L.J. Williamson

Christmas is known as the season of excess -- and excess counter space, and judging by the proliferation of silly, useless and just plain dumb kitchen appliances that seem, like egg nog, only to appear on store shelves during the spendiest time of the year. Aunt Ethel might be a tough case on your holiday gift list, but as tempting as it may seem, keep those sawbucks in your pocket and just get her a box of candy instead of something that will clutter up her already cramped cabinets, leading her to curse your name for the next 12 months.

Turn the page for our top 10 dumbest kitchen gadgets -- with suggestions for better options. Consider it a little holiday shopping intervention.

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G. Snyder

Jim Dandy's fried chicken

Like egg rolls and gyoza, fried chicken is one of those dishes that your mother probably makes better than everyone else, because no one else's version is quite as crispy, or quite as juicy, or made with quite as much love. That said, when Mom isn't around and the craving strikes, there are quite a number of places, both down- and upscale, where you can find comfort in chicken that's almost as good as your mom's. Turn the page for our list of the ten best fried chicken in Los Angeles.

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jgarbee

Nory Locum Turkish Delight Factory Kitchen

How do you, how does anyone, define the term artisan today? The answer, less than five years ago, was an independent food crafter of various genres, ages, types and vastly different production yields. The schoolteacher who makes only a few hundred jars of jam annually in a shared rental kitchen. The third generation family of confectioners who make several hundred batches of Mexican candies a week, yet still insist on still making every single piece by hand (and using handmade equipment) in their tiny East L.A. kitchen. That handmade quality was all that mattered.

Back then, being an "artisan" also had nothing to do with whether those jams made appearances at farmers markets or "artisan events" like Renegade, Urban L.A. or Artisanal L.A. And not because their product wasn't worthy of those venues, but by necessity. They were too busy making candy six days a week. Yet in a span of just a few years, we rarely hear of the food crafts that these more established artisans are preserving.

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Rachael Narins

Cookies for Santa from PS310

Cookies! Santa sent us on a mission to find the best Los Angeles has to offer, and much like his naughty and nice scroll, our list was long. More than 38 suggestions came rolling in, and that was for individual stores, not varieties. It was sugar-shocking. We instantly decided to leave macarons alone, since we figure those rainbow treats merit their own list; and then we went out and started sampling. Cookies are always in season.

What we found out is that the Westside is where the cookies are. As far as we traveled, the siren song of perfectly balanced sugar, butter and flour kept luring us towards the ocean. Each of the cookies listed below is locally made, fresh baked and available to order for all of your holiday cookie-gifting or snacking needs. If you feel like we deserve some of that love, well, you know where you can find us...

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A. Froug

Beef Roll at 101 Noodle Express

Hidden within Los Angeles' seemingly infinite number of mini-malls and mega-malls is a staggering amount of good eats. The food court in the basement of Koreatown Plaza is a neon wonderland of potent kimchi and oversized bibimbap bowls; the food court at Mercado La Paloma, just south of USC, inspired long pilgrimages just for Chichen Itza's cochinita pibil or the lomo saltado at the old Mo-Chica. Detailing all the Chinese food courts that dot the terrain from downtown all the way past El Monte would take a dumpling-filled lifetime.

But when holiday shopping season starts, and you need to buy that video game for your nephew, or some perfume for your grandmother, these hidden food courts probably won't be of much help. Like the rest of us, you'll have to slog through the crowds at the real mall, a land where Hot Dog on a Stick, Auntie Anne's and Cinnabon are your most prominent options.

Our top 10 places for mall food-court dining might not be the most spectacular eateries, but when it comes to making the best of a bad situation, these places offer a tasty respite from the usual food-court fare.

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Rachael Narins

Nachos

Nachos are party food, sporting event food, late-night soak-up-the-booze food or -- conversely -- kid food. Nachos are not aspirational food. At its most basic, this is a platter of chips covered with a neon foodstuff called cheese. Even when elevated, it isn't pretending to be much more. But it does hit all the points of salty-sweet-crunchy-tangy-spicy joy, and for that it is a huge favorite -- whether you admit to loving this dish or keep it secret.

As a dish, it was invented at The Victory Club in the early 1940's, by Ignacio "Nacho" Anaya in Coahuila, Mexico. It became a staple of cantinas and happy hour menus some time after that.

But a truly good serving of nachos is going to have more than just chips and cheese. It should have flavor, heft, variety, quality ingredients and some thought behind it. Ideally, the toppings are layered in, as opposed to just being tossed on top.

Sure, you can get your fill at El Torito Grill or (we assume) Chili's, but this list isn't about those places. This list is of spots serving up something bigger, bolder and better. And while we not-so-secretly think the number one spot should have gone to the canned cheese and stale chips being passed off as nachos at Dodger Stadium -- because drinking a cold beer and watching our team play on a sunny day is as close as many Angelenos get to nirvana -- we set that aside and came up with 10 other options for your approval. Turn the page.

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G. Snyder

Preserved Pork Belly with Tofu at Hunan Chilli King

So you think you like spicy food? So did we, until we subjected ourselves to the unbelievable gauntlet of pain that Los Angeles' chile-obsessed food scene offers. Indian curries potent enough to cure chest colds; Thai salads that make your eyes burn before you even take a bite; salsas that ought to be as controversial as waterboarding.

We chose 10 of our favorite spicy dishes -- which may or may not be the most spicy in town, since much depends on how well you can convince the kitchen to set your intestinal tract alight -- but there isn't really any doubt that any of these items could have you mopping you the stinging sweat off your brow with an icy towel. Remember the famous quote: "Pain is temporary, but glory lasts until your taste buds grow back." Turn the page.

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Rachael Narins

Lobster Nage at Bottega Louis

Winter in Southern California means it's time to put on a scarf and dish up some soup to ward of the chill, and who doesn't love a hearty bowl of the stuff -- maybe served with more than a lot of bread. It's a smart way to go as a full meal, and often for under $10.

Our efforts to find the best version took an interesting twist. The rules we set said that the soup must be on the menu year round -- sadly leaving many places out, since soup of the day and seasonal soups we know and love weren't considered. But the truth is that any self-respecting restaurant is going to have a soup du jour that's most likely worth trying. You just might not be able to get it whenever you want, and if you can't, it seems unfair to include it on a "best of" list.

Also, if there were more than ten viable versions out there of one style, we figured that type merits (or has already) its own list -- ergo, no ramen, pho, udon or tom yum gai. We've already listed our favorite matzo ball soups. And yes, we've done pho too. As for the others, maybe keep checking in.

That said, we did find a lot of fantastic soups to choose from that are on the menu all the time, so turn the page. And as always, we also want to hear where you get your favorites, too.

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Peter Moruzzi Collection

"Go to these places now. Don't wait. This may be your last chance to immerse yourself in a vanishing world." So says Peter Moruzzi, author of the just-published book Classic Dining: Discovering America's Finest Mid-Century Restaurants, a glossy, full-color, coast-to-coast tour of the restaurants your parents or grandparents went to on fancy occasions -- many of which are still with us, at least for the time being.

To celebrate the release of the book, this Saturday at 7 p.m. Wacko/La Luz De Jesus Gallery is hosting a party -- the Dresden will be pouring their Blood & Sand cocktails, Tam O' Shanter will be making sliders and Lawry's Prime Rib will be giving away 50 of their famous seasoned salt and pepper caddies, customized for the occasion.

Recently we asked Moruzzi to recommend the best of Los Angeles' classics. Turn the page for his picks of this town's 10 Best Classic Mid-Century Restaurants -- see them while you still can.

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Rachael Narins

Pecan Sticky Bun

Pecan sticky buns are based on a German dish, then super-sized, amped up with more sweetener and topped -- or bottomed, if it's an upside-down version -- with a nut that's native to our shores. But what sets the truly American version apart from other nut-rolls though is that long baptism in the namesake sticky sugar-butter sauce. They can be made in a pan or on a sheet, covered in frosting or not, but they'll always be made with a yeasted dough, and sweet enough to make dessert pretty irrelevant.

In L.A. we found that the pecan sticky bun is almost always an even better choice than the cinnamon roll, if such a thing is possible. They might not always have actual pecans -- sometimes walnuts make an appearance, but they are always, as advertised, sticky and worth every bite. For the results of our exhaustive hunt for the best choices around town, turn the page.

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