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LL Cool J Battles Banana Pudding; Four L.A. Chefs Nominated by Food & Wine

• LL Cool J admits he loves junk food like ice cream and banana pudding. Could that be Fun Dip he’s always licking off his lips? [Digital Spy]

• L.A.’s own Ricardo Zarate, Josef Centeno, Jamie Lauren, and Casey Lane have all been nominated as contestants in Food & Wine’s contest “The People’s Best New Chef.” Not sure how new they all are, but we’d like to see them win nonetheless. [LAist]

• Speaking of the Mo Chica chef, look out açaí, as purple Peruvian chicha might become the world’s next in-demand superfood, a claim supported by Lucy Haro, owner of West L.A.’s Qusqo. [KABC]

• Police are looking for two guys who robbed an Eagle Rock Domino’s last night. [LAT]

• “Don’t just tip your waiter, demand equity for restaurant workers.” [Color Lines]

• Including fast food calorie counts appears to have little influence on children’s ordering habits. Not a big shocker there. [KABC]

• While one in six residents of Bell live in poverty, city councilman Victor Bello was making $100,000 a year to run the city’s food bank, even after he resigned. [Bloomberg]

• New SoCal burger chain Stacked: Food Well Built. will feature not buxom waitresses, as the name might suggest, but rather iPad ordering. [USAT]

• Not content to conquer the world and places like Beijing’s Forbidden City, Starbucks has contrived to get its coffee served in half a million hotel rooms. [USAT]

• U.S. food handouts were suspended in North Korea in 2009, but now the Obama administration is reviewing the country’s requests for food amid worsening shortages, and the U.N. is conducting its own assessment as well. [Businessweek]

• Three kinds of Garden of Eatin tortilla chips have been recalled due to undeclared allergens. [PR Newswire]

LL Cool J Battles Banana Pudding; Four L.A. Chefs Nominated by Food &