13-Year-Old Flynn McGarry Cooking at Playa, New SBE/Danny Elmaleh Eatery Moving in to XIV, MORE!

MID-CITY— NY has kid critics and LA has kid chefs. Or, at least one 13-year-old chef named Flynn McGarry. On May 9 McGarry cooks an eight course "progressive American" dinner at Playa. A portion of the proceeds from this meal will cover the cost of a flight to Chicago where McGarry will stage with Grant Achatz at Next (perhaps the hardest dinner reservation to score in the country). Unfortch, the Playa dinner is already sold out but the restaurant will continue to serve four of McGarry's plates for the following two weeks. [DD]

WEHO— On the subject of the shuttered XIV, SBE corporate chef Danny Elmaleh will launch yet another rustic small plates concept in this space. [EaterWire]

BEVERLY HILLS— Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery has a new culinary team in place. Chef Alen Ramos will head up the pastry program and wife Carolyn Nugent will serve as bakery manager effective May 17. The pair joins Bouchon Bakery by way of Bottega Louie. [EaterWire]

AROUND TOWN— On May 10 from 2-6PM Coffee Bean sells its Cookies & Cream Ice Blended and Mocha Mudslide Ice Blended for $1 a cup. [EaterWire]

OC—Del Taco locations around Orange County are testing a new menu item called Crunchtada. It's basically a wavy corn taco shell topped with beans, chicken, cheese, cilantro and tomato. Here's a photo. [Foodbeast]