8/8/11 – The last stop of a Bay Area trip with Matthew “Mattatouille” Kang was Fentons Creamery, which has been slinging scoops for 118 years in Oakland. Their cherry ice cream contained enough butterfat to eliminate the need for lip balm.

8/8/11 – Our first meal back in L.A. after returning from San Francisco was at the original branch of Sevan Chicken, which opened 19 years ago in Tujunga. They serve crisp-skinned, Armenian-style rotisserie chicken with garlic sauce, pickled turnips, paprika-dusted hummus and rice pilaf.

8/9/11 – ink. chef-owner Michael Voltaggio unveiled the interior of his long-awaited restaurant, which will drop in September. He also previewed a lunchtime-only sandwich spot called ink. sack, two doors down Melrose Avenue.

8/10/11 – As part of 12% Imports’ West Coast promotional tour, Stillwater Artisan Ales brewmaster Brian Strumke and Evil Twin brewmaster Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø greeted beer acolytes on the back patio at Library Alehouse. Stillwater specializes in saisons, and the Debutante, brewed with hyssop and heather, disappeared in an instant. Evil Twin’s Biscotti Break, a porter brewed with espresso and vanilla for a beer cruise from Rome to Barcelona, was another winner.

8/13/11 – Hallie Beaune and Christina Perozzi, collectively known as The Beer Chicks, curated the 2nd Annual LA Craft Beer Crawl downtown, populating seven different 213 bars with artisan brews. Las Perlas bar manager Raul Yrastorza came up with a beer cocktail just for the event, which he dubbed the Dusty Road. He used Uncommon Brewery’s Siamese Twin, a beer with Thai spices, as the base, and added tamarind pulp, lime juice, lime rind, lemon rind, mezcal, agave nectar and a rim of orange rind, salt and black pepper.