Food & Drink Today is the 149th anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, an observance barely noticed in Mexico that has been celebrated with eating, dancing and explosives by Californians of Mexican descent since the late 19th century and, these days, by everyone else.
A Chicano holiday should be commemorated with Chicano cuisine, of which there is no dish more iconic than the burrito. Introduced to Los Angeles in the '30s and popularized throughout the Southwest in the '50s, the fat, rice-stuffed burrito is a thoroughly American creation, best avoided much south of Juarez.
Here are 10 really good ones to eat while contemplating the many contributions of the Mexican diaspora to our nation's culture.   More

Performance On any given day, the Los Angeles County jail system holds over 18,000 men and women in custody—160,000, all told, in 2010. Seven or more men share cells built for four in buildings so foul that,   More

News After more than a decade-long manhunt, Osama Bin Laden, the founder and leader of Al Qaeda, has been killed by US forces, according to president Obama. The text of the President's remarks are after the jump.
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Arts & Books Another reader submission this week: Tom Jaleski writes, "We have had to live with this towering construction site garbage heap the owner calls "pride of the Linnton" for three years now and this is only the first story. A really sad thing to see everyday, also sad to watch him destroy the hillside for this. It is really insensitive and unresponsive to the site." I think he's right. Were the thing...   More

Bar Reviews The Observatory, the Montavilla restaurant that has been overrun by neighborhood families, mildly geeky youth and urban-homesteader types since the day it opened, has undergone parthenogenesis. The   More

Food & Drink Every time I hear an ice cream truck warble through my neighborhood, I feel compelled to chase it down. I feel this even though, having grown up in rural Linn County, I have never once purchased ice cream from a truck. I would like to, someday, but I don't like extruded, dyed, seaweed-filled ice cream. However, I would absolutely buy Risse and Sean Davis' ice cream, should they manage to raise the...   More

Food & Drink  All photos by Christa Connelly.
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Food & Drink Han Ly Hwang, the owner of Southeast Division Street food cart Kim Jong Grillin', had a hell of a Saturday: First, his Korean barbecue skills earned him the judge's choice award   More

Food & Drink Pascal Sauton, for the past seven years the chef at Carafe Bistro (and, before that, Lucere), has severed ties with the restaurant. In an email sent last night he wrote:
"As of today, I am no longer associated with Carafe restaurant. Carafe remains opened for business, just without me. Over the past 7 and half...   More

Food Reviews & Stories The past 18 months have seen dedicated food-cart parking lots spread across the city like so many dandelions, springing from the ruins of failed condo projects, reclaimed vacant lots and the fever    More