PREFACE Skankynavia: In the US (Part 1 – Berkeley) Last week I listened to the great NYC radioshow called RadioLab. They deal with quirky science and interesting true stories, and last week’s subject was “memory” (a rerun from 2007, listen here). It turns out that every time you remember something, and
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Around the corner from the dimly-lit, time machine-esque Smoke House is Bob’s Big Boy. This is where tourists and locals go to eat high-calorie meals under bright fluorescent lights, without caring who’s watching them–and no one is. The polite waitstaff is there to do the job they are paid to do: routinely and
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The Smoke House is the sort of place where old-timey execs sip their nightcaps as they wait for their retirement (“I gave the best years of my life to this place”) and where awkward co-workers carry on as if they are passing through town for work, treating their affairs as fleeting, one
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Located in Studio City or Toluca Lake (depending on who you’re talking to) since 1961, Henry’s Tacos has served ground beef tacos served in a hard corn shell. They’ve marginally expanded their menu since then, now offering soft tacos, burritos and the quasi-famous taco burger, but the ground beef remains as basically the only
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Diners provide a gastronomic touchstone for family weekend breakfasts, drunken all-nighters, road trip pit stops and business meetings. Du-par’s is no exception. This family owned diner chain has had a presence in Southern California for the past 73 years, and has always held a good reputation for its house-made baked goods,
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I drove up the well hidden path framed by carefully manicured greenery and pulled into valet (only to ask, “is there street parking close by?”), and a rush of old Hollywood imagery washed over me. Frames from The Way We Were and Shampoo fluttered about as I fell into a movie star
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Why are old things, places, clothes, movies, books, more interesting than what’s available to us today? Is it because the grass is always greener? Or that you always want what you can’t have? I’m sure that’s part of it, but it has to be more than that. The authenticity, the history, the
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Some people love the availability of innumerable options and possibility; Flea markets, Walmart, The Cheesecake Factory. And while there are some occasions where I enjoy the limitless options and “but what ifs” that tend to come along with sitting down to a proper meal at a new and exciting restaurant, generally I don’t have the
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Ahhhh the life of a food journalist. The repeat and multiple visits to restaurants of all shapes and sizes, booze and food paid for by expense accounts, all in the name of research. I remember reading a review by Frank Bruni about Per Se, Thomas Keller’s New York sibling to
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Regional food pride has long been a competitive discussion between residents of urban cities throughout the United States (acutely observed here by our favorite comedian Kyle Kinane).

Food at the the top of this list, like pizza and hot dogs, are usually made with cheap ingredients infused with a local style.
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