Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes.
B. Rodell
66: Pastrami Reuben at Art's Delicatessan.
The motto at Art's Deli in Studio City is "Every sandwich is a work of art." The deli, which has changed little since it opened in 1957, serves all the Jewish deli classics: creamy chopped liver, rich matzoh ball soup.
More »
Beer pairing has the same transformative effect on food as wine, but the transformation is entirely different. Pouring a liter of lager with your wings won't exactly result in a Michelin three-star meal, but superficial flavors will fall in line like Tetris pieces to build and unlock even bigger, more harmonious flavors. The depth and subtlety of some beers can't be released without a corresponding bite of curry, or piquant sauce, or pungent cheese.
Erika Bolden Beer pairing at Little Bear
The habit of ordering a drink before you've looked at a dinner menu can undermine your pairing possibilities. (Unless you're settling in for multiple rounds.) Anticipate your food cravings and order a beer for pairing to upgrade your dining experience from the tepid mediocrity of a Coldplay ballad to the irresistible fun of a Childish Gambino rhyme.
More »
So. Chick-fil-A hates gay people, but people still love Chick-fil-A. Those darn cute illiterate cows! We can't resist 'em! So, in order to combat the chain and simultaneously help out those poor souls who just gotta eat mor chicken, a number of restaurants around the country are offering alternatives. 
Guzzle & Nosh
You may have heard that West Hollywood gay bar The Abbey has created a Chick-For-Gay sandwich. They're not the only ones though.
Starting tomorrow, Tart Restaurant on Fairfax Ave in L.A. will start serving a Cluck OFF CF special, which includes a punch bowl and 10 "don't get mad, get GLAAD" chicken sliders. The special serves up to 5 people and costs $50. $5 will go to GLADD.
More »
We love potato chips. We love BLTs. Usually we eat our BLTs with a side of chips; sometimes we put the chips in our sandwich, just for a little extra crunch. But what if the sandwich could be put in the chip, instead of the other way around? Lay's helpfully tries to answer that question with its Classic BLT Flavored Potato Chips. "It all starts with farm-grown potatoes," the bag says, lest you feared the potatoes were grown elsewhere. "Then our chefs add a delicious blend of bacon, ripe tomatoes and cool lettuce to our all-natural seasonings for the classic taste of a fresh-made BLT." Taking that as a challenge for this Food Fight, we stacked these chips against a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich from the Village Bakery and Cafe.
T. Nguyen BLT Sandwich and Classic BLT Lays
When you crave a fried chicken sandwich and a fast-food version just won't hit the spot, you have a few options. Son of a Gun makes one of our favorite upscale fried chicken sandwiches, as does Canele, though that one is offered only during brunch on the weekends. And if you live on the Westside, you now don't have to venture too far past the 405 to get your fried chicken fix: Fundamental L.A., the small shop tucked innocuously on Westwood Boulevard, added a fried chicken sandwich to its menu not too long ago, and it's a great addition to an already fantastic lineup of sandwiches.
T. Nguyen Fundamental L.A.'s Fried Chicken Sandwich
The menu at Fundamental L.A. changes frequently, and it's something of a revolving door, as dishes come and go and come back again. As it is wont to do, then, Fundamental L.A. recently retired its fantastic meatloaf sandwich to make room for its fried chicken one, a substitution that would have been a travesty but for the fact that the replacement might be even better than its predecessor.
More »
Leading up to this year's Best of L.A. issue (due out Oct. 4), we'll be counting down, in no particular order, 100 of our favorite dishes.
Anne Fishbein Cemita de Milanesa at Cemitas Poblanos Elviritas #1
No. 99: Cemita de Milanesa at Cemitas Poblanos Elviritas #1.
There are sandwiches, and then there are sandwiches. The towering Mexican creation known as the cemita, a burly cousin of the torta and specialty of the state of Puebla, is set firmly in the latter camp -- in fact, it has about as much in common with your standard coldcut as a two-door Fiat has with an Abrams tank. It might just be one of the most formidable things ever stuck between two pieces of bread.
There is simply no room for filler here. A grilled sesame-studded roll, hard-shelled on the exterior but soft as brioche inside, is stacked with oily sheets of breaded fried beef, a heap of stringy quesillo, a smattering of sliced avocado, raw white onion, smoky chipotle peppers or pickled jalapenos, and a few leaves of a pungent herb called papalo, which smells like a mixture of mint, pepper and laundry detergent. For a dollar or two more, they'll even slip in a piece of Poblano head cheese if that's your kind of thing; the aspic dissolves under the heat of the sizzling meat and forms a spreadable, offal-based condiment of sorts that pushes the richness to atmospheric levels.
More »
Tomorrow marks the 10th annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, held this year at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Undoubtedly there are a few devotees out there who can attest to sandwich superiority, having frequented the event over the last decade. Competitor registration is closed and it's too late to be a judge, but for those of us stumbling upon the occasion for the first time, here's a look at what's between the bread.
Drew Tewksbury Previous year's competitor
So much can happen between two slices of bread. Practical, portable, difficult to define and nearly impossible to mess up entirely, the sandwich offers a broad canvas for the harried parent or the creative chef. John Montagu (aka the 4th Earl of Sandwich) could never have dreamed of the baroque monuments that would be inspired by his modest request for meat served between sliced bread. A staple of pop culture (think Dagwood Bumstead or Shaggy from Scooby-Doo), the sandwich is a touchstone for cuisines and neighborhoods of all kinds. Herewith, a Los Angeles sandwich primer.
More »
Why should you have to choose between meatballs and sausages on your sub? Or, for that matter, between roast beef and pastrami? Thankfully, at Eastside Market Italian Deli, you don't.
Though it has been around for 73 years in the same beige and brown corner building, the deli is a hidden gem tucked in the hillside neighborhood just above Chinatown, once a thriving Italian enclave. Current owner Johnny Angiuli came to Los Angeles in 1956 from Adelphia, Italy, at the age of 12. In 1975, lean years for the neighborhood, he invented the hot roast beef and pastrami sandwich. Known to regulars simply as the #7, it is the most popular menu on the sandwich -- and rightfully so.
More »
When is a banh mi not a banh mi? That is not a trick question, by the way. When it has no charcuterie? When it lacks pickled vegetables? Must it be served on a baguette? The ever-blurring boundary between all other sandwiches and the banh mi -- or what's passing for one these days -- undoubtedly will offend purists. For agnostic sandwich devotees, the mashup of cultural influences and newfangled fillings is a boon.
At Mendocino Farms, the budding fast-casual sandwich concept with a localish ethic and a haute cuisine aesthetic (so haute it has expanded into "sandwich atelier" and mixology bar Blue Cow), the most popular sandwich is the banh mi. Yet it's a banh mi that veers so far from the archetypal Franco-Vietnamese sandwich, it's served on a ciabatta.
More »
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
