Not Everyone Loves the Idea of Legalizing Street Food Vendors

One neighborhood fights back against street vending

Over at the Daily Bruin, there’s a pertinent discussion happening around street food vending in greater Los Angeles, though the focus of this particular piece is on Westwood’s desire (or lack thereof) to join in on decriminalization. Basically, Westwood civic leaders are wary that with such a tight-knit business community in their neighborhood — and without the sprawl of other big stretches of Los Angeles — allowing in vendors could directly harm brick and mortar restaurants who are tasked with overhead costs (and thus higher menu prices) than their street-cooking counterparts.

It’s an argument that certainly has some merit, and one that Los Angeles will need to sufficiently deal with when pressing for a proper legislative framework for the tens of thousands of street food vendors across the city and county. Others, like Norm Langer of Langer’s near MacArthur Park, have been similarly arguing these issues in op-ed pages for years. There are certainly no easy answers to be found, but one thing as at least fairly certain: Street food isn’t going anywhere.

A dinner for New Arrivals

There’s an awesome new supper club making the rounds in Los Angeles, and it’s called New Arrivals. The ticketed evening events focus on immigrants and the cuisines of their countries, including a sold-out upcoming Syrian dinner on the Eastside. Want in on the next one? Sign up, says LA Mag.

Eggslut Glendale has gotta be close

If you’ve been waiting for Eggslut to open in Glendale, take a number. Just about everyone has been eyeing the space expectantly, but now comes word that things might truly be heating up there — at least on the employment front.

The first word on Bluegold/LXSO in Orange County

Tin Vuong and Blackhouse Hospitality’s massive new Bluegold/LXSO property in Huntington Beach just got some love from the OC Register’s own Brad A. Johnson, who calls many of the dishes “reputable,” “fantastic,” and “flawless.” Heck, even the servers at LXSO are “charmingly attentive.”

The next massive food festival

LA Times has just unveiled the next big thing in local food festivals: Food Bowl, an ongoing Downtown party/lecture series centered around Grand Park. The idea is to do demonstrations, talk about food in its many forms and future iterations, and bring in chefs from all over the world, while still nurturing local talent and working an ongoing food fair and night market for the entire month of May.

What to love about Odys + Penelope

La Brea mainstay Odys + Penelope continues to fire on all cylinders, including with their newish brunch offerings. NJinLA headed in to get some great shots of the food, and dish on what to expect.

More love for All Flavor No Grease

Things are look up for Keith Garrett of All Flavor No Grease, despite his operation on 108th Street in Watts getting shut down recently. He’s been making the pop-up rounds instead, and just went on Steve Harvey’s show and came away with a cool $10,000 to help kit out his future food truck.