Jessica Koslow

Ray's and Stark Bar

Cooking octopus can be tricky. But when done right, it's tender, delicious and loaded with health benefits (low-calorie, lean, vitamin-rich). Japanese and Mediterranean diets are swimming, as it were, with octopus options -- as is this town, where many restaurants have the dish on their menus. According to a sampling of chefs, the Spanish and Portuguese seafood are generally favored, and most cooks have a specific size they prefer -- from one to seven pounds -- for reasons ranging from tenderness to plate presentation. Some eateries serve octopus with spices from Peru, while others experiment with the flavors of North Africa. Turn the page for 10 of our favorite octopus dishes around town.

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Erin Lyall

The Bar at Aventine

Poor Hollywood. Aside from the folks who actually live there -- and tout its cheap rent, down-and-dirty attitude, and "central location" -- the neighborhood inspires sneers, scoffs and, at best, a low level of tolerance from other L.A. residents. By day, tourists clog the main boulevards, slowly rubbernecking through crosswalks while we strum our fingertips on our steering wheels, waiting to make our right turns. By night, underdressed 20-somethings teeter on too-tall heels, stumbling around after overdosing on over-priced drinks.

But stop the sighing. Stop the head-shaking. When you sift through the grit, there's some really great cooking happening in Hollywood, particularly these five restaurants that care about the food more than the scene. Or think of it this way: Now you've got somewhere to take your relatives after their trip to the Walk of Fame.

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Truffl, LLC

Barbecue ribs to be featured at upcoming BBQ & Microbrews event

It's arguable whether we've fully arrived at Web 3.0, but there has been a progression in the recent history of online companies trying to bring us food and drink -- whether as a product or through an event. Foodzie morphed from an online marketplace to shop for small-batch products into the web equivalent of a suburban shopping center called Joyus. Gilt Taste started as an editorial driven site with articles from an all-star cast led by former Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl, only to drop the component altogether. Amidst this evolving arena, Truffl launched last Friday, May 3 as an online club with food events and editorial content tailored to member preferences.

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Google Maps

You know you've found a real gem of an intersection when two competing strip malls face each other, each with their own unknown dining options. The intersection of Oxnard Street and Whitsett Avenue in North Hollywood is one such magical place, with donut shops, Thai places, and at least one tropical fish store on the premises (no word on whether the fish are edible). This week, we take a look at Oxnard Plaza on the southeast corner of Oxnard and Whitsett, where three distinct cuisines have come to roost -- plus possibly the strangest "bread" store you'll find.

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Anne Fishbein

Chocolate tart at Bestia

This week's L.A. Weekly profiles the one of the city's hottest neighborhoods: the downtown arts district. Check out the other stories in our series: *Tyler Stonebreaker: Curator of the Downtown Arts District. *6 Developments That Will Change the Downtown Arts District's Future*How the Arts District Got Its Name.

Clustered in pairs or trios, newer restaurants, bars and cafés have cropped up in the Arts District in the past five years or so, reflecting the forward trajectory of a city accustomed to fashioning function from old spaces and form at new locations. A path between buildings becomes part edible garden, part sanctuary at The Daily Dose. At the entrance of the Seventh Street Bridge, the Bread Lounge bears no signage alerting passers-by that some of the city's best bread is found within, save for the lone steel rack of loaves visible only at close range through the front door's glass.

This may be why, at first glance, the edible landscape of the Arts District appears to be in draft mode: The restaurants are mostly hidden, and often not within walking distance of one another. But the transformation of the Arts District nonetheless is best witnessed by exploring its food and drink options. What better way to visit a new neighborhood than to make a dinner reservation -- or just stop by for that delicious bread?

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Anne Fishbein

Son of a Gun

It's rare, but sometimes the planets align and your chakras are glowing (or whatever), and your boss steps out of her office and asks you where you'd like to go eat for lunch. Maybe she really screwed something up and she knows it, so she'd like to make it up to you with a mea culpa and an appetizer. Maybe your boss just got the new corporate card and it's time to give the ol' expense account a whirl. Whatever the reason, you'll need to have a plan. In case of lunchtime emergency, break glass and use this list of the top five places to have your boss take you for lunch.

Yes, these business-casual lunches can sometimes be excruciating -- oh, really Mrs. Wilson, you're not sure you'll be able to afford to refinish the deck on your SECOND house? Why yes, I think I will have another martini -- but you can do yourself a great service by knowing which place you'd like to chow down at. That way, your boss can relive their youth by prodding you for debaucherous weekend details while you scarf down food and drink to your belly's content, all without picking up the tab. Bonus points for looking like a self-starter by suggesting the restaurant yourself.

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Flickr/Bill Woods

blood. orange.

Pig ears, tails, feet. Tripe, sweetbreads, tongue. Cod sperm, salmon roe, yellowtail collar. (One could go on.) Foodist culture embraces it all. But the life force keeping everything else healthy and tasty and succulent still makes most eaters squeamish: blood.

Rich in proteins and lipids, blood can be found in some form or another in basically every regional genre of food -- except American, or at least the so-called traditional stuff. The Masai in Africa drink it straight from the cow. Europeans thicken it into sausage. Thai and Korean cooks ladle it into soup broth. It's like the perfect paleo-diet food, Crossfitters!

Time to get over it. Impress your friends! Live forever! Here are the best places to go in L.A. vhen you vant to suck some blood.

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B. Rodell

khao mun gai at Sticky Rice

The planned overhaul of Grand Central Market isn't particularly visible as of yet. It's currently undergoing a cleaning at night when the market is closed, but for the most part it remains lovably shabby, and many of the food stalls are empty.

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B. Rodell

Octopus appetizer at Cliff's Edge

Patio season is upon us, and one of L.A.'s most beloved and loveliest patios is the one belonging to Cliff's Edge, a space that's more like a magical tree house hideaway than a traditional restaurant patio. A lot has been going on at Cliff's Edge in the last six months or so, so I decided to swing by to check in on Dana Hollister's Silver Lake restaurant.

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Anne Fishbein

interior of Chego

For all of you who've been obsessively driving by the little strip mall on Overland that has for the last few years been the location of Roy Choi's Chego, hoping to see the Chego truck or evidence that Chego has reopened since it closed, ostensibly for renovations, in December -- an update.

"I don't like to use the word closing. We are moving," Choi emailed this afternoon. "Just like many immigrants went through growing up, we got dealt a hand and are dealing with it."

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