Bongorama Los Angeles

EATING IN LOS ANGELES

2008-11-23T02:20:00.000-08:00

You can go ahead and disagree with us when we say that the LA food scene has always been sort of grim. (Shut up, transplants—after you find yourself eating Mexican for 17 years you’ll stop yammering about how coooool those burrito stands are.) Until recently, LA residents had very little to choose from when it came to getting a good meal in this horrible, scorched-earth, traffic-glutted—oh, sorry, GREAT town! It was like this: Swingers or 101 Café for brunch? La Scala or the Farm for fancy lunch? Mel’s or Del Taco for late night?

EATING CHOICES DOWNTOWN
EATING CHOICES ON THE EASTSIDE
EATING CHOICES ON THE WEST SIDE
EATING CHOICES IN HOLLYWOOD
EATING CHOICES IN SOUTH CENTRAL
EATING CHOICES IN THE VALLEY
PLACES TO GO LATE AT NIGHT
PLACES TO GO WHEN YOU WANT TO GET ALL HISTORICAL
PLACES TO GO WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS PAYING

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Richard Meier's Favorite Hotels (are in Los Angeles)

2008-04-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Richard Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University and established his own office in New York in 1963. His practice has included major civic commissions in the United States, Europe, and Asia, including courthouses and city halls, museums, corporate headquarters, and housing and private residences. Among his most well-known projects are The Getty Center in Los Angeles; the Jubilee Church in Rome, Italy; the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; the Museum for the Decorative Arts in Frankfurt, Germany; the Canal+ Television Headquarters in Paris, France; and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, Spain.

In 1984, Mr. Meier was awarded the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, considered the field's highest honor. In the same year, he was selected architect for the prestigious commission to design The Getty Center in Los Angeles, which was opened to popular and critical acclaim in December 1997. Among the projects recently completed by Richard Meier & Partners are the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome; the Burda Collection Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany; the Broad Art Center at UCLA; the San Jose City Hall; 173/176 Perry Street and 165 Charles Street in New York City; and United States Federal Courthouses in Islip, New York, and Phoenix, Arizona. The office is currently constructing the Cornell Life Sciences Technology Building in Ithaca, New York, and the Italcementi Center for Research and Innovation in Bergamo, Italy.

In 1997, Richard Meier received the AIA Gold Medal, the highest award from the American Institute of Architects, and, in the same year, the Praemium Imperiale from the Japanese government in recognition of lifetime achievement in the arts. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the American Institute of Architects, and he received a Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the AIA in 1980 and a Gold Medal from the Los Angeles Chapter in 1998. His numerous awards include thirty National AIA Honor Awards and over fifty Regional AIA Design Awards. In 1989, Richard Meier received the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1992, the French Government honored him as a Commander of Arts and Letters, and in 1995 he was elected Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Naples, New Jersey Institute of Technology, The New School for Social Research, Pratt Institute, the University of Bucharest, and North Carolina State University.

www.richardmeier.com

Hotel Bel Air

Los Angeles, CA, USA

"Wonderful indoor-outdoor relationship of both public and private spaces."

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Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Beverly Hills, CA, USA

"With its new restaurant, CUT, which is one of the best restaurants in LA with food by Wolfgang Puck and interior designed by Richard Meier & Partners."

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Delano Hotel

Miami Beach, FL, USA

"One of the best-managed hotels on the East Coast."

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Amandari

Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

"Extraordinary service in a sublime setting; a great getaway."

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An L.A. loft for high-flying Depp

2008-01-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

Johnny Depp has been busier than any pirate in the Caribbean, and that could be why the downtown L.A. loft he bought in the fall for close to $2 million is still vacant.

Depp bought a penthouse in the Eastern Columbia Building, an Art Deco landmark on South Broadway. The 13-story building, opened in 1930 as a retail and office tower and later used as a department store and movie backdrop, was converted into 147 residential lofts in 2006.

Since then, all except a half a dozen lofts on the penthouse level have been sold. Prices run from the high $600,000 range to $2.2 million.

Besides Depp, entertainment industry buyers have included comedian Ant and Slade Smiley, a heartthrob who was on the TV show "The Real Housewives of Orange County." Other buyers are architecture enthusiasts. Buyers in the Moderne, turquoise terra-cotta-clad building qualify for historic tax credits, or reduced property taxes, through the Mills Act.

It's not too late to become one of Depp's neighbors. There is a furnished corner unit in the building listed at about $1.8 million. It's on the 12th floor and is described as light-filled with an open floor plan and high ceilings. The unit has a bronze and iron entry gate, storage for 112 bottles of wine, flat-screen TVs, a jukebox, a vintage-style safe and city views. The 1,827-square-foot loft was decorated by designer Jim Hughes.

Kelly Wearstler, a celebrity designer, decorated the building's common areas such as the rooftop pool, spa and gym. The building also has a distinctive clock tower and a concierge.

Depp, who has played more than 40 unique roles on film, is as busy as ever, now starring as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the film adaptation of the musical "Sweeney Todd," released a few weeks ago. The 44-year-old actor starred as Capt. Jack Sparrow in "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003), "The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" (2006) and "The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (2007). In 2005, he was cast as Willie Wonka, a magical candy maker, in Tim Burton's adaptation of "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory."

David Kean, at Prudential California Realty in Beverly Hills, has the listing on the furnished loft.

***

Amoeba Records

2007-12-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

Quite possibly the greatest music store in the world. I'd like to see one that's supposedly better. Plus Amoeba hosts amazing live shows, like the time Sir Paul McCartney ran through the hits with all kinds of celebs in the crowd. TV on the Radio there was pretty sick too.

Neighborhood: Hollywood

6400 W Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca 90028

323-245-6400

Raffles L'Ermitage, Beverly Hills

2007-12-03T11:19:00.001-08:00

From design to service, Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills is truly the hotel of the millennium. Not only do we offer spacious guest rooms with state-of-the-art technology, we take the best of the luxury philosophy and apply it to the needs of the business and leisure traveller. The result: seamless service for guests who want to indulge in both luxury and technology.

Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills is located in one of the most famous cities in the world. Beverly Hills offers old-world charm, new-world excitement and international flair. There is no shortage of first-class restaurants, shops, galleries and nightlife. Beverly Hills is conveniently located in the centre of it all; near major movie studios, museums, theatres, business and financial centres, Los Angeles International and Burbank airports as well as Malibu and Santa Monica beaches.

For the seventh consecutive year, Raffles L'Ermitage Beverly Hills has earned the coveted Mobil Five Star and AAA Five Diamond Awards for 2007, making Raffles L'Ermitage one of only two such distinguished properties in Southern California

'World's Best Places to Stay', Condé Nast Traveler Gold List, one of the four hotels globally to achieve a perfect score for its rooms

'Top 100 Hotels', World's Best Awards, Travel + Leisure, 2005

'Top Continental US and Canada Hotels', World's Best Awards, Travel + Leisure, 2005

***

LA Mélisse

2007-10-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Located in Santa Monica, CA Melisse combines the sophistication of traditional French cuisine with contemporary American sensibilities, resulting in a truly extraordinary experience. The menus reflect seasonal and specialty items, carefully selected and intricately prepared by Chef Josiah Citrin and his experienced kitchen staff. A Mobil Travel Guide 4-star recipient 8 years running.

***

Geisha House, Hollywood

2007-10-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

GEISHA HOUSE is a Modern Japanese Restaurant, Sushi Bar and Sake Lounge that embraces the flavor of traditional Japan while catering to the hip, sophisticated clientele of Los Angeles. Taking a cue from Japan’s popular sake bars and traditional Geisha Houses of entertainment, GEISHA HOUSE serves Japanese cuisine as well as fresh sushi and sashimi dishes with a contemporary spin. Whether it’s a wrap party or a simple dinner for two, GEISHA HOUSE is a destination point for groups of all sizes. However…Be Warned! GEISHA HOUSE IS NOT JUST ANOTHER SUSHI RESTAURANT Sensual… Ethereal… Mysterious… GEISHA HOUSE provides a sexy dining experience that titillates the senses, beginning with the palate and continuing from there… While most sushi restaurants tend to ignore or hide from Japan’s rich sexual history… GEISHA HOUSE embraces it. A combination of five star sushi restaurant set in the atmosphere of a surreal high class brothel, the goal of GEISHA HOUSE is to make the client climax!

***

Depeche Mode Remasters Release Party

2007-10-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

Picfair Village is on its way to becoming L.A.'s next trendy place to live and play

2007-01-17T12:21:00.001-08:00

Los Angeles: Where Stars Are in the Kitchen

2007-01-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

Far East meets far-out glam at Red Pearl Kitchen

2006-12-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

CALENDARLIVE.COM: When owners Tim and Liza Goodell pulled the plug on Meson G, their sophisticated small-plates restaurant this last July, they brought out what might prove to be a trump card: Red Pearl Kitchen. That's the name of the Asian boîte the two (who made their reputation with Aubergine in Newport Beach) opened a few years ago in Huntington Beach with a menu that culled dishes from all over Asia, but mostly China and Thailand. There's one in San Diego too.

'Guerrilla artist' Banksy hits LA

2006-10-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles

Hype and secrecy surrounds graffiti artist Banksy's Barely Legal exhibition in California, which opens later this week.
In typical Banksy fashion, it was not until two hours before the media preview, that I was given the address of the venue for his exhibition.

It turned out to be a dingy, swelteringly hot warehouse in an industrial part of downtown Los Angeles.

The three-day free show titled Barely Legal - and billed as a "vandalised warehouse extravaganza" - has an overall theme of global poverty and injustice.

After much hype and secretive planning, the event opens to the public on Friday following an invitation-only, celebrity launch party.

The organisers have said Cameron Diaz, Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom are all expected to attend.

They will be treated to a familiar, but in some respects, head-scratching display of graffiti-inspired artwork.

I'm not sure what the point of having an elephant in a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles is
Jason Bentley
US radio commentator

A 37-year old Indian elephant has been painted, from head to tail, in a floral pattern reminiscent of an old fashioned living room or a British pub.

The animal is made to stand in a makeshift living room, complete with sofa, chandelier and decorated with wallpaper in the same pattern.

Banksy, as ever, was not on hand to discuss his creation, but it is understood that the elephant, blending into the background, is meant to represent the big issues in life, such as poverty, that some people choose to ignore.

"I don't feel particularly incensed at the fact that he painted a live animal," said journalist Sorina Diaconescu.

"But I think he's treading a pretty thin line and it's part of his charm."

The meaning of the stunt appeared to be lost on some observers.

"I've still got to get my head around that one," said Jason Bentley, a commentator on US public radio.

"I'm not sure what the point of having an elephant in a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles is."

"I'm not sure that Banksy's work carries a particular message," added Ms Diaconescu.

"The medium is the message and in this case just the very fact that there is an elephant in the room, the proverbial elephant in the room, is what he's trying to say, period."

There is nothing cryptic about the exhibit that features giant cockroaches clambering over photos of a scantily clad Paris Hilton along with copies of her CD.

The display features a graffiti style message, "Thou Shalt Not Worship False Icons."

Earlier this month Banksy smuggled 500 "alternative" versions of the heiress's album into record shops in the UK.

Further stunts

"I just love his approach and his style and his wit," said Mr Bentley.

"It's really very simple and profound at the same time, that's what is clever about it. In a very public arena you can take away something really significant."

The exhibition also features film footage of Banksy's latest stunt, when he placed a life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee in a theme park ride at Disneyland. The operation was caught on camera, covertly, and has been edited into a short film.

As for more stunts in Los Angeles, during the exhibition weekend, Banksy's people are coy.

"Keep your eyes peeled."

CONCERTS > Totally ’80s with The Human League, The Psychedelic Furs & ABC

2006-09-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

The '80s are back! Don't miss this totally awesome flashback party featuring your fave '80s bands live, plus dancing, special guests, gold lamé, and the first ever all-'80s sing-along karaoke using the Bowl's big screens!

FASHION > First H&M in L.A. Has Fashion Fans in a Frenzy

2006-09-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

Cheap-chic chain H&M opens Thursday in Pasadena. Some serious shopping is expected.

Credit card? Check. Running shoes? Check. Helmet and elbow pads? Check. Check.

Shopping isn't normally considered a contact sport, but when H&M, the Swedish cheap-chic chain known for whipping up retail frenzies, opens its first Southern California store Thursday in Pasadena, protective gear might be in order.

When H&M opened in New York, lines snaked around a city block. In Chicago, the crowd rushed the doors with the fierce energy of Oklahomans at a land rush. In San Francisco last year, the bargain-hungry lined up before sunrise.

[OMG! H&M has a MySpace page!, ed.]

MUSIC > Sunset Junction Street Festival 2006

2006-08-26T06:22:00.000-07:00

FOOD > Year of the burger

2006-08-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

A cityscape studded with palm trees. A historic Sunset Boulevard hotel. Your dinner served to you poolside, your waiter bearing aloft the perfect hamburger. It's the quintessential L.A. experience.

And yes, that includes the hamburger. Not a California roll, not a chic plate of fusion food, but a burger.

From a wooden counter in Santa Monica to an industrial-looking foodie haunt in Hollywood to the swankiest dining room on Orange County's Gold Coast, right now the burger is getting more play in this town than Colin Farrell. Suddenly, L.A. chefs are taking the burger very seriously: No longer a kids' meal or de rigueur bar food, the hamburger is now a menu centerpiece, even a showstopper.

At the Terrace, the patio-with-a-view restaurant that opened last week at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, Sunday night is burger night: The entire menu is devoted to the burger in all its glory.

Yes, there's the fabulous sirloin burger, smothered in brie and caramelized onions, but you can also order a duck burger, made from chopped duck breast and shredded duck confit and smeared with Dijon crème fraîche, or a monkfish burger, in which monkfish is diced with fresh scampi, bound with a lemongrass infusion, and served with lobster aioli. All are grilled before you on the terrace by a whites-clad chef and served with a copper cassoulet pan of fries for the table. While you wait, you can take a dip in the pool and watch the sun spread out over the Los Angeles skyline.

This Kobe is on fire

AT Stonehill Tavern, the elegant restaurant at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa, chef-partner Michael Mina offers a decadent truffled Kobe burger, replete with creamy truffle aioli, truffled ketchup, shaved black truffle and a brioche bun made with truffle butter. It may sound like overkill, but it's a surprisingly subtle creation: The truffle plays off the separate components and unites them without drowning them out. And tangy pickled onions, oven-dried tomato and peppery cress keep the richness of the beef and aioli from overwhelming the palate. There's also some enforced restraint — there's just a dab of the truffle aioli.

Burger-wise, Kobe is very hot. Not real Japanese Kobe of course, which wholesales for $80 per pound, but Wagyu, American Kobe-style beef. Stonehill uses Snake River Farms American Kobe in its burgers. "You use it for two reasons," says Mina. "The flavor and the fat."

Wolfgang Puck's steakhouse Cut, which recently opened its Richard Meier-designed doors at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, offers Kobe sliders that actually contain a percentage of true Japanese Kobe.

Spago executive chef Lee Hefter, who helped chef Ari Rosenson create the menu, says the burgers are made mostly from American Kobe, but with some sirloin added "for flavor," along with some true Kobe, extra from the cuts he gets flown in from Japan for the steakhouse menu. They're served on delicate brioche buns, with shallot-jalapeño marmalade, tomato confit, aged Gouda and diced onion.

Kobe sliders are also on the menu at the chic new Social Hollywood, where they're made with Wagyu beef and piled with melted Gruyère, caramelized onions, a thatch of iceberg, sliced tomatoes and rich "Moroccan" aioli — infused with roasted garlic and ground coriander. They're served pierced with skewers, atop three individual plates on a wooden board.

But not everyone thinks Kobe is best for burgers. Just as Angelenos love to debate whether the Apple Pan is better than Pie n' Burger, or whether In-N-Out was ever as great as the original Fatburger, or whether the Counter is as amazing as Father's Office, hamburgers have lately become a topic of hot debate for chefs. It all comes down to Kobe versus not.

"I think the Kobe thing is over," says Jeff Klein, owner of the Terrace. It simply doesn't have the depth of flavor that sirloin has, he says.

In West L.A. at Literati II, chef Chris Kidder turns out one of the city's best burgers, using sirloin. A Zuni Café alum, Kidder salts the chuck and lets it stand overnight à la Judy Rodgers (his former boss at Zuni) before grinding it himself (twice) and grilling it over pecan wood. The result is a spectacularly flavorful burger that's served simply, with just a touch of aioli, a grilled slice of red onion, a slice of really ripe tomato sprinkled with fleur de sel and a perfectly cut triangle of iceberg lettuce.

For chef Ben Ford at Ford's Filling Station in Culver City, it's chuck all the way for his equally old-school pub burger, topped simply with shredded iceberg lettuce, a slice of beefsteak tomato and some caramelized onions. "I dance around, trying to elevate the pub concept," Ford says.

Making of a craze

SO what makes a great burger? Spago's Hefter says it's two very simple but crucial things: great meat, and meat that's ground fresh. Literati II's Kidder echoes this, emphasizing the quality of the meat as being the most important, plus "a bun that can handle the patty" and fresh accompaniments "that complement the meat rather than overpower it." And "lots of love," Kidder adds.

Hefter explains the current burger craze this way: "People are bored with this surge of crazy food — foams and gelées and mousses. These days people want something with some familiarity. Comfort level is very important when you're eating." Also, he points out, "more chefs are cooking for themselves." And what chefs secretly want to eat is, it seems, what we all want to eat: hamburgers.

The epicenter of the new hamburger explosion is Hollywood, where three relatively new places have some of the best gourmet burgers in town, both Kobe and not Kobe.

At 25 Degrees, Tim Goodell's burger-and-wine bar at the Roosevelt Hotel, the burgers are a blend of chuck and sirloin, with a secret ingredient: a dash of pork fat. Goodell's burgers come medium-rare, as befits a restaurant named after the difference in degrees between a medium-rare and a well-done burger. They can be built from a variety of ingredients and come wrapped in parchment paper with a big side of fries.

Just down the street, Lucky Vanous' haute diner, Lucky Devils, offers a massive Kobe burger served either standard, with caramelized onions, arugula and garlic aioli on a brioche bun, or as one of "Lucky's Favorites," fully loaded with all of the above plus Maytag blue cheese, Gruyère and Nueske bacon.

And then there's the Hungry Cat, David Lentz's seafood place, which has what might be the best burger in town — a gigantic paean to sirloin known as the Pug burger. (Named after Lentz's and wife Suzanne Goin's dog.) It's topped with mixed greens, an enormous wedge of blue cheese, thick aioli and served with more fries than you'll be able to eat in two sittings.

What goes into the burger itself is important to Lentz. "I'm suspicious of Kobe burgers," he says, noting that some places mix different cuts of meat together into their burgers, and burgers labeled as Kobe burgers are not necessarily 100% Kobe. And Wagyu "isn't even close" to Japanese Kobe, he says.

Whatever goes into them — Kobe, sirloin, chuck or duck — we're eating them up.

Both Terrace's Klein and 25 Degrees' Goodell agree: Their research shows burgers as the most-ordered item in the country. In hotels, Klein says, it's "80% burgers, 20% other."

"L.A. is a burger mecca," says Jeff Weinstein, owner of the Counter, a build-your-own burger cafe in Santa Monica. But "it's not about the burger," he says, "it's about the experience." The experience at the Counter is like one big childhood memory — legions of happy kids, and equally happy adults, wait in droves to create their own burgers from the list of possible combinations. Which, if you do the math, works out to more than 312,000 possible burgers — and that doesn't even include the specials.

But for the Counter's fans, it is about the burger, which is thick and juicy, with all-natural chuck Weinstein has ground daily. It's served cooked to medium, with wonderfully fresh toppers such as Greek feta, roasted red peppers, house-made guacamole or roasted corn-and-black-bean salsa that you choose from a big board.

Another Westside gourmet burger favorite, Father's Office is a direct contrast to the Counter: Instead of legions of kids, no one under 21 is even allowed through the doors. And instead of thousands of combinations, try one burger, no substitutions.

Owner Sang Yoon is just as draconian in his opinions on burgers as he is about restaurant policies: "Kobe beef is a useless thing in hamburgers," he says. "When you grind it, you disrupt the integrity. It's something different." The lines of people waiting to get into Yoon's clubby little spot must agree: His burger, made from chuck and dry-aged New York strip loin and served on a French roll with caramelized onions, blue cheese and arugula, is a city legend.

Though, of course, there are detractors.

The Counter's Weinstein argues that the hamburger is a particularly nostalgic food and that people therefore have very strong — and often territorial — feelings about it. "When people migrated towards the ocean, there were all these little burger places that opened up," he says. Angelenos, often transplanted from other places (Weinstein himself is from Washington, D.C.), took their new burger places personally, which tapped into a nostalgia generated by the burgers themselves.

In other words, home is where the burger is.

*

Stonehill Tavern Kobe burger

Total time: 3 hours, plus overnight standing time

Serves: 4

Note: From chef-partner Michael Mina of Stonehill Tavern. You don't have to make all parts of this showstopping burger — the buns, ketchup or mayonnaise can be store-bought. But any one of them, even just the truffle cheese, elevates it to something special. Truffle butter and truffle cheese are available at gourmet shops such as Monsieur Marcel in Los Angeles and Nicole's in Pasadena. The brioche dough makes six buns. The pickled onions are best started the day before.

Truffle brioche buns

1/4 cup milk

1 ( 1/4 -ounce) package dry yeast

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

5 eggs, divided

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

4 ounces truffle butter, at room temperature

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk to 105 to 110 degrees. Pour it into a large bowl, add the yeast and stir to dissolve. When the yeast gets slightly foamy (after about 10 minutes), stir in one-half cup of flour. Cover with plastic wrap; set aside for an hour in a warm place.

2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place four eggs, the yeast mixture, 2 1/4 cups of the flour, and the salt and sugar in the bowl of a 5-quart stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, beat the mixture on medium speed until well mixed. Continuing on medium speed, slowly add in the butter and truffle butter.

3. When completely mixed, the dough should be fairly wet but pull away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. Add flour as necessary, up to 1 cup. When the mixture starts to pull together, switch to a dough hook and knead for a few minutes.

4. Remove the dough from the mixer and shape into six flattened balls about half the size of the buns that you want. Place the balls on a greased and floured cookie sheet, leaving space for them to rise. Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Place the buns in a warm place, and allow them to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

5. Brush the buns with an egg wash — one egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are a deep golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before cutting.

Pickled onions

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 large red onion

1. In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar, 1 cup of water, salt and peppercorns to a boil.

2. Cut the onion into one-half-inch thick slices. In a heatproof bowl, pour the boiling liquid over the onion.

3. Cool the mixture to room temperature, and then store in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours and ideally overnight.

Oven-dried tomatoes

2 beefsteak tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. Heat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Cut the tomatoes into half-inch-thick slices and season both sides with salt and pepper. Lay the slices on a metal cooling rack set over a sheet tray and brush them with olive oil.

3. Bake the tomatoes for about 2 hours, or until they shrink by half and are about half-dried. Cool and reserve.

Truffle aioli

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon truffle scraps or pieces (optional)

3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon truffle oil (or more to taste)

1. In a small food processor, combine the egg yolks, salt, lemon juice and truffle pieces (if using).

2. With the food processor on, slowly add the canola oil in a thin stream into the eggs. Finish by adding the truffle oil. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Cool and reserve.

Truffle ketchup

1/2 cup tomato paste

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup truffle vinegar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring 1 cup of water, the tomato paste, sugar, vinegar and salt to a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until a ketchup-like consistency has been reached, about 10 minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Cool and reserve.

Burgers and assembly

4 (8-ounce) Kobe-style hamburger patties (the restaurant uses Snake River Farms)

1/4 pound truffle cheese

4 brioche buns

2 tablespoons truffle butter

2 bunches watercress

1 recipe oven-dried tomatoes

1 recipe pickled onions

1 shaved fresh black truffle (optional)

Truffle ketchup

Truffle aioli

1. Grill the hamburgers over medium-high heat, preferably over wood charcoal (ideally oak) until medium rare, 3 to 5 minutes per side.

2. Cover the burgers with slices of the truffle cheese and allow the cheese to melt.

3. Brush the cut sides of the buns with truffle butter and grill, cut side down, until slightly toasted.

4. Place the burgers on the buns and garnish with the watercress, oven-dried tomato, pickled onions, optional shaved truffle, truffle ketchup and truffle aioli. Serve immediately.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Each serving with 1 tablespoon ketchup and 1 tablespoon aioli: 1,585 calories; 75 grams protein; 99 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams fiber; 99 grams fat; 47 grams saturated fat; 570 mg. cholesterol; 1,330 mg. sodium.

*

The Terrace duck burger

Total time: 2 hours, 20 minutes, plus overnight standing time

Servings: 4

Note: From Andrea Tamburini of Tower Bar and the Terrace in the Sunset Tower Hotel. Start the confit the day before, or purchased duck confit can be used. For the Dijon crème fraîche, mix 4 tablespoons of crème fraîche with 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard; refrigerate until ready to use.

Duck leg confit

3 duck legs

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups duck fat

1. Salt the duck legs with about one-half teaspoon salt for each leg. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

2. Rinse the duck legs with cold water and pat them dry.

3. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large ovenproof pot, bring to a simmer over medium heat enough duck fat to cover the legs. Once the fat has come to a simmer, place the legs in the pot. Cover and cook in the oven for about 2 hours.

4. Allow the duck legs to cool in the fat. Using tongs, remove the duck legs from the pan. Remove the skin and pull the meat from the legs.

Duck burgers and assembly

1 recipe duck leg confit

1 3/4 pounds ground (skinless) duck breast

2 teaspoons finely minced red onion

1 teaspoon chopped chives

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 good-quality hamburger buns

4 slices heirloom tomato

1/2 head butter lettuce

2 tablespoons butter

4 organic eggs

1. In a large bowl, mix the duck confit with the ground duck breasts. Mix in the red onion, chives, freshly ground white pepper, olive oil, egg yolk and salt.

2. Form four patties, about 7 to 8 ounces each. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. In a very hot sauté pan, sear the patties for about 1 minute on each side and finish in the oven for 4 to 6 minutes, until medium rare.

4. Wipe clean the sauté pan and grill the buns until they are just crisp.

5. Place each burger on a crisp bun, and top with a slice of heirloom tomato and a couple leaves of butter lettuce.

6. In the sauté pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Fry the eggs — sunny side up — for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, until the egg whites have solidified and set.

7. Place an egg on top of each burger. Serve open face with a drizzle of Dijon crème fraîche.

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Each serving: 619 calories; 67 grams protein; 23 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 27 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 490 mg. cholesterol; 978 mg. sodium.

*

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Where the glam burgers hang out

The Counter. Order any combination from a huge matrix of ingredients in this popular, airy spot. 2901 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 399-8383. $6.50 to $12.

Cut. Made from American and Japanese Kobe and sirloin, topped with shallot-jalapeño marmalade, tomato confit and aged gouda, Kobe sliders are served on house-made brioche buns. Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, 9500 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills; (310) 276-8500. $20 (for 4 sliders).

Father's Office. This Westside bar has a fantastic burger: French roll, blue cheese, caramelized onions, arugula and a "no substitutions" policy. 1018 Montana Ave., Santa Monica; (310) 393-2337. $10.75.

Ford's Filling Station. Ben Ford's gastropub has a classic take on the burger, made with house-ground beef, Point Reyes blue cheese, caramelized onions and a La Brea Bakery bun. 9531 Culver Blvd., Culver City; (310) 202-1470. $14 at lunch; $16 at dinner.

The Hungry Cat. This may be a fish house, but David Lentz's Pug burger is terrific. Served with aioli, field greens, blue cheese and a mountain of fries. 1535 Vine St., Hollywood; (323) 462-2155. $14.

Literati II. This casual West L.A. spot serves a classic burger done right: a stellar patty, a triangle of iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion and a dab of aioli. 12081 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles; (310) 479-3400. $14.

Lucky Devils. Massive burger, made with Australian Kobe and available in classic or fully loaded with Maytag Blue, Gruyère (yes, both), Nueske bacon and garlic aioli. 6613 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 465-8259. $12.95 or $15.50.

Social Hollywood. Kobe sliders at the Moroccan-themed bar come with Gruyère and caramelized onions. 6525 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood; (323) 462-5222. $17 (for 3 sliders).

Stonehill Tavern. The truffled Kobe burger is hedonistic, but not pointlessly so; it's got lots of smart truffled accouterments, any of which would be great on its own on a burger. St. Regis Resort Monarch Beach, 1 Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point; (949) 234-3318. $28.

The Terrace. Though there's a great sirloin burger on the nightly menu, on Sunday burger nights by the pool, there are five to choose from, including a boffo duck burger. Sunset Tower Hotel, 8358 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 654-7100. $21 to $25.

25 Degrees. This retro hotel bar serves flavorful, assemble-your-own burgers, wrapped in parchment like a gift. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 785-7244. $9 and up.

MUSIC > Check Yo' Pony Tail!

2006-08-08T03:21:00.000-07:00

EVENTS > Chocolate Syrup Wrestling

2006-07-22T03:29:00.000-07:00

ARCHITECTURE > L.A.'s great unknown

2006-06-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

Designer Edward H. Fickett pushed postwar California toward indoor-outdoor living. Tens of thousands of homes bear his signature flow, yet few people know his name.

THOUGH he designed about 60,000 houses by one estimate — 10,000 in the San Fernando Valley alone — Modernist architect Edward H. Fickett never achieved the public prestige of such midcentury contemporaries as Richard Neutra, Craig Ellwood, Gregory Ain, Clifford May, A. Quincy Jones and even his former colleague Pierre Koenig. Which is not to say he was unappreciated.

When Fickett died in 1999 at the age of 76, President Clinton sent an American flag and a letter of condolence to Fickett's widow. The American Institute of Architects called him "an American hero" in noting his passing. By that time, Fickett had designed homes for, among others, Charlie Chaplin, Ava Gardner, Joan Crawford, Irene Dunne, Groucho Marx, Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny and Dick Clark.

That his reputation is not larger remains a matter for speculation among architectural historians and local preservationists. Two leading reasons appear to be that Fickett shunned publicity and that he designed tract homes for developers, or "merchant builders," as they were once known. One of the developers he worked with was Joseph Eichler, whose wider reputation includes the common misconception that he was an architect, which he was not.

"As we look back, it's who was considered important by the press," says John English, an architectural historian and board member at the Los Angeles Conservancy, explaining why, after building custom and tract homes in Los Angeles and environs for five decades beginning in the 1940s, Fickett's name has resonance largely within architecture circles.

"Somewhere in between Eichler and the worst saltbox developers, there were a lot of tract houses in Southern California being designed by good Modern architects who did not get much recognition in their time. This is something we're only now learning. It's a myth that tract housing was just tract housing. Fickett was terribly important to the built history of Southern California, but people don't know about him."

THE son of a building contractor, Fickett was a fourth generation Angeleno who graduated from USC in 1937 and then earned three graduate degrees from MIT in city planning, architecture and engineering. After serving in World War II with the Navy Seabees, he returned to Los Angeles with the desire to "create a home for every serviceman," says his widow, Joyce Fickett. "After the war he felt they wanted open spaces to live in," which contributed to his interpretation of the California ranch style, marked by open floor plans, raised ceilings, partial walls and lots of glass — "bringing the outside in," as the late architect liked to say.

His houses, admirers say, had flow.

It was a style connected to the larger Modernist movement that had traveled from Europe with assistance from Frank Lloyd Wright and his followers. But Fickett eschewed the high-art aesthetics of the steel-and-glass house, preferring designs that were more accessible to the average home buyer and that fit seamlessly into their natural environments.

We take such houses for granted today, but after the war what Fickett and his contemporaries were doing to open up the cloistered and warren-like traditional American home was considered experimental and risky. He was asking prospective buyers to invest in a new way of living, and skeptics doubted that the style would catch on. History shows that he not only predicted the future but helped to shape it.

"He's remembered for not one house but for defining housing as we know it," says Chris Hetzel, editor of Preserve LA.com.

Though it might be hard to prove, Joyce Fickett insists that her husband was the first to open up the kitchen to the rest of the house. The idea came to him, she says, in response to his own experience of growing up with three brothers in a home where his mother was always trying to cook while keeping watch on four boys.

"People give Schindler credit for that," she says, but "Eddie did that in 1942, in a house he designed for his parents."

Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, says early examples of open-plan kitchen/living/dining spaces include a 1934 house by Wright, but Fickett's influence is hard to deny.

Joyce Fickett says her husband's homes number 60,000 — a figure that couldn't be confirmed but that the archivist for the American Institute of Architects said was quite plausible, given Fickett's prodigious work with developers.

Although he designed large homes in the 1950s and '60s for wealthy clients such as Georgia Frontiere, the former Los Angeles Rams owner, Fickett was also interested in building for the middle-class family. He designed single-story tract homes that included many of the features of more expensive custom homes.

He favored rustic materials such as redwood, slump stone, exposed brick and vertical wood siding, and he used them to create houses with modern lines, low-pitched roofs, asymmetrical walls and post-and-beam ceilings. It was, in a sense, Modernism for the masses, leaving critics to decide if that was a good or a bad thing.

"People forget that Modernism was supposed to appeal to the masses," says Los Angeles architect Chris Rudin, whose firm, Rudin-Donner Design, was hired a few years ago to restore a 1959 Fickett house in Nichols Canyon that had been marred by a problematic two-story addition.

Rudin, 42, says Fickett wasn't even studied when he was in architecture school, but he learned as much as he could while working on the Nichols Canyon house, one of 30 Fickett designed for a subdivision there near Mulholland Drive.

"It's hard to say exactly what separates his houses from Modernism in general," Rudin says, "but it might be how accessible they are, how livable."

RUDIN'S clients, Rich Strulson and Mike Vollman, weren't specifically looking for a Fickett when they were home shopping in 1999. "Our Realtor didn't even know it was a Fickett," Strulson says. "Our architect said, 'I think this is an Edward Fickett,' and we said, 'Who?' "

What attracted the couple was the smart floor plan and an abundance of openness and light. "There was so much glass it felt like you were outside," Strulson says. The only problem was a clunky 1985 second-floor addition. With Rudin's help, they raised the roof, replaced windows and created a master bedroom, bathroom and sitting area that mirrors the look and feel of Fickett's original design.

The house's L-shape footprint creates a natural cove of privacy for the backyard pool, and Fickett's floor plan allows party guests to circulate easily — a good combination, Strulson says, "especially in summer."

Working within the constraints of the Federal Housing Administration guidelines, Fickett would design 25 or 30 floor plans for a tract, in contrast to the three or four that developers commonly offer today.

He was nothing if not prolific, and Fickett's houses can be found all over Los Angeles, with concentrations in the Hollywood Hills, Encino, Reseda and Malibu's Broad Beach. He designed 38 homes for developer Paul Trousdale's Trousdale Estates in the upper reaches of Beverly Hills. A house he designed in 1966 on Dundee Drive in Los Feliz has been designated a city monument.

Claude Letessier, a French immigrant and producer of television commercials, recently bought one of the Nichols Canyon homes. "To me, this is the image of the American Dream, to live in a house with this much history," says Letessier, who moved from a Paris loft into a 2,500-square-foot Fickett built in 1959.

"Modernism is the Eiffel Tower of Southern California, is it not? I think Fickett had the efficiency of Henry Ford, but with an elegance the way it blends into the environment of the neighborhood. It's respectful of nature. There is a harmony in this house. It's like music — it has rhythm, melody, harmony and style, in a minimalist way."

Indeed, along with other ranch modernists, Fickett believed that a house was not isolated from its surroundings — especially with large plate glass windows and sliding glass doors revealing so much that lay immediately outside. For this reason he tried to persuade developers to add landscaping as part of construction, favoring the subtropical plants native to Southern California's Mediterranean climate.

Fickett didn't confine himself to single-family homes. Throughout his long career he designed naval, Army and Air Force bases, passenger and cargo terminals for the Port of Los Angeles, the Tower Records store on Sunset Boulevard, the Los Angeles Police Academy, hundreds of apartment buildings, the original Sands Hotel in Las Vegas and the Mammoth Mountain Inn. Working with the hillsides of Southern California, he also pioneered the cantilevering of tennis courts.

At the height of his practice, he had 46 people working for him in his Beverly Hills office.

It is hard to believe that a man of such output and accomplishment could have slipped into relative obscurity in Southern California so quickly. Joyce Fickett offers a succinct explanation: "He shied away from all interviews," she says, "because he was extremely modest."

ART > ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG: COMBINES @ MOCA, GRAND AVENUE

2006-06-22T14:42:00.000-07:00

The most complete survey of these unique works ever mounted, this exhibition features more than 70 key Combines created between 1954–1964, an exceptionally productive period in Robert Rauschenberg’s career. From the early 1950s on, Rauschenberg broke down traditional boundaries between painting and sculpture and forged new ground in a multitude of media to invent an artistic expression uniquely his own. MOCA has the largest collection of the Combines, 11 in all, including Untitled (Man with White Shoes), Factum 1, Coca-Cola Plan, and Interview, which provide the foundation for an in-depth and focused examination of these works. The exhibition is curated by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Mixed-Race Asians Find Pride as Hapas

2006-06-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

A new book and an art exhibit in L.A. reflect an evolution in perceptions of a multiracial group historically made to feel like outsiders.

In Chinese restaurants, he was the kid who was always given the fork. In his largely white Covina public schools, he was the one beaten up and taunted as a "Chinaman" and "burnt potato chip."

Kip Fulbeck, a Santa Barbara artist, filmmaker, athlete and art professor who is of Chinese, Irish, Welsh and English descent, was born at a time when several states still banned mixed-race marriages and the children of such unions were routinely stigmatized.

But 41 years later, as interracial marriages have exponentially increased, Fulbeck is now celebrated as one of the nation's leading artists focused on work about mixed-race Asians, known as "hapas." He recently published a book on hapa identity, "Part Asian 100% Hapa," and this weekend opened a related photographic exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo.

ART > THE EYE OF L.A. / MARK BRADFORD

2006-06-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

A native son and rising art star immortalizes South Los Angeles' 'merchant class.' In Bradford's collages, Ernest Hardy sees the signs and the subtexts of everyday life, as multihued and multilingual as the place they come from.

INTERIOR MONOLOGUE > His artful side, unmasked

2006-06-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

"RESTORING a house is like building a hot rod," says ZZ Top guitarist and vocalist Billy Gibbons. "You're always asking yourself: Is it ever really complete?"

For the past six years, the bearded Texas bluesman has been tuning up a 1926, three-story Spanish Mission manse just north of the rock clubs on the Sunset Strip. Gibbons' casa is a classic red-tile-roof Hollywood adobe, one that he and English-born architect Malcolm Worby have re-imagined as a minimalist, gallery-like home and studio.

"Mr. Worby found his way to Santa Fe, where he developed a passion for the simplistic architectural values of the region," Gibbons explains in a professorial manner that seems at odds with the songwriter of "Legs" and "Tush." "His work is a melding of Southwestern and Mediterranean that seems to be fitting for early 20th century California architecture."

It was a given that a certain Lone Star state of mind would influence the design, which stripped the house back to its bones — the better to exploit its Texas-sized proportions.

"We decided design elements that might have been overlooked or covered up were supposed to be revealed," says Gibbons, 56. He and Worby rebuilt thickly plastered walls and added viga-style ceiling beams and headers over fireplaces, arched doorways and built-in cabinets that display custom guitars and memorabilia. Cars are another love of Gibbons', author of the coffee table book "Rock + Roll Gearhead."

The big surprise in the home, however, is Gibbons' collection of African artifacts. Ritual masks, spirit figures and fighting costumes are displayed reverently as sculpture. Tribal objects including carved wooden Senufo beds and woven cots serve as tables and chairs.

"These are largely functional and utilitarian items of day-to-day living, not particularly viewed as something to be signed, or dated," says Gibbons, who traded in his legendary ZZ Top ten-gallon topper for a cap called an ashente, or prestige hat, by the Bamileke tribe of Cameroon. "What makes them attractive is that they have a gloss that reflects how much they have been used."

Why the fascination with African art? "I believe that the music that I play was born in Western Africa," says Gibbons, who with ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years ago. "Wanting to be interpreters of that art form, we have always sought inspiration from these artifacts."

It is a ZZ Top custom to place an African object near the doorway of their recording studio to remind the band of its musical inspiration. Gibbons brought that habit home, placing African currency that looks like metal sculpture in niches on the exterior walls of the house and flanking his front doorway with ceremonial wooden carvings.

The garden has an equally impressive sculpture, a totem pole bearing the face of Gibbons in full beard and, appropriately enough, cheap sunglasses.

Here, he explains his formula for upscale down-home design.

BLOGS > Fleamail May 28, 2006

2006-05-31T04:38:00.000-07:00

dear peoples

i am writing about something important

in Los Angeles, where i live
there is an area called South Central Los Angeles
this is a working class low income urban neighborhood
full of decent families trying to make a living and a peaceful life
for themselves

in 1992, in the wake of a court decision regarding a man called
Rodney King and some police officers
there were riots in the community and alot of people were hurt and a
lot of things were destroyed

after these riots
the people who live there were given and area of land which they called

The South Central Farm

this land is used by 350 families who dont have very much money
they grow food on it, and it is their farm, in the middle of a city
it is the largest urban farm in the united states
for many of these families it is their primary food source
it is a beautiful thing

but now
through a series of political dealings and law suits
a developer has bought the land from the city for below the market price
and is serving an eviction notice to the people who grow their food
there
they want a sheriff to come this weekend and forcibly remove everyone
to make room for a 'warehouse superstore'

there are a group of people who are asking the city to purchase the
land back from the developer for the price that he paid for it
the developer purchased the land for 5 million dollars in 2003
and now he wants 16 million dollars for 10 of the fourteen acres

so this group of people who are trying to help the south central farmers
are trying to raise money to buy back the land
and work with the city
and keep the south central farmers in their rightful spot

i believe they have raised 4 million dollars already

if it is possible i ask you to visit www.southcentralfarmers.com

and donate money if you can, or call the mayor of los angeles and
voice your opinion about this
or if you live in los angeles, show up on the site and let your
feelings be known

it is very possible to turn the tide in the favor of the farmers
a victory is within reach

i am in barcelona and otherwise would be there myself

thank you

always,

flea

CONCERTS > Mellowdrone @ Troubadour

2006-05-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

The list of Hollywood venues as important to rock history as the legendary Troubadour is short. Very short. If it just had its California folk cache from the '70s—introducing Elton John to the US, ejecting John Lennon and Harry Nilsson after they berated the Smothers Brothers, and linking Carly Simon with James Taylor—it would be impressive enough. But other clubs, including the Whisky and the Roxy, have similar legacies. What sets the Troubadour apart is how essential it still is now. A steady string of top-notch booking agents have assured that the Troub still brings in prime up-and-coming talent which recently has included sold-out indie rock shows from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand and The Thrills. Monday nights are mostly free and mostly local (though checking the calendar is a good idea); now-huge bands like Incubus and Hoobastank got their start at these residencies, playing the main room before getting their first taste of stardom in the VIP loft overlooking the stage. Tip: If you're under 21, you can't smoke in the designated area in front of the venue.

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.Los Angeles, 90069. (310) 276-6168.