The Odd Couple

For two performances only, Martin Short and Jason Alexander team up for "The Odd Couple", a special event of the Reprise! 2007-2008 season.

Reprise! is also offering a chance to win a pair of tickets to the Friday, January 25th. Click here for more info.

Don't miss out on this special event at the Wadsworth Theatre. While you're at it, I'd highly recommend hanging out in and around the Westwood area, which boasts both a Pinkberry and Red Mango, as well as on Sawtelle with great restaurants like Furaibo.

-ExperienceLA Staff

Turkeys Galore

"Heritage Turkeys", Submitted by ExperienceLA
Deep fried turkey, turducken, upside down turkey... so many ways to prepare them. Delish.

Just wanted to wish everyone an early Happy Thanksgiving! Don't forget to check out your local farmers markets for your last minute Thanksgiving meal purchases, as well as our latest newsletter for great giveaways (Wooden Classic, Enter Shikari Debut)!

Cheers and Happy Eating!
-ExperienceLA Staff

Los Angeles Magazine Food Event: Home Grown

With an opportunity to see several LA based chefs and taste food from a dozen restaurants, my wife and I paid to attend the Los Angeles Magazine Food Event: Home Grown - A Celebration of Ingredients Grown, Baked, and Raised Close to Home. Plus, the LA Mission would benefit from the event which was held at The Kitchen Academy in Hollywood and along the walkway to the ArcLight Theater complex...

With the popularity of Bravo's hit TV reality series, Top Chef, one saw a cook-off between contestants "CJ" Chris Jacobson of Season 3 and Betty Fraser of Season 2. Judging the competition with tomato as the secret ingredient were four from the audience plus the Master of Ceremony, Jake Hanover, who cast the deciding vote to Betty. During this 3 hour event, one also saw cooking demonstrations inside the Kitchen Academy from Kerry Simon (Simon L.A.), Michael Cimarusti (Providence), and Suzanne Tracht (Jar and Tracht's). One received souvenir cards of their respective recipes for their cooking demonstrations. Pictures of the event can be found on my Flickr account.

The offical wine was La Crema featuring their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, while LA Mill Coffee, the soon to open coffee house in Silver Lake, was the official coffee and Gail Silverton, Nancy's sister, brought her Gelato Bar in from Studio City. There were also craft beers from Sang Yoon of Father's Office. I thoroughly enjoyed each of these, while tasting each of the craft beers, and making my way through samples of almost all of the gelatos by the end of the event.

My wife, Karen, who is an accomplished cook and watched each episode of Top Chef many times from season one to three provides the following commentary on the CJ - Betty cook-off.

The challenge was to combine ingredients and cooking styles from 2 different countries to make one dish. They could use any of the ingredients that were provided in the pantry. Betty's countries/cultures were American and Latin, CJ's were Asian and Italian.

Betty pureed scallops with cilantro and jalapeno. She put the puree on an egg roll wrapper, topped with a "tomato ring", which was filled with a raw egg and topped with provolone. She folded the turnovers into triangles and deep-fried them. She served them over a salad of mixed greens and topped them with a chunky guacamole.

CJ sauteed batons of eggplant and apples, and then topped them with sauteed chicken breasts that were rubbed in Asian spices. There was a brunoise of tomatoes and celery root with cilantro, basil and lemon zest. Then he made a sauce of pureed tomatoes, sriracha, and herbs and drizzled that on the plate. And my apologies if I got anything wrong in CJ's dish. It looked and sounded delicious.

The challenge was 30 minutes long. Betty's plating was very rustic and homey looking, CJ's was much more refined (different styles, different looks).

High School Musical's Corbin Bleu in SoCal!

My High School Musical on Ice post must have turned a few heads, at least someone at Sara Lee. I'm all for educating kids on nutrition and meeting a favorite celebrity in the process, so at their request - here's a great contest for kids to have a chance to win a visit from High School Musical star Corbin Bleu to their school!

Sara Lee is out to once again spread the word about the benefits of whole grain, this time via the wildly popular High School Musical star Corbin Bleu. The company has just announced a contest asking Southern California kids to write about ways they can better their lunches and win a chance to bring Corbin to their school. You can find the Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Bread Ultimate Lunch Switcheroo Contest at www.thejoyofeating.com/lunch.

Good luck to all who enter!

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA.com Web Coordinator

Tea Tasting in LA's Chinatown

Tucked in-between the golden dragon archways on Broadway and Chinatown Metro Gold Line station with its green, yellow, and red curved roof is Far East Plaza. At the entrance to this plaza is Wing Hop Fung Ginseng and China Products Center. But don't let the name fool you. There's more to this place than aromatic herbs and beautiful hues of porcelain dishes and figurines (though it does have a good many to please). Pass by the first floor of ginseng and herbs behind glass countertops and the large selection of dark and light wine bottles lining the shelves. Then head up the escalator and next to the assortment of imported food goods in bright plastic packages (ranging from yellow rice crackers to sweet and salty plum candy), a tea fan might find a surprising treat...

...at the top floor of Wing Hop Fung are large glass cylinders and glass countertops filled with tea leaves. Recently, I had a lovely tea tasting experience with fellow ExperienceLA blogger and ExperienceLA founder Curt Gibbs, when meeting with George Yu of the Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council and Bibiana Yung of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles.

In addition to letting us smell the intense and fresh aroma of tea leaves, the woman in this area of the store provided us with a sample of Fujian Fresh Flavor Oolong Tea, which retails for $68.99, and plum tea, cold and slightly sweet. One surprising aspect of the selection of teas is the price range, from expected prices one might find in a general store to a high-end selection worthy of Rodeo Drive. Curt purchased a sample of an extremely fragrant $150 tea aptly named "Lion Hill Supreme of Green Tea."


In addition to invigorating the sense of taste and smell, tea tasting at Wing Hop Fung is a truly visual experience. Tea can come in all shapes and sizes, more than just small leaves, they can be beautiful bulbs and round kernals. Most people are likely to visualize tea in its Lipton sachets of crushed leaves - sometimes the dark, dry mixture has hints of colors from other leaves and dried flowers, visible only through the gauze of a tea bag. But aside from pre-packaged paper boxes of this and loose leaf tin canisters of the standard fair of Jasmine, Oolong, and Green, few can likely attest to seeing tea unparceled, unready for just quick placement in a porcelain tea pot or mug of hot water.

If you want an experience to invigorate your senses, have a taste of tea at Wing Hop Fung in Chinatown.

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Web Coordinator

Less Taxing Situations: Free Coffee and Ice Cream

Los Angeles is famous for some perks. Among them, almost year-round sunshine, diverse arts and cultural offerings, and just about any kind of food you want to find!

A temporary, but fantastic perk? It's also home to a free coffee promotion by Denny's for this year's tax day! April 17th is also Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day...

Denny's Pours Los Angeles A Cup of Coffee
Anytime on Tuesday, April 17th (i.e. that dreaded TAX DAY), customers can visit participating restaurants and receive a free cup of Denny's new Special Blend coffee.

There's even free coffee at select post office locations where sampling teams will be handy with "rocket packs" filled with Denny's new special blend of coffee. Those at Westwood Village will even have the opportunity to get free travel mugs and coupons.

WHEN: TAX DAY - April 17, 2007
WHERE:
7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.: Post office at 9029 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.: Post office at 10 W Bay State St., Alhambra 10 W Bay State St., Alhambra
11:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.:
11000 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles Westwood Village near Denny's on Triverton Ave.
8:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.: Post office at 9029 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day

This annual event runs from 12pm-2pm on April 17th! Find a participating store near you!

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Web Coordinator

Farmers Markets in Los Angeles

One of the best things about ExperienceLA.com is the extensive Los Angeles Farmers Markets listings! Fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and other delicious delectables are often alongside tables full of handmade arts and crafts while live musical entertainment plays. Some even have events for the kids! Metro recently added some great info on a recent press release on some suggested places to go and how to 'Go Metro' to get there.


Markets Along the Metro Gold Line:

• Old L.A.'s Farmers Market, Tuesdays, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Avenue 57 and Marmion Way, Highland Park station
• South Pasadena Farmers' Market, Thursdays, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Meridian Avenue and Mission Street, Mission station
• L.A. Chinatown Farmers' Market, Thursdays, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., 727 N. Hill between Alpine and Ord, Chinatown station
• Pasadena Victory Park Certified Farmers' Market (access from Metro Gold Line with connecting Pasadena ARTS shuttle bus service), Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., North Sierra Madre Boulevard and Paloma Street, Sierra Madre Villa station
• Pasadena Villa Park Certified Farmers' Market (access from Metro Gold Line with connecting Pasadena ARTS shuttle bus service), Tuesdays, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., East Villa Street and North Garfield Avenue, either Lake Avenue station or Memorial Park station

Markets Along the Metro Red Line:

• L.A. Seventh and Figueroa Farmers' Market, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7th and Figueroa streets, 7th Street/Metro Center station (also accessible from Metro Blue Line)
• Hollywood Farmers' Market, Sundays, 8 a.m. to 1 pm., Ivar and Selma Avenue, Hollywood/Vine station

Markets Along the Metro Blue Line:

• L.A. Seventh and Figueroa Farmers' Market, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7th and Figueroa streets, 7th Street/Metro Center station (also accessible from Metro Red Line)
• Long Beach Downtown Certified Farmers' Market, Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 5th Street and the Promenade, 5th Street station

For more information on these and other LA Farmers Markets and to use our Metro Trip Planner to get there, visit ExperienceLA.com Farmers Markets.

-Charity Tran, ExperienceLA Web Coordinator