Jessica Koslow

Nobu Malibu/Aldo Rossi

Summer living — and eating — in Los Angeles is sweet. From sweeping seaside and rooftop views to Spanish-style patios and glamorous Hollywood hangs, Los Angeles offers an amazing selection of restaurants where you can take in the sights on your plate and the natural ones around you at the same time. Turn the page for the city’s 10 best outdoor patios.

10. AOC:
Step inside the new iteration of AOC and out its wide-open side doors for a little taste of California Wine Country or maybe the European countryside. The restaurant spills out into the patio, an adjoining room with three walls and no roof. There are two family-style booths set back into tiled walls on each end and cute country-style windows all around. But the best view is up — at the restaurant’s balcony, its foliage creeping along the edges of the roof or just straight above at the expansive sky. Serving both lunch and dinner, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s wine bar also, unsurprisingly, boasts an extensive wine list of several pages, which arrives on a clipboard. What to order: clams in sherry and garlic with toast. 8700 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, 310-859-9859.

AOC/Jessica Koslow

9. The Roof Garden at The Peninsula Beverly Hills:
The Peninsula in Beverly Hills comes off as a playground for the rich and famous. But, travel through the high tea lounge, up the elevators to the penthouse and past the spa and a relaxing Roof Garden appears with a relaxing vacation vibe. The pool is even further up the steps, so the noise from frolicking families can only be heard on a stroll to the edge of the patio for a bird’s-eye view of L.A. Every weekend evening through September 1, executive chef David Codney fires up the grill and serves barbecued specialties, including baby back ribs, duck tacos and Australian rock lobster tail. What to order: fish tacos. 9882 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills; 310-551-2888.

Read full article at LA Weekly

Hot Stone Bibimbap

This summer at all three Los Angeles locations of the Korean restaurant Bibigo, Korean pop megastar Psy, also known as the King of YouTube — or his actual name Park Jae-sang — is everywhere. On the front windows, the servers’ T-shirts and even on the menu. Millions of people dance like him, and now everybody can eat like him too, as Bibigo is offering a special menu of Psy’s choosing. Already a big fan of Bibigo in Seoul, whenever Psy is in L.A., he visits the Bibigo on posh Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.

Until July 31, customers who order his favorite dishes receive a scratch card with the chance to win prizes like a Bibigo voucher, bag or Psy mask (!!), and can enter to win a trip to Seoul. The winner will be announced August 19, 2013.

Psy’s massive hit “Gangnam Style” has over a billion YouTube views. He released his follow-up single, “Gentleman,” in April, and it quickly earned a Guinness World Record for the most-viewed video online in 24 hours. In the latter video, Psy meets his female match and they head to a restaurant and begin playing with their food. Apparently, these are some of Psy’s favorite dishes from Bibigo, which also has locations in the UK, Japan, China, Indonesia and Singapore.

Being exactly like Psy means eating at the Beverly Hills location, although there are two others in L.A. — in Century City and Westwood — serving a Psy-inspired menu. …

Read full article at LA Weekly

Pulled Pork Sliders and Quinta de Saes

It’s rare that a small wine bar has an onsite sommelier. It’s even rarer that a restaurant has a female sommelier. Vintage Enoteca has both in Danielle Francois who, along with Jennifer Moore, owns the Hollywood wine bar.

Their philosophy is simple: Wines should be accessible, affordable and, most important, people should like what they drink. The two ex-New York City advertising execs gravitate toward boutique productions and family-owned estates, which produce indigenous varietals, in Europe, California and the Pacific Northwest.

“I pick out cool, off the beaten path wines that you don’t find everywhere,” says Francois. One of her specialties is food and wine pairings. Throughout the year, she plans themed pairings, but she’s also available on the spot for customers who are adventurous — or unsure — and looking for suggestions. This weekend, June 14-16, she’s put together an All-American Snack Food Mashup and Wine Tasting with sophisticated twists on classic snack foods like Cracker Jacks, pork rinds and Oreos. Turn the page for five of Francois’ food and wine pairings.

Wine: Kir-Yianni “Petra,” Macedonia, Greece, 2011 (white)
Suggested Foods: light salads, salty cheeses, Mediterranean diet
Says Francois, “I’m a fan of white wines that aren’t that fruity. I find that they’re a little more food versatile when there’re not big, lip-smacky fruit flavors bowling over the rest of the flavors in the wine. This is a Greek wine with indigenous varietals from Macedonia. It’s not too fruity with an undercurrent of citrus and peach and apricot, but it’s got a nice crisp, snappy salinity on the finish. It’s food versatile. In our warm farro salad, it brings out the snappiness of the flavor of the English peas. And feta is indigenous to Greece. I am a fan of what grows together, goes together.”

Read full article at LA Weekly

courtesy of Miami.com

While chef Govind Armstrong is busy this Memorial Day in the kitchen of his 2 1/2-month-old restaurant Willie Jane on Abbot Kinney in Venice, scores of Angelenos will be firing up the grill. To get ready for the second-biggest BBQ holiday of the year — July 4 is the biggest — Armstrong, who also runs the restaurant Post & Beam in Baldwin Hills, offers his advice on how to grill the perfect burger, whip up a tasty marinade and clean those dirty grates. June 1 is the grand opening of Willie Jane’s 4,000-square-foot garden, and on Saturdays Armstrong plans to serve a selection of grilled items on the patio. Turn the page…

Squid Ink: What would you barbecue on Memorial Day, if you had the day off?

Govind Armstrong: Whole sirloin cap. It’s relatively inexpensive and easy to get at most butcher shops. It’s slightly leaner. The flavor is unparalleled when it comes to many of the other common cuts; it’s one of those perfect meats to grill. I don’t grill at too high of a heat — my grilling is closer to a hybrid of grilling and smoking. It’s not a race.

My favorite thing to grill is probably soft shell crabs, because they’re so delicious. Little bit of salt, pepper, oil — that’s it. Toss in a little bit of garlic. Then, when they come off, a squeeze of roasted or crushed lemon and more olive oil.

Read full article at LA Weekly

Ray’s and Stark Bar/Photo by Jessica Koslow

Cooking octopus can be tricky. But when done right, it’s tender, delicious and loaded with health benefits (low-calorie, lean, vitamin-rich). Japanese and Mediterranean diets are swimming, as it were, with octopus options — as is this town, where many restaurants have the dish on their menus. According to a sampling of chefs, the Spanish and Portuguese seafood are generally favored, and most cooks have a specific size they prefer — from one to seven pounds — for reasons ranging from tenderness to plate presentation. Some eateries serve octopus up with spices from Peru, while others experiment with the flavors of North Africa. Turn the page for 10 of our favorite octopus dishes around town.

Read full article at LA Weekly

This week, movie folk — both celebrities and cinephiles — will flock 95 miles north to the 28th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Running in conjunction with the festival is Film Feast. In its third year, Film Feast is not your ordinary restaurant week.

There’s a catch: All of the participating restaurants must showcase a local ingredient or cinema star. Starting today and running through Feb. 3, 21 eateries are offering prix-fixe menus. Turn the page for five reasons to step on it to Santa Barbara for Film Feast.

Read full article on LAWeekly.com.

Taylor Boudreaux and Satsumas

“The smoother the skin, the juicer the pulp, especially with limes and lemons,” says Taylor Boudreaux, the chef at Westwood’s Napa Valley Grille. Boudreaux is walking around the Original Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax, picking up produce. It’s not his usual shopping spot, but Boudreaux is a busy man, and not just in the kitchen.

The second week of January was occupied by jury duty and at the end of the third week he was in the Bahamas for the Tavistock Top Chef Semifinal Competition at Tavistock’s Albany Resort. Fortunately, he’s back just in time for dineLA 2013.

Starting today and running through Feb. 1, people who love to eat out can experience more (and new) restaurants for less. Napa Valley Grille is one of over 200 restaurants participating in the 12-day dining event.

Real full article at LAWeekly.com

Menotti’s opened in 1915. / Courtesy of Townhouse

Farewell to the 18th Amendment. Seventy-nine years ago today, on Dec. 5, booze in the United States flowed freely again. Celebrate the repeal of Prohibition at the longest continuously running bar in Los Angeles. “We never technically closed during Prohibition,” General Manager and Beverage Director Brandon Ristaino says, referring to Townhouse and the Del Monte Speakeasy below it, on Windward Ave. in Venice.

Menotti’s Buffet (now Townhouse) opened for business in 1915, and when Prohibition began, owner Cesar Menotti turned his downstairs into a grocery store — and pop-up speakeasy. Small Canadian boats smuggled whiskey and rum from the Abbot Kinney Pier through tunnels that ran under Venice Beach to his basement. In a back room a cemented tunnel entrance supposedly leads to downtown’s King Eddy Saloon (which will close on Dec. 16 to change ownership).

In 1972, Ronald and Annie Bennett bought the building, now named Grady’s Town House, and shortened the name to Townhouse. …

Read full article at LA Weekly

The Stave, a wine and beer bar, opens in Downtown Long Beach tonight.

“What’s this going to be?” a passerby yells into the cavernous, under-construction site at the corner of Broadway and Downtown Long Beach’s Promenade. “Not a chain, I hope.”

Two weeks before the doors roll up and any Pilsner is poured, Natalie van Waardenburg and Garry Muir are walking through The Stave, their soon-to-be wine and beer bar. The space looks far from finished, and the furniture arrives tomorrow. Their expressions alternate between unwavering confidence and disbelief as they mull over what has to be done in the next 14 days. Muir offers a private tour inside the dual-compartment walk-in refrigerator, while van Waardenburg opens boxes and inspects doorknobs. The electricians and builders are busy tying up loose ends. The toilet seat cover dispensers have not been hung in the right spots. There’s always something. But no, this will not be a chain.

The Stave is Muir’s second project — he’s co-owner of downtown Los Angeles’ Corkbar — and a first for van Waardenburg and their third partner, John Murawski. It took about a year to settle on the location, but the outdoor patio and welcoming atmosphere from the city and surrounding businesses sealed the deal. Long Beach is in the process of growing the Promenade (like Santa Monica’s Third Street), a six-block stretch of restaurants, retail and residential units, like the 62 condominiums above the bar.

Muir and van Waardenburg are looking forward to opening tonight, …

Read full article at LAWeekly.com

Doug Margerum inviting guests to lunch

Two crates of Pinot Blanc grapes have arrived at Margerum Wine Company on Industrial Way in Buellton. Owner Doug Margerum and winemaker Jason Barrette are excited about the delivery; the lull between the white and red grape harvests has made it quieter than usual. A group of wine enthusiasts has traveled 40+ miles from Santa Barbara to be winemakers for a day. For the first three Fridays in October, Doug and Jason are inviting guests to hand sort and crush grapes, following the process all the way to blending and bottling their own wine; lunch with the staff is included. On Oct. 3, Wine Cask, a restaurant Doug co-owns, has arranged for its chef, Brandon Hughes, plus Nik Ramirez of Intermezzo and Bouchon’s Greg Murphy to prepare small bites along with farmstead cheeses, which will be paired with Margerum wines, at Spanish Garden Inn.

These are only two of 100 events offered as part of epicure.sb, a month-long celebration of cuisine, libations and culture. Crista Fooks’ Scarlet Begonia throws its napkin in the ring with Friday pop-up dinners. Opening just one year ago, UCSB graduate Fooks (Margerum is also a UCSB grad) debuted her first dinner service on Sept. 27. The pop-ups will be her segue into officially offering evening fare. Judging from her Brioche French Toast and Maple Bacon Biscuit (the eatery offers breakfast all day) and homemade ketchup and mayonnaise, Fooks and executive chef Joel Huff’s dinner menu will deliver more “thoughtful food,” as she likes to call it.

While the term farm-to-table is familiar, Patrick Reynolds ventured into Farm-to-Bar Happy Hours at Wildcat Lounge and discovered an untapped niche. …

Read full article at LA Weekly