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Every year as the holidays approach, my inbox fills up with variations of the same question: “Hey Brad, I’ve got relatives coming into town for the holidays. Where should we dine out?” My first response is to steer them toward several years’ worth...

“What comes in this one?” I ask, pointing to one of the many pictures of udon on the menu at Meiji Siemen in Costa Mesa. The menu doesn’t contain many words but relies instead on dozens of tiny pictures, each one barely distinguishable from the...

Last Wednesday, I finished my final bit of writing for this year’s 101 Best Restaurants in L.A., and then I met a friend for dinner at Bicyclette in Pico-Robertson. The 101 is always a gargantuan task, a guide that’s as much about celebrating the...

Two things notably are in short supply in the neighborhoods surrounding South Coast Plaza: memorable cheap eats and really good Mexican food. Which is why Amorcito is such a welcome addition to South Coast’s Metro Pointe shopping center. Amorcito...

For the past 40 years, my parents have exchanged the same presents on their wedding anniversary. In addition to the concert tickets, jewelry, tennis rackets, coffee mugs and fridge magnets, the list always includes See’s Candies. The gift exchange...

What’s it like being the king of a chocolate empire? Pat Egan became the president of See’s Candies in 2018 (and the CEO in 2019) after leaving an energy company also owned by Warren Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. He believes he’s a...

1921 — Charles A. See, a Canadian chocolate sales representative, opens a small candy shop at 135 N. Western Ave. in Los Angeles with his wife, Florence, and his widowed mother, Mary See. (Mary’s is the face featured on the See’s boxes.) The trio...

Stacey Thorpe has worked for See’s Candies for 31 years. During that time, she’s developed some hacks to help make the most of her See’s Candies addiction. The following are Thorpe’s tips for how to use See’s Candies to upgrade your coffee, your...

Stacey Thorpe can put together a custom 1-pound box of See’s Candies, gift-wrapped, in five minutes or less. She knows where every piece of candy sits behind the counter at her Glendale store. Her speed and crisp corners, she boasts, have prompted...

The first secret to a good egg sandwich is to start with good bread. And the brioche that gets sliced to order, then buttered and toasted for sandwiches at Flippoly in Irvine (and Buena Park) is really, really good bread. The freshly baked loaves...