The Los Angeles Times magazine WEST is going away, so this weekend's restaurant issue could possibly be the last in a LAT magazine for quite awhile, if not forever. So we expected something much more, a last hoorah if you will. Instead, it's a roundup of what critic S. Irene Virbila found interesting and notable over the last year, all ironically packaged under the heading "FRESH." It's not that we disagree with her picks---we love what Joseph Centeno's doing at Opus, think LOU is fabulous, and look forward to brunching at Larkin's as much as the next person---it's just that there's little new news. A handy pull-out, perhaps; something to keep around for reference. The Hounds are a bit more critical or entirely apathetic. Two other articles on limoncello and chefs experimenting with sorbets, are nice if not a little meh. Still, we found a few tidbits worthy of a mention.
(1) Joe Pytka still says Bastide will open mid-July, but will neither confirm or deny. Place your bets now.
(2) Mario Batali keeps a pair of orange clogs next to the pizza counter at Mozza, something to slip into when he visits. Nothing permanent. We feel like a cheap, torrid, cross-country affair. He'll never leave his NYC wife restaurant. Never.
(3) Apparently, the only female chef doing anything interesting in LA is Nancy Silverton.
· Fresh [West]
· Mellow Yellow [West]
· Cold Play [West]
· LA Times Restaurant Guide... yawn [Chowhound]
· West Officially Killed [LA Observed]
