Every week involves a steady stream of food, drinks and people. Of course not every taste or conversation is post-able, but the range of experiences is usually pretty amazing. Lucky me. Here are some of the highlights from the past seven days, some of which will help to fuel full posts.

January 23, 2012 – Persepolis Cafe opened last year in Westwood, filling Iranian sandwiches with ingredients like lamb brain and beef tongue. For my taste, their wackiest concoction involved a grilled hot dog and the potato and chicken salad called oliveh.

January 23, 2012 – Noted bartender, PDT bar owner and cocktail writer Jim Meehan was at The Spare Room to promote The PDT Cocktail Book, and he drew local bartenders in droves, who lined up for an autograph and to chat.

January 24, 2012 – Short Order‘s menu for dineLA Restaurant Week included Ida’s Old School Burger, featuring grass-fed beef, cheddar, pickles, tomato, griddled onion and iceberg lettuce. What burger would be complete without a “secret sauce”?

January 25, 2012 – My first meal at Lawry’s Prime Rib involved several tableside perparations, including carved-to-order Prime rib.

January 25, 2012 – The Roger Room bartender Jason Bran made cocktails using a blended Scotch called The Black Grouse. His Black Celebration was a variation on a Manhattan with sweet vermouth, Amaro Nonino, orange bitters, a touch of Fernet “to complelent the smoky flavor with something bitter,” and a flamed orange peel garnish.

January 26, 2012 – Il Covo is a new Italian “den of thieves” near Cedars-Sinai from hospitality veterans Sean MacPherson and Jared Meisler. Their dineLA Restaurant Week menu included a choice of any pasta, and my pick was a generous portion of cappellacci with braised veal.

January 27, 2012 – Mario Batali was at Mozza’s Scuola di Pizza to help promote his latest cookbook – Simple Family Meals – in a meet-and-greet sponsored by Gilt City and Crocs.

January 27, 2012 – Vito, an old school Italian restaurant in Santa Monica’s Ocean Park neighborhood, participated in dineLA Restaurant Week with a high-value menu that included spaghetti della casa with chopped shrimp sauteed with shallots, Cognac, cream and tomato sauce.

January 28, 2012 – We found ourselves at La Espanola Meats in Harbor City on Saturday. We missed that day’s paella by a couple hours, but still snagged some of their imported Spanish meats and cheeses. It’s worth the trip to an industrial area of the South Bay if you get the chance.

January 29, 2012 – Mercado Olympic is the “next street food star,” according to Street Gourmet LA founder Bill Esparza, and before the LA Times Travel Show, we joined him at a crawl that included a vendor who makes chicharrones and chorizo.