July 31, 2012 – At Superba Snack Bar, the new restaurant from Pitfire Pizza co-founder Paul Hibler and chef Jason Neroni, they place a premium on pasta, serving house-made options like agnolotti with Dungeness crab, sweet corn, opal basil, and lemon.

August 2, 2012 – Huckleberry hosted a dinner in support of KCRW and Evan Kleiman’s annual Good Food Pie Contest. Zoe Nathan retooled her fried chicken recipe just in time, and served it with spiced nuts, heirloom tomato crostata, sweet corn succotash, and old fashioned peach pie a la mode, with ice cream from Sweet Rose Creamery.

August 4, 2012 – At Plate By Plate, Project by Project’s annual tasting benefit at downtown L.A.’s Vibiana event space, Providence chef-owner Michael Cimarusti presented a study of salmon, including smoked salmon, crispy salmon skin and salmon roe.

August 4, 2012 – We helped judge the St-Germain cocktail challenge at Plate By Plate, and it was tough call, with three good drinks, but Chris Hewes of Hollywood’s Library Bar ended up winning a split decision with Getting Figgy With It. Chef Nyesha Arrington broke the three-way tie in a competition that also included Gia St. George and Devon Espinosa.

August 5, 2012 – The second annual LA Weekly Pancake Breakfast took place at Vibiana, and while Jonathan Gold was no longer the curator – that honor went to Tiara Café chef-owner Fred Eric – they still featured an international spectrum of pancake dishes, including Kobawoo House bindae duk. Owner Steve Kim prepared mung mean pancakes with green onion and pepper and either kimchi, potato or seafood (oyster and shrimp), all doused in soy sauce.