"LA restaurants" news and stories

• The Holiday Cookie Bake-Off results are in! Which cookies made the top ten?
• Speaking of prize-winning, check out this apple pie. Breaking a few rules makes all the difference.
• For an entirely different pie experience, head to Beijing Pie House in Monterey Park. It's worth your while.
• Angelenos, looking to go out for your holiday meal? Here's a restaurant guide to who's working on Christmas and New Year's.

Champagne is taking off in restaurants all over LA.

In the kitchen, why mess with a classic? Keep macaroni and cheese simple. Sage is the star in recipes for Southwestern Squash Stew, Cheddar-Sage Cornbread, and Petrale Sole with Sage, Poblano and Tomatoes. Make sure you pick the right sage for your taste. It's not just for boba. Tapioca is going fom childhood pudding to sophisticated desserts: Tapioca with peaches and mint, Tapioca with strawberry gelée and fresh strawberries, and Cinnamon tapioca brûlée with Cherry Gastrique.

Out on the restaurant scene, Leslie Brenner visits an old stand-by, Giorgio's. Susan La Tempa praises The Colony Cafe in West LA and Betty Hallock tracks down the recipe for California white sturgeon from downtown's Water Grill.

The Times Tasting Panel tries French Roast coffees, everything from big guns like Starbucks down to local micro-roasts, and in the end, decide they all taste burnt.

Humble apples and pears get sophisticated with the addition of savory ingredients: Savory Pear Clafoutis, Calvados-braised Chicken with Apples, and Apple Pan Bagnat.

Jewish new year holiday Rosh Hashana begins this week and instead of sticking with northern and eastern European dishes which seem too heavy for LA's lingering summer weather, discover the Mediterranean: Roasted whole whitefish with charmoula and French green lentils, Apple and honey sorbet with pomegranate sauce, and Carrot and pomegranate soup.

Out on the dining scene, SIV goes to the heart of Chianti and dines family-style at Solociccio. She also gives West, the restaurant atop the new Angeleno Hotel in Bel Air, half a star (½ ) for good antipasto, a fabulous view of the westside, but falling short on pasta and steaks. Linda Burum visits LA's only Potuguese bakery, Natas Pastries to try the tiny custard tarts of the same name: natas.

In LA, Mashti Malone's ice cream is a a bit of a cult hit. No, it's not ice cream from an Irish-Iranian family. Mashti and Mehdi Shirvani grew up in a small town in northern Iran, and after immigrating to Los Angeles, took over Mugsy Malone's Ice Cream Parlor, but didn't have enough money to change the sign completely. They could only change the first half, and thus Mugsy Malone's became Mashti Malone's.

Mashti's has several flavors that include Mango, Orange blossom, and Pomegranate, but it' the Rosewater flavors for which people come back. There is Creamy Rosewater, Rosewater Saffron with Pistachios, and Ginger Rosewater. If you have an ice cream maker and can find rosewater at a local Persian or Asian market, you can use this recipe from the Citizen Times to make what they call "Persian Ice Cream," basically the same as Mashti's Rosewater, Saffron, and Pistachio.

Persian Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/2 of a vanilla bean
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1/3 cup rosewater
1 cup finely chopped pistachios

Bring half-and-half to a boil, add vanilla bean and saffron. Beat egg yolks and sugar together. Add half-and-half mixture slowly to yolks, then cook over simmering water until thickened. Remove, cool in an ice bath, add rosewater. Refrigerate overnight. Strain through a fine strainer, add pistachios, and freeze in ice cream maker.

Serves 4 to 6.

Is it because it's summer? Festival-, fair-, and carnival-season?

Suddenly corn dogs are not only "hot," but they have been elevated from their mall food court status to haute cuisine, as corn dogs are appearing on menus of upscale restaurants in LA. Santa Monica's BOA Steakhouse uses Kobe beef hot dogs and serves them with the traditional condiments. Bistro retsaurant at uber-hip Chamberlain hotel in West Hollywood has single-bite chorizo corn dogs and at both Honey restaurant in Hollywood and new Republic, they are serving lobster corn dogs. I guess it's kind of the way macaroni and cheese was the "it" comfort food about two years ago.

I don't know. I kind of just want a Hebrew National dipped in corn batter and deep fried. Nothing fancy. Well, except for some super hot mustard.