Mario Batali to Open Manhattan Grocery ‘Eataly’

Posted on March 10, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

Celebrity chef (forget the Iron part, I ain’t buying it) Mario Batali made his rounds of the Today show to tout his planned 50,000-square-foot grocery complex named Eataly in New York City (at Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street).
Plans call for five restaurants, an Alpine (Alpine?) trattoria, and a rooftop brewery. Here’s a tape of his [...]

Church and State: Maybe Separated Is Better

Posted on March 6, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

I’d read a lot about a French bistro-cum-hangout in a warehouse area of downtown Los Angeles called Church and State, so I dropped in this Friday night on my way to a basketball game (Clippers–they lost ugly!).
I was impressed that Church and State could thrive in a far-eastern downtown location where there are mainly old, [...]

Omaha Jack’s: Send in the Police!

Posted on March 4, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

You gotta love a restaurant that breaks out in brawls every night–at least when you’re there at lunchtime.
When I first read that the Planning Commission of the city of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was on the verge of revoking an entertainment license for local brewpub-restaurant Omaha Jack’s, I figured I’d better check it out before the [...]

Tabasco Still Spicing Things Up at 142 Years Old

Posted on March 2, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

Okay, so I’ve been to several restaurants that I’m planning to write about, but my mind–and hours–have been preoccupied with other more pressing issues lately.
Therefore, a salute to the spicy sauce Tabasco, which turns 142 years old in 2010, is in order.
Tabasco originated–and is still made–on Avery Island, Louisiana. Though it comes in six variations, [...]

Foodie Newsie Bits: Padma With Child, Restaurant Serves Up Swords With Japanese Fare

Posted on February 23, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

Word has it that Padma Lakshmi, she of Top Chef hostess fame, has given birth to a baby girl in New York City. She won’t reveal the father’s identity.
I guess I should offer my congrats, but I’ve always looked upon Padma as a beautiful woman but one who is basically a gold digger.
More interesting news [...]

Woody and Eddie’s Restaurant and Bar: Sadly, All That Remains Is a Recipe for Peanut Butter Pie

Posted on February 16, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

In the office Monday morning, a coworker and I got to speaking about Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, Calif., when he suddenly mentioned a former jockey and race afficionado hangout called Woody and Eddy’s Restaurant in Pasadena.
That got me doing research on the Web. Sadly, the place is gone in favor of a Starbuck’s [...]

A Fenced-In McDonald’s With No Seats–Or Customers?

Posted on February 14, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

Here you have vivid proof of the only McDonald’s in the world with no customers, and in fact no furniture on which to seat them, and worse–the whole place is fenced in from the world and located on a back alley near some warehouses.
What gives?
I’m not quite sure, but a coworker told me when he [...]

‘Top Chef Masters’ Set to Return in April

Posted on February 11, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

This season when it returns on April 7, Top Chef Masters will feature guest stars and judges Mekhi Phifer, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and star Hank Azaria, Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, the cast of Modern Family, U.S. Olympic Swimmer Jason Lezak, and Bravo’s Real Housewives of OC Lynne Curtin, Alexis [...]

Squeeze Inn Finally Squeezed Out

Posted on February 10, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

Here I thought that, after an ADA (Americans With Disabilities) lawsuit was dropped, the iconic Squeeze Inn in Sacramento, Calif., would be able to survive in its tiny but wheelchair-inaccessible location, where patrons literally had to squeeze in for a seat.
Alas, it was not to be so.
Squeeze Inn shuttered itself this past Saturday and is [...]

Juancho’s: Tex-Mex Bastion in Ontario, Calif.

Posted on February 4, 2010 - Filed Under Food News | Leave a Comment

I’m not Guy Fieri, nor is this Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but I do enjoy the off-the-beaten path culinary finds as much as the iconic host of Triple D–and the food in these places as much as the refined masterpieces of a Bouchon.
I’m speaking here of Juancho’s in Ontario, Calif., which shares a parking lot [...]

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