Heroic Spanish Chef

The Los Angeles culinary scene has a discrimination problem. Yes, of course there are inequities when it comes to race and gender, but another problem might just be geographic. It’s perhaps the only reason that the beam of light that is Sandra Cordero, the owner and executive chef of Gasolina in Woodland Hills, is often eschewed for the comfier, more centric confines of restaurants in LA proper.

The mistake made here is grand. And not just because the authentic Spanish food being doled out at Gasolina immediately transports you to the sidewalk cafes of Barcelona and Madrid. It’s because of Cordero, a self-made chef who exudes warmth, breeds loyalty, and thrives under pressure.

It’s also because she cooked 35,000 meals for frontline workers during the pandemic.

Messi Plates

What is it about footballers and food? The beautiful game is full of stars with money to spend and an appetite for the finer things in life. It only makes sense that some of your favourite footballers would be spending their hard-earned cash on restaurants of their own.

Whether it’s to entertain friends and family, a desire to hold court over their legions of fans, or a genuine interest in the world of food itself, these soccer stars have added some stellar joints to the ever-growing canon of athlete-owned eateries. To mark the rescheduled kick-off of Euro2020, we present you with a starting XI of footballers’ restaurants.

Matu Steak Restaurant Review

Whenever a new restaurant opens in Beverly Hills, there is the typical fanfare. Celebrity sightings, dolled-up influencers, glitzy customers, effusive press, social media onslaughts, and all the trappings of a movie premiere with FOMO dripping from the walls. But once you strip away the gloss and the hype-machine that the LA restaurant scene is mostly based on, you’re left with something much simpler to ponder: how is the food, how is the service, is it worth it?

Over the last couple months, there have been two new meat-focused additions to the Beverly Hills dining scene that are addressing those questions in very different ways. The first was Nusr-Et Steakhouse fronted by the social media sensation Salt Bae and his phallic antics of sword slicing and orally fixated feedings. The party, the hype, and effete salting is the point, and where a #SALTBAE WAGYU TOMAHAWK (sic) with questionable sourcing runs $275 (with gold leaf it’s $1,000). You're paying for the hoopla, which may be anathema to its raison d'être but also its location. It belongs in a Hollywood hotel, not in the quiet confines of North Canon Drive.

The second is the diametrically opposed Matū, a Zen-like 100% all-grass-fed wagyu steak restaurant that only wants you to focus on your meticulously warmed and timed plate. There are no theatrics here – thank god.

LA Italian Deli Sandwiches

The Los Angeles food scene sprawls across enclaves that offer spectacular Japanese and Chinese cuisine along with tantalizing Mexican, spicy Korean, flavorful Ethiopian, and so much more. Amid all these options, one of LA's most enduring and entertaining culinary traditions is the delicatessen, where you can order craveable sandwiches built from Italian cured meats and cheeses.

Tucked into mini-malls and stashed away on side streets, LA’s Italian deli scene dates to the roaring ‘20s but has also spawned exciting upstarts with stellar sandwiches worth seeking out. Here, you’ll find classic Italian hoagies piled high with mortadella and prosciutto as well as clever crossovers like a “Cubano-Italiano,” as La Cucina Italiana rounds up the best, newest, oldest and most classic must-visit delis for Italian sandwiches in Los Angeles.

Travel to Italy Through Food

One of the best ways to get through an entire year of no travel due to a pandemic is through the kitchen. Cooking recipes from far away lands is often an ideal way to recreate the smells and sounds of open markets, bustling restaurants, and sizzling street food vendors from countries far and wide.

Now that we’ve officially slid into 2021, the year has started off with a delicious surprise. Famed Los Angeles Chef Daniele Uditi, of Pizzana, has released his first-ever cookbook to help you get into the spirit of wandering the bakeries of southern Italy.

Finding Zen on the High Seas

What does it mean to find Zen? Is it overcoming fear? Is it being one with nature? Is it disconnecting with reality, even for a brief respite? And once Zen is found, can it be lost again?

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching in the 4th Century BCE, once said, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” And with its roots in Taoism, nothing quite sums up the path to enlightenment or finding Zen within your life more aptly.

Zen is mindfulness. Zen is connectedness. Zen is being at peace with yourself and the world around you. So where can you find this state of being? How can you pursue it? Is there a way to grasp it? There is no single path; there’s only a first step in the right direction. And a meditative journey through the Sea of Cortez in the Baja peninsula is one of the perfect places to start.

Truffles in LA

It’s truffle season! The annual harvest of the rare and uber-expensive white truffles of Italy arrive every autumn and adorn a bevy of dishes from decadent pastas to sizzling hot pizzas. Truffles are famous for their siren-esque aroma and subtle flavors that elevate dishes from mere mortals to Roman gods.

Around Los Angeles, diners will find Italian restaurants showing off their imaginative truffle presentations with tableside shavings or meticulously hidden placements that surprise and wow their palates in ways they didn’t know possible.

Here is where you can find some of the best truffles in Los Angeles and the dishes that put them on their proper pedestal.

25 Things to Do in California

This is your fool-proof guide to the best of the Golden State.California is a big state. It’s bigger than Italy. It’s around the same size as Japan. It’s big. Within the 163,696 square miles, there are sprawling metropolises, epic mountain ranges, stunning seaside bluffs, perfect waves, pristine deserts, and endless things to see and do. With nearly 40 million people and growing, the state also makes up roughly 15 percent of the entire population of the United States.

Under the Radar in LA

When visiting Los Angeles, you’ll undoubtedly want to hit the top tourist spots like the Griffith Observatory, the Chinese Theatre, and the Santa Monica Pier. But lying beneath the surface, L.A. has some pretty great under-the-radar finds that will appeal to the specialists in all of you. Whether you want hard-to-find books, weird Hollywood history, or hidden gardens, this city has just what you’re looking for–or what you never knew you wanted in the first place.

Somebody Feed Phil Italian Food

Phil Rosenthal has led two lives in the entertainment industry. First, as the behind-the-scenes creator of the mega-hit sitcom, “Everybody Loves Raymond.” And second, as the front-of-camera star of the uber-popular Netflix food and travel show, “Somebody Feed Phil.”

The Netflix show has taken the ever-positive Rosenthal around the world to major food centers like Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Marrakesh, and Venice where he explores the city hotspots, discovers new cultures, and, of course, devours a ton of amazing food. In season four, released on October 30, 2020, Rosenthal takes his gregariousness to Rio De Janeiro, San Francisco, Singapore, The Mississippi Delta, and Hawaii.

While there aren’t any Italian cities on the list this season, we still wanted to chat with Rosenthal about his love of Italian cuisine, how it influenced “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and his favorite Italian dishes and destinations.

The Omakase Pasta Experience

In 2017 my favorite meal in LA was at Scratch|Bar.

In 2019 my favorite meal in LA was at Sushi|Bar.

In 2021 my favorite meal in LA so far was at Pasta|Bar.

Now, I’m tempted to think that my pandemic brain is simply starved for creative cuisine and long-winded tasting menus filled with indecipherable ingredients. But there’s just something about the magic behind Phillip Frankland Lee and Margarita Kallas-Lee that keeps drawing me into the bowels of Encino to experience something that no one else in Los Angeles is even close to achieving.

This is the omakase pasta experience and this is different.

Alessandro Del Piero

In the world of Italian football, there are few players more legendary than Juventus great Alessandro Del Piero. The star forward played for ‘la vecchia signora’ for 19 years while racking up titles and helping bring the World Cup back to Italy in 2006.

Del Piero’s post-football career has included stints on TV as a pundit and analyst for ESPN, but also as a budding restaurateur. His love of food, which seems almost innate as an Italian, has translated to a bustling trattoria in the heart of Los Angeles.

Wanting to know more, Fine Dining Lovers caught up with the famous footballer to chat about his year in the pandemic, his restaurant N10 in LA, and his outreach and charity work in the community.

Nancy Silverton Cooks Meat

Nancy Silverton is known as one of the best chefs in Los Angeles and she can back that up with a James Beard Award in addition to countless other accolades and her Michelin-starred restaurant Osteria Mozza. For her latest act, Silverton is coming out with her seventh cookbook from her beloved meat-centric restaurant Chi SPACCA. The book, “Chi Spacca: A New Approach to American Cooking” is a mix of meat-focused dishes along with a wide array of salads, vegetables, and fish recipes. As we’re all big cooks at La Cucina Italiana, we asked Silverton to give us some cooking tips for our next meat-heavy meal at home.

Famous LA Landmarks

Traveling through L.A. can often feel like déjà vu: "Have we been here before? Where do I know this place from? Why does everything look familiar!?” The explanation is actually a lot simpler.You do know these places because you’ve seen them in classic movies that you’ve watched a million times. And if you know where to look, you’ll see famous locales hidden in plain sight all over the city.

Must Have Travel Apps

“There’s an app for that” has never been apter (see what I did there?) in the travel space as new technology emerges countless little helpers to make flying, driving, talking, and flirting easier than ever. Travel apps run the gamut though, so it can be tough to know which ones to use and why. Don’t fret—we’re here to help. We’ve analyzed and utilized the most pivotal travel apps on the market so your next travel experience can be seamless (like the app Seamless, which delivers your food). Carry on!

Tokyo Where Modernity Meets Tradition

A visit to Tokyo can often feel like simultaneously travelling 100 years into the future and 200 years into the past. To experience Japan’s beguiling mix of tradition and new technology, check out some of the city’s most interesting and best-located hotels.The city of Tokyo combines old-world sensibilities and modernity unlike any place on earth. The city (and Japan in general) is a grand dichotomy of cultural traditions mixed with mind-bending technology. Finding a hotel in this vast expanse can be overwhelming, so local experts at Culture Trip have hand-selected some of the city’s best places to stay to showcase Japan’s past, present and future.

10 Things to Know Before you go to LA

The rumors are true: L.A. is big and confusing and wonderful and frustrating and hot and weird and so much more.We get it, it’s a hard city to navigate and knowing a thing or two before coming to one of America’s best metropolises will go a long way to making the most of your vacation. We’re here to help. So whether you’re stuck on the 10, the 101, the 110, or the 405, we’re going to get you out and guide you to the best vacation you can possibly have.

LA Hotels with Fascinating Histories

Los Angeles and the entertainment industry are inextricable from one another, and its glittery Hollywood-centric history permeates all parts of the city’s culture. Nowhere is this more apparent than behind the iconic facades of the city’s see-and-be-seen hotels, where A-list hangouts have become the backdrop to hushed stories and urban legends.From the silver screens of Hollywood to today’s superhero blockbusters, Los Angeles is a land of stories. Its hotels have long been celebrity stomping grounds, backdrops for movies, and vaults to the secrets of the rich and famous. These seven hotels, all hand-picked by Culture Trip, are among the most fascinating in the city. Whether odes to LA’s Golden Age or more recent additions to the city, they all have equally intriguing stories to tell.

Recipes: Evan Funke's Gnocchi

Chef Evan Funke’s journey into the kitchen took a long circuitous route that wound up in the heart of Bologna, where he found himself hand-rolling pasta with master Italian chefs. Since then, Funke has learned more than 150 pasta shapes, many of which he now doles out daily from his famous Los Angeles restaurant Felix Trattoria.One of Funke’s signature dishes is his Gnocchi di Ricotta con Fonduta di Robiola e Lardo, a creamy, cheesy piece of pasta perfection. Here’s how you can have fun with this one at home.

30 Tips for Traveling Solo

There's nothing quite like the thrill of traveling alone to a foreign country—getting lost, experiencing a new culture, and making new friends along the way. Solo travel is exhilarating in so many ways that the trend of embarking alone has grown in popularity around the world.

In the last few years, travel researchers and data analysts have seen large spikes in solo travel. Taking a peek at Google Trends shows a more than 100% increase in solo travel interest alone in the past five years. In 2018, 70% of the travelers on Intrepid Travel's U.S. trips were traveling solo.

Solo travel, of course, has its pros and cons. Going alone means more mobility, the ability to change plans on the fly, and a great way to get out of one's comfort zone. The negatives can be loneliness, safety concerns, and a lack of shared experience.

But people travel alone for a myriad of reasons. Some venture out to meet new people. Others take trips to find themselves. And many travel solo simply for the thrill of an unknown adventure. Regardless of the reasons, single travel can be one of the best experiences a wanderer can have, or one of the worst if they're wholly unprepared. Stacker delved into the world of solo travel and came up with 30 useful tips so adventurers can make the absolute most of their single sojourns.

Taste of Italy Los Angeles

Did you know that Italians first settled in Los Angeles in the 1820s? Or that California’s wine industry was started in L.A. by Italian-Americans, and that the city is still home to the oldest winery in the state? Were you aware that Los Angeles has the fifth largest Italian-American population in the U.S.?

9 Ways to Make Olive Oil You Haven't Tried Yet

Extra virgin olive oil: what is it good for? Absolutely everything.

Soaking your bread in oil is great, but if that’s all you’re using it for, you’re missing out on a world of applications that might just blow your mind. I talked to a bevy of olive oil experts who regaled me with many marvelous ways that you can use olive oil. Yes, that includes your face—but we’ll get to that. Without further ado, here are nine brilliant ways to use olive oil that you maybe never thought possible.

35 New Reasons to Visit California

The Michelin Guide officially released its first-ever regional guide on Monday, covering the entire state of California. The Guide awards restaurants for overall excellence based on a variety of criteria, including quality products, mastery of flavor and techniques, a chef’s stamp on the cuisine, value for the money (dubious), and the consistency of the food.

While Michelin has had a presence in San Francisco for years, it’s steered away from the rest of the state and was last in Los Angeles over a decade ago. The state reportedly spent upwards of $600,000 to lure Michelin back and expand its coverage. The new regional guide bestowed stars to 90 restaurants, including 35 new editions, and Bib Gourmand designations to 151 establishments.

Recipes: Spaghetti alla Nerano

When Francesco Zimone opened an outpost of the historic Neapolitan restaurant L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele in Los Angeles, his main focus was, of course, making sure the famous pizzas came out just right. But that’s not the only thing the buzzing spot serves—there are also dishes that evoke the sunshine-drenched flavors of Naples and its surrounding coastline.

One such dish is Spaghetti alla Nerano, a creamy, cheese-and-zucchini pasta that originated in the coastal town of Nerano.

ABBA is all over Sweden

With the unironically titled Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again set to hit theaters on July 20, 2018, now is the perfect time to explore the roots of the international phenomenon that is ABBA, whose music inspired the musical, movie, and oh so much more. And there’s no better way to get roused to see the next movie than by traveling in the footsteps of (A)gnetha, (B)jörn, (B)enny, and (A)nni-Frid in their homeland of Sweden. So, take a chance (take a chance) on Scandinavia with this top 10 list of ABBA-inspired things to do.

Fodor's Travel Guide

Chef Profile: Angelo Auriana

Chef Angelo Auriana is in search of a feeling—the one you get when you’ve walked the cobbled streets of Trastevere, tasted the silky strands of pasta in Bologna, or indulged with the green pesto gods of Genoa. “I want to recreate for you the same emotions you would have in Italy,” says the Bergamo-born chef. “Words like ‘authentic’ are being overused. I’m more interested in creating that emotion.”Auriana has been helping diners tap into those feelings ever since he took the reigns as head chef of Los Angeles’ famed Valentino restaurant in 1985. Today, Auriana presides over a growing tally of Italian gems in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas, each of which transports customers back to Italy on a daily basis. We chatted with the esteemed chef about his history, what inspires him, and why every pasta has its own perfect sauce.

The Perfect Cacio e Pepe

Cacio e Pepe roughly translates to cheese and pepper in Italian. The basic ingredients of this creamy dish are simply that, so you’d think it would be easy to make. It is. But it’s also not.

Depending on which chef you talk to, there are some distinct differences in how Cacio e Pepe is prepared based on its history and evolution as a Roman classic. “The origins of this dish are broken down into the myth, the dogma, and the reality,” says chef Evan Funke of Felix Trattoria in Los Angeles. As Funke describes it, you can be very stubborn about making Cacio e Pepe in its original state, “but the reality is that it’s undesirable and less palatable to eat the dogmatic version of this dish.”

How WWI Created France's Most Notorious Serial Killer

World War I was beyond horrific when you consider the numbers: 41 million casualties, 18 million deaths. It brought about the invention of biological weapons, tanks, machine guns, and fighter planes and used 110,000 tons of poison gas.

If you’re traveling to France to bone up on your WWI knowledge in advance of the centenary, make a point of heading to the Chemin des Dames in Aisne. Not only is it home to some of the bloodiest battles of the war (271,000 casualties, including 40,000 in one day alone during the Second Battle of the Aisne in 1917), but it’s also the site where Marcel Petiot fought for the French – and learned firsthand about the expendability of men in times of crisis.

Fodor's Travel Guide

Chatflights

For the past year, you’ve been buying truckloads of toilet paper, hoarding paper towels, and stocking up on canned goods for the apocalypse. And if you were smart, you did all of that using a rewards credit card that accrues thousands and thousands of airline miles.

If you are, in fact, one of the smart ones who plays with cards to earn points for those long-haul flights overseas, there’s a new company that wants to help you spend them—and spend them very wisely.

That company is Chatflights, started by entrepreneurial brothers Alexis and Malte Barnekow.