Evan Kleiman hosts Good Food on KCRW 89.9 FM and KCRW.com. She is also a noted cookbook author and Evan Kleiman hosts Good Food on 89.9 KCRW and KCRW.com.
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She is also a noted cookbook author and chef.
Want to eat at a fabulous Black-owned restaurant? We’re here to help. This list features 60 restaurant. It’s divided into 12 categories because we needed to give it some semblance of order but cuisine, like culture, is a fluid thing. Happy eating!
Tap the link in bio for the full list and for more resources on finding Black-owned restaurants in Los Angeles.
There's a reason they call Adam Alexander . In the late 1980s in eastern Ukraine, after discovering a pepper that was sweet with a fruity heat, he became obsessed with rare and unusual vegetables. He now keeps a mixture of 500 seeds, either from his travels or sent to him from around the world — like Welsh leeks, "a vegetable that has been appropriated by various civilizations," he explains.
Roman emperor Nero thought leeks would improve his oratory skills. But they didn't help his popularity. The public insulted him with the moniker "Leek Breath." When the Romans invaded Britain, they introduced the vegetable to the populace and its benefits lived on.
Click the link in bio for Adam's full conversation with about his book, "The Seed Detective: Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables."
📸Photos:
1. Markus Spiske/Unsplash
2. Nik/Unsplash
3. Courtesy of Chelsea Green
4. Jesse Alexander
Until the last few hundred years, almost everybody ate with their hands. The shift to utensils didn't happen until the 1800s. Writer Serena Alagappan explores what drove this, and how the use of flatware — whether it was chopsticks or forks — conveyed class, status and privilege.
She also breaks down one of the most common misconceptions about eating with your hands — that there's no technique to it. You might eat with the tips of your fingers. Or clump your fingers together and push forward with your thumb. Or avoid the pinky finger. Or use your whole palm for runny dishes. Those skills vary widely depending on region, household and type of food.
So why did the West deem the practice "uncivilized"? Click the link in bio for 's full conversation with about the shared experience of eating with your hands.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.
Start composting! As of January 16, Angelenos are required to toss their food scraps and all other "organic waste" into green composting bins. What can and can't go into these green bins? We asked Michael Martinez of .
COMPOST THIS: Everything that was once alive! Fruit, vegetables, bread, cereals, pasta, grains, meat, bones, fish, coffee grounds and food-soiled paper.
DO NOT COMPOST: Glass, plastic, rubber bands and those biodegradable bags from the supermarket.
PRO TIP: To avoid smells and pests, freeze scraps and deposit them weekly in the green bin. The city of L.A. even offers free, countertop composting pails.
Tap the link in bio for details and to learn why composting is so important.
Photo courtesy of LA Compost.
.market is a mobile farmers market featuring Black farmers, food producers, entrepreneurs, artists, florists and chefs. And it's popping up TODAY, from 11am to 3pm, at the California African American Museum . Head to Exposition Park to celebrate Prosperity Market's two-year anniversary and Black History Month.
Click the link in bio for more info and to hear 's full interview with founders Kara Still and Carmen Dianne, who launched the concept during the pandemic as a way to support Black-owned businesses. It hasn't always been easy.
Photo by Jerome A. White
It's almond pollination season. Every year at around this time, bee truckers haul millions of hives to California so bees can pollinate the state's 1.3 million acres of almond trees. The hives come from states such as Montana, Idaho, Texas and Florida. It's a booming business. It's a complicated process that requires people to drive all day, almost without stopping. Then, when pollination season is over, the same bees travel to Maine for blueberry pollination and to North Dakota for honey production.
Adam Novicki, who runs with his partner, Therese McLaughlin, says he now earns two-thirds of his income from hive rental and only one-third from producing honey. It used to be the other way around. Tap the link in bio to hear his full interview about almond pollination, the perils of bee hauling, hive thefts and and why this is a weird year for almond pollination.
📸Photos by:
1. Boris Smokrovic/Unsplash
2. .berkovich/Unsplash
3. Avinash Kumar/Unsplash
4 - 5. Adam Novicki
What's purple, gold and green all over? A king cake! And today is Fat Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras), marking the end of Carnival season, which starts on January 6 (aka the Epiphany or the 12th night of Christmas). Why did the tradition take hold so strongly in New Orleans? What happens if you find a little plastic baby in your slice of cake? And what happens if you try to eat King Cake out of season? "You'll get it slapped out of your hand by a traditionalist New Orleanian," says , who wrote The Big Book of King Cake ().
There are tons of twists on the king cake. A Honduran version made with guava and cheese. A chocolate babka king cake. Even a cricket king cake.
Want to make your own? Tap the link in bio for a king cake recipe from the New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute .
📸 Photos by
This weekend, Feb. 17-18, , a "strip mall wine bar for the sapphically inclined," soft opens in Silver Lake, in the former space. With fewer than two dozen le***an bars in the U.S., that's kind of a big deal! You can thank Mara Herbkersman and Emily Bielagus, who named the bar after Rita Mae Brown's 1973 novel, "The Rubyfruit Jungle.”
"Humans are social beings. Emily and I had been daydreaming about opening a sapphic space, and the pieces started to come together that Eszett would be the right space for us to do that," Herbkersman says.
Although L.A. is home to lots of successful le***an parties, this will be the city's first bar for le***ans and the gender expansive community since the Oxwood Inn closed in 2017.
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Beny Ashburn and Teo Hunter run Inglewood brewery . Of the 9,000 breweries in the U.S., it's one of only 60 that are owned by Black people. The company recently collaborated with in Maine to create the brand new Cur-8 pilsner, which supports Black brewers. Consider it beer with a purpose... and a great flavor profile.
Imagine the crisp taste of Crowns & Hops' 8 Trills Pils pilsner + bourbon, vanilla and oak notes from Allagash's Curieux. "Creativity with a phenomenal cause is something we’ve accomplished here," Teo says.
Listen to the full interview with and about how they've worked to improve diversity, inclusion and racial equity in craft beer and their non-profit.
Photos:
1. Courtesy of Crowns & Hops
2. Courtesy of Allagash Brewing
The couple that draws together, makes genoise together. Yeah, it's a tricky rhyme. But has a super sweet love story. This collection of zines, produced by Silver Lake couple Sungyoon Choi and Eric Watkins, features recipes and comics about their lives, from daily domestic tasks to Eric asking Sungyoon to marry him.
started the project by doodling in the kitchen. began scripting out the sketches. Together, they grew the project into a full-blown comic. They've compiled all of their zins, from 2014 to 2022, into a beautiful 160-page volume.
Choi's recipe for bulgogi calls for a Trader Joe's shaved meat because it was the most affordable she could find when she was living in New York. For the perfect Valentines Day warm-up, listen to the full interview at the link in bio.
📸 Photos courtesy of Sungyoon Choi and Eric Watkins
Is a James Beard-nominated restaurant with lines out the door? Or is it a neighborhood sports bar? Both!
L.A. native Avish Naran wanted to do a sports bar his way. That means combining Indian and Italian food into dishes like malai rigatoni and chicken tikka pizza. It also means that Pijja Palace has more of a feminine touch, with light wood and a vintage soda fountain.
What’s on the large screen TVs? Anything. "If there’s something you want to watch, even if it’s some obscure lacrosse match and I can get the package, I’ll happily get the package and we’ll watch lacrosse," Avish says. Tap link in bio for our full conversation with Avish.
A sports bar FOR women, BY women? It's called the Sports Bra and it's in Portland, Oregon. Jenny Nguyen opened with a modest crowdfunding campaign. You can watch women's sports, sip a pint from a female brewer and eat a burger made with beef that came from a woman-owned ranch.
Jenny talks to about how she flipped the script on the traditional watering hole. Listen at the link in bio!
Let's celebrate the samosa! Where did it come from? When did it originate? How has it evolved? In her book, "Who's Samosa is it Anyway?" Sonal Ved unpacks the history of Indian cuisine as seen through the lens of these savory, crunchy pyramids. Click the link in bio to listen to our full interview with her.
📸Photos by:
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2. courtesy of
What's Jacques Pépin up to? The octogenarian has been busy. He's a chef, a cookbook author... and a painter? Yes! For more than 50 years, Jacques has been illustrating the menus for the dinner parties he and his wife have thrown. One of his favorite subjects? The chicken.
About a decade ago, he brought his two loves together and began incorporating food into his chicken paintings. The result is his latest book, "Jacques Pépin Art of the Chicken." It combines recipes, stories and paintings from the master chef, all featuring the humble bird.
Listen to him chat with at the link in bio.
🎨Paintings by Jacques Pépin
"We're trying to explain the narrative of women and their roles, in being the custodian of recipes, of nourishing generations of people," says Asma Khan. The Indian-born, British chef is famous for training immigrant women to run her all-female kitchen at , her London restaurant. She pays homage to the first woman in her life, her mother, in her latest cookbook, “Ammu: Indian Home Cooking to Nourish Your Soul."
Khan talked to about how her life both reflected and diverged from her mother's. Although she appears in Season 6 of , she thinks TV has intimidated home cooks when it comes to making Indian food. The first two chapters of Ammu feature her favorite childhood recipes and dishes she made when she started learning how to cook. She shared her recipe for Shrimp Biryani.
📸Photos:
1. Laura Edwards
2. .soltys.photography
Despite all the accolades Pearl River Deli has received, the Chinatown restaurant is shutting down at the end of February. Chef Johnny Lee explains to how even an acclaimed restaurant can be financially unsustainable.
Rising food costs. Paying the staff a living wage. Walking the fine line between culinary experimentation and meeting customer expectations. Whatever comes next for Johnny and his business, it will be very different than how PRD operates now. It'll have to be. Listen at the link in bio.
What is white barbecue sauce? Popular in Alabama and a few other spots in the Deep South, it's pale thanks to a mayonnaise base. Chef Tanya Holland makes a version that marries the classic creaminess with the richness and beautiful green color of California avocados.You'll love the way this pale sauce elevates fresh corn and grilled shrimp.
It's just one of the many recipes in 's new cookbook, "Tanya Holland's California Soul," that combines her Louisiana roots with California influences. Tap the link in bio to get Tanya's recipe for Grilled Shrimp and Corn with Avocado White Barbecue Sauce.
You'll also find her recipe for Gumbo Z’herbes with Dungeness Crab and Prawns.
Plus, you'll get to hear her conversation with about her first restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen, in West Oakland (home of the Black Panther Party) and what the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West meant for her family.
Photos by
Where do you find the best carnicerías and meat markets in LA? Ask Lexis-Olivier Ray aka . From family-run businesses to farmer's market stands, he scoped out the best butchers for . And he shared his discoveries with us!
What makes a great carnicería? Inventory, price range and your relationship with the people behind the counter, he tells . Catch the full interview at the link in bio.
The shops include , , &
📸Photos by:
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3. .the
RIP Barbara Hansen. The longtime Los Angeles-based food writer and journalist leaves behind a legacy of engaging writing, sharing small yet important stories, in-depth reporting and, most of all, countless hours of mentoring and kindness to many who followed in her footsteps. She will be missed, not just by us but by foodies everywhere and by the entire food writing community. We're lucky we had the chance to interview Barbara last year (link in bio).
Her 1971 book, "California Cooking Style," was a primer for exploring the state's diverse cuisine. Although Barbara said she was a disaster in her high school home economics class, she had an inquisitive spirit and an adventurous palette. They inspired her to explore the bounty of Southern California's foods and flavors — Japanese, Korean, South American, Greek, Armenian, Mexican.
Barbara started writing about food and the human connection for the LA Times. The frequent trips she took to Tijuana with her mother and sister inspired her Border Line column, which focused on Mexican cuisine. Barbara was also the inspiration for the older food writer in 's 2022 novel, "Love & Saffron." Set in the 1960s, it traces the story of two women of two different generations, living in different cities, who develop a friendship by sharing recipes and food experiences. Kim also has a lovely tribute to Barbara on her feed.
Photos...1. This snapshot comes from the dust jacket of Mexican Cookery (pub. 1989) by Barbara Hansen. Photo by Gearge De Gennaro.
2. This snapshot comes from Cooking California Style (pub. 1971) by Barbara Hansen. Photo by Lou Mack.
3. Photo of Barbara Hansen and food writer Bill Esparza courtesy of
Ground meat is a leading cause of food poisoning. Lisa Gill wrote about the dangerous bacteria found in ground meat for . After testing 350 packages of ground beef, pork, turkey and chicken from various stores, the investigation found salmonella in approximately a third of the samples of ground chicken.
Raising, processing and packaging can all contribute to contamination. If you don't want to go plant-based, how do you avoid consuming contaminated ground meat? Grind it yourself at home. And cook your burger a little longer. Listen to Lisa’s conversation with at the link in bio.
Photo by Danielle Scott/Flickr
Ground meat is a leading cause of food poisoning. Lisa Gill wrote about the dangerous bacteria found in ground meat for . After testing 350 packages of ground beef, pork, turkey and chicken from various stores, the investigation found salmonella in approximately a third of the samples of ground chicken.
Raising, processing and packaging can all contribute to contamination. If you don't want to go plant-based, how do you avoid consuming contaminated ground meat? Grind it yourself at home. And cook your burger a little longer.
Photo by Danielle Scott/Flickr
Want to make these gorgeous Salt and Pepper Brick Mushrooms? We have 's recipe! It's easy and delicious. You can use oyster, maitake, lion’s mane, or portobello. Tap the link in bio.
Andrea spent her youth looking down instead of up, becoming obsessed with mushrooms, in particular. Now a photographer and a cook, her first cookbook is "Cooking with Mushrooms: A Funghi Lover’s Guide to the World’s Most Versatile, Flavorful, Health-Boosting Ingredients."
📸Photo by Andrea Gentl
How are elite tech bros preparing for the end of the world? If you answered, "Working their butts off to mitigate some of the massive harm and inequality they've caused," you'd be wrong.
The world's wealthiest people think that with enough money and technology, they can insulate themselves from anything. It's not going to work. "It’s as if they want to build a car that will escape from its own exhaust," says. He explains why they're wrong and what the rest of us actually *can* do. Listen to the interview at the link in bio!
Photo by Nandor Muzsik/Unsplash
Love Chinese Chicken Salad? Thank Sylvia Wu. Legend has it that she developed it for Cary Grant at Madame Wu’s Garden, her legendary restaurant. It opened in Santa Monica in 1959 and for almost 40 years, until it closed in 1998, it was one of LA's premier power dining spots.
Sylvia, who opened the place with a $10,000 loan from her skeptical husband, modeled it after the most elegant restaurants in Hong Kong. Madame Wu, as she became known, was even more glamorous than her restaurant. She died in October 2022 at the age of 106. discusses her legacy. Listen at the link in bio.
Photos by:
1. Sylvia Wu by herself — Bob Riha Jr./Getty Images.
2. Sylvia Wu, Jack Benny & Mary Livingston — Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library Collection
3. Salad -
Yotam Ottolenghi's Butter-Poached Shrimp and Celery Root with Herb Paste is a comfort food stunner. It's special enough to impress guests but easy enough that you don’t have to spend too much time over the stove. Tap the link in bio for the recipe! Listen to and his fellow chef, Noor Murad, explain what it means to "Ottolenghify" a dish. The term is in the Urban Dictionary so it must be a real word!
You'll also find the recipe in their new cookbook, "Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things," which celebrates condiments, dressings and sauces.
Photos by
Heading to the farmers market this week? Get inspired by of and how she uses carrots four ways in the same dish. There are carrots tossed in carrot molasses. There's a carrot muhammara (a spread usually made with red peppers and walnuts). There's a carrot top yogurt. She uses red Kyoto and nance carrots from Paul Thurston of in Ventura.
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How do we cook in the age of catastrophes? Whether we end up distilling whiskey from urine or 3D printing food from insect powder, The Anthropocene Cookbook imagines the food of the future. But this project isn't about falling fatalistically into doomsday cuisine. Listen to the full interview with .cerpina and Stahl Stenslie at the link in bio.
Nutritional psychology is a new field. It examines the link between what we eat and how we feel. The connections aren't as clear as "Eat chocolate, be happy." We wish. But there's a lot to explore!
Mary Beth Albright aka .beth of digs a lot deeper than the adage, "You are what you eat" in her book, "Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being." Listen to her entire discussion with at the link in bio.
Russian cuisine has evolved in the shadow of scarcity and isolation. After .goldstein's grandparents fled the country, they refused to discuss their history with her. That only piqued her interest. Darra started visiting the country in 1972 and made it her life's work to explore the foods and flavors of Russia.
In her latest book, "The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian Food," the food scholar talks about why there are two Russian words for food, how famine and privation shaped the country's cuisine, why the heart of any Russian meal is bread and soup, and the anguish she feels over Russia's war on Ukraine. Listen at the link in bio!
📸Photos by...
1. blini & samovar:
2. borscht:
3. pelmemi: Pannet/Wikimedia Commons
4. okroshka: Nikkolo/Wikimedia Commons
5. pirozhki: Pannet/Wikimedia Commons
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's Relleno Negro is a thing of beauty... and he shared his recipe with us! The Austin-born cook and author first tried the dish, a rich, black turkey stew, at a roadside stand somewhere between Cancun and Tulum. Its base is recado negro, a concentrated spice paste made of smoky, charred chilies (in this case ancho, guajillo and árbol).
Rick, who now lives in Mazatlan, explores his cultural heritage in his bestselling cookbook, “Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico.” The recipe is at the link in bio. So is his full conversation — about gaspacho moreliano, the white mole known as uliche, the impact of immigration on Mexico's regional cuisines and becoming an advocate for Mexican cuisine and culture — with . It was one of our favorites of the year!
📸Photos by
Enjoy some Hebridean hygge! Like many of us, Coinneach MacLeod spent a lot of time baking during the pandemic. Unlike many of us, he became a social media star. As he makes kilts, canines and cookies look even more inviting. He lives on the Isle of Lewis. It's part of Scotland but it's actually closer to Iceland so it's got its own Viking vibe.
Working from a wood-burning stove and living off-grid in a cabin that's only accessible by canoe, he and his partner, Peter, bake and garden to their hearts' content.
From traditional shortbread to a vegetarian haggis, Coinneach shares his recipes in his book, The Hebridean Baker: Recipes and Wee Stories from the Scottish Islands. Want his recipe for bride’s bonn, a shortbread that was traditionally broken over the head of a new bride? It's at the link in bio!
📸Photos by Euan Anderson
TLDR: French pastry ain't as hard as it looks. We'll prove it to you with 's Mocha Yule Log recipe.
If you haven't already planned to make a cake for Christmas, you're probably not going to whip up a Bûche De Noël on the spur of the moment. We get it. But you know... it's not that difficult. Don't trust us? Read food writer Aleksandra Crapanzano's latest book, "Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes," and you *will* believe.
That's because the cakes French home cooks make are delicious, delightful and surprisingly practical. Check out Aleksandra's conversation where they discuss technique, time, taste and temperament. Find it at the link in bio. Joyeux Noël and enjoy the !
Photos by...
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5. Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
Did we feel attacked by The Menu? Maybe a little. But it's also one of the funniest, sharpest satires of the food world we've ever seen. So we talked to screenwriters Seth Reiss and Will Tracy about how they wrote the movie, a cutting look at class disparity set in a destination restaurant.
It stars Ralph Fiennes as a chef who helms the kitchen at Hawthorne, a 12-seat destination restaurant that guests are ferried to by boat. Hawthorne is fictional but it was inspired by very real restaurants including Alinea, noma and El Bulli.
Listen to the convo about consumption, classism and culinary pretension at the link in bio!
Is that a potato latke waffle? Yes it is! Learn how to make it from chef Chris Scott , who has a recipe for it in his recent cookbook, "Homage: Recipes and Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen."
You have five more nights of Hanukkah to try it out. Check out the link in bio for more details and to listen to the full interview.
The Good Food team put together a list of what we used most this year from our pantries. Enjoy it!
https://www.kcrw.com/best-2022/best-of-good-food-2022-pantry-recommendations
Thank you! We want to tell you, our extended Good Food family, how grateful we are for you. For your support. For your questions. For listening. For everything! And now, a message from …
Whatever you're eating today is okay. Seriously. It is. A turkey sandwich from the deli? A meal for 20 that doesn’t involve turkey? Whatever it is, it’s fine. If it’s not perfect, it’s fine, better actually. It’s one day, one meal. We can do it! Just laugh your butts off at the table and on the couch or recliner.
Guess who’s hosting ’s first Friendsgiving Block Party? Our own ! It happens today (Nov. 3) 7-10pm, Westwood Village. There’ll be cooking demos, giveaways, music and a student photo exhibition. Dress warm! This is an outdoor event and it may get chilly tonight 🥶
1900 Pico Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA
90405
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