Critic’s Notebook: My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week of dining in O.C.

Multiple closed restaurants, lame kabobs and a crime against pizza … Critic Brad A. Johnson says the routine of a restaurant critic isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds. Cue the tiny violins.

Brad A. Johnson • Orange County Register • July 6, 2022

If an ice cream cone at Ikea is the best thing you’ve eaten all week, welcome to the club. That’s the sad predicament I found myself in recently. The life of a restaurant critic isn’t always as glamorous as it sounds. And that’s precisely the way...

The full article can be read on the Orange County Register website.

Where to find the best Manhattan and more Las Vegas cocktails

Jenn Harris • Los Angeles Times • July 11, 2021

I’m the sort of gambler who watches $20 disappear in the slot machine and then calls it a night. And my evenings spent romping around nightclubs are long over. But I still find myself in Vegas multiple times a year in search of great food and...

The oranges that enraptured a millionaire

Jonathan Gold • Los Angeles Times • July 18, 2019

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Slake in February 2011 Visitors to the Norton Simon Museum, the collections jimmied into the corpse of the former Pasadena Art Museum, come to admire the handsome Frank Gehry garden, the...

Game of Burgers: Dominion of Diners, First Round!

Edwin Goei • OC Weekly • July 26, 2012

Let's get down to it shall we? My first round has four battles between eight contenders in the division we're calling the Dominion of Diners. We have Pee Wee's versus Red Robin; Memphis versus The Catch; Mick's Karma Bar versus The Rider's Club;...

A new seafood palace taps into old L.A. glamour

Bill Addison • Los Angeles Times • January 12, 2023

As dining rooms go, the open floor plan of Dear Jane’s sets up enough visual cues to convey the essence of the restaurant in less than 30 seconds. Your eyes will first land on the far wall of mounted buoys that encircle the open kitchen and flaunt...

Where to find the best espresso martini in Los Angeles

Jenn Harris • Los Angeles Times • February 23, 2023

On weekends, the espresso martini is one of the top-selling drinks at the Lets Go! Disco & Cocktail Club in downtown Los Angeles. “It’s the drink of the moment,” beverage director and co-owner Lee Zaremba said on a recent evening at the bar as the...