Food

Looking for a place to meet for drinks? Try Oriel Chinatown. Just north of Union Station on Alameda Street sits a building just below the raised train tracks. First a tire shop and then a nail salon, the space is now home to Oriel Chinatown, a French-themed modern wine bar and bistro. Oriel Chinatown is an oddly-shaped building with a few tables in the covered entrance and a few more to the right of the entrance, which lead to a patio. To the left of the entrance is the bar and a few more seats. The walls are white with pink and purple floors and furniture that are illuminated by the low lighting to create a rose-hued space. Oriel Chinatown is a project of Dustin Lancaster, who has opened Bar Covell and Augustine, two other wine bars in Los Angeles. At Oriel Chinatown the focus is on French wine.
08 February, 2018
Jaffa, the oldest neighborhood of Tel-Aviv, has inspired Los Angeles' new modern Israeli restaurant Jaffa. Located on West 3rd Street in West Hollywood, Jaffa LA is a bright space that includes stone walls and reclaimed wood, serving up modern Israeli cuisine. Chef Anne Conness, who's nuevo rancho cuisine I first tried at her El Segundo restaurant Sausal, fell in love with the cuisine of Israel after traveling there with business partner Nancy Vrankovic. At Jaffa LA, Chef Conness has taken the modern Israeli cuisine that she fell in love with and combined it with locally grown, fresh and seasonal ingredients, well-raised meat and sustainable seafood. On my first visit to Jaffa LA for their "friends and family" preview, we took a seat on the patio where baskets of blankets were nearby to wrap ourselves in as it got chilly. We started with drinks, choosing from an eclectic international wine list, which includes Israeli wine, cocktails and mocktails. A glass of sparkling pink Bailly-Papierre NV Cremant de Bourgogne, France was the way to start.
01 February, 2018
Grocery shopping can be a pain. At least, I find it to be. I prefer to get fruits and vegetables from one location and staples from another. And then there is finding time to go to the market. Every time I come home from traveling, I just wish I would have groceries waiting for me. Well, I have found just that with Milk & Eggs, the Please The Palate pick of the week. After a week of travel, I placed my order while I was still traveling. I then got home and my order arrived first thing the next morning just in time for me to make a morning cappuccino! Milk & Eggs is a website (and app) that connects us, the customer, to the best foods. They offer milk, eggs, dairy, meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, breads, pastas, beverages, spreads, dips, sauces, fresh herbs, chips, snacks and more....basically anything you might need. And they are all the freshest products possible, as well as locally acquired. There are also meal kits and recipes. And, if you are following a diet, such as Mediterranean, Atkins, Paleo, Vegan, Diabetic, Keto, South Beach or Whole 30, they each have a section with ingredients specific to each diet.
27 January, 2018
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register.
Editor’s note: Until my son moved to Los Angeles to go to medical school and then decided to stay there for his residency, I’d never thought of L.A. as a culinary destination. But since then, every time we visit him, he takes us to a new and fascinating place: a hole in the wall that serves fabulous ramen, or a seemingly ramshackle place on the beach the cooks up spicy wonderful Caribbean food, or the place that is reported to have the best burger in L.A., located down a hallway behind a butcher shop in Santa Monica. Who knew that an intern has so much time to eat? But it is turning out that L.A. has one of the most vibrant and diverse food scenes I’ve ever visited. With this in mind I asked our wine columnist Allison Levine, who lives in L.A., for a list of her favorites. —Sasha Paulsen
For years, when one thought of food, restaurants and must-eat-at destinations, Los Angeles was not a city that came to mind. But the city of 14 million has been gaining recognition for its food scene over the last five or so years.
Los Angeles Times Food Critic Jonathan Gold called Los Angeles the “food city of the moment” and restaurant critics from New York and San Francisco have agreed. In fact, Zagat named Los Angeles number one in their list of “30 Most Exciting Food Cities in America 2017.”
I spend much of my time traveling around the country and the world. It is always exciting to explore the food scene in a given city and enjoy wonderful meals. But every time I come home to Los Angeles, I am really blown away by the quality and diversity of the food scene, where chef-driven restaurants, exotic cuisine and innovative cooking are all celebrated. There is also the sheer quantity of restaurants.
New restaurants are opening on a weekly basis. Local celebrity chefs have opened additional locations, new young chefs have realized their visions and a handful of well-known out-of-town high-profile chefs have descended upon Los Angeles for their newest outposts. At times, it seems almost impossible to keep up, but I do my best. Here are some of my favorite restaurants where I had some of my more memorable meals of 2017.
11 January, 2018
Good Measure has been on my list of restaurants to try since it opened this past summer. But between my travel schedule and availability to get across the city to Atwater Village, I had yet to go. But, for the very last day of 2017, I finally went to Good Measure for brunch and alas it is the Please The Palate pick of the week. Good Measure is a wine-inspired restaurant. Opened by Matthew Kaner, one of Food & Wine's Sommeliers of the Year 2013 and wine director of Bar Covell and Augustine, the 75-seat Good Measure has more than 1000 bottles of wine from around the world. And chef Mike Garber, who previously worked at the now-closed BLD and at Ammo, has created a menu to pair with the wines.
06 January, 2018
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. To me, the best way to get to know a county and its culture is through its food and wine. Local ingredients and dishes, the indigenous grape varieties and winemaking processes, they all tell so much about a culture, its history and present-day. So, on my first trip to Portugal, specifically to the city of Porto, I dove right in. Located in Northern Portugal, along the Douro river, Porto is the second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. From the cobblestone streets to the tiled houses to the food and wine, it is no wonder that Porto was classified as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 1996 and recently awarded The Best European Destination by the Best European Destinations Agency. Porto is flanked by the Atlantic Ocean on the west and the vineyards in the Douro to the east. The cuisine of Porto uses its natural resources, which include fresh seafood and meats. And there are the sweet desserts, many of which are made with what was described to me as just “sugar, sugar, sugar and eggs, eggs, eggs.”
02 January, 2018
I love everything Italian, especially the food and wine. So, I eagerly awaited the opening of Eataly in Los Angeles, happy that it would be in Century City, not far from my home. When it opened last month, there were large crowds lined up each day so I waited a few weeks before going. It was worth the wait. Eataly is the Please The Palate pick of the week. Anything and everything Italian that you might want is there. Do not go hungry or you will be in trouble! Entering on Level 2, there is a Lavazza Caffe serving up coffee like you can only get in Italy. Forget triple, grande and tall, just order a proper Italian espresso, a macchiato, or any classic espresso drink. Or indulge in an Italian hot chocolate, thick dark chocolate that is rich but not overly sweet. Satisfy your sweet tooth with a gelato from Il Gelato or a bomboloni (similar to a stuffed doughnut) at Cannoli e Bomboloni. Of course, you may want to save these spots for after you eat.
30 December, 2017

Petite Taqueria is a Tex-Mex restaurant located on La Cienega in the former Bagatelle space. The last time I was at the space, I was...

28 December, 2017
The Flats in Beverly Hills sits on a corner of Wilshire Blvd, one block east of La Cienega. Outside, construction of the Metro's Purple Line has the street blocked off but inside, The Flats was bustling. At the helm of The Flats is Michelin-starred Executive Chef Paul Shoemaker who has worked at Alan Ducasse, French Laundry, Water Grill, Providence, Firefly and Bastide, as well as his own restaurant Savory in Malibu. I first met Chef Shoemaker at the opening of Intro Art Gallery and Chef’s Table in North Hollywood where he offered a multi-sensory interactive dining experience. It is hard to forget the edible “dime bag” he served us that was made with Japanese rice paper filled with powdered foie gras, cocoa puffs, pine nuts and carbonated caramel. I was excited to try his newest endeavor, The Flats.   
26 December, 2017
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