"march madness" news and stories

If you're like me, then you look forward to sporting events for, er, well, the food. March Madness is at the climax this weekend with the Final Four (LSU vs UCLA, Florida vs George Mason). Though it truly will be madness at some of the more popular sports bars around town, particularly anything near a college, that's all the fun, isn't it? Some options in and around LA that also serve food, in case you want to get there early to squat on a spot, especially since UCLA is playing:

• El Guapo Mexican Cantina, 7250 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046, (323) 297-0471, www.elguapo.homestead.com
• Sports Harbour, 13484 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292, (310) 823-0933
• Mr Pockets, 516 N Sepulveda Blvd, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-6706, (310) 372-4343
• Yankee Doodle's, 1410 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401, (310) 394-4632
• Lucky Baldwin's, 17 S Raymond Ave,Pasadena, CA 91105, (626) 795-0652
• Q's Billiards, 11835 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025, (310) 477-7550, www.qsbilliards.com  
• Big Wang's, 1562 N Cahuenga Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028, (323) 469-2449
• ESPN Zone, 1500 S Disneyland Dr, Anaheim, CA 92802, (714) 300-3776, www.espnzone.com  

If you're like me, you've been flipping back and forth between the Food Network (for obvious reasons) and broadcast TV the last few days. I'm watching the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. In other words, it's all about March Madness.

This weekend, the Elite Eight are battling it out to make it to the Final Four. In honor of the Elite Eight, here are eight lovely posts from around the food blogosphere that have us cheering for action in the home kitchen:

1. Is it Spring yet? At Seven Spoons, a Spring pea soup says it is!
2. Maona makes lotus root chips
3. Feeling sick? How about an elixir of limoncello from Welcome to my Pantry
4. Berries are in season somewhere in the world - and da*xiang's clafouti is a perfect way to use them
5. Do you eat flowers? If they are rose petals on Toast's walnut cake!
6. Onion rings aren't health food, but if they're oven-fried by Engineers, maybe they aren't so bad.
7. Hopefully you didn't give up fruit and cheese for Lent, otherwise, stay away from mini cream cheese tarts
8. Zen Foodism has lamb-bahs with yellow tomato herb salsa and roasted red peppers

[photo: Seven Spoons]