Posts by Richard Foss
Sea change at Chez Melange [dining news]
During a meeting between two restaurateurs who had been business partners for 35 years, Robert Bell uttered a fateful sentence. “I said to Michael, “The good news is that everyone knows Chez Melange. The bad news is that everyone knows Chez Melange.” Michael Franks agreed with his partner’s assessment. They needed to change the name…
Read MoreDone Right, Served Hot [restaurant review]
I’m glad I don’t have a peanut allergy because I like places with peanut shells on the floor. Bars and restaurants that have them are carrying on a great American tradition. The oldest example cited by historian Andrew F. Smith a 1803 New York newspaper column written under the name “Philo Drammaticus.” Mr. Drammaticus was…
Read MoreTrue to a different tradition
Friends who travel to Japan on business regale me with tales of meals that cost more than I paid for my airline ticket on my last trip. I’d like to visit those places, but would be more interested in humbler meals at pushcarts called yatai. These start out looking like a box on wheels but…
Read MoreBasq on the Boardwalk [Restaurant review]
Basque cuisine might not seem like the obvious springboard for creative fantasies. There are delicious dishes based mainly on seafood and the excellent local cheeses and breads, but there isn’t a wide variety of seasonings or vegetables to work with. It’s hearty and based on natural goodness rather than innovative combinations. Nevertheless chef Michael Mazzotta,…
Read MoreNew Restaurant in Sushi Duke Space, Trellis Wine House Project Canceled, Upcoming Food and Wine Events, And More Dining News
Dog Days Of Summer… August in the South Bay is a slack time for restaurant debuts, as most owners try to move heaven and earth to be open during the tourist season. The only big opening in the near term is a delayed one, as the Original Ragin Cajun in Hermosa hoped to be open…
Read MoreThe Art of Tea (and Sandwiches) [Restaurant review]
When I asked the Chado Tea Room manager how many varieties of tea were available, he sadly told me that there were only 398. There are 405 on the menu, but seven are seasonal or were out of stock. I assured him that I expected to find something I liked even from that…
Read MoreBartz BQ – Texas Comes To The South Bay
Dustin Bartz wasn’t a particularly avid barbecue fan when he left the South Bay for Texas for his job as a security camera distributor. As he remembers it, “I went to Austin in 2007 and stayed for three years, and that’s where I learned what barbecue was supposed to taste like. When I came back…
Read MoreBurger Bar Metamorphosis [restaurant review]
When The Standing Room opened in Hermosa in 2014 I wrote that they were inventive for a burger joint, a comment some regarded as damning by faint praise. In my defense, I pointed out that though they did offer some sides and entrees the focus on their short menu was definitely on sky-high stacked…
Read MoreBaleen Reopens, Zazou To Go Dark, Melba’s Celebrates, Sumatran Feast, and More – A La Carte Dining News For 20 July
The Place You Didn’t Know Had Closed Is Reopening… It’s easy to forget that Baleen Kitchen is there, because of its location at the end of the Peninsula next to the Portofino Hotel & Marina. You don’t pass it on the way to anyplace else, and some people think it’s a part of the hotel.…
Read MoreThe Proud Bird Flies Again
As thoroughfares go, Aviation Boulevard has a shortage of interesting sights. There’s one exception, and it’s a big one – the restaurant just south of the runways at LAX where a sprawling building sits next to an eye-catching gaggle of antique aircraft. Most are warbirds from both World Wars but a few are vintage…
Read MoreLocal Establishment [Restaurant review]
On my first visit to new surf-themed restaurant Tower 12, the people next to us were actually talking about surfing. That was a novelty, because at many surf-themed restaurants the sport is a marketing gimmick to be appreciated or ignored by a clientele who have never surfed. I count myself among the latter, despite growing…
Read MoreRestaurant Review Torrance Roadhouse blues
The South Bay has a time machine, but it only takes you to 1982. That was when Texas Loosey’s Chili Parlor & Saloon opened, featuring pretty female servers in salacious uniforms, loud Southern rock, cheap cocktails in lurid colors, and a boisterous atmosphere that fit the era of big hair and padded shoulders. And I…
Read MoreSpirits of El Segundo
Even if you have driven past the Chevron El Segundo refinery ten thousand times, you can find yourself admiring the majestic, industrial landscape. The columns over a hundred feet tall, with their intricate maze of piping, have a weird beauty. At sunset they might seem to be almost from another planet. If you stop in…
Read MoreDown by the sea
There aren’t many reliable success strategies in the restaurant industry, but one has been a winner for over a century: find a place where tourists look at oceans, and then sell them things that swim in it. Those visitors generally don’t demand style or innovation; they’re looking for a place that serves fish and…
Read MoreMcColgan’s Closed, Samosa House Open, Hungarian Flavors, And More Local Restaurant News (A La Carte for 29 June 17)
Irish Out In Hermosa… After over four years on Hermosa Avenue, Mickey McColgan’s Pub has closed. Their logo carried the phrase, “The tradition lives on,” but it passed quietly last Thursday. The space is apparently in escrow to a new tenant, but all parties are keeping mum for now… New Indian In El Segundo… Samosa…
Read MorePizza Coast Highway – Review of Mama D’s Redondo
Architecture creates expectations, and it can start communicating something about a business at first glance. You could be illiterate and still know what El Torito serves because of the hacienda look, and the same is true of places like Izakaya in Manhattan Beach, Captain Kidd’s, or any Denny’s in the world. That instant recognition of…
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