New Anatolia Mediterranean Cafe

New Anatolia is a year-old Turkish invader in the strip of Persian restaurants known as Tehrangeles. Serving doner, iskender kebabs, and flatbread, New Anatolia brings authentic Turkish cuisine to LA.

There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand

Mr. Manager brought the banana stand to Culver City on the Arrested Development tour.

UCLA Food and Science Pie Lecture with Christina Tosi and Zoe Nathan

I paid $25 to taste 2 oz. of pie from UCLA undergrads.

The draw was that the UCLA Food and Science class invited Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar and Zoe Nathan of Huckleberry and Milo and Olive to judge the students’ pie experiments and lecture on pie. Yes, that’s right — I paid to hear two great bakers lecture on pie but not eat any of their pie.

Also, guest judging were two UCLA profs and two UCLA alums, Jonathan Gold and Evan Kleiman.

Ugo Renovating – Let’s Hope They Redo the Menu

Ugo has been one of the anchors of Culver City’s dining scene since 2006, serving mediocre Italian food to the masses thronging downtown CC. The news is that they have temporarily shuttered while they install a new pizza oven. let’s hope they take the opportunity to retool the whole menu to bring better food all around.

Chego East – Good News: Nothing’s Changed!

My tears have finally dried from the closing of Chego West. Good to his word, Roy Choi has moved everything east to the Far East Plaza in Chinatown and got up and running quick. This picture shows probably the biggest change (other than location): picnic tables and outdoor seating.

Spitz – More Than Just a Hipster Bar

I’m not sure why no one in my office eats at Spitz. We go for happy hour, which is pretty great, but no one ever says, hey, let’s grab lunch at Spitz. Too bad – Spitz makes one of the best sandwiches in LA.