Posts for December 7, 2012 -- Grub Street Los Angeles -- Restaurant News, Openings, Chefs

Posts for December 7, 2012

12/7/12 at 3:45 PM
Slideshow
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A Look At P.S.310's Menu, Starting December 10

Public School 310 is set to open in Fraiche's old space on December 10. Much has been already written, so now it is time for the food photos. Public School principal/CEO Bob Spivak tells us the space is full of the "school" branding, from the microscopes on the wall, to the lined paper cocktail napkins, to the notepad menu and the free apple (a day keeps the doctor away). Also included here are the 14 initial taps as curated by Tate Kline. 9411 Culver Boulevard, Culver City

Previously: P.S. 310 Opens In Culver City on December 6
P.S. 310 Taking Over Culver City's Fraiche Space in November

12/7/12 at 2:30 PM on Grub Street NY
Wishlist
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Are Hasbro’s Easy-Bake Ovens Just for Girls?

By Hugh Merwin

How about them (Easy-Baked) apples?Photo: Courtesy of Hasbro

An eighth-grade girl from Garfield, New Jersey, wanted to get her 4-year-old brother an Easy-Bake Oven for Christmas but was upset to learn the toy only came in pink and purple and is marketed to girls. McKenna Pope’s little brother Gavyn says he'd be fine playing with a pink oven by himself, but would be "embarrassed to use it in front of his friends." Pope's petition to convince Hasbro to make a "boy's" version was signed by 30,000 people in a week, and even Bobby Flay has weighed in, telling the Associated Press that he got his start on an Easy-Bake when he was just 5 years old. For the record, Flay says the oven's color doesn't matter. [AP/APP]

12/7/12 at 2:20 PM
Chef Shuffles
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A Happy Ending in the Barnyard

By Tony Chen

Bernice's old tables

Can it be? Two happy endings in one day? Restaurateur finds chef, the chef leaves, the chef starts a not-a-pop-up leaving old restaurant with no cook, now the first restaurant finds a new chef in a certain Jesse Barber, per the Eater report. Barber, in his private time, offers catering through the Kitchit program which means you can hire him to butcher those backyard bunnies and hens before Barnyard opens. With a few years cheffing at the Tasting Kitchen under his belt, it looks as if Barnyard will have some simple, well-executed food to go with those reclaimed tables.

Eater: Barnyard Appoints Jesse Barber as New Executive Chef

Previously: Management Team Bails Barnyard, Jeremy Fox Working on New Project

12/7/12 at 1:30 PM
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Bourdain Thinks A-Frame is Also Korean Food

By Tony Chen

From Anthony Bourdain's Twitter stream earlier this today: "A-Frame, Chego AND Kogi truck last night. Overdose of deliciousness. No hills, no beaches, no palms LA show.#Koreacentric #KGB". We are uncertain what abbreviates into KGB, but it must have something to do with Ozersky's A-Funk Collective. Someone please verify the legitimacy of the #Koreancentric hashtag with Kang Ho Dang. Better yet, what does Gangang Style Soju House think of A-Frame's Chu-Don't-Know-Mang? [Twitter]

Previous: Bourdain Giving Koreatown Another Close-Up

12/7/12 at 12:45 PM
The Other Critics
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Alma Wins Gold; M.A.K.E. Made Besha Raw

By Tony Chen

Ari Taylor, surprising post modernist

While some parts of country are still enjoying Mr. Well's stabby Fieri takedown, Mr. Gold goes full flip and writes an Alma love poem. It's hard to curate the superlatives in this review since it's omnipresent. He was "not quite sure what any one bite" might be, but found "it tastes gloriously, of early California fall." Alma's Ari Taymor presented a sense of certainly which Gold obviously enjoyed, and served "butter-soaked carrots" that Gold remarked as "the best things at the restaurant." The rapture does not stop here. America's best critic, and documentary subject, compares Alma to Bay Area's heavyweight Manresa and Coi, then proclaims: "nobody is cooking quite like this in L.A. at the moment". Yes, we need a cigarette right now, too. [LAT]

12/7/12 at 12:30 PM on Grub Street NY
Tank You
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Why Has SodaStream Gotten So Aggressive All of a Sudden?

By Hugh Merwin

Maybe you've seen this newish SodaStream commercial that was banned in Europe but airs carefree in the U.S.? The one that features attractive people hitting the carbonating button atop their machines to make seltzer, but also thereby remotely detonating bottles of cola and orange soda in warehouses and bodegas, as if they were two-liter bogeymen?

What's up with SodaStream?

12/7/12 at 11:30 AM
The Chain Gang
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Clubby Del Taco, Panda Express, and Burger King Punish L.A.

By Tony Chen

As if punishing one's palate isn't enough, major fast food chains in LA have teamed up to molest the rest of five senses. L.A. Times reports LED lighting, bold furniture and self-order kiosks are all meant to serve the demanding "Food Network culture". Food Network's tentacles know no boundaries. Yet as marketing ploys, none of these new concepts even come close to hip factor of the "eco" BP Green Curve on Robertson.

Fast-food eateries cooking up fresh looks [LAT]

12/7/12 at 10:30 AM
Reopenings
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Pizza Buona Slated to Reopen Today

By Tony Chen

We love happy endings. Just a few weeks after the previous Pizza Buona disaster update, the Patch reports the pizzeria may reopen today, December 7, at 11:00 A.M. It'd behoove hungry vinal-philes to call in and confirm first: (213) 413-0800

Echo Park's Pizza Buona to Reopen Friday
Previously: Echo Park's Pizza Buona Struggling to Reopen

12/7/12 at 10:10 AM on Grub Street NY
Beer Me
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How Bud Light Platinum Went Platinum

By Hugh Merwin

Tasteful.

On Monday, February 6, a vaguely sweeter, higher-proof version of Bud Light went on sale after debuting in an expensive Super Bowl commercial the previous night. Packaged in cobalt-colored bottles and sold at an arbitrarily higher price, Bud Light Platinum seemed like a big joke in the making, says BuzzFeed, but somehow the beer became Anheuser-Busch's biggest success story in recent memory, specifically with a very small subset of millennials: "24 to 27 is really that sweet spot," a Bud VP says, adding that "it's less than a demographic than a mind-set." Further down the trail of hops, BuzzFeed finds a 22-year-old marketing intern with another, more concise understanding of the beer's appeal, who says her friends "decided it was ‘a drink for frat boys who like, grew up a little bit.’’’ [BuzzFeed]

12/7/12 at 9:30 AM
TV Land
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Anthony Bourdain's The Taste Featuring L.A. Chefs

By Tony Chen

Through the grapevine, it appears Stella Rossa's Jeff Mahin, the ~~best~~ only ex-chemist pizzaiolo with a stage at Fat Duck and a stint at L2O under his belt, will be on Bourdain's mid-season show on ABC. Think: Nigella for the male viewers, Mahin for the female viewers. Yes, Mahin is sexier than Bourdain, did you not catch his Food Republic centerfold? The premiere episode will be on January 22, 2013 8:00 - 10:00 P.M.

ABC Sets Mid-Season Premiere dates [TV]
Stella Rossa's Pizza Chef is A Freakin' Fat Duck Vet and Arzak Apprentice!
Anthony Bourdain’s Got a New Show, Big Summer Plans [GS]

12/7/12 at 8:45 AM
Openings
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Sushi Kingz Spitting Out SK Lounge Next Year

By Tony Chen

itamaes of Sunset

This is not a joke. We wish it was a joke. Part time model, part time alcohol purveyor, part time hip hop musician, part time pimpsta, and full time (Sushi Kingz is open 24 hours) junk fish slinger George "Cairos" Heinen is planning on opening a new concept called "SK Lounge". It's an extension of the Sushi Kingz's basement lounge. Feel free to comment on where this ultra lounge (certainly to come with more recording studios) might be. [GS]

12/7/12 at 6:30 AM on Grub Street NY
Stay Gold
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Jonathan Gold Is Getting His Own Documentary

By Hugh Merwin

Coming to a theater near you.

Current Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold will be the subject of a forthcoming documentary directed by Laura Gabbert, who made 2009's No Impact Man, according to The Hollywood Reporter. When he started out 30 years ago, Gold shifted the food conversation away from white tablecloth restaurants by turning attention to a broader array of mom and pop noodle shops, burrito stalls, undersung smokehouses, gas station sandwich shops, and more, giving them the same consideration as the rest of the Los Angeles dining scene, then coming down from a fever dream of spa cuisine and oversteamed snow peas.

He's still sorta anonymous, so how will this work?

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