Who doesn’t love the Los Angeles Farmers Market at Fairfax and Third??? It has been around since 1934 and they are celebrating their 75th Anniversary.

The Kogi BBQ Taco truck will be making rounds in North Orange County this week. If you don’t already know about them, the Kogi BBQ Truck is Korean BBQ fused with portability, Taco/Burrito style.

From looks of the poster in the window at the closed Thai Spice Restaurant in Lake Forest, a new cupcake place is coming to the OC.

I recently gave some advice to a co-worker about how I like to cook a filet mignon. When he came back to me the next morning he told me that his filet was a bit tough and that his meat really stuck to the pan…

Well last night my nieces wanted to make Easter eggs for today. So they went out to CVS and bought a couple of those PAAS Coloring Kits along with some inked-stamps and painting kits.

TEQUILA is an aficionados guide with 60+ recipes for both cocktails and food! One of the cocktails Joanne Weir created is the Surly Temple, which the media is going crazy over…

Apparently, the Hilton at Polaris doesn’t. This totally sucks in that I’m missing the crucial episode that will determine the Top 4 on Top Chef. I’m also missing an episode that has Jacques Pépin and Wylie Dufresne…

Someone recently started following me on Twitter, EvilCrunch. Curious about who this was I went to their Twitter profile and find that it’s a new snack mix that currently comes in four flavors, Original Caramel, Swiss Orange Crunch, S’mores Crunch and Key Lime Crunch…

My IT colleagues and I decided to check it out and the line wrapped around the building! The parking lot at this location at Alicia Parkway and the 5 Fwy was packed and lines of cars in the aisles. I have never seen the parking lot filled before, its a pretty dead shopping center…

Continuing on my Sunday quest for places that use sustainable food sources or that are organic in nature, my next stop was Mäni’s on Fairfax. Mäni’s is a bakery and a restaurant located on Fairfax between 3rd and 6th near The Grove and the LA Farmers’ Market. Mäni’s bakery features items free of additives, preservatives, hormones and artificial sweeteners…

Well it turns out I will be traveling to Columbus, OH in the near future for work (the computer geek side of me) and want to get some suggestions on where to eat in Columbus…

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has released their Luncheon Menu for the January 20th Inaugural Event in Washington DC. In addition, they have also released the recipes…

So the Orange County Board of Supervisors again rejected a plan to implement an ABC rating system for OC’s restaurants…

Stud Muffins: Luscious, Delectable, Yummy (and Good Muffin Recipes, Too!) hit the bookshelves recently and they were on this morning’s KTLA Morning News. There were about 6 hot “studs” there to demo how to make the 50 great muffin recipes in the book.

As you may remember from my previous blog post: Mother’s Cookies Are No More, the company that owned Mother’s Cookies filed for bankruptcy and closed up. Well turns out that Kellogg’s based in Battlecreek, MI is coming to the rescue and will be selling Mother’s cookies…

Epicurious.com, the premier website for all things food - in accordance with Gourmet, Bon Appetit and the CondeNast network, have released their predictions for Trends in Food in 2009…

Copia, The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts has filed for bankruptcy. While in Chapter 11, the Napa Valley food and wine museum, will come up with a plan to restructure itself. The center plans to reopen soon and focus on profitability…

Remember in Mid-October I told you that Sweet Lorraine’s, that cupcake shop in the Irvine Spectrum, had closed up? Well a new cupcake place will be taking its place, but there’s a kicker…

While I was getting ready for work this morning, I was watching KTLA’s Morning News. Gayle Anderson, their normal “on-the-scene reporter” was out so they had Ally subbing for her. This morning Ally was dressed in a chef’s jacket and cap and sporting a knife case over her left shoulder. I turned up the volume and she was at the new Sushi Institute of America’s classroom…

I was cleaning up the photo directory on my website when I came across a picture of me graduating from cooking school. When I was attending the Professional Culinary Program at The New School of Cooking, I had the very good fortune of having Carol Cotner Thompson as my teacher/mentor.
Since day one, I was mesmerized. Carol has been an instructor as The New School of Cooking for the last 8+ years. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, she has been a food stylist, …

Well tonight was July’s Foodie night out. My friends Tim and Brooke pick a moderately priced restaurant once a month and we treat ourselves to some great food, wine and dessert. This month, a group of fine restaurants around South Coast Plaza are running a 4 course meal for $40 - a steal for the price. We initally had picked Charlie Palmer’s new restaurant, but decided to try Savannah’s instead. Here is the initial menu. You’ll notice that there are only 3 courses listed. The real first course is an Amuse Boush that is selected by the Executive Chef…

Starbucks released the closure list. I looked up DC to see if they were closing the 4 or 5 of the Starbucks all located with a few blocks of each other in Dupont Circle.
Oddly, they are only closing 1 location in the District of Columbia and its the store at 21st and L.
Clicking over to California, they are at least closing 4 Starbucks that are near me at Lake Forest and Muirlands another at Oso Parkway and 2 in Tustin.
Back in my old state of …

I was reading some food sites and came across a section of CHOW.com called “You’re Doing It Wrong”. The segments highlight common mistakes cooks make when making their favorite foods. There was a segment on cooking Bacon. The host of the video, Scott Vermiere says to cook your bacon in a pan with LOW heat and to flip often.
What do I say?!?!? IMHO….he’s WRONG too!
If you want great bacon that hasn’t shrunken down to shriveled pieces of oink, use your oven. When I was …

So today my friend Tim and I went to lunch.

We decided to head up to The District in Tustin to see what we could find there. On the drive up, Tim and I talked about our weekends. He had some fun whereas I took it easy.

We made it to The District and decided to go to Whole Foods. Tim and I are giving each other 8 weeks to better ourselves by making better food choices and engaging in exercise. We both decided to hit the salad bar…

I know….I know…. I shouldn’t be eating bacon but a friend of mine told me of the story of these Los Angeles street vendors that sell these bacon-wrapped hotdogs served with onions and peppers.

I think I need to head up to Hollywood soon…

Well renowned chef and restaurateur, Charlie Palmer, has just opened a new restaurant in Southern California and he skipped Los Angeles altogether and came straight to The OC.
Located on the ground level of Bloomingdales at South Coast Plaza, Charlie Palmer promises a dining experience like no other…
http://www.charliepalmer.com/bloomingdale/home.html
This will be the dstination for June’s Foodie Night Out.  Every month I and friends Tim Winger and Brooke Briggs venture to a new destination.

Congratulations to Stephanie Izard of Chicago for being Top Chef’s first female winner. Tonite, Bravo’s Top Chef awarded Stephanie with the title of Top Chef. I had the episode TiVo’d and watched Stephanie prresent a wonderful meal. Each of the final 3 chefs, Richard Blais, Stephanie Izard and Lisa Fernandes had to make a 4 course tasting menu.
Stephanie’s menu was:
Sauteed Red Snapper Filet with Truffled White Asparagus and Clam Broth
Seared Quail Breast with Butter Poached Lobster Ravioli and Mango
Roasted Lamb Medallions with Maitake Mushrooms, Braised …

If you ever find yourself up in Echo Park or Silverlake, take some time to stop by the Pho Cafe off Sunset Blvd. This place is nondescript, doesn’t have any signage outside, but this place is wildly popular, especially among hipsters. It’s a small place, small menu, but the flavors are big…

It’s interesting. I’ve been in the middle of a long string of emails with a co-worker of mine. Tim was telling me about how he had a nice home-cooked meal with someone he recently met.  I was reviewing the number of times I have shared a home-cooked meal with someone and wished the number was higher.
The last meal I cooked for someone was with Alex. He and I shared some Kung Pao Shrimp with Chilean Sea Bass steamed with Baby Bok Choy, peppers and leeks …

Oh my god…I forgot that tonite was the premiere of Top Chef 4 in Chicago. 16 chefs from across the country compete to be Top Chef. There was a nice array of chefs this season. Lots of seasoned chefs and a few non-so-seasoned.
They all met at the original Numero Uno Pizzaria in Chicago and Padma and Tom walk in. Just prior to that we find out that two of the contestants (Jennifer and Zoi) are a couple in life outside of their restaurants. A twist …

So on Monday, I decided to break protocol and head out for some dinner and drinks with Tim, a friend and co-worker. We left work around 7:15 and we went up to the Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa, near South Coast Plaza on Bristol, and went to a Cuban restaurant called Habana. I’ve never been to the Anti-Mall. There was also a Japanese restaurant called Zipangu, which looked kewl, but we opted for tapas (small plates) at Habana.
Tim started with a glass of sangria while I …

One thing I miss so much from living in Northern Virginia/DC is the availability of locally farm-grown vegetables, dairy and meats.  Living in the middle of a big metropolitan area such as Los Angeles/Orange County it’s difficult to get to locally grown food unless you are a restaurant. But the one place I can get locally grown food is the Farmer’s Market. There are several farmer’s markets near me, but I can’t seem to get my schedule in sync to make to the market.
I was …

I didn’t see this movie in the theatres when it came out and I’m sorry I didn’t. Being a foodie, I was anticipating this movie.
Catherine Zeta Jones was not much of a convincing Executive Chef. She is thrown into motherhood by the death of her sister and now must take care of her niece.
The movie has some tender moments but it also brings back memories of food and teaching children how to cook. I was reminded that children want to learn and by involving them …

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has purchased the Emeril Lagasse franchise for $50M in cash and stock options. What the deal doesn’t include are Emeril’s 11 restaurants and corporate office.
Martha Stewart will be adding to her line cookbooks, TV shows, cookware and kitchen products from Emeril Legasse.
As you recall from last month, Emeril’s most successful show, Emeril Live, stopped taping after many years on air on the Food Network. He currently is still taping shows of The Essence of Emeril for the Food Network.

Following is a post that I suggested to Adam Jackson with DailyTechTalk.com and MacworldBound.com. Also included in this version is a map of the participating restaurants that are close to the Moscone Convention Center.
—–
Attending conferences can be fun. What can be difficult is finding good food that isn’t from the convention itself. Food concession stands are available inside Moscone, but be prepared to pay an arm and a leg for a sandwich, chips and a soda.
If you want to try something different, there are …