"los angeles" news and stories

"Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" has hit a major snag in Tinseltown. After an enthusiastic start, Oliver has been banned from filming in the classrooms of the country's second-largest school district.

School officials say they've seen the show and don't want any bad publicity. "If you look at the last series [Oliver] did in Huntington, W.Va., it was full of conflict and drama, and we're not interested in that," says Robert Alaniz, a spokesman for Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), reports the Los Angeles Times. (Guess they missed the heart-swelling finale.) While they assess what to do next, officials have suspended his license to film in the city's schools.

ABC announced yesterday (Sept. 2) that Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution will return for a second season, this time taking place in Los Angeles. ABC tells Slashfood that the six-episode season is projected to air sometime in Spring 2011, but that's still to be confirmed.

The series recently won the Emmy for "Outstanding Reality Program" -- Oliver challenged young residents of Huntington, West Virginia, to alter their lifestyles in hopes of curbing obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The first season debuted on March 21, 2010, and the series averaged around 4 million viewers per week.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is loosely adapted from his British series Jamie's Ministry of Food and Jamie's School Dinners, which challenged the British school systems to change how they fed students. A second season renewal in the U.S. is clearly a coup for Oliver: As U.S. audiences become more familiar with "The Naked Chef," he stands to surge ahead in popularity over the prickly British "hell" chef Gordon Ramsey. Instead of yelling at people, Oliver chooses an inspiring and tactful approach, hoping to help others grow. Revolutionary, indeed.

For those who can't get enough of Oliver, he's releasing his latest cookbook Jamie's America: Easy Twists on Great American Classics and More! (Hyperion) this October.

As far as airports go, LAX has a lot going for it: the parking is cheap, weather delays are rare, and hey, everyone likes palm trees. But for a city that prides itself on culinary diversity, the terminals are woefully underserved. Starbucks? Generic "bar and grill" chains? Ugh. Where's the local flavor?

Thankfully, change is on the horizon. A host of concession contracts have been submitted to Los Angeles airports commissioners and the City Counsel, and if they're approved, passengers will finally get a glimpse of culinary diversity Los Angeles has to offer. Outposts of Park's Bar-B-Q (Korean barbecue), La Serenata de Garibaldi, (traditional Mexican), and Bertha's Soul Food (the fried chicken is legendary) are all part of the plans, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Natasha Case has worked in some of L.A.'s most prestigious architecture and design offices. She's also been a Walt Disney Imagineer. Fortunately for SoCal foodies, Natasha has traded in her drafting boards and graphing paper for baking sheets and ice-cream makers. She and her business partner, Freya Estreller, are the two "Principal Farchitects" for Coolhaus -- a pimped-out, find-us-on-Twitter truck that offers a variety of architecturally-inspired ice-cream sandwiches. Their menu is full of treats with names that are puns on terms from the world of design -- you can order the Frank Behry, strawberry ice cream pressed between two sugar cookies, for example.

We caught up with Natasha to get the lowdown on Coolhaus and the future of Farchitecture.

More from Natasha Case, Principal Farchitect of Coolhaus, after the jump.

• The personal is political, and nothing's more personal than food. L.A.'s city council is acting accordingly, with numerous food initiatives -- including some controversial ones.
• Polenta made right is an essential comfort food -- and easy, too.
• Gutsy, affordable, fun: The Lazy Ox Canteen in downtown L.A. is all that and then some.
• The 2007 Maculan Brentino, a Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon blend, is the wine of the week and it won't empty your wallet.
• When a German baker and a German baking tool converge at the same Huntington Beach bakery, an authentic taste of Deutschland results -- in the form of towering baumkuchen (tree cakes).