"l.a." news and stories

Yesterday, Marisa told you about the 2008 Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting this past week (what - you didn't attend?), Los Angeles and Clearbrook, British Columbia beat out 120 other entries, including ones from Macedonia and the Philippines, for the title.

Here's a closer look at the competition: the 10 judges based their selections on five criteria: taste, smell, texture, aftertaste, and clarity. They downed water from three categories: municipal, bottled, and the newest, purified.

In case you were wondering, the bottled water winner was Tumai Water from Martinsburg, West Virginia, the purified water winner was from Federalsburg, Maryland, and the carbonated bottled water winner flowed all the way from Emsdetten, Deutschland.

All of this begs the question: if you're tasting water, is it necessary to cleanse your palette between sips?

And we're wondering: how's your tap water?

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Coincidentally related to Nicole's post, The Great Taco Hunt, a blog dedicated to "the Los Angeles Taco Scene" recently pointed out that new fines and regulations are making things a little more difficult for the taco trucks of L.A. Apparently parking fines for catering trucks have increased to up to $310 for repeat offenders. Trucks can now no longer stay in one place for more than an hour in commercial areas or a half hour in residential areas. The new ordinance says that the trucks must move at least a half a mile away and be gone for at least an hour. The Great Taco Hunt also points to an online petition to get the ordinances changed. At the moment the petition has 127 signatures.

A L.A.-based frozen yogurt shop is currently causing locals to wait in very long lines on these very chilly West Coast nights. Located in West Hollywood, Pinkberry serves frozen yogurt that's slightly sour, a little salty, and totally yummy because it's not too sweet. In short, it's frozen yogurt that actually tastes like yogurt (it tastes a lot like very cold, plain Dannon yogurt to me). The yogurt comes in plain or green tea; toppings include fresh fruit and granola. There's talk that Pinkberry will open up more outposts in L.A., but I really hope the chain goes national one day. Simply because Pinkberry needs to save the frozen yogurt/low fat ice cream genre from the evil Tasti-D-Lites of the world! Pinkberry: 868 Huntley Drive, West Hollywood, California, (310) 659-8285.

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Who serves the best sushi in Los Angeles? Coming from New York--I moved here two weeks ago--I am determined to find out where to go for great sushi. Everyone I ask has a different opinion, but the majority of people agree that the small sushi joints, the ones tucked away in the strip malls, are the best. Earlier this week, I ate at Ike, located in Hollywood. It came strongly recommended from in-the-know LA foodies. They knew what they were talking about. The fish was amazingly fresh; the giant clam was shockingly good, and tasted just like the sea. Sit at the bar when you go.

Sushi Ike
6051 Hollywood Blvd #105
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 856-9972