Last night's Taste of Beverly Hills party. [Photo: kevinEats]
BEVERL HILLS— kevinEats recaps last night's Taste of Beverly Hills kickoff soiree. Check out the assortment of eats ranging from a few truffled pasta situations to arepas to a foie gras spiced rice krispy treat. More than enough food porn to go around. [kevinEats]
WEST LA— Red Medicine's Jordan Kahn will sample a seven course Vietnamese beef feast (hm, that sounds like Totoraku) from September 8 to 11 at Test Kitchen. [EaterWire]
SANTA MONICA— Hard to believe but October is approaching, yikes. At the barker hanger from October 8-11 American Showplace Productions brings a taste of Germany to SoCal via an Oktoberfest celebration. Think German food, German beer, plus a 21-piece Chico Bavarian Band. Hm. Tix cost $25 here. [EaterWire]
To round out the day, just before this nice long weekend, a short dose of local star activity. You see them eating and they don't care if they see you. Want to submit an item for the StarWatch? Operators are standing by.
1) LudoBites: We saw Giada De Laurentiis at LudoBites last night. She and her friends had the reservation behind us. I hope she was as happy with the meal Ludo served her as we were!" [StarWatch Inbox]
2) El Caserio: "Bill Pullman and Robert Loggia at El Caserio in Echo Park last night. Is a sequel to Independence Day happening?" [StarWatch Inbox]
3) Guido's: At Guido's West LA last night, Benicio Del Toro came in around 9:45 very low key, trucker hat and t shirt. Was dining with a tall, beautiful blonde." [StarWatch Inbox]
Welcome back to Dining On A Dime a bi-weekly feature in which Lizbeth Scordo surveys LA's cheap eats—often obscure, ethnic, unsung restaurants—proving that dining on a dime is alive, well, and quite tasty in this here city. Where do you think she should go next? Drop us a line.
Driving down Jefferson Boulevard, past a stretch of warehouses, before turning just beyond a cash-and-carry wholesale grocery store with a parking lot surrounded by a barbed wire fence, it's hard to imagine that in just a few minutes I'll be sitting down at a little French café that serves freshly baked quiche and croissants. From the street, Normandie looks just like the other nondescript behemoth buildings nearby, but a closer look reveals the building's awning-covered patio complete with potted ferns, smooth jazz piping through the speakers, and coffee mugs filled with roses on every table. When I arrive, there are only two women sitting outside, sipping coffee and sharing a pastry and an egg sandwich. Most of the action is inside the tiny retail bakery, showcasing a variety of breads, freshly baked muffins, cookies, and perfectly frosted cakes.
Back in March came word of the "McDonald’s of bibimbap" aka Bibigo making its US debut right here in LA. The eatery took over the previous Scallions space in Westwood, and management has just announced its September 6 debut. The idea behind this project is to serve healthy Korean fare, most notably bibimbap, a traditional Korean dish involving warm rice topped with veggies, chili paste, a fried egg, and sliced meat. One mixes all the components together, hence the name of the restaurant, Bibigo, "bibi" means "to mix" in Korean, which is fused with the idea of taking food to go, so "bibi" + "go." Anyway, here, customers have the option to customize their own bibimbap by choosing a type of grain (white, pearl black, sprouted brown, barley, and white ), a mix of veggies, toppings (beef, chicken, tofu) and sauces (Ssam sauce, Green Sesame, Citron Soy and sweet Gochujang aka “Kohot” a red pepper paste). Track Bibigo via the usual suspects.
·All Bibigo Coverage [~ELA~]
Wow, more more more from Umami mastermind Adam Fleischman. With four Umami locations, plus a new Valley restaurant underway, PLUS the forthcoming Red Medicine which should be debuting shortly, Adam has many more tricks still up his sleeve. Right now though, we're talking about 800° his newest concept which manifests itself in Westwood Village claiming the former Daphnes Greek Cafe space at 10889 Lindbrook Drive. Adam has recruited former Michael Mina corporate chef Anthony Carron (who currently resides in Vegas) to craft Neapolitan-style thin crust pizzas fired in a wood-burning oven. But wait, these are not just your standard pizzas. The Adam twist (cause you knew there had to be one)? Still to be determined "unusual gourmet toppings" with all pizzas priced under $10. That plus a bevy of specialty salads too. This lunch and dinner spot will also take on an expected hipster vibe, though an interior designer has yet to be hired. Anticipate an opening January 2011. [EaterWire]
MEALS ON WHEELS— Grub Street spots up and comer Lardon, a baconmobile slated to hit streets in the next few weeks. A menu is on the way, in the meantime track 'em on Twitter. [GS]
MEALS ON WHEELS— In other mobile vendor news, LAmag brings word of Cooking Channel's temporary food truck rolling into town. Score freebie ice cream from Carmela Ice Cream (MEGA yum) at Taste of Beverly Hills on Saturday and LA Times Celebration of Food & Wine on Sunday. [LAmag]
CULVER CITY— Rocco's Tavern in Studio City must be doing something right. Management has filed an application to take over the La Ballona Mexican Restaurant in Culver City on Main Street. [EaterWire]
AROUND TOWN— On September 8 yet another one of those discount meal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial launches, welcome to DealPop. [EaterWire]
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It's that time of year again, the LA County Fair is upon us and commences this weekend, running through October 3. That means, fried food, fried food, and more fried food from deep fried Klondike bars to deep friend PB&J and deep fried chocolate covered bacon wrapped Oreo cookies. Oy. Score 
