Mr. Sparkle

Fusion cuisine usually results in strong feelings. Ours tends toward an itch to retch. Savagely gimmicky places like Thaitalian (both have noodles!) utilize the conciliatory application of different ethnic ingredients and technique frankly make us want to …

Weekend At Beany's

The cooling final months of this intense and triumphant 2008 necessitate warm and hearty sustenance. In these tired economic times, one cheap and awesome go-to is always the bean and for us vegetarians the myriad mini legumes that make up the bean …

'Mag' and Cheese

Hip, hip! Mornay! Getting new gigs is always nice. And for at least the next few months, until we cuss ourselves out of a job, we'll be acting as recipe columnists for L.A.-based Swindle Magazine. Our first comes out this month in their 'Icons' issue, where …

Massage Ale

We were reminded how much we believe in getting to know your local beer-monger this week when we came home from shopping with a cardboard box of beer and this bottle of 13th Century Grut on top for tasting. We tend to think of that client-customer …

Wed Dreams II: The Dinner

In our war room-esque planning meetings "Event Number 2," what we had unceremoniously anointed the 8 course-tasting menu for 60 people, was all about timing. At a predetermined time half of our 10 person crew and one of us would sever from the casual …

Wed Dreams: The Reception

Tom met Andy nearly 20 years ago. They're both vegetarians and practicing Buddhists. Both sweet guys with good taste. Tom and Andy met the Hot Knives blog about 2 months ago when they wrote to us about catering their wedding. We sat down for wine and menu …

Old PAs

Cave-aged IPAs? OK, it's not doctor recommended, kid-tested or mother approved. Most brew hoarders go by the eenie-meanie-miney-mo-if-its-hoppy-let-it-go mantra, so they only age high-alcohol beers. And we're sure there's some scientific sense in that. But we …

Cracking The Beercave

Trumpets please. Ahem. One year and a half after we first birthed this cacamamy scheme to cellar some of our beer purchases, our "Beer Cave" is finally mature (give or take a few repeat bottles, which will come in handy for taste-offs). That's right, our …

Smokin' Leek Hash

This will not top the soup that quasi-inspired it, let's get that outta the way right quick. That'd be the leek hash and pea soup with almond butter we had ladled for us tableside at Melisse in Santa Monica on a recent spat of pricey visits that we made for …

S'mora Muhammara

One of us had our first taste of muhammara -- the nutty pink paste of walnuts and charred bell peppers -- on a dashing date with a gorgeous lady friend. The other one of us tried muhammara for the first time just two hours later eating take-out remnants from …

Baked Nizz-Salad Cups

We did not pull this name outta nowhere: The Frogs sometimes refer to their national salad as Insalata Nizzarda, more popularly known as the nicoise. The mother of all deconstructed salads. The Foucault of lettuce. With its cold, charred peppers, slim haricot …

Beer Of Influence

The new collaboration brew by San Diego saints Stone and Alesmith and Denmark droogie Mikkeller -- a surprisingly gentle triple-like Belgian-ish beer without a name -- raises more questions than it does answers. For starters, was it brewed in SD or the EU? …

Summer Spooning

We love to love our tomatoes. When we find plump beauties at our favorite farmer's stand we begin a slow but brief affair, one of pampering, seduction and ultimately consumption. Like any fruit, tomatoes are best when they are ripe so we like to lay ours …

Kabocha Cream

The long foggy mornings of late are some of the few and brief signs that the seasons are changing in California. The Fall, known throughout the rest of our country as a time of foliage fireworks and chilling temperatures, typically means little more in LA …

Immersion Blender

Pulse. Mix. Blend. By any other name, Cuisinart-ing an ingredient -- known to some as 'cuisin' the juice' -- is one of the most crucial kitchen skills that gets overlooked by the kind of cheapskates that we typically run with.

Knives? Sure. Cutting boards, …

The Workman's Friend

"When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN."

Flann O'brian's eponymous ode to stout has been playing in our minds like a Joe Strummer ballad on …

Balla'Naise

Talk about mangia, mangia, mangia, mannnn. On a recent herby Sunday afternoon, we popped a bomber of ale and picked some fresh basil and got the hankering for a sloppy trough of pasta. You know, the kind that clings to the corners of your open-wound of a …

Pickled Smoked Goat

Sure, it sounds deceptively carnivorous and a little barnyardy, but this standout sandwich, which we concocted for our most recent grilled cheese experiment, deserves an arresting name. A more accurate description might be "chevre-salad-sammich." See? Not as …

Calaba-Sweetus

Indigenous green thumbs called them the "three sisters": corn, beans and squash. That's partly because they grow in such harmony together, shielding each other from a harsh and beating sun, and because they taste so good with each other. This classic …

Eat This Sammy!

Want this sammy? It's yours! We weren't going to say anything about our latest grilled cheese exploits because, well, the thing was sold out. But now we're told that there's two seats left, so here ya go. It's not so exclusive, it's just a smallish fun …