It's got to be one of the most relaxed gigs in the restaurant world: Chef/caterer Ann Swain, who owns the lunchroom at Autry House, is open for business only from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and only on weekdays. She presides over a pleasant, high-ceilinge...

I can't decide if the first sign of trouble at The Classic Tandoor restaurant was the décor or the Musak. I suppose it couldn't have been the décor, because it was such a relief to enter the dark, cool interior after crossing the end...

I never visited the original Ostioneria Puerto Vallarta on Lawndale, so I never mourned its passing the way some of my friends do. Apparently the original cafe was small and crowded and funky, steamy with good food smells, and made everyone's list...

Curved and turreted, the former nightclub that now houses Rodeaux Cajun Palace reminds me of a miniature Astrodome. Okay, maybe a cross between the Dome, squashed flat, and a demented Spanish mission, what with its hemispheric roof, glassy porthol...

When I fall in love with a restaurant, I fall hard. I wake up thrilled like a kid on Christmas morning, only my first thought is, "Today I know I'm going to have a great meal." I'm infatuated with the new menu, obsessed by every detail of its dish...

In a city blessed with a vast horizontal expanse of excellent Vietnamese restaurants, I suppose there's only one way for a Saigon-style newcomer to go, and that's vertical. The market is growing up, as in "upscale" and "uptown," I mean, or even "u...