Anne Fishbein

Earlez Grille's spicy beef hot link with chili and sauce

If you ride the Metro regularly, or more likely, tell yourself that you should be riding the Metro regularly, the recently opened Exposition line should come as exciting news. Culver City residents now have the western terminus of L.A.'s rail system at their doorstep (somewhat), which means a journey downtown is now estimated to take around 30 minutes. But why rush it? The Expo line is dotted with places to stop off and explore, including a selection of restaurants that should make you excited to do your civic duty. Here are five of our favorites on the Expo Line Food Crawl:

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Flickr/kevharb

Drinko de Mayo

Let's face it, Mexico isn't exactly a major player in the current craft beer revolution. But that doesn't mean that its long tradition of easy-drinking, European-style lagers is something to be overlooked. Sure, the cerveza market is just as consolidated and macro-dominated as the United States' was in the 1970s, but even among the brews that make it up here, there are a few that stand out as more deserving than the rest.

So when faced with the Oktoberfest-of-Mexican-beer that is Cinco (or should we say Drinko?) de Mayo, arm yourself with our top 5 beers we think you should get down with before the tequila drops you to the floor. Turn the page.

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Flickr/kariknapp

Marinated Tuna at Sushi Nishi-Ya

One of the hard truths reached while researching our 10 Best Sushi Restaurants list a few weeks ago was that Los Angeles has far too many superb sushi restaurants to ever be condensed into a single list. One area that felt particularly overlooked (with only one entry in the top ten) was the San Fernando Valley, a region that may be considered a wasteland in some categories, but certainly not for sushi. In fact, the stretch of Ventura boulevard that hugs just below the 101 is often referred to as "sushi row," a place seafood lovers have been haunting for decades. Here are a few more of our favorite places to enjoy fresh fish when we feel like crossing the hill. Turn the page.

Note: For those keeping score, Go's Mart in Canoga Park was a part of the aforementioned 10 Best Sushi Restaurants in L.A.

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EileenRose/Flickr

A Dodger Dog

Remember the Dodgers? The baseball team we loved but whose stadium we abandoned because of all that nasty Frank McCourt business? Now that Magic Johnson has gone on and saved the Dodgers, we can all head back out to Chavez Ravine on a lazy weekend afternoon to catch a game or two, baseball gloves in hand in the off chance that Andre Ethier's next home run is destined for you in the rafters of the Left Field Pavilion.

And while you probably can't avoid a Dodger Dog, garlic fries and a drink while you're watching the game, you also might want to grab a bite beforehand, at least to meet and make bets on how well Ethier will do. Or, you might want to nosh after the game, to collect on the bets, celebrate a win or angrily re-live the exact moment when the team lost it in the ninth. In either case, here are five spots around Dodgers Stadium where you can go.

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Jaanus Treilmann

It's not a special occasion, your parents just miss you and want to treat you to a good dinner and catch up. Awww. That's the best -- and if your budget is stretched thin and theirs isn't, all the better. The only issue is that their criteria for dining out is completely different from your own. They like something casual; you like A-Frame. But it's their dime and they really want to spend it on you -- just not sitting there waiting to get into an of-the-moment restaurant where they have to squint at the menu and can only barely hear whatever it is you're saying. Even if the food is incredible, no party is fun with someone repeatedly saying "What?" over the tapas and wine. Then again, restaurants that appeal to older clientele or businessfolk aren't much fun either.

Having lived through this scenario many times -- almost always resulting in a trip to the No. 1 spot on this countdown -- we've come up with a go-to list of parent-approved spots you and your friends and relatives of all ages will enjoy. Where all of the adults present can dine on lovely food and sip thoughtfully made cocktails without once having to break out the flashlight app on their smartphone to make out the menu.

Our criteria for selecting five places everyone would like wasn't so simple. Each spot needed to have easy parking, good lighting, comfortable seating, not be too loud, not serve precious portions or cause sticker shock, not be stuffy and -- most of all -- the food should be terrific. Right.

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T. Nguyen

BCD Tofu House on Western Avenue

There is a segment of the population whose late-night cravings consist not of bacon and eggs or burgers and fries, but of sizzling grilled short ribs and flaming hot soups and comforting porridge. That segment of the population is the one you'll find after last call in Koreatown.

There are so many people out past the midnight hour, in fact, that the neighborhood seems to be just as alive at 2 in the morning as it is at 2 in the afternoon. Here are five of our favorite late-night spots in Koreatown, where you can wind down after a night out or nosh on a fourth meal after burning the midnight oil.

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Anne Fishbein

Inside Smoke City Market's Smoker

It seems hardly a 12-hour smoke has gone by since the days when polling around for the 5 Best Barbecue Joints in L.A. inevitably elicited those, "Well, if you have to eat barbecue in L.A.," and similar asterisk-studded brisket conversations that ended in buying a side firebox smoker (literally). We're still dreaming of those two-day road trips to Lockhart, but today there are enough good BBQ restaurants in the L.A. area to make a solid showing in Lynchburg. In fact, one of our top picks did the competition circuit for several years before debuting his fantastically blackened slabs of meat to the organic produce-toting farmers market crowd a few years ago. Gotta love L.A.

And while we have nothing against our longstanding citified barbecue joints, or gastropubs that also happen to smoke some 'cue, and we certainly love any new barbecue-centric food truck (Mobile smoked meat!), those that follow are the places we'd be confident taking friends visiting from Texas, no rationalization required. The sort of tunnel-vision establishments that make no excuses for the occasional overdressed coleslaw and unmistakable Velveeta-tinted mac & cheese. These are not great places to have a beer, nor are they great places to linger for hours. In this old school-inspired smokers' club, it's all about the meat.

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Frank Carroll

The King cake's been cut. And if there were beads involved, tuck them away. Remember, Fat Tuesday exists only because it is in balanced juxtaposition with the 40 days of Lent -- a time set aside for guilt, contemplation, fasting, sacrifice and service, depending on your flavor of spiritual commitment. The pope's tweeting about it, so it must be important.

Lenten fasting is best described as a First World fast. The Catholic Church forbids meat consumption only today, Ash Wednesday, and every Friday from here until Easter. This "meatless" fast is actually pretty carnivore-friendly. Canonical law defines it as the omission of the flesh of animals and does not include fish, eggs or dairy. Falling down the loophole even more reveals that it also doesn't forbid "meat liquids." We're talking chicken stock, meat-based sauces like gravy, and animal fat -- like lard and bacon fat. This concept of Lenten sacrifice seems a bit watered down. Perhaps with a nice duck stock accompanied by a piece of bread fried in a little bacon fat and washed down with wine. Sounds super meaningful to us.

A word to the righteous -- remember that despite recent election-year squawking (oh, calm down already), you do have the freedom to flex your religiosity as you see fit. And we think 40 days dedicated to contemplating our habits and maybe making a few changes isn't altogether a bad idea. We're suggesting the sustainability route. Call it a thematic Lent, and we're here to help -- a top five list of sustainable Lenten food sacrifices to make over the next 40 days that could, idealistically, save the world. We're talking about trimming major food carbon footprints here, which fits in a little sacrifice and a little service while cementing more sustainable food habits.

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D. Gonzalez

Show No Fear: The Pantry

Most great dishes start in the same place: the pantry. Pantry staples like oils, spices and grains are essentials in most recipes. Yet far too often, our pantries turn into places where ingredients get lost rather than used.

Unlike those already forgotten New Year's resolutions, getting a pantry back into shape is not as daunting as it would seem. Keep it small, think different and don't be afraid to go to the experts for ideas. So turn the page for our top 5 items to get your pantry in order and where to get them.

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Keith Underwood

The Many Colors of Craft Beer

Over the past few years, sales of mass-produced beer (Bud, Miller, Coors and the like) are down along with housing, investments and other barometers of economic growth. Guess what is not down? Craft breweries. Craft beer bars. Craft beer sales.

According to the Brewers Association, which represents the artists who brew innovative and exceptionally drinkable beer, craft beer sales went up 11 percent in 2010 and were up 14 percent in the first six months of 2011. Conversely, mass brewers are losing sales (silent applause OK here). Droves of (good) beer fans are supporting new beer bars in numbers that have bar owners expanding into second and even third locations within years of opening the first. Plus, seemingly every new restaurant that opens must offer 24 or more tap handles of craft beer.

"It's an artistic movement," says Tony Yanow, who this summer opened Mohawk Bend in Echo Park. Yes, great craft brewers are a form of art. Here are the top five new beer bars of 2011, in alphabetical order.

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