Anthony Albright via flickr

Last week, the news came out that nearly half of all meat in the US is contaminated with superbugs. Unsurprisingly, this information was met with a huge reaction, and much of the chatter was around whether the abundance of grossness in our country's meat supply was a reason to give up eating meat altogether.

"April 17, 2013: the day I became vegetarian," tweeted Brett in response to our story about the contamination. "Gross. Another great reason to be vegan." tweeted @DrivingFrank. We got a lot of other responses that were similar.

More »

Malcolm Bedell/From Away

Barbecue bacon burger, hold the superbugs

Nearly half of U.S. meat is contaminated with "superbugs"--antibiotic-resistant bacteria--according to an Environmental Working Group analysis of recently released government tests. Medical News Today reported the findings.

The "dirtiest" meat is ground turkey, 81 percent of which contained the dangerous microbes. In addition, 55 percent of ground beef and 39 percent of chicken parts were contaminated.

These germs are responsible for infections and food poisoning. Once the bacteria become antibiotic-resistant -- such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA -- infections are difficult to treat and potentially fatal.

More »

Flickr/khawkins04

burger patties

On Meatless Monday, here's another reason to make yourself a nice soyrizo burrito: A new study shows that red meat makes bacteria that can lead to heart disease proliferate in your gut.

The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine on April 7, showed that a substance in red meat called carnitine is broken down by certain bacteria in the stomach into a gas, which is converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO. The scientists found that TMAO was strongly linked with the buildup of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.

More »

Emma Courtland

Al Gelato's Spaghetti and Meatball

It's been a tough year for meatballs, smothered with lingonberry and scandal. But tomorrow, on National Meatball Day, we put all of that behind us and celebrate with spheres of seasoned meat made from government-sanctioned non-companion animals. Because that's the true meaning of National Meatball Day.

Any of the entries on our list of 10 Best Meatballs would make a solid starting point to your festivities. But if you're looking to celebrate Meatball Day with a noodly counter-part, we have a couple suggestions for that too. Turn the page.

More »

Scott Chanson

Years into a nationwide culinary movement that has seen countless producers returning to craft and traditional goods, Los Angeles boasts its own brands of locally roasted coffee, handmade chocolates and new school food trucks.

But not until Angeleno Matt Lauster decided last year -- with flavors like Korean BBQ, Sriracha-Lime and Garlic Habanero in mind -- to start cutting and drying his own beef, did this city acquire its own artisan jerky company with Venice-based Dried and True.

For anyone whose jerky experiences have been relegated to gas station purchases of additive-laced Jack's Links "nuggets" and Oberto's "hickory-flavored" strips, the idea of nitrate-free, hand-crafted jerky might sound like an oxymoron. Pit-stops at various rural roadside jerky stands, however, (think Alien Fresh Jerky in Barstow or Gus' Olancha Jerky off the I-5 in Central California) give glimpses to how a jerky Renaissance has grown out of this time-tested method of meat preservation.

More »

Barbara Hansen

Steak tartare at Star King in Koreatown

Where would you show off an elite variety of beef? Not in some flashy high-end dining spot but in the most beef-centric part of Los Angeles -- Koreatown. There, it's hard to find a place that doesn't serve bulgogi and galbi, and the buzz words are grass-fed, Wagyu, Kobe and Black Angus. That is, until now.

The new player is Certified Piedmontese beef, which was introduced last week at Star King, the first Koreatown restaurant to put it on the menu.

More »

G. Snyder

Beef Troll Wedding at Beefsteak 2012

By any standard metric, this past Saturday's Beefsteak dinner at Vibiana was a success. There were hors d'oeuvres from chefs Jason Travi, who turned out truffled eggs and bourbon shots topped with veal broth foam, and Neal Fraser, who presented crab cakes, salmon blini and plump little lamb kidneys wrapped in bacon. A large ice sculpture of a steer stood near the side altar. Beer and wine flowed in copious amounts; on some of the long banquet tables sat carafes filled with strong, well-made Manhattans. Dinner brought large bowls of roasted fingerling potatoes, sauteed broccolini with garlic, and long platters of beautifully rare flank steak to be dipped in red wine jus and horseradish sauce. By the end of the night a good deal of money was raised for the L.A. Food Bank.

More »

Anne Fishbein

Beefsteak Dinner 2011

Last year's Beefsteak dinner at Vibiana's downtown was a pretty epic affair. An ode to old-timey New York, it was boisterous, use-your-hands, all-you-can-eat steak and beer drinking party based on the famous 1939 New Yorker story by Joseph Mitchell.

Our former food critic Jonathan Gold even chronicled it, describing such wondrous sights as, "[a] fat man, dressed in an old-fashioned bathing suit appliqued with fabric pork chops, danced up the length of the long tables, then down again, flouncing, jiggling, representing the abandon most of us would have aspired to if it hadn't been so much work."

More »

N. Galuten

Langer's Pastrami Sandwich

This week we're launching a new series called Food of the Moment which devotes itself to an ingredient or dish currently experiencing an boom at local eateries. We'll then eat it, dissect it, discuss it -- and tell you where you can get some.

In a Slate piece back in September, Rachel Levin chronicled what she described as the nation's first "pastrami summit" -- an event that seemed less bacchanalian and more scholarly than you might expect -- inside a Jewish Community Center in Berkeley, attended by some of the Bay's top abattoir experts. According to Levin, these were the New Pastramians, "deli artisans who brine/pickle/cure/smoke/hand-slice their-own-everything; serve only humanely raised, hormone-free meat; and could care less about kosher."

Of course, Berkeley isn't the only place where pastrami is experiencing a renaissance. In Los Angeles, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo served smoked foie gras with pastrami spices (before the ban) at Animal, while DIY meat gurus Chris Phelps and Zak Walters occasionally serve house-made pastrami and eggs as a brunch special at Salt's Cure. And The Oinkster in Eagle Rock practically revolves around chef Andre Guerrero's applewood-smoked take on L.A.-style fast-food pastrami (shaved wafer thin).

But these guys aren't alone: as sanctified as the classic Jewish deli menu is, a greater share of chefs are taking the smoked and spiced formula of pastrami and giving it their own spin. While we love our Langer's as much as the next fresser, here are some of the most prominent "new pastrami" purveyors in Los Angeles.

More »

B. Rodell

Baby goat T-bone at Mozza's Scuola di Pizza's salumi night

Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4) -- and probably beyond, at this rate -- we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes.

39: Grilled Baby Goat T-bone at Mozza's Scuola di Pizza Salumi Bar.

There are a ton of reasons to stop by Mozza's Scuola di Pizza on a Thursday night for chef Chad Colby's salumi bar, not least of which is the salumi itself. But you can also expect a small but amazing variety of "butcher cuts," which, according to the menu, are "an exclusive selection of cuts that are available in limited quantities."

More »