L.A. is a hotbed for many international cuisines, but we’re not exactly flooded with authentic Polish restaurants. Thus the debate about the best Polish cooking in L.A. is usually a short one; over the past three decades, the answer usually has been Warszawa.
But the restaurant isn’t resting on its laurels. The previous owner’s daughter recently took over and relaunched the Santa Monica Polish institution as Solidarity, a name that pays homage to the 1980s Polish labor movement.
Your wedding band is one of the most important symbols of your relationship. But you can make it even more special by customizing it in a way that speaks to the two of you. From a small and simple engraving to a microscopic laser inscription onto your diamond, there is no shortage of ways you can personalize your wedding bands and make them all the more meaningful to you.
When throwing a party, you wouldn’t settle for any old outfit—you aim to wow—and the same should go for your refreshments. So don’t just pick up another pack of generic, been-there-done-that kind of beer. Instead, give your guests a Super Bowl party to remember by going with some of the tastiest, most sought after and, even more importantly, chicest craft beers on the market. Because as every fashion girl knows, the best finds are not mass produced.
Every year on Feb. 14, we become a nation divided. Those who loathe Valentine’s Day see it as a day when happy couples gloat, capitalism runs amok and your favorite restaurant is booked solid and probably serving a love-themed tasting menu. If this is you, there’s still a way to observe the holiday, with everything from drink specials to help you wallow in self-pity to Tinder-themed parties to free food for eating your way through your feelings.
When it comes to football, the food you enjoy alongside the game has become something of an event itself. So for the Super Bowl’s 50th anniversary, we’ve put together the best L.A. takeout menus worthy of the big 50: from platters of smoked meat, to caviar and Champagne, to gourmet sandwiches and everything else in between. Dig in.
The ocean is endless in its bounty: a plethora of delicious fish, crustaceans, and mollusks; Maldon sea salt; The Deadliest Catch; tales of half-naked half-fish ladies, mythological sea gods, and sunken treasure.
And now, even vodka.
Nestled along the western-facing slopes of Maui’s Haleakala volcano in the rich agricultural region of Kula, Hawaiian Sea Spirits Distillery and Organic Farm is doing something the world of spirits has never seen before: taking deep ocean water and turning it into premium booze.
The Smiths—a third-generation Hawaiian family—began experimenting with ocean water as a more eco-conscious, sustainable ingredient for vodka that was still unique in both taste and process. In 2005, the Smiths settled on using one of Maui’s largest life forces—the ocean that surrounds it—to create a vodka that pays homage to the nature of the island. Their self-proclaimed “family affair and true labor of love” combines sustainably harvested, organic sugar cane with mineral-rich seawater, which is sourced from 3,000 feet below the coast of Kona on the nearby Big Island.
Of course, there are all sorts of strange things from which vodka can be distilled, including rice and even quinoa. But it’s the seawater—along with distilled sugarcane, which is more typical in rum than vodka—that lends Ocean vodka its refined, subtle taste and solidifies it as one of the most innovative takes in modern vodka-making.
To get a better understanding of the process behind this one-of-a-kind vodka, I sat down with Hawaiian Sea Spirits’ master distiller, Bill Scott, to talk shop.
When it comes to the multitude of ethnic cuisines that make up L.A.’s culinary landscape, certain neighborhoods have become synonymous with certain types of food. If you’re in the mood to slurp soup dumplings, you know the SGV is where you’ll go. East Los Angeles reigns as the unofficial taco capital, and for those who are craving some rich tonkotsu ramen, you’ll want to head over to Sawtelle Japantown.
But while L.A.’s Indian food scene is typically associated with a hub of great Indian restaurants in Artesia’s Little India area, the Westside has its share of spots that can hold their own. From new openings to longtime neighborhood gems, from Southern Indian cooking to Punjabi-style, these are the best Indian offerings (in no particular order) on the Westside.
Chances are, with all this “new year, new you” talk, you’ve already resolved to be healthier in 2016—and high on your priority list is probably drinking more water. Good for you. H20 is the best way to keep your body healthy and hydrated. But let’s face it, water can be boring. To make quenching your thirst feel less like a task, we’ve rounded up a few fancy options that’ll help you hit your goal and look cool doing it.
The holiday season is upon us, and Christmas is mere days away. Chances are you’ve already picked out a tree, but if the notion of decking it out in traditional red and green just hasn’t inspired you to start trimming, look no further than these 4 ideas. From a floral-wrapped fir to one that doubles as an art gallery, go for a design that feels true to your own style this year.
When it comes to restaurant lingo, nothing is more perplexing than somm-speak.
While overhearing an expediter yell at a line cook in the middle of service can sound foreign to the uninitiated, the world of “soigne” has nothing on the strange, poetic language that sommeliers—and, consequently, wine writers—have adopted when talking about wine.
Because descriptions like “loamy forest floor” can sound ridiculous to casual wine drinkers, MaryseChevriere—sommelier at Dominique Crenn’s Petit Crenn in San Francisco—decided to channel foofy wine slang into art. The result: Fresh Cut Garden Hose, an Instagram account that contains a series of cartoons inspired by the strangest of somm-speak.
