It’s long been my personal opinion that Italian food should only be enjoyed every once in a while, mostly because of it’s rich taste and my gluttonous eating habits. However, watch out slim waistline! I may have just changed my mind and be inclined to start wearing fat pants soon, due to the fine folks at Miceli’s.

Miceli’s has been family owned and operated in the heart of Hollywood since 1949. They have three floors of everything you’d expect at a fine Italian restaurant, and more. Not to mention, a hidden downstairs dining hall perfect for a large sized family get together or a mafia shoot out, or both. Upon entering the front door your greeted with inviting sights, smells, and sound all designed to enhance your dining experience. Among the more prominent things to behold are the Red and White checkered table cloths, Plethora of hanging Wine Bottles, Original Dark wood framing from the Pig’n Whistle, and if you happen to be there at night, award winning Piano man Brian O’Rourke. This guy can play and definitely deserves a tip in his jar. High marks go to the staff as well who are attentive ,friendly, and also super fast. In fact, my meal was prepared so quickly that I had to cut short my dinner conversation with my best friend Mary Elizabeth.

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It’s long been my personal opinion that Italian food should only be enjoyed every once in a while, mostly because of it’s rich taste and my gluttonous eating habits. However, watch out slim waistline! I may have just changed my mind and be inclined to start wearing fat pants soon, due to the fine folks at Miceli’s.

Miceli’s has been family owned and operated in the heart of Hollywood since 1949. They have three floors of everything you’d expect at a fine Italian restaurant, and more. Not to mention, a hidden downstairs dining hall perfect for a large sized family get together or a mafia shoot out, or both. Upon entering the front door your greeted with inviting sights, smells, and sound all designed to enhance your dining experience. Among the more prominent things to behold are the Red and White checkered table cloths, Plethora of hanging Wine Bottles, Original Dark wood framing from the Pig’n Whistle, and if you happen to be there at night, award winning Piano man Brian O’Rourke. This guy can play and definitely deserves a tip in his jar. High marks go to the staff as well who are attentive ,friendly, and also super fast. In fact, my meal was prepared so quickly that I had to cut short my dinner conversation with my best friend Mary Elizabeth.

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Sometimes you just need a great bowl of pasta; whether you’re having dinner guests or just cooking for yourself, there are nights when that hearty strainer full o’ carbs just beckons!

This recipe is my own take on some dishes I’ve enjoyed in Italian restaurants, like Cafe Ugo in Culver City, for instance, where their Rigatoni ala Sorentina blends spicy tomato sauce and smoked mozzarella, with mouth-watering results.

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Sometimes you just gotta say ‘To hell with LA, I’m going to San Francisco.’ That’s what I did this weekend and I know, I know, this really has nothing to do with food any more local then your own computer screen, but what I found was just too amazing to leave alongside my heart.

Miette (French for “crumb”) is a French pastry shop located at the indoor farmer’s market in the Ferry Plaza and I simply stumbled across their darling little storefront while waiting for my sister. Seriously people. Words do not describe.

All I can attempt to say is when I took a bite out of their French macarons (Rose Geranium and Chocolate) I gave birth to every single pastry shop that every existed in Paris, fused them all together with pure sex, married the fusion and then took it on a honeymoon to god’s bedroom.

Though they are only a small San Francisco company, they deliver their macarons via their website. Hey, that means you can bring them TO LA! Problem solved.  Even so, a trip to San Francsico would not be out of order. Just get them in your mouth.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the salsa…

You’ll recall that the nation has been in the grips of a salmonella pandemic (so far 1,251 cases have been reported). The FDA, which is doing a bang-up job, originally blamed the outbreak on contaminated tomatoes, but then the focus was shifted onto jalapenos, onions and fresh cilantro. Basically, they’ve gone through the gamut of salsa ingredients before settling on jalapenos.

And while there hasn’t been a reported case of salmonella linked to this particular outbreak since July 4th, the FDA has officially advised grocery chains and consumers to avoid fresh, raw jalapenos.

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Summertime warm weather just lends itself to tropical flavors. Spicy and sweet… there’s just something about that combination that just works during this time of the year.

Plus, any excuse to use mango chutney is ok by us.

I “borrowed” this recipe out of a Coastal Living magazine and made a few changes since I was cooking for two, but this is a delicious summer meal that I can’t wait to make again!!

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Word on the street is the economy isn’t doing so well. So, I’m always writing about sales, which is kind of saving money, but kind of not, because, well, it’s still more shopping. For once, I’m offering something to do (yes, the act of eating this treat qualifies as an event) that don’t cost an arm and a leg, or an arm, or a leg, or much at all for that matter!

A perfect example of an idea so simple but SO wonderful is Diddy Reise. By simple, I mean cookies and ice cream. By amazing, I mean, well, you’ll just have to try one of their cookie sandwiches to find out. But to give you an idea, you select a kind of cookie for each side of your sandwich. I’m not going to deny that I have them memorized, but I’ll just list a few - peanut butter, chocolate chip walnut, white chocolate macadamia, cinnamon-sugar, chocolate chip, dark chocolate macadamia, candy chocolate chip.. okay, I just listed them all. Anyway. Then, you choose your flavor of ice cream, which will be shoved in between the two, baked fresh every morning cookies (trust me, I’ve seen the guys there at 7 am baking on my way to work, and I’ve even seen people ordering the ice cream sandwiches at, like, 10 am. Crazy!). And voila, you have your own totally unique creation for your enjoyment.

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Were you aware that as many as 400,000 people from the Middle East (mostly Syrian, Lebanese and Armenian) settled in Mexico around the turn of the last century? It’s true, I saw it on the internet.

Well that goes a long way in explaining Tacos al Pastor. After all, the meat is made more or less exactly the same way as the ubiquitous Gyros (and Turkish döner) that have kept cities throughout the world fed for so long now.

Well the good folks over at Serious Eats have happened upon an absolutely fantastic recipe for Tacos al Pastor that should definitely give your summer a nice tasty kick. Sweet and tangy pineapple mix with spicy chiles to really give your palate a tropical experience.

And since I found it so particularly yummy myself, I thought I’d share it all with you!

So without further ado, Tacos al Pastor:

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It’s way too hot to heat up the oven, but that shouldn’t keep you out of the kitchen. Many of these schools offer courses specifically on hot-weather cooking and grilling so there is no excuse for eating poorly over the summer.

HipCooks: This cooking school specializes in teaching the average singleton how to entertain and feed a group with classes like “My Big Fat Greek Cooking Class” and “Thai One On.” The Brewery (Downtown) location is impossibly cool, even if it is a bit difficult to locate at first. Classes are all $55 for a 3 hour class and end with a full meal and wine. Locations in West Los Angeles on Robertson and Downtown
www.hipcooks.com

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While it might not be quite as exciting as a straight-up free cupcake giveaway, this is still worth noting: Vanilla Bake Shop in celebrating their one year anniversary with a giveaway of sorts.

For anyone that purchases $10 or more of goodies from this Santa Monica bakery, you’ll get your very own FREE cupcake. Ok, so it’s not really that exciting, until you consider that that’s essentially buy 3 get a 4th one free. Good if you’re having people over for dinner, or you just recently went through a breakup and you need that comfort food.

This Thursday, June 10th, from 9am to 7PM, buy $10 worth of stuff and get one free cupcake!

Yay!

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As locals, we know that Los Angeles boasts the dopest party and fashion scenes in the world. From miniature terriers to pregnant tummies, rhinestoned fingernails to bandanas, everything and anything has the potential to be the next big trend. The L.A. area is also the birthplace of some of the biggest and most delicious restaurant chains in the country. Check out some of these L.A. native eating spots and embrace your Los Angeles-ness this summer. Not only will you be grubbing your little heart out, you’ll be taking in some L.A. history.

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If you’ve visited the Farmer’s Market at all over the last few months, you may have noticed the signage of the seemingly Euro-reject sounding Èple.

While the space seemed undeniably Pinkberry-esque, the different name was an obvious clue that it wasn’t a Pinkberry.

Well the mystery has been revealed!

Èple is Pinkberry’s first attempt at selling something natural (oooooh, burn)! Èple, apparently, is Norwegian for overpriced hype apple, and fits in with the stores theme of fruit. They sell fruit everything: jams, jellies, butters, smoothies, juices, sandwiches, and just about any other fruit-filled thing you can think of.

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