I grew up knowing that I was on the very edge of Los Angeles. My proof was Colima Road, a stretch of smoggy two-way lanes dominated by Mandarin and Korean print, save the occassional taco truck and L.A.’s easternmost branch of Tommy’s. As the years have gone by, this and other satellites of Southern California’s [...]

For the next week, I’ll be writing short posts on the meals I enjoyed during a two-week vacation in my native California. Every time I’m handed a bowl of chips at a Mexican restaurant, I get the feeling that my life is a series of salsa verdes, each more addictive than the last. The distinctly [...]

For the next week, I’ll be writing short posts on the meals I enjoyed during a two-week vacation in my native California. Exactly what the hell is “California pizza?” A casual glance at my home state offers glimmers of hope, but only amidst a tasteless slurry of industrial-grade delivery chains, “New York” style pizzerias that [...]

For the next week, I’ll be writing short posts on the meals I enjoyed during a two-week vacation in my native California. By the time I discovered truly good Pho, I was miles away from one of its best sources: the Orange County neighborhood of Westminster, where signs for the popular Vietnamese noodle soup outnumber [...]

For the next week, I’ll be writing short posts on the meals I enjoyed during a two-week vacation in my native California. There’s a bar in Long Beach that recognizes what every pickled egg in this country is missing: chilies. Rather than submerging its hard boiled eggs in beet-tinted brine, Joe Jost’s imbues them with [...]

For the next week, I’ll be writing short posts on the meals I enjoyed during a two-week vacation in my native California. My first hour in California runs like clockwork: Get off the plane. Find a restroom. Pick up my baggage. Drive to In-N-Out. Plenty have followed this routine for years, and plenty others have [...]

We’re already 10 days into Western civilization’s latest year, but I’m still working on the backlog of eats that’s been on my mind since October. To kick things off after my winter break from food blogging, I’m happy to carry on our tradition of recounting our most memorable meals of the previous year. Stephen My [...]