DINE LBC Long Beach Restaurant Week is set for August 5th through August 13th, 2017. More than 60 diverse Long Beach restaurants spanning 12 neighborhoods will offer special multi-course menus at affordable prices.

Encoring in DINE LBC are Chef Arthur Gonzalez’s Panxa Cocina (modern Latin Cuisine) and Roe Seafood (the home of seafood fanatics). We’ll meet the proprietor, Chef Arthur Gonzalez.

Panxa Cocina opened in December 2014 and is located on the corner of Broadway and Termino in the Belmont Heights neighborhood of Long Beach. Since opening, Chef Gonzalez has been serving both quality interpretations of classic dishes and daring new ventures into the uncharted territories of food.

Panxa’s interior reflects the hip sensibilities of the surrounding area while also paying tribute to its Latin and New Mexican roots. This ground-floor restaurant offers the choice to observe passers-by from many tables throughout the restaurant, or enjoy the full menu at the bar.

Roe Seafood is the new home for seafood fanatics in Belmont Shore. Roe offers inspired, handcrafted, mouth-watering seafood dishes that blend both seasonal and local ingredients with bold flavors and exciting tastes.

“All ingredients are fresh and in season. If you’d like to know where we source our fish, shellfish, vegetables, or breads, please ask.

Join us for lunch or dinner 7 days a week for the freshest and most delicious seafood you’ve ever tasted. You can always call us and order take-out, because everything on the menu at Roe is always ready to go.”

Roe Seafood just earned a 3-Star Review in the Long Beach Press-Telegram from veteran restaurant critic, Merrill Shindler.

 

Journalist Al Mancini is well-known in Las Vegas hospitality circles. He’s been reviewing restaurants there for over 15 years. In 2011 he co-created the first edition of the definitive Las Vegas dining guide – Eating Las Vegas – The 50 Essential Restaurants. Late last year he joined the Las Vegas Review-Journal as a staff writer primarily covering the food, restaurant and libations beat.

We resume our insider’s chat with Al about Vegas foodie news of note. We finish our Downtown update with Al’s profile of the Downtown Container Park. It has a giant Praying Mantis at the entrance that periodically shoots fire out of its mouth. Only is Las Vegas…For food (and a view) he suggests The Perch located on the top corner of the complex.

Look for Al’s new weekly column in the Review-Journal highlighting worthwhile Downtown events, including food.

Al shares his thoughts on the arrival of culinary celebrity David Chang’s Momofuku (and Milk Bar) at The Cosmopolitan. Momofuku will soon launch in Los Angeles.

 

Journalist Al Mancini is well-known in Las Vegas hospitality circles. He’s been reviewing restaurants there for over 15 years. In 2011 he co-created the first edition of the definitive Las Vegas dining guide – Eating Las Vegas – The 50 Essential Restaurants. Late last year he joined the Las Vegas Review-Journal as a staff writer primarily covering the food, restaurant and libations beat.

We’ll chat with Al about the rise of Downtown Las Vegas as a dining destination and also get updated on other local foodie news of note.

One of Al’s picks for Downtown Las Vegas dining is The Carson Kitchen. It’s actually expanding. It’s something of a homage to its founding chef/owner, the late Kerry Simon.

Al is also a brunch fan. Right before his “SoCal Restaurant Show” interview he was at the newly expanded Ping Pang Pong in The Gold Coast enjoying their highly regarded dim sum. On Friday he was brunching at Sugarcane located on The Strip at The Venetian. Al points out that it’s one of the few spots in Las Vegas with a Weekday brunch option.

On Thursday evening, August 10th Chef Amar Santana’s Vaca in Costa Mesa is hosting a sumptuous, 7-course wine-paired dinner with an abundance of passed hors d’oeuvre as a festive Friends of James Beard Foundation Benefit to celebrate South Coast Plaza’s 50th Anniversary.

Chef Amar is also well-known locally for Broadway by Amar Santana in Laguna Beach and as the runner-up from lucky Season 13 of Bravo’s “Top Chef” in what the judges noted was the tightest final competition of the series’ long history!

Santana and partner Ahmed Labbate, whose roots together at South Coast Plaza go back to 2008 when they opened Charlie Palmer, will welcome 100 discriminating guests with a love of food and wine to the Beard dinner. Santana is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.

The festivities on August 10 will include a small silent auction during an al fresco reception. While enjoying the signature Vaca Tonic and hors d’oeuvres, guests may peruse deluxe offerings, which will include a LVMH Luxury Champagne experience for 16 guests; packages from South Coast Plaza, the Montage Laguna Beach and Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, unique dining experiences, luxury travel destinations, and high-end wines.

Seats are $350 and $300 for members of the James Beard Foundation, all inclusive. For reservations to the Friends of James Beard Dinner at Vaca, please register online her For more information, please contact VACA GM Ghali Benhima at 714.463.6060. A credit card will be requested to secure the reservation.

VACA Group Partner & Executive Chef Amar Santana (well-traveled) provides the tempting preview.

The Orange County Register’s long-time Food Business Staff Writer, Nancy Luna, had a great explanatory piece with Chef Amar on Vaca’s upcoming Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner that ran in the print edition on July 27th.

In her new book The Migraine Relief Plan: An 8-Week Transition to Better Eating, Fewer Headaches, and Optimal Health, health coach and wellness authority Stephanie Weaver explores the connection between lifestyle, food, and wellness for people with migraines, vertigo, and related conditions like Meniere’s disease. With more than 36 million Americans dealing with migraines, and many more with chronic headaches, this is genuinely useful information.

One in four U.S. households includes someone with these symptoms; the traditional approach of prescriptions or injections is ineffective for many.

Stephanie took her own surprising diagnosis, at age 53!, and set out to create a different strategy to help herself and others. No other book for migraines or headaches features a comprehensive, realistic lifestyle approach, providing guidance for a full six months as readers learn how to create their own migraine-friendly lifestyle.

Stephanie brings warmth and humor to a normally clinical topic, and her lively presentation style showcases her approach to being “an incredibly healthy person who happens to get migraines.”

In the book (with 75 recipes) Stephanie explains in depth about the challenge of recipe development using a limited palette of foods, explores the concept of food substitutions, and showcases what a plant-forward migraine-friendly plate looks like.

 

Step off the pristine, white sandy beach and into the open-air, Hau Tree restaurant & bar on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel for a causal dining menu which includes sandwiches, wraps, hamburgers, salads, ice cream, their famous Ovaltine Froth, or a cooling Fredrico cocktail which originated right there.

This is an unparalleled spot in The Hawaiian Islands to enjoy the nightly Sunset. Truly spectacular…

Hau Tree offers a grab-n-go breakfast, sit-down lunches and relaxed dinners on the Big Island of Hawai’i. It’s complete with a gazebo-style bar perfectly situated for enjoying cocktails while anticipating the sunset’s elusive green flash.

Talking about “The Fredrico” libation… It was created as a special for a regular guest. It proved so popular it needed to be on the permanent libation menu. Fred wanted a Mai Tai variation that was a little less sweet. “The Fredrico” is Light Rum, Jack Daniel’s Whiskey and blended with Tropical Juices. Cheers…

We pull the newly married Chef Chris Galindo off the beach for an ono overview.

Program Note for Saturday, July 29th. We followed the Halos, come-from-behind victory at a special time. Next Saturday, August 5th we are back at our usual time of 10:00 a.m. to 12 Noon. Please join us.

Now an enticing preview of Saturday afternoon’s fully-packed show. It’s not, with profuse apologies, for dieters. If we’re successful we will always leave you incredibly hungry and thirsty. In our case, upon careful reflection, that’s probably a pretty good thing…

Step off the pristine, white sandy beach and into the open-air, Hau Tree restaurant & bar on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel for a causal dining menu which includes sandwiches, wraps, hamburgers, salads, ice cream, their famous Ovaltine Froth, or a cooling Fredrico cocktail which originated right there. We pull the newly married Chef Chris Galindo off the beach for an overview.

In her new book The Migraine Relief Plan: An 8-Week Transition to Better Eating, Fewer Headaches, and Optimal Health, health coach and wellness authority Stephanie Weaver explores the connection between lifestyle, food, and wellness for people with migraines, vertigo, and related conditions like Meniere’s disease. With more than 36 million Americans dealing with migraines, and many more with chronic headaches, this is genuinely useful information.

On Thursday evening, August 10th Chef Amar Santana’s Vaca in Costa Mesa is hosting a sumptuous, 7-course wine-paired dinner with an abundance of passed hors d’oeuvre as a festive Friends of James Beard Foundation Benefit to celebrate South Coast Plaza’s 50th Anniversary. VACA Group Partner & Executive Chef Amar Santana (just back from Ibiza, Spain) provides the salivating preview.

Journalist Al Mancini is well-known in Las Vegas hospitality circles. He’s been reviewing restaurants there for over 15 years. In 2011 he co-created the first edition of the definitive Las Vegas dining guide – Eating Las Vegas – The 50 Essential Restaurants. Late last year he joined the Las Vegas Review-Journal as a staff writer primarily covering the food, restaurant and libations beat. We’ll chat with Al about t...

If all the hush-hush, closed-door negotiations between The International Olympic Committee (IOC), Paris and Los Angeles go well Los Angeles will host the Olympics again for the 3rd time in either 2024 or 2028. What does it all mean? Can a modern Olympics even break-even for the host city?

Our Olympics expert and historian, Richard B. Perelman, joins us with a true insider’s perspective. Rich was the youngest Vice President of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC) for the 1984 Games and also was the Editor of the 1984 Olympic Games Final Report, a massive two-volume book.

In his daily e-newsletter, The Sports Examiner, Perelman suggested the simultaneous dual city awards for 2024 and 2028 (and the reasoning for this unprecedented approach) weeks before it was reported on in the mainstream media as even a possibility for the IOC to consider.

Rich will encore with us in September with analysis & commentary after the IOC announces their final selections of Host Cities (and order) for the Games in 2024 and 2028. This includes which City (Paris or Los Angeles) is awarded 2024 and then 2028’s Host City.

Brea’s popular Cha Cha’s Latin Kitchen has just opened a second location in The Market Place in Irvine.

“In the Lounge the lively sound of handcrafted cocktails being shaken provides the backdrop. These tequila libations utilize freshly squeezed juices, house-made infusions, and fresh seasonal fruit. A variety of popular and boutique wineries from the Central Coast, Spain and South America also add a great complement to any meal.”

Don Myers started his restaurant career at the young age of fourteen in Tucson, Arizona at the fifty-year-old Casa Molina Mexican Restaurant. He graduated from the University of Arizona and was a four-year varsity athlete and competitive international gymnast.

In 2008, Don created P&D Restaurant Concept that now boasts two award-winning restaurants. He was later featured in OC Metro and named the “Unofficial Mayor of Brea” in 2013 for his leadership role in the revival of Brea Downtown. In 2014, Myers and his business partner Peter Serantoni were named Orange County Business Journal’s Restaurateurs of The Year.

Brea’s popular Cha Cha’s Latin Kitchen has just opened a second location in The Market Place in Irvine.

“Cha Cha’s Latin Kitchen was born out of a love and passion for Latin cuisine…”

“The Latin inspired menu adapts the culinary heritage of Mexico and Latin America to a fresh modern style. In the open kitchen guests can watch savory dishes being prepared in the wood-fired oven, while free-range Jidori chickens roast to perfection and tacos are topped with house-made fire-roasted salsa.”

Their special creation for National Tequila Day (July 24th) is the specialty margarita, the El Palomar. It’s 100 % blue agave tequila, fresh serrano chile, orange liqueur, freshly squeezed lime juice, agave nectar and a float of house-brewed Hibiscus tea.

Proprietor Don Myers (also Brunos Italian Kitchen), a veteran restaurateur, is our in-studio guest.