Bacon as Metaphor: the Lifecycle of a Culinary Trend
I first heard about it on KPBS in the morning. They announced it as filler between news items of bigger importance--Burger King put a bacon sundae on the menu. The news brief was meant for levity, but for me it …
Babbo's Bar and Grille
Fact: my former neighbors owned the Gulf Coast Grille that was on Park Boulevard at the border of University Heights and Hillcrest. Gulf Coast is no more and the building is now home to Babbo's. My neighbors, as far as …
Breakfast at Olive Cafe
I've been trying to get down to the beach communities at least a little bit more frequently as of late, especially early in the morning while the June Gloom is making everything seem sleepy and peaceful. I visited the Olive …
How to Cook (and Eat) Balut
I got embroiled in a conversation the other day with a colleague of Vietnamese extraction named Lydia. For whatever reason, we ended up talking about weird things that get eaten and the dialogue eventually turned towards balut. She said that …
Tennis Nationals Being Played Now!
Non-mainstream sporting championships happen in a relative vacuum compared to, say, the Super Bowl or the World Series. Because of this, there's very little hype surrounding something like the United States Tennis Association National Open Hard Court Championships, which are …
Checking in on Sea Rocket Bistro
I haven't been to Sea Rocket in a while, not since before Chad White started working for Brian Malarkey and former sous chef Tommy Fraioli started wearing the Big Hat in the bistro's kitchen. The visit's made more relevant by …
Carnitas' Snack Shack: Still Surprisingly Affordable (Plus a Bit on the Global Financial Crisis...)
So, Barbarella pretty much had the first and final word on the Snack Shack at the end of last year and I defer to her assessment as both accurate and concise. Namely, Carnitas' is pork-lover's heaven and there is some …
The Sky Cats of University Heights!
So, about eighteen months ago, a feral cat gave birth to a litter of kittens in the alleyway between my house and my neighbor's. For whatever reason, the kittens took to the trees. Even when they were little babies, I …