LA’s Forgotten Restaurant Quirks, Echo Park’s New Breakfast, and More

Killing California’s restaurant scene

This strongly-worded story from San Diego Magazine paints a rather bleak picture of the (currently) booming restaurant scene in California, arguing that the lack of a tipped minimum built into the rising $15 an hour minimum wage could very well lead to some seriously adverse affects on the industry here.

Sweetgreen expands to Brentwood

Tony Brentwood is in line for some leafy goodness in the name of Sweetgreen, which Toddrickallen says is coming through soon. It's a smart Westside location for the busy brand, and should only help to further solidify the salad company's exposure across town.

Shapely old restaurants

Work your way through this awesome list of restaurants around Los Angeles that historically celebrated novelty architecture, that sub-genre wherein a physical building was meant to resemble the items they sold, or at least be strong indicators of a theme. One of the most sorely missed? The boot-shaped Mother Goose Pantry in Pasadena.

The meaning of mole

KCET returns with their third installment of the ongoing The Migrant Kitchen series, this time focusing on a couple of Mexican families and their experience in and around the food industry in Los Angeles. Take a look below.

Casey Lane talks Downtown

Chef Casey Lane is in line to bring a host of new concepts to Hotel Figueroa in Downtown, and to tease the projects he’s been chatting with the Snacky Tunes folks from Heritage Radio Network. You’ll also hear Lane in this episode discuss his rise through Portland kitchens, and what it means to be a leader in your own restaurant.

Love for the South Bay’s Fukuno

The folks at Food Talk Central have some very nice things to say about the unassuming Fukuno, a simple (but very delicious-looking) homestyle Japanese spot in Gardena.

Breakfast at Trencher

Echo Park favorite Trencher is launching breakfast today, with a whole slew of daily options including breakfast burritos and more. Effective immediately, breakfast hours will run 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. daily. The full menu is below.