.

READ MORE

Don’t Drink Russian Vodka! From Eater:

Bars Boycott Russian Vodka Over Anti-Gay Laws

In the wake of new Russian laws that persecute homosexuality (more on that here), bars across the US have begun to boycott Russian vodka. The movement was popularized by columnist Dan Savage in Seattle’s The Stranger, who writes: “There is something we can do right here, right now, in Seattle and other US cities to show our solidarity with Russian queers and their allies and to help to draw international attention to the persecution of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, and straight allies in Putin’s increasingly fascistic Russia: DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.” And lo, bars have begun dumping Russian vodka.

READ MORE

Eater has a listing of upcoming Wine & Food festivals.  Here in LA, the LA Food & Wine Festival runs Aug 22-25.  I’m thinking I’ll be there.  Will you?

Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival
When: August 22 - August 25, 2013
Where: Los Angeles, CA
What: Big names like Grant Achatz, Rick Bayless, Scott Conant, Giada De Laurentiis, Susan Feniger, Duff Goldman, Edward Lee, Mary Sue Milliken, Masaharu Morimoto, Charles Phan, and more are all planning to participate in this year’s Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival. Events here include an Asian night market with Iron Chef Morimoto, a cocktail demo from Achatz, and something called Bacon & Bourbon that probably needs no further explanation.

READ MORE

This response to last week’s infamous reduction in star for DANIEL is a smidge long but well worth getting to the bottom and reading what Amanda Cohen from Dirt Candy has to say.  I like her.  She’s funny.

Chefs, Restaurateurs and Writers on VIP Treatment

Last week, New York Times critic Pete Wells knocked Daniel down from four stars to three. In the piece, Wells explained that during the review process he had arranged for a colleague to dine at the restaurant at the same time. That plan, according to the critic, ended up revealing a discrepancy between the level of service given to Wells and the unidentified colleague — one that merited a demotion. “I knew my servers were trying to make my night one I’d recall with a smile,” Wells wrote. “And I wished everyone could be so lucky.”  READ MORE

Woohooo!  I want to go as soon as it opens and I could care less what the food is.  Do you?

Former Chef de Cuisine at French Laundry, Tim Hollingsworth has confirmed future LA Restaurant

Tim Hollingsworth, former chef de cuisine at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Napa, has confirmed that he is opening a new restaurant in Los Angeles, although the eatery has yet to be named and he’s still developing the concept. Hollingsworth has been consulting on all of Michael Zislis’ locations along the South Bay (Circa, The Strand House), and is currently working on revamping the menus at the restaurateur’s Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach. While the location of Hollingsworth’s project is tba, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the chef open with the Zislis Group somewhere out by the beach.  READ MORE

http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:cms:video:colbertnation.com:427948

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,Video Archive

Stephen Colbert’s rant on McDonald’s

Eater posted Stephen Colbert’s piece earlier this week about McDonald’s slightly condescending website devoted to teaching employees how to “budget” their earnings.  I say slightly condescending because when someone puts up a video telling you that if you buy $1 worth of candy each day, that equals $365 a year, it feels like McDonald’s doesn’t think that their employees know how to do simple math.

From Eater: “Last night on the Colbert Report, comedian Stephen Colbert addressed McDonald’s efforts to provide financial guidance to its workers with a website providing handy budgeting worksheets. Colbert explains: “Instead of raising salaries, they’re giving their workers something more valuable than money: A website.” He goes through the suspicious math of McDonald’s sample budget and concludes the fast food giant’s assertion that “you can have almost anything you want as long as you plan ahead and save for it” works, “unless the thing you want is money.”  READ MORE

(Source: http://media.mtvnservices.com/)