You’d think coffee, coming straight from the ground, would
be an obviously organic food.
Nope. Turns out coffee beans are probably as chemically
processed as a Big Mac.

Pinkberry creator Young Lee oozes Asian action star.
Taller than Bruce Lee and more handsome than Jackie Chan, he is clad in a black jacket and Tom Ford shades that border on obnoxious.

NOOK 11628 Santa Monica Blvd., #9 $6-$10 (small
plates) $10-$18 (big plates)
I couldn’t help feeling like a cool cat when I found
Nook.
Tucked in a mini-mall between a pizza parlor and a Chinese
restaurant, this bistro is so bona fide good that the only signage
it needs is a stoic orange arrow over its entrance ““ no
“Nook,” no nothing.

leiti hsu
She’s seen it all.
Restaurateur and chef Suzanne Goin encountered the refrigerator
that “stank like bloody hell” in a restaurant kitchen
in southwest France.

I believe very little of my Chinese mom’s off-the-wall
claims about food.
She once told me that if you eat too many instant noodles, your
body will just lie there, preserved, after you die.

Roll ‘n Rye 10990 Jefferson Blvd. $10-$15
Great roast beef can make a guy go gaga, and Roll ‘n Rye
in Culver City has my friend held captive.

Bread and Porridge
2315 Wilshire Blvd.
$10-$20
Brunch is the best meal of the day. It’s less pretentious
than dinner, and it offers the selection of lunch.

When the Brentwood Public Library needed money to modernize 19
years ago, UCLA alumna and fundraiser Carole Schiffer swooped to
the rescue with what is now the longest-running food festival in
Los Angeles.

She resigned because she couldn’t do it anymore. She could
not go out and explain to the public why the Food and Drug
Administration again denied the emergency contraceptive pill
over-the-counter status for “bogus reasons.”
Tuesday night, students and staff gathered at the UCLA Gonda
Center to hear Susan Wood, the former director of the FDA’s
Office of Women’s Health.