• In a city where it seems most everyone drives everywhere, two sisters lead a taste tour, on foot.
• But a trip on the light rail can be just as delicious.
• Now that Gourmet is gone -- and with it, Ruth Reichl -- Bon Appétit editor-in-chief Barbara Fairchild steps into the spotlight at Condé Nast.
• A round-up of gravy and stuffing recipes from the Los Angeles Times' test kitchen.
• Drinking juice at breakfast? You might as well be chugging soda.
• Raising your child on a vegetarian diet? If so, meat may become the forbidden fruit.
• Even though the picks may not be perfect, it's lime season in California.
• Dining guide "EAT: Los Angeles 2010" hits bookstore shelves Dec. 1.

Grown-up sodas. Image: Details.

A few of the best stories spied elsewhere on the Web this week:

BoingBoing picks up The Economist's story (and awesome graphic): "How many minutes do people in your city have to work to buy a Big Mac?"

Adult sodas from the stylish fellas at Details.

Starbucks-lovers, alert! They are lowering prices on some drinks but kicking them up a notch on others.

The L.A. Times reports: Facebook has created "Restaurant City." You may never get work done again.

Another ephemerally gorgeous piece from Design*Sponge's "In The Kitchen With" column, featuring a meringue-raspberry ice cream cake and some enviable dishware.

Portland, Oregon continues to rule, with a Fermentation Fest on Thursday of next week. (Clearly either our invite was lost in the mail, or they do not know about our pickling problems.)

Have you sampled the blackberries in the market right now? They are super-sweet. This Blackberry-Cabernet Caipirinha from Chow had us drooling.

The best Bruni interview of the bunch -- from the New Yorker.

• A Los Angeles food club has been meeting monthly for a whopping 45 years.
• An ode to the breaded goodness of pork schnitzel, plus tons of good cooking tips.
• Lost Coast Brewing adds to its proliferation of fruity brews with a Tangerine Wheat Beer, a beverage primed to be "a charming outdoor sipper."
• The delicious aspects of Chinese Hunan cooking and a positive review of Xiang Wei Lou, a "plain but spiffy café" in San Gabriel, Calif.
• This year's Anatolian Cultures & Food Festival boasted amazing, sticky dondurma ice cream, full-scale structural reproductions and even a Turkish quesadilla.
• Writer Dan Neil weighs in on Carl's Jr.'s sexy Padma Lakshmi commercial and the politics of mixing sex and fast food.
• 2006 Terra de Verema Triumvirat -- a "beautifully balanced" $30 wine that the critic says could sell for twice as much.
  
• A brief review for Costa Mesa's Pizzeria Ortica, which offers unusual fare like house-cured yellowtail and milk-braised Kurobuta pork short ribs ... plus a more detailed review by critic Irene Virbila.
• Recipes: Pork Schnitzel, German Potato Salad, Julienne's Graham Cracker Chewy Bars

Here's what's cooking in the Los Angeles Times Food Section today:

What's hot, what's not: Russ Parsons and Amy Scattergood weigh in on what a kitchen essential really is.

Celebrity chefs will cut some costs to keep their restaurants afloat in this economy. But cutting quality remains verboten.

Spice your own: Combine spices to create something special...and uniquely you.

Recipe: Columbo pork loin curry. Spicy delish!

Recipe: Grilled shrimp skewers with charmoula.

Restaurant Review: S. Irene Virbila writes an open letter to Charlie Palmer regarding his restaurant at the South Coast Plaza.

Culinary SOS: Wither Hans' ginger scones?

Datebook: Culinary doings this week in L.A.

• If you're in LA, you can watch the Super Bowl at a number of sports bars around town, and they aren't just doing your standard bar fare. Whiskey-marinated wings, anyone?

• In the kitchen, Amy Scattergood shows that sourdough isn't as hard as it sounds. All you need is a good starter. Russ Parsons celebrates oysters (Oysters roasted with fennel and cream, Oyster stew with leeks and prosciutto, Roasted oysters with chipotle butter) and picks kumquats and broccolini at the farmers' markets. Joan's on Third shares the recipe for its lemon bars.
• In the wine world, Slovenia is wild, and S. Irene Virbila picks 2004 San Vicente Rioja.

Yesterday the Los Angeles Times announced the results of a recent taste test of imported Italian spaghetti. The paper's five-person panel sampled 16 brands. I didn't even know there were 16 brands of imported Italian pasta to begin with. I should start paying more attention when I'm browsing the aisles of the grosseria.

The panel chose spaghetti because it was the one shape available from every pasta maker. During the blind taste test, they evaluated the spaghetti for texture, mouth-feel, intrinsic flavor and ability to deliver flavor. The flavor delivered, in this case, was a fruity olive oil, which the panel's leader felt was a good gauge as to how the spaghetti would also carry the flavor of a sauce.

The winner, as you know by now, was Latini spaghetti, an artisanal pasta from Marche. What's interesting to me about the results is that the less expensive Latini in the red box beat out the company's top-shelf variety, Latini Senatore Cappelli spaghetti, which came in sixth.

SIV gives newcomer Hatfield's two-and-a-half stars (**½), calling it a restaurant "just like those little places in France that win everyone's heart."

Russ Parsons dishes out the ABCs of salumi: what they are, where to get it in LA, and how to serve it. End of summer is the season for preserving, pickling and canning: plum preserves, achar, and hot pickles. It's also a time to take advantage of end-of-summer vegetables: Heirloom Tomatoes Stuffed with Salt Cod and Potato Puree, Peppers Stuffed with Bulgur and Feta Salad, and Eggplant Stuffed with Kale and Walnuts.

In wine, the Tasting Panel does a selection that pairs well with salumi. The Wine of the Week is 2005 Curran Grenache Blanc that "tastes startlingly alive, with a distinct minerally finish."

On the dining out scene: Guy Savoy, a Michelin three-star chef, has opened up a restaurant in Caesar's Palace in Vegas. SIV re-visits a very old classic, Dan Tana's, and gives it only half a star! No matter, the place has enough of its own star - the clientele. There are lots of Kosher delis out there, but Sassi is a Kosher Israeli restaurant that serves Mediterranean and North African food.

In the kitchen: Cookbook author John T. Edge makes southern home-style food. Regina Schrambling makes three pudding cakes from rum, coconut, key limes, and Valrhona cocoa.

There is no Wine of the Week. Instead, SIV tries Plantation Rum Guyana Old Reserve 1990 as the Spirit of the Week. It's $36 for a bottle and pairs well with...a good book.

[photo: Guy Savoy from the Los Angeles Times]

In the kitchen, burrata is the silkier, creamier cousin of the mozzarella family. Make the twist on French Pot-au-feu that is served at Lou's in Hollywood, called Lou's Chicken in the Pot. The cookbook to look at is Daniel Young's Bistros, Brasseries, and Wine Bars of Paris. Maybe you can find something to make with blood oranges.

Maraschino liqueur is a clear, slightly biting drink that's fine to sip, but works wonders as a secret ingredient in cocktails, which you can learn to shake just right with a few tips. And since it's the Golden Age of the Cocktail, now you can visit a museum.

The Wine of the Week is 2004 Albarino Pedralonga from Spanish Basque country. It's "crisp and minerally" and pairs well with shellfish, peel 'n' eat shrimp, seafood paella, light summer dishes. At $19 a bottle, it pairs well with my bank account, too.

Out on the dining scene, it's all about Korean pig at Honey Pig. SIV visits Michael Mina's Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point (which we've blogged about before) and gives it three stars (***)!

[photo: Los Angeles Times]

In the kitchen, Regina Schrambling elevates humble grits. To help in the kitchen, a Vietnamese cookbook, the recipe for the Shaker sugar pie with coconut from a restaurant called Golden Lamb in Ohio, and picking up Spring produce at LA farmers' markets.

On the restaurant scene, LA looks at the other coast and snickers at Mario Batali's new venture, Del Posto. Back at home, SIV gives two stars (**) to French restaurant Maximilians in North Hollywood. Venerable Valentino had a new chef Dan Dickman of old Rocca, then he left! 3rd Stop is a great place for beers on tap.

A sweet back-story on Au Bon Climat and Qupe wineries in Santa Maria, and SIV's wine of the week is 2003 Ampelos Cellars Evans Ranch Syrah, from the Santa Rita Hills. Good for barbecue, and retails for $26.

And of course, we've already talked about the Westwood farmers' market closing.

In wines this week: Pinot noir makes enthusiasts "geek out" with festivals, and the SIV's WOW (Wine of the Week) is Marques de Gelida Cava 200 Brut Exclusive Reserva, only $10 a bottle.

Regina Schrambling takes a look at Oxo kitchen utensils, earning their keep in the top drawer.

In the kitchen, there are restaurant-quality tender pork chops, and we look at celery from a new perspective with recipes for Cream of Celery Soup, Dungeness Crab and Celery Salad, and a Celery Duo.

Out on the dining scene, SIV is none too pleased with Il Sole Ristorante on Sunset Strip. One star (*) seems generous after she remarks that Il Sole is "remarkably blasé," and "that people would fork over this kind of money for this kind of cooking night after night defies common sense."

But if we don't want icky, over-priced Italian, then there's Jamaican food at Ackee Bamboo in Leimert Park.

Regina Schrambling extols the virtues of savoy cabbage, "cabbage straight out of finishing school," with recipes for Braised Savoy Cabbage with Anchovies,  Pizzocheri (a pasta dish), and Sausage-stuffed Savoy Cabbage.

A food publication would lose its cred if it didn't do a feature on the upcoming Mardi Gras celebration next Tuesday. Corie Brown shares two recipes for gumbo, one that uses duck! as well as a list of Los Angeles resources for specialty ingredients like crawfish: Bristol Farms, Fish King Seafood, New Orleans Fish Market, and Santa Monica Seafood. If you're shy about playing with live crutacens at home, you can look for gumbo at a few Creole restaurants in LA.

Soapstone is the new marble in cookware.

SIV takes a moment from the usual weekly restaurant tour (though she does hit up S Vietnamese Fine Dining in Westminster and awards it two stars!) with black truffles, and includes recipes for Truffle Butter, Scrambled Eggs Panisse, Lentil Ragout with Black Truffles, and Roast Chicken with Truffles.

Truffles a little too high-brow? The Trails is a snack shack in Griffith Park that serves up meat pies, and what looks to me like the winner, and avocado sandwich. Everything under $5.

The LA Times heralds the re-publication of Paula Wolfert's book, The Cooking of Southwest France. Bring on the bunnies and the cassoulet!

Tangerine, mandarin orange, or a specific variety like the Clementine, Russ Parsons looks at the teeny cousin of the orange with something as luscious as a mandarin parfait with candied ginger.

For Chinese New Year, don't forget the star anise for your cooking, and to try something by Paula Wolfert, you might need some imported beans called tarbais.

Sea, be seen, and scenery are part of restaurant talk. SIV gives 1½ stars (*) to Ocean and Vine at the Santa Monica Loews Hotel, Corie Brown ponders the celebrity power in the LA restaurant scene, and if you're out in Idyllwild enjoying the montain scenery, Susan LaTempa likes Cafe Aroma.

The Times Test Kitchen gets a toothache from Saveur 100's #14 - the Costco Birthday Cake.

[photo credit: LA Times]

The LA Times makes lots of warm-for-winter stuff like a French daube made with beef and wine. I'm not sure about main courses with turnips, but I've always loved Ocean Avenue Seafood, and cioppino is one of favorite dishes there or anywhere.

Charles Perry encourages us to curl up in front of the fireplace with dark, rich, creamy...hot chocolate? Coffee? No and no. Beer. It's a long and loving look at stouts. 

Some local food blogs get a nod for having "hyper-focus" on bacon or pho or deep-end dining. Hooray for the LA Times playing nicely with the food blogosphere!

SIV gives new Bella Cucina one star (*), but still says that the restaurant will likely have staying power, which is rare in this town. I am skeptical, but maybe I'm just biased because I have something against its half-sister, Geisha House. *eh* I know I'll still end up trying Bella.

BBC Cafe is a fairly new Moroccan restaurant in Beverly Hills. Susan La Tempa calls it "charming" and "quirky" but when I use my secret decoder ring, translates to uneven service with attitude and misleading signs. Thats okay though, it's Moroccan. And organic. And kosher. You gotta love that.