doesn’t look that promising. The only abulon (abalone) they have is from a can, it’s Mexican, and distributed by a California company. It’s not true-abalone but imitation abalone made from squid. I should have...

Sam’s Club is a spin-off of WalMart (Sam Walton) and is membership only – don’t know what determines eligibility. We were killing time recently near a club and they wouldn’t even give us a free tour to see...

We lived in Gaviota, California, in a tiny house on an oil lease where my dad worked. It was 2 bedrooms and there were 5 kids! We made it work by converting the garage to a bedroom and by getting a travel trailer parked in the...

butter and thought about that story of Sambo turning those tigers into butter. Every time I drive past Santa Barbara I plan a breakfast stop at the original, “Sambo’s” for the best pancakes in California –...

of parmesean cheese (don’t kill me) the canned version, sour cream, and fresh salsa. I don’t add taco seasoning to the turkey, just my mojo spice; red chili flakes and california chilie powder, garlic, and cayenne....

discussion and content – I can tell you that I’m visiting (and contributing) less since these threads started appearing. They’re just too hard to keep track of, and have so little staying power. I’ve...

My only food industry work was a summer in the marketing dept. of the NYC-area branch of Sysco — editing catalogs, tracking sales and organizing food shows of new products for the sales staff — yummy! I gained a lot...

backwaters of the chow jungle for hidden treasure. But each hound has a different tolerance for risk. Some will want to only frequent establishments with an undisputed track record for both chow & service, while others will be...

Hi, Of the people surveyed, I did not have a GI-track problem from Thai Avenue. However, I also went way out of my way to avoid any chili intenseness. Regards, Cathy2

it at Trader Joe’s or Andronico’s or many other good food markets. Or make one yourself following the directions in Maggie Glezer’s books or any other classic bread making book. (My starter is from Russian...

Maverick Farms is hard to describe. It’s an organic, politically aware nonprofit small farm run by super-foodie hipsters who bring a dot-com sensibility to their work.

Tina, welcome. FYI, the Cheesecake Factory is a chain, from California I think. I’m certainly not the arbiter of what is “Chowhound” but this corporate tourist feed-hall is the antithesis of the kinds of places...

Oops, you’re right. Too much reading about all these different styles distracted me. I’ll have to pump my dad for inside scoops on Anchor Steam news since he went to the brewery Christmas party/tour last night.

Welcome to LA, where it mysteriously gets sunny every January 1 (I think Pasadena once went down to the railroad tracks and sold its soul to the Devil for this, but I digress...) Others have done a great job recommending some...

there are super nice (they’ll even give you a tour of their adjoining nightclub which they also own) and we found out that the place has been open for 3 months and that the chef comes from spain, the island of mallorca to...