Nanette Gonzales

at the intersection of Pico and Roxbury

If you spend any time driving around Los Angeles (yeah, that's a joke; like you have a choice), you're doubtless familiar with the sudden neighborhood rainbows that comprise the fruit cart vendors found on many sidewalks and at many street intersections around this town. The vendors set up shop, which usually means not only a cart loaded with gorgeous fresh fruit, but often umbrellas that are just as colorful as the pineapple and mango, the watermelon and coconut, the jicama and cucumber and papaya that are stacked like jigsawed produce sections. If you stop, someone will slice your fruit to order, into a little (or big) plastic bag, sprinkle the contents with salted chile powder and squeeze a halved lime or two over the fruit. A plastic fork. A perfect breakfast.

In honor of these fruit carts and their vendors, check out our photographer Nanette Gonzales' stunning slideshow: an ode, in photos.

Anne Fishbein

The mole taco at Guisados

For Angelenos who grew up eating tacos -- at home, in taquerías, at old school taco trucks or at fancy nuevo food trucks, in both high and low end restaurants and probably every restaurant in between, at barbecues and picnics, and late at night sitting on the hoods of their cars -- the glories of the dish are obvious. For those of us who grew up elsewhere, eating the often completely inedible stuff that other restaurants in other towns or even our own mothers tragically mislabelled as tacos, the real thing is perhaps first on the list of reasons we don't leave this town. So check out this slideshow, a compelation of awesome taco photos from all over L.A. (Guisados! Mariscos Jalisco! Mexicali!) that we've run with various stories over the months and years. Yeah, yeah, we're getting hungry too.

Amazon

Even a "dummy" can tell a food blogger from a "normal" restaurant-goer. The blogger is the one with the expensive camera, ready to focus on any promising morsel.

The word "dummy" is appropriate here, because the "dummy" book industry is now zeroing in on bloggers (Food Blogging for Dummies is already out). Want to tune up the food photos on your blog? It's a snap (sorry), given a little know-how. Well, the truth is, a lot of know-how.

Food Styling & Photography for Dummies by Alison Parks-Whitfield (John Wiley & Sons) tries to bridge two markets -- bloggers and food photographers who want to start a business.

These two don't meet comfortably, at least not in the "dummy" world. Yes, there are bloggers as serious about photography as pros. They'll pat their new $1,500 camera bodies with pride as Parks-Whitfield says, "Sorry, penny pinchers, you can't use point-and-shoot-cameras."

More »

LA Weekly Flickr pool/R. E. ~

sorbet on the beach at Santa Barbara

Today's L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day? Sorbet on the beach, two things that you'll probably be wanting in the next few days, as we prepare for another triple digit heat wave. The photograph is courtesy of frequent Flickr pool contributor R. E. ~. The sorbet in question is from Sugar and Salt Creamery in Santa Barbara. And the beach is Butterfly Beach, also in Santa Barbara. Not a bad weekend road trip, especially during these last few weeks of summer.

And a reminder that if you have any terrific food photography, consider sharing your photos with us via the L.A. Weekly flickr pool. Never know where they might show up.

Flickr | Darin Dines

Flan de elote from Playa

Today's L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day is the flan de elote from the brunch menu of Playa. This gorgeous photo of the flan with flores de calabaza and quinoa, wrapped in a corn husk and paired with arugula, is brought to you courtesy of Darin Dines' Flickr. And a reminder that if you have any terrific food photography, consider sharing your photos with us via the L.A. Weekly flickr pool. Never know where they might show up.

Chronicle Books

Take Away

On these hot, muggy nights when your ambient kitchen temperature rivals that of your oven, we highly recommend whipping up a batch of ice cream for dinner (protein, calcium, fiber if you add fruit). It's also the perfect excuse to settle in with a fantastic, photography-driven food book like Take Away by French photographer Jean-François Mallet.

The book, a visual discourse on what we cook and consume, is a reissue of Mallet's French version (published in 2009). The photographs are not limited to a single photo-rich country like Morocco but have been culled from Mallet's years of travel throughout the world. On one page you're at a stand in Costa Rica about to bite into an empanada; on the next page, you're quietly peeking at a line cook catnapping among piles of delivery boxes at a Brooklyn pizzeria. A few more pages in, it's evident where Mallet, a former chef, has spent the most time on his travels: primarily the New York City area, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo and throughout Italy.

Only here, the photographs don't come across as mere personal reflections of what the photographer has seen, eaten or done, as this style of travelogue photo often does on food blogs today.

More »

Flickr | Darin Dines

Farro with broccoli di cicco from Ray's

Who says museum food can't be top notch? Our L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day comes from Ray's at LACMA: a farro dish with broccoli di cicco, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, chili sauce and slow cooked egg, courtesy of Darin Dines. Ray's is not only known for its farm-to-table menu -- but also its place settings. Silverware is located in an artsy personal drawer under the table at each seat, perhaps as a creative reminder that you are in fact at an art museum.

More »

Flickr | the roaming belly

Beef tongue, pickled onions and honey aioli from Ración

Today's L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day, from the roaming belly, is of a plate of braised beef tongue with pickled onions and honey aioli over bread from Ración. Ración, if you've not been to Pasadena lately, is the newish Basque restaurant in the location previously occupied by Tre Venezie.

If you've been exploring Los Angeles recently and have any food-related photography you'd like to share, we invite you to upload your pictures to the L.A. Weekly Flickr pool.

More »

Flickr | djjewelz

Tomato Bruschetta from Bottega Louie

When it comes to tomatoes, looks aren't everything -- contrary to what the tomato industry would have you think. This is why today's L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day is the Tomato Bruschetta from Bottega Louie courtesy of djjewelz's Flickr. But looks can be deceiving. Recent scientific reports have shown that some grocery-store tomatoes have been grown with the intention of enhancing color and appearance rather than flavor. (Big surprise, right?)

Flavorless tomatoes are a result of a chance gene mutation, one that's been producing vibrantly red tomatoes that are alike in size and shape. But that tantalizing beauty comes at the expense of the fresh taste that we appreciate in its many forms -- like spaghetti sauce and bruschetta, and in our conflicted relationships with stubborn ketchup bottles.

And a reminder that if you have any terrific food photos, consider sharing them on the L.A. Weekly Flickr pool.

Flickr | Cupcake Contemplation

Red velvet Fourth of July cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Cupcakes really are quite a brilliant way to harness holiday spirit and apply that sentiment to special occasions. That is why today's L.A. Weekly Flickr pool photo of the day is this display of Fourth of July cupcakes from Cupcake Contemplation's Flickr. Here, star-spangled red velvet cupcakes are covered with cream cheese frosting and blueberries.

If you have any holiday food photography, consider uploading to the L.A. Weekly Flickr pool. Because we'd love to see where the party takes your camera.