From the category archives:

Restaurants

The Beautiful Food of BALEENkitchen

Thumbnail image for The Beautiful Food of BALEENkitchen May 30, 2013

You’re Invited to the BALEENkitchen Summer Preview Party. Please join us for dinner, drinks and live entertainment. This is what my invitation said and I absolutely could not say no, because BALEENkitchen is my favorite restaurant in the Southbay area, located at The Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach. If you follow my blog, you will […]

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26 Food Porn Sites that are Not TasteSpotting

Thumbnail image for 26 Food Porn Sites that are Not TasteSpotting September 7, 2011

The last 8 photos I submitted to TasteSpotting were declined. I was disappointed, naturally, because getting my photos accepted does wonders for my traffic. However, since the people who view TasteSpotting also view FoodGawker, where 6 of those same photos were accepted, I figured it was TasteSpotting’s loss. When Sarah Gim, who runs TasteSpotting, spoke […]

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The Food Porn Laboratory

Thumbnail image for The Food Porn Laboratory August 14, 2011

Spicy “Crack” Krab Cakes from Starry Kitchen The full title for this post is actually “The Food Porn Laboratory Sponsored by Starry Kitchen featuring Pulitzer Prize Winning LA Times Photographer Kirk McKoy & Award-Winning Photojournalist and Photo Editor Ken Kwok”. Quite a mouth-full. But all true. Last week my friend Michele sent me an urgent […]

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BALEEN at The Portofino Hotel for Breakfast, Lunch, Oh My and Lemon Meringue Pie

Thumbnail image for BALEEN at The Portofino Hotel for Breakfast, Lunch, Oh My and Lemon Meringue Pie June 25, 2011

In September of last year I visited Baleen and photographed beautiful dishes from Executive Chef Jesse Souza’s dinner menu. I had so much fun and the food was absolutely beautiful and delicious. So when I was recently invited to a Blogger Luncheon to sample and photograph the Summer Breakfast and Lunch menu items, wild horses […]

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Luncheon on the Queen Victoria Cruise Ship with Chef Todd English

Thumbnail image for Luncheon on the Queen Victoria Cruise Ship with Chef Todd English February 22, 2011

Recently I had the great pleasure of being  invited on the cruise ship Queen Victoria for a luncheon at the restaurant Todd English, to meet Chef Todd and take a tour of the ship. I had never been on a cruise ship before, so it was all new and exciting for me. Here you can […]

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Goat Cheese Ravioli with Tomatoes and Basil from Seasons 52 Fresh Grill at South Coast Plaza

Thumbnail image for Goat Cheese Ravioli with Tomatoes and Basil from Seasons 52 Fresh Grill at South Coast Plaza October 12, 2010

Last August I was invited to a lavish and spectacular blogger preview lunch at the new Seasons 52 Fresh Grill restaurant at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. You can read all about it in my post about that day. Quite soon I was getting queries about the recipes for the dishes in the story […]

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Rosti Tuscan Kitchen and a Pizza Competition

Thumbnail image for Rosti Tuscan Kitchen and a Pizza Competition October 7, 2010

Recently I received an invitation to join in a visit to Rosti Tuscan Kitchen in Encino, CA, along with ten other LA food bloggers, for a pizza-making competition. The invite said Rosti would provide the rolled-out dough and a slew of farm-fresh ingredients, and we’d each get to make our own fabulous pizza creations. These […]

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BALEEN at The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club and Warm Asparagus & Mushroom Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette

Thumbnail image for BALEEN at The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club and Warm Asparagus & Mushroom Salad with Truffle Vinaigrette September 20, 2010

Recently I had the great good fortune to be invited to review BALEEN, the signature restaurant at The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club in Redondo Beach. And I want you to know, before you read the rest of this post, that the food at this restaurant is absolutely amazing and beautiful, and this is now […]

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Seasons 52 Fresh Grill and Wine Bar at South Coast Plaza to Open Monday, August 30

Thumbnail image for Seasons 52 Fresh Grill and Wine Bar at South Coast Plaza to Open Monday, August 30 August 28, 2010

Last Saturday I was invited to a special food and dining blogger preview lunch at the new Seasons 52 restaurant at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. I knew ahead of time that there would be a special tasting menu with wine pairings and a cooking demo, but I had no idea how lavish and […]

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Umami Burger

Thumbnail image for Umami Burger July 15, 2010

My friend, Michele, and I had been talking about going to Umami Burger for months, as it was one of the restaurants with good reviews and positive word-of-mouth from one of her friends. There was even a little review of it in Bon Appetit Magazine. Since umami is the new (recently re-discovered) flavor we can […]

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A California Avocado Day at Ciudad Restaurant for Cinco de Mayo with the Too Hot Tamales

Thumbnail image for A California Avocado Day at Ciudad Restaurant for Cinco de Mayo with the Too Hot Tamales April 26, 2010

Last Saturday the California Avocado Commission hosted a Food Bloggers lunch and cooking demonstration at Ciudad with Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Ciudad is located in downtown Los Angeles in the middle of the city-scape, the sky scrapers towering all around it. About 20 of us bloggers and food writers came together with our […]

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Kalamata Olive Tapenade and Osteria Mozza

Thumbnail image for Kalamata Olive Tapenade and Osteria Mozza March 28, 2010

Last October my friend Michelle and I decided to celebrate our birthdays, which both fall in that month, at Osteria Mozza. We made our reservations a month ahead, as required, and waited with anticipation for October 5th to arrive. Mozza holds a special place on my restaurant list because Nancy Silverton is one of the […]

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Mushroom Soup and The Tin Roof Bistro

January 13, 2010
Thumbnail image for Mushroom Soup and The Tin Roof Bistro

In the summer of 2009 I noticed that one of the Spanish hacienda-style office buildings in the Manhattan Village Mall near my home had the first floor under construction. I didn’t think too much about it until one day there was a big banner across the front announcing “Tin Roof Bistro coming soon!” I was […]

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