Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement In February 2015, in a tiny ramen-ya in the Far East Plaza in Chinatown, Jonathan Gold led a hot sauce taste-off with chefs Roy Choi and Alvin Cailan. They assembled an array of fiery condiments, including hometown favorite Sriracha and bottles of Cholula, Tapatío, Tabasco and sambal oelek. At the last minute, I introduced a bottle of Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp to the mix.I watched as the three men dunked a series of pink plastic spoons into the sauces. They sampled the condiments, squinting their eyes and pursing their lips. After...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement In February 2015, in a tiny ramen-ya in the Far East Plaza in Chinatown, Jonathan Gold led a hot sauce taste-off with chefs Roy Choi and Alvin Cailan. They assembled an array of fiery condiments, including hometown favorite Sriracha and bottles of Cholula, Tapatío, Tabasco and sambal oelek. At the last minute, I introduced a bottle of Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp to the mix.I watched as the three men dunked a series of pink plastic spoons into the sauces. They sampled the condiments, squinting their eyes and pursing their lips. After...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Sometimes, it feels as if the forces of the universe are conspiring to create a food of the moment. That food, at this moment, is the fried fish sandwich. We seem to have emerged from the Fried Chicken Sandwich ecosphere only to enter an era of another fried protein in bun. Fried fish sandwiches oozing with tartar sauce are crowding my social media feeds in a way that simply can’t be ignored. Most are inspired by a specific style of fish sandwich, steeped in comfort, with origins that can be traced back to two famous golden arches....…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Sometimes, it feels as if the forces of the universe are conspiring to create a food of the moment. That food, at this moment, is the fried fish sandwich. We seem to have emerged from the Fried Chicken Sandwich ecosphere only to enter an era of another fried protein in bun. Fried fish sandwiches oozing with tartar sauce are crowding my social media feeds in a way that simply can’t be ignored. Most are inspired by a specific style of fish sandwich, steeped in comfort, with origins that can be traced back to two famous golden arches....WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement What can you buy with $35,000? A house in some parts of the country. Or a new Mustang with a high-performance package.For Caitlin and Daniel Cutler, that’s one-third of a year’s rent at Ronan, their Melrose Avenue Italian restaurant. It’s also what they spent on food delivery service fees in 2020.The couple have always budgeted for rent, but they could not have anticipated the devastating effects of a pandemic: a precipitous drop in sales and the skyrocketing expenses associated with getting their food to takeout customers. (In...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement What can you buy with $35,000? A house in some parts of the country. Or a new Mustang with a high-performance package.For Caitlin and Daniel Cutler, that’s one-third of a year’s rent at Ronan, their Melrose Avenue Italian restaurant. It’s also what they spent on food delivery service fees in 2020.The couple have always budgeted for rent, but they could not have anticipated the devastating effects of a pandemic: a precipitous drop in sales and the skyrocketing expenses associated with getting their food to takeout customers. (In...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Spoon by H, Yoonjin Hwang’s celebrated Korean restaurant in Fairfax, is closing. Business had been slow since the start of the pandemic, but last summer, Hwang said, she started to notice more people disputing charges and claiming missing items through delivery apps. The restaurant was bleeding money and she was spending hours on the phone with the people behind the apps, trying to dispute the chargebacks. “We lost orders, time, precious ingredients, and the problems accumulated to the point where we just couldn’t stay in business...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Spoon by H, Yoonjin Hwang’s celebrated Korean restaurant in Fairfax, is closing. Business had been slow since the start of the pandemic, but last summer, Hwang said, she started to notice more people disputing charges and claiming missing items through delivery apps. The restaurant was bleeding money and she was spending hours on the phone with the people behind the apps, trying to dispute the chargebacks. “We lost orders, time, precious ingredients, and the problems accumulated to the point where we just couldn’t stay in business...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement In a devastating blow to Los Angeles’ struggling restaurant and hospitality industry, L.A. County public health officials on Sunday announced they will suspend outdoor dining at restaurants amid a surge of new coronavirus cases.Few segments of Southern California’s economy have been hit harder by the pandemic than the once-booming dining world, with many landmark establishments closing in recent months and many more on the brink. After they were forced to shut indoor dining rooms in the spring, many eateries got a lifeline when...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement In a devastating blow to Los Angeles’ struggling restaurant and hospitality industry, L.A. County public health officials on Sunday announced they will suspend outdoor dining at restaurants amid a surge of new coronavirus cases.Few segments of Southern California’s economy have been hit harder by the pandemic than the once-booming dining world, with many landmark establishments closing in recent months and many more on the brink. After they were forced to shut indoor dining rooms in the spring, many eateries got a lifeline when...WW…