Posts by Richard Foss

Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying, “With great risk comes great reward,” and whether restaurateurs know the saying or not, they get the idea. 2014 was a year of adventurous business decisions, and long-established eateries either innovated or were swept aside by dynamic new entrants. Local businesses spawned offshoots, and two groups of hometown entrepreneurs…

When you think of multinational restaurants, you probably think of companies that took American fast food to a global market. We were indeed the first, but of late the tide has turned in the other direction. Jollibee is introducing Americans to Filipino-style noodles and garlic sauce; Guatemala-based Pollo Campero is challenging American chicken chains; and…

There was a time when restaurants with the word sushi in the name just served sushi, and restaurants without that word in their name didn’t. No, really. The former might have had some cooked dish they could knock together for the occasional diner who was repelled by raw fish, but it certainly wasn’t anything they…

In what way, I wondered as I pulled into the parking lot at Fat Tomato Pizza, is a fat tomato better than a skinny one? Or should a fat tomato be compared with another tomato that is svelte, has been doing its workouts and is near the optimum weight? It was a question I might…

Part of the joy of sushi is the beauty of the food, which comes in forms that can be startling. I remember when I first saw the neat cubes of rice, thin sheets of seaweed, neat cylinders of sushi rolls with squares of cucumber and fish next to a perfect sphere of wasabi. An occasional…

I have a friend who, while not anybody’s idea of a “foodie,” is a purist about one particular cuisine. He reads my descriptions of arcane ethnic foods and complex contemporary dishes with mild bewilderment, amazed that people have such passion for things he finds odd. He doesn’t get that some people are picky about burgers…

Everybody loves to find a hideaway cafe – a casual place a bit off the beaten track, where good food is served at modest prices. To take a friend to such a secret spot deepens the relationship just a bit – you have shared something that not everyone knows. I recently found just such an…

By all accounts, Napoleon Bonaparte was not a gourmet; he was notorious for gobbling his food and leaving the table while others were still decorously nibbling appetizers. The restless, impatient general may have been the emperor of the French, but he had a very un-Gallic attitude toward savoring his national cuisine. The Hermosa Beach café…