When the invitation was extended, I thought, “This can’t be true”.  But it was.   Currently, my favorite chef (and cookbook author) is Yotam Ottolenghi, an Israeli-born British transplant with four eponymous restaurants in London and two cookbooks under his belt.  He was coming to Los Angeles to promote his new vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, and would be cooking, for one night only, at, ironically, Animal on Farifax.   There’s something about being in the presence of a great chef [...]

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I have hesitated about whether to post this entry at all.  Why?  Because I loved this little restaurant so much that part of me doesn’t want to share it, knowing that the more people who experience it, the more competition I will have when next I want to go there.  Since the press and blogosphere have already created big buzz on this place, you’re sure to find out about it sooner or later.  So I decided that if you haven’t [...]

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Typically, when I see a butternut squash, I imagine it roasted.  Once it’s roasted, it can be transformed into any number of dishes, but most of them are “cold weather” dishes.  Think about it: butternut squash soup, ravioli, risotto.  Seasonal specialties that appear on menus every fall and drop off once spring arrives.  None of these sound particularly appealing with the weather being so balmy. So, what’s the answer when a butternut squash is sitting on the counter staring at [...]

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Have you ever noticed how the calendar and the weather don’t always communicate well?  Just a couple of weeks ago, the rain was non-stop for a full week.  That made sense; it was December.  But here we are in the second week of January, and the mercury is hovering in the mid 70′s.  While it’s lovely, it throws a culinary wrench in my shopping bag. In the cooler months, the brassica family of vegetables are plentiful.  What’s a brassica you [...]

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Yesterday was a very good day for eating for this particular food lover.  I went to both Olio Pizzeria and the Hungry Cat and they were both so good that they deserve a little praise here. First stop was Olio.  I had just been on a big hike with my friend Bee and we were hungry when we arrived at about 11:00 a.m.  Much to our surprise and delight, we ran into some other friends so I had the opportunity [...]

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