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For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visitAn actor dressed as the character of Michael Myers attends the Universal Pictures' "Halloween" premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre on Oct. 17, 2018 in Hollywood.Witches, wizards, goths and alike. 'Tis the season to get your spooky on. Halloween is arguably one of the best holidays, because it’s not really a one-day celebration, it’s more of a month-long tradition. There are so many ways to enjoy the spooky season, whether it’s getting scared silly or carving pumpkins while listening to the"Monster Mash."of snacks and watch a classic horror movie. And what’s even better than watching a scary movie is living through it - by standing where it was filmed, I mean, NOT being chased by a serial killer.Here are some locations used in popular scary or other-worldly films or shows that you might enjoy.If you haven’t heard by now, Haddonfield is not actually in Illinois, it’s not even a real town! John Carpenter filmed the 1978 slasher in most of South Pasadena and other parts of Los Angeles. These houses might look normal in broad daylight, but once upon a time a serial killer roamed those hallways and streets.they've played host to some pretty evil ghosts. While the movie is scary, behind the scene accounts have some believing the entire franchise is cursed. You can read the backstory on the Freeling's houseThis cookie cutter suburban house was actually portrayed as the Freeling's House in The Poltergeist. Captured on Google street view.John Marshall High School was key for several movies, but it was also where Nancy Thompson went to school, unable to escape from Freddy Krueger.for the first time. Even though I watched it in broad daylight, it was still scary. My favorite part – when Freddy transforms into a car. Even though the stunning home to young, brave Nancy Thompsonwas filmed in Los Angeles? Yes, The Further realm actually takes place in the Herald Examiner building in Downtown Los Angeles. And the Lambert House sits just outside of Mid-Wilshire. If you’re brave enough to visit, here’s where to go:was filmed in Washington and Oregon, the scarring opening scene where a young teenage girl admits to her friend she watched a cursed tape is local. A week later, she dies when an evil spirit crawls out of the TV, and it all went down at this gothic style house in Los Angeles. This movie is the first American remake of Japanese horror films — soon afterThe first ghost to be busted in the ballroom of the Sedgewick Hotel was actually at a hotel in L.A.Elliot's house, where E.T. hides out for an extended vacation, sits in the San Fernando Valley. Rumor has it that director Steven Spielberg chose this house because of its mountain backdrop.Imagine finding out you are a descendant of a line of witches, and now your entire responsibilities of being a typical teenage kid has transformed into keeping the balance between good and evil forces? Sign me up!house is actually part of three original homes that was constructed in the 1880s on Carroll Avenue and it's preserved by the Los Angeles Conservancy. Here's the location:The Pasadena Public Health Department is reporting the first local case of dengue not related to travel in Los Angeles County.It is a viral infection spread to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. Most people who get dengue won’t have symptoms, but for those that do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rash.and other viruses. Pasadena Public Health said in a statement that the risk of exposure for local communities is"very low."The Pasadena Public Health Department is reporting the first confirmed case of dengue not related to travel in California. Dengue is a viral infection spread to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. The infected person is a Pasadena resident who is said to be recovering. Officials did not release any additional information. The person who contracted the virus sought medical care after feeling ill in September. Their health care team recognized potential symptoms of dengue and alerted the Pasadena Public Health Department. A blood test by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the resident was infected with the dengue virus on Oct. 20. The resident did not travel to a country where dengue is endemic, health officials said. “Dengue virus is a human-only disease,” said Dr. Dr. Matthew Feaster, an epidemiologist with the city of Pasadena. He stressed that it is not contagious from person to person. “With vigilance and proper treatment we can remove an infected person from the community. Prevalence and incidence in the U.S. is low to no cases, meaning this is a very rare occurrence.” In Los Angeles County, dengue cases are typically only seen in travelers who have visited countries where dengue is found. Most people who get dengue won’t have symptoms. But for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea and rash. Most recover in a week or two. There are some risks, however. A pregnant woman already infected with dengue can pass the virus to her fetus during pregnancy or around the time of birth. People who develop severe dengue may need hospital care. In severe cases, dengue can be fatal, according to the World Health Organization. The risk of local exposure remains low as dengue can only be transmitted through infected mosquitos; to date, increased testing of mosquito pools have not identified any mosquitos infected with dengue.Still, this has been a particularly bad mosquito season. “At the peak of our season we were catching four times the average for the mosquito population," said Jason Farned, district manager for the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District."Those population increases were due to the additional rain, those summer thunderstorms we were adding more water to the environment. And also the continued warm temperatures throughout the nights, traditionally the night time temperatures tend to drop in the fall where we’re still seeing warmer temperatures so that has extended the mosquito season longer than we generally see." Farned said the district will continue testing mosquitos for dengue until the mosquito season ends."We’re expecting over the next few weeks the temperature is going to drop and nature will help us out in controlling the mosquito populations,” he said.According to the CDC, most outbreaks in the continental U.S. have been relatively small and limited. Local spread has been reported in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii and Texas., which is also surging in Central and South America, as well as in many parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands. The best way to avoid dengue: do everything you can to prevent mosquito bites. Use insect repellent, especially during dawn and dusk.The Pasadena Public Health Department recommends these standard precautions to reduce mosquito populations and the risk of mosquito-borne diseases: Eliminate standing water in clogged rain gutters, rain barrels, discarded tires, buckets, watering troughs, or anything that holds water for more than a weekChange the water in pet dishes, birdbaths, and other small containers weeklyWear insect repellent containing CDC and EPA approved active ingredients: DEET®, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptusWhat questions do you have about the pandemic and health care? Jackie Fortiér helps Southern Californians understand the pandemic by identifying what's working and what's not in our health response.A new exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center traces the 80-year effort by three generations of Angeleno women to track down a painting from the 1700s taken from their family’s home in Czechoslovakia.Cheryl Bernstein, granddaughter of Hedy Shenk, who was forced to flee her family home, says in a testimonial video: “The desire to heal wounds, to understand your family history is very strong, and neither restitution or reclamation is about making money."While Hedy Shenk filed claims for the looted art as soon as she arrived in L.A. during World War II, it was only in 2020 that the family was able to reclaim the painting through the Holocaust Claims Processing Office in Prague.At the Skirball Cultural Center you can see a replica of the family's dining room with the painting on the wall.In 1943, Hedy Shenk arrived in Los Angeles. She was one of the thousands of Jewish refugees from Europe fleeing the Nazis. Life as a single mother was hard, and Hedy worked tirelessly as a bus driver, quality control supervisor at Xerox, and toy entrepreneur. But Hedy had another job, which meant more to her than any other. She was determined to reclaim the artworks and treasures stolen from her family during the horrors of the Holocaust.on view at the Skirball Cultural Center Oct. 19 to March 3, tells the remarkable story of Hedy, her daughter, Liz Goldman, and her granddaughter, Cheryl Bernstein. These three generations of Angeleno women spent over eight decades fighting to regain their rightful inheritance. “ The desire to heal wounds, to understand your family history is very strong, and neither restitution or reclamation is about making money,” Cheryl Bernstein says in a testimonial video on view at the exhibition. “It's more about understanding family, bringing families back together.”The family’s saga begins in another time and place. Hedy was born in 1906, to Johann and Lisbeth Bloch. Johann ran E. Block & Company, his family’s prominent leather goods business. The elegant Bloch home in Brno, Czechoslovakia, was a vibrant, cultural place, filled with noted artworks and Czech glass collected by Lisbeth. The Blochs passed on their love of the arts to their daughter, Hedy, who took art classes and learned how to sew from the family’s live-in seamstress.from the Dorotheum Auction House in Vienna. The painting was hung in place of honor in their dining room, which was often graced by members of their close, extended family, many who would later be killed in the Holocaust. Lisbeth would have little time to enjoy her prized painting. She was killed in a car crash in 1928. Life went on, and Hedy married a Catholic engineer named Leo Schenck . Their daughter, Liz, was born in 1936. But the family’s happiness was tempered by the growing menace of the Nazis.Aware of the enormous danger facing him as Jewish man, Johann and his new wife, Erna, attempted to get a visa to Switzerland, but they were denied. In September 1938, the Nazi-controlled Czech government confiscated the Blochs’ grand Brno home, along with their art collection. Johann and Erna fled to family in Prague. While still attempting to export his art collection to England for safety, Johann died of natural causes in 1940. Erna was killed by the Nazis.Meanwhile, Hedy and her husband were in their own race to escape. In 1938, Hedy and her daughter were baptized by a Catholic priest to shield them from anti-Jewish persecution. The young family fled to Switzerland, but Hedy had one more thing she had to do.in the family dining room, which would prove invaluable in her fight for reclamation.. “As she's fleeing in the middle of the night with her toddler, she had the presence of mind to take the professional photographs of the inside of her father's home with her, and the minute she found out her father had died … they started working on his estate.”As World War II ravaged Europe, Hedy was able to obtain visas for her family to go to America. In July 1940, they arrived in New York aboard the Cunard White Star’s RMS, along with other child refugees. The paper minimized the trauma Liz had suffered, claiming she took the escape as a “lark.”for European refugees. Always industrious, Hedy was able to obtain a bank loan to purchase a small apartment building and rent out some of the units to tenants. Hedy and Leo divorced in 1947, and Hedy proved to be an enterprising spirit. In the 1950s, she even created a line of whimsical hand sewn stuffed animals called Hollyfornia Creations. However, Hedy never forgot the life and inheritance that had been stolen from her. For 50 years, she repeatedly filed art claims with the Czech and German governments, using photos and surviving family members’ testimony to prove ownership. With her modest funds, Hedy hired expensive international lawyers and traveled to Europe repeatedly in an attempt to track down her family’s collection. In the 1960s, Liz joined in the search and brought her daughter Cheryl along. Together, the three-generations toured Austrian salt mines, where Nazis reportedly hid looted art, and visited the Bloch family home in Brno searching for clues. Although Hedy would receive modest reparations and payments from the Blochs’ confiscated bank accounts and property, she was never able to recover Loth’sBut her daughter and granddaughter were not finished. In the early 2000s, Liz took up the family’s quest. “n 2001, a claim was filed with the Art Loss Register. That claim led to the “It took about 20 years until this very brilliant attorney, Rebecca Friedman, finally started looking into…the Czech claims, that things really started to roll along,” Cheryl says. “In about 2019, she called me with this great news that the Loth painting has shown up at the Dorotheum for auction, and they contacted her because we had a claim. It was really at that point that the hard work started because they had the painting, we knew we were heirs, we had to prove to them that we were the heirs.” Using Hedy’s meticulous records, her decades of legal correspondence, and the photos she had spirited away, the family was able to prove thatwas rightfully theirs. In 2020, the painting was finally returned to the Bloch family. In February, four paintings Johann Bloch had been forced to “donate” to the National Gallery Prague were also returned to Cheryl at an official restitution ceremony., hanging in a recreation of the Bloch family dining room, filled with mementoes and artifacts from the family’s century long odyssey. “This painting has brought my mother and I even closer together. I'm grateful for the journey that this painting brought in my life, and the deeper understanding of everything she went through,” Cheryl Bernstein says. “I am grateful to the Skirball for allowing us to put it here, where I knew it would be honored in the way that I felt my grandmother deserved and my mother deserved. Grandma worked on this her entire life.”Starting Oct. 26, basic economy ticket holders, United Airlines will have window seat passengers will board first, then those in middle seats, followed by people in aisle seats. The change is estimated to cut boarding time by up to two minutes.Minutes count when you're trying to move hundreds of thousands of airline passengers every day. So United Airlines is switching up its boarding policy in hopes of speeding things up at the airport.United said its boarding times have gone up by up to two minutes since 2019. It tested the new policy, known as WILMA, at five airports and found that it was faster.Minutes count when you're trying to move hundreds of thousands of airline passengers every day. So United Airlines is switching up its boarding policy in hopes of speeding things up at the airport.Starting Oct. 26, for basic economy ticket holders, window seat passengers will board first, then those in middle seats, followed by people in aisle seats. The change is estimated to cut boarding time by up to two minutes, United told NPR Thursday. The process for pre-boarding groups, such as unaccompanied minors, people with disabilities, families with small children and active-duty military members, won't change. The process also remains unchanged for boarding groups one through three . But group four will now be reserved for passengers with middle seats and group five will be exclusively for those with aisle seats. The revision applies to U.S. domestic flights and flights from the U.S. to the Caribbean, Canada and some Central and South American cities. United is adding a sixth boarding group for domestic flights and flights to the Caribbean and Central America for basic economy customers who don't have a group number on their boarding pass. United said its boarding times have gone up by up to two minutes since 2019. It tested the new policy, known as WILMA, at five airports and found that it was faster.Free Vaccines Offered at LA County Libraries, Pilot Metro Ambassadors Program Becomes Permanent, & A New Exhbitit Profiles The IE's Logistics History — The A.M. Edition A new exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum traces the evolution of the Inland Empire's logistics history.Today's weather is about 2 to 5 degrees cooler for most of the inland areas. This weekend will be much cooler.A beach hazards statement is out for L.A. and Orange County beaches/coasts, and expect dense fog for Orange County coasts until 9 a.m.We're looking at a cool weekend after an unseasonably warm week. But today will still be pretty warm.At the beaches and along the coast, highs are forecast to be in the mid 70s, up to 77 in Long Beach. In downtown Los Angeles, highs will reach up to 82 and the valleys will be hot with highs in the 90s. It'll get up to 99 in the hottest areas of the San Fernando Valley. Inland, temperatures will drop slightly. Riverside and San Bernardino county valley highs will reach up to 95. In Orange County inland areas, expect a high of 91 and 80 along the coast. In the high desert, temperatures will reach up to 90 and in low desert, Coachella Valley will see a high of 104.There's a beach hazard statement out for the coastal areas, specifically for L.A. County beaches and Orange County coastal areas. Expect high surf between 3 to 6 feet, with sets up to 7 feet through the evening.A car is stuck in mud on Oct. 20, 2004 after it was trapped in a flash flood in Lytle Creek north of Rancho Cucamonga.On this day in 2004, a large winter storm brought a month's worth of record rainfall in a single day in many parts of Orange County and drenched much of Southern California. For the following two weeks, the lower elevations at Orange County saw 2 to 8 total inches of rainfall.Give yourself a high-five because you made it through the work week. Looking to several ways to kick off the weekend? How about checking out a comedy show:makes its Los Angeles debut this weekend. Comedians share their awkward, intimate tales about their sex lives while breaking barriers about sex and dating. The show aims to take on taboo subjects while creating a safe space for all people to feel seen and heard. There's still time to do some basic, spooky season activities this month. How To L.A. has you covered on where to enjoy yourAnd if you were part of the Great Shake Out, now might be a good time to start prepping for the Big One. My colleague Jacob Margolis has thisTasty fusion spots in the city, SAG-AFTRA shares Halloween dos and don’ts and a pop-up art exhibit with a message. Plus, we recreate the LAUSD coffee cake.isn’t a new trend. It’s been around forever, from the infamous Thanksgiving feast to the ‘80s and ‘90s fusion restaurant boom with Wolfgang Puck combining French cooking with Asian influences.isn’t some new trend. It’s been around forever, from the infamous Thanksgiving feast to the ‘80s and ‘90s fusion restaurant boom with Wolfgang Puck combining French cooking with Asian influences.Merging foods from distinct cuisines is still attracting chefs today, inspired by the limitless creativity it allows. Restaurants are quietly reinventing food that intertwines different cooking heritages. Diana Ruzova brings you four in L.A. that are worth visiting right now. Check it outWe’re here to help curious Angelenos connect with others, discover the new, navigate the confusing, and even drive some change along the way.*At LAist we will always bring you the news freely, but occasionally we do include links to other publications that may be behind a paywall. Thank you for understanding! Ubiquitous figures like ghosts, zombies and spiders are OK, as are characters from non-struck work like animated TV. But the union wants to scare members off from giving the struck studios any free publicity.As someone who denied my inner basic girl for a long time , I can speak with confidence on this topic.They’re a gal who loves a themed event, coordinated outfits, a good charcuterie board and, in the fall, pumpkin spice lattes, cute pictures at the pumpkin patch for Insta, and the movieGot something you’ve always wanted to know about Southern California and the people who call it home? Is there an issue you want us to cover?Girl Scout cookies have risen in price as inflation takes its bite. But it's not all bad news: Customers still seem to be willing to pay up.Many Girl Scout regional councils are raising the price of their popular cookies to help cover rising costs at the two commercial bakeries that make the treats.It means your favorite box of Samoas that used to sell for $5 will soon cost $6 in many parts of the United States. Nationwide, Girl Scouts sell about 200 million boxes of cookies annually. That's more than Oreos, even though Girl Scout cookies are on sale for only a few months a year — typically between January and April.While the 20% jump seems large, the price of store-bought cookies has risen 23% in the last two years, according to inflation data compiled by the U.S. Labor Department.Many Girl Scout regional councils are raising the price of their popular cookies to help cover rising costs at the two commercial bakeries that make the treats. That means your favorite box of Samoas that used to sell for $5 will soon cost $6 in many parts of the United States. "Just like many other products that you see out in the world, our Girl Scout cookies are not immune to a lot of the same rising costs," says Wendy Lou, chief revenue officer for Girl Scouts of the USA. The increase offers a bittersweet lesson for the young cookie sellers, including Lou's 7-year-old daughter, who's a Brownie in Connecticut. "That's part of the conversation we'll have this year," says Lou."It really is a little microcosm of what it's like to run your business and deal with the real pressures — including inflation." Telling customers is the hard partMany troops on the West Coast already raised their cookie prices, and it was an adjustment for both the Girl Scouts and their customers. Ten-year-old Madison Patstone had already memorized the cost of up to 12 boxes of cookies at the old $5-per-box price. Now, she has to multiply by $6 — and carry a lot of $1 bills to make change. Some cookie lovers are surprised when their Thin Mint purchasing power is thinner than it used to be. A $20 bill that used to buy four boxes of cookies now covers only three — with a couple of bucks left over. "They're like, 'What?'" Madison says."That was one of the hard parts: telling people that inflation has come to their nostalgic cookies." Madison still managed to sell more than 2,400 boxes this year, making her one of the top sellers in San Diego. Most customers are understanding. This was the first price increase in San Diego since 2015. And while the 20% jump seems large, the price of store-bought cookies has risen 23% in the last two years, according to inflation data compiled by the U.S. Labor Department. "If they asked about the price increase, we would politely explain, like, unfortunately, due to the inflation going on across the country right now, we've had to up our rates so we can still make a profit and provide these programs for girls," says Ashley Hilliard, a high school sophomore who has been selling Girl Scout cookies for a decade. The"Tagalong effect"Proceeds from the cookie sales cover about 70% of the Girl Scouts' budget in San Diego. Each council sets its own cookie prices, but neighboring councils often move together in what might be called the"Tagalong effect." Girl Scout councils throughout California adopted a standard cookie price of $6 a box this year. They saw little, if any, drop in sales."Most of us, if not all of us, had a very successful cookie program," says Carol Dedrich, CEO of Girl Scouts San Diego."We had the best program since prior to COVID." Nationwide, Girl Scouts sell about 200 million boxes of cookies annually. That's more than Oreos, even though Girl Scout cookies are on sale for only a few months a year — typically between January and April. Marketing expert — and former Girl Scout — Sally Lyons Wyatt doesn't expect the $1 price increase to take much of a bite out of sales. "Because it isn't just about a cookie, right?" says Lyons Wyatt, executive vice president at Circana, a global market research firm."Now, granted, if they did something crazy like it's going to cost you 20 bucks for one little package, OK, well then maybe we would find that there's a cliff. But if we're talking a nominal increase in price, I don't think it's going to have an impact on demand." Madison is already honing her sales pitch for the next cookie season, when she hopes to top her own record by selling 2,500 boxes. "The season isn't very long," Madison says."You'll have to wait a whole year to get them again, so might as well just stock up."For the past 20 years, Reverend Andy Bales has been the CEO of Union Rescue Mission, a faith-based homeless shelter in Skid Row. He helped guide the shelter through the lean years of the Great Recession and unprecedented turmoil of the pandemic, and now, he says it’s time to hang up his hat and return to his home state of Iowa. “What took me back was my wife a year ago said, 'When you turn 65…I'm returning to hang out with our redheaded grandgirls and you can join me if you'd like.' So I gulped and thought, oh, I'm in trouble. I'll be moving,” Bales said in a recent interview on“The most important work has been raising awareness that people devastated by homelessness are valuable and precious and should not be left on the streets,” Bales said of his time at Union Rescue Mission. “I think one of the best things I did was break through that NIMBY curtain, that ‘not my backyard curtain." He said he's also proud of his efforts lobbying legislators in Sacramento and Washington against “hospital dumping,” the practice of releasing unwell patients back into the streets without a care plan in place.A faith-based model Throughout his career, Bales has been a staunch advocate of a faith-based transitional care model for people experiencing homelessness, which requires residents to be off drugs and seeking work. This is in contrast to the now-mainstream “housing first” approach, which prioritizes placing people in permanent housing as quickly as possible. But Bales is optimistic the pendulum will swing back toward transitional care. “I think we're gaining momentum that you need to walk alongside people for the long run, invest in their lives, focus on recovery,” he said.“I couldn't think of a better use of our house and my favorite place, my front porch," he said."Kids will be able to sit and watch hummingbirds and listen to the parrots and relax.”Fusion food used to mean cringe and eye-rolling; today chefs are bringing playfulness and innovation to combine cultures and create brand new dishes.Chef Wolfgang Puck and others created"California cuisine" by combining American dishes with an Asian influence. By the time we arrived at pan-Asian corporate restaurants dishing out Chinese kung pao chicken, Japanese sushi, and Thai lettuce cups all on one glossy menu, fusion had become an icky word.Restaurants are quietly reinventing food that intertwines different cooking heritages. We bring you four in LA that are worth visiting right now.the sky is the limit; with at least 185 languages spoken in L.A. expect other cuisines to be combined into a happy marriage.Growing up in a family of post-Soviet Jewish immigrants in Los Angeles meant fusing together our food with American food. This often meant making do with what we had. My Eggo waffles were topped with blackcurrant jam from, was generously added to everything, including buttered noodles and boxed mac and cheese. Whether intentional or not, we were dipping into the world of fusion cooking.feast that fused together traditional English stuffed fowl with Native harvested beans and corn pudding, to the ‘80s and ‘90s fusion restaurant boom with Wolfgang Puck combining French cooking with Asian influences, resulting in the popularization of By the time we arrived at pan-Asian corporate restaurants like P.F. Changs dishing out Chinese kung pao chicken, Japanese sushi, and Thai lettuce cups all on one glossy menu, however, fusion had become an icky word., restaurant critic Bill Addison asked his readers, “Can we let go of the term ‘fusion cooking’ once and for all?” Chicken and Mole made with Mary's chicken confit, orange gastrique, and sesame seeds, served with steamed bok choy and topped with seasonal citrus that's served with a 21 ingredients white mole and a handmade piadina .His gripe with the word fusion was that it’s “a hydra slur” or “shorthand for 'Asian fusion,' which is insultingly reductive; Asian, Asian American and Pacific Island cultures are not monoliths.” Addison continued: “It also carries a bad taste that suggests one is doing something silly or slapdash or nonsensical. No wonder chefs who are cooking to their personal narrative say in interviews, 'Don’t call what I’m doing ‘fusion.’” Yet despite the body blow to the word itself, the idea of merging foods from distinct cuisines is still attracting chefs today, inspired by the limitless creativity it presents. Here are four new-ish restaurants attempting to reinvent the concept — while tip-toeing around the unnecessary negative connotations of the word itself.These restaurants serve flavor combinations as unique as the people of Los Angeles, with a more playful and authentic take on the American immigrant and third culture experience. As cringe as the word can be, fusion — telling the food stories of multicultural Angelenos — is not going anywhere.is having a good year. The casual Indian-American sports bar-meets-restaurant tucked into the former plaza of Silver Lake’s infamous A traditional caesar salad is given a facelift with mango pickle, dried tomatoes, and a dusting of panko. Hardy lamb pasta is tossed with sumac, fennel, and creamy yogurt and feels like it was assembled by a sweet Indian-Italian grandma. Chicken wings are doused in a mixture of jalapeño, cilantro, mint, chives, and served with a cool yogurt sauce. But the star of the show is the classic chutney pizza. A stoner invention with a thin crust pie, perfectly melty cheese, sweet tomato sauce, and a generous glaze of green chutney inspired by chef Miles Shorey’s Puerto Rican grandma’s sofrito andPijja Palace translates to Pizza Palace, a play on the Indian accent. Naran grew up in Los Angeles as part of a“One of the cool things about Roy is that never felt like fusion. He was a Korean guy who grew up in Koreatown, around a lot of Hispanic culture, so the whole thing was super organic,” Naran said. Pijja Palace feels super organic, too. A reflection of the second generation’s melding of familiar flavors: American pub food and Indian delicacies. : Wednesday-Thursday 5pm-9:30pm | Friday 5pm-10:30pm | Saturday 11am-2:30pm and 5pm-10:30pm | Sunday 11am-2:30pm and 5pm-10:30pm As cultures converge and weave into intricate tapestries, food serves as a medium for storytellers, as well as an opportunity for marginalized voices to have a platformis co-owned by husband and wife duo Alessandro Zecca and Chef Danielle Duran Zecca. The cozy Italian-Mexican fusion restaurant was a natural combination of flavors as Duran Zecca grew up in a Mexican-American family near Frogtown, while her husband grew up in a small town near Verona, Italy. After a traditional French culinary education and 10 years of cooking in Michelin star restaurants in New York City, Duran Zecca “felt stagnant” and moved back to Los Angeles to open her own restaurant. “The real influence was my husband, because he didn't like Mexican food. I didn't really realize that until we moved to L.A.…So, I started to put Mexican ingredients into pasta and other dishes and I kept creating, and I kept noticing so many similarities between Mexico and Italy,” Duran Zecca saidThe combination of flavors from both their childhoods worked, and led to a successful pop-up and the opening of Amiga Amore in Highland Park, withlike Chorizo y Clams, a mixture of clams, brothy cannellini and pinto beans, Meyer lemon, and jalapeño butter served with homemade bread, and Elote Agnolotti,"street corn" filled pasta with crumbly cotija cheese, zesty finger limes, and house made tajin. Like other chefs working in the realm of fusion, before opening Amiga Amore, Duran Zecca asked herself, “Is it going to be gimmicky?” It was hard not to associate fusion with the ramen burger and the sushi burrito. But buoyed by success, Duran Zecca is leaning into fusion with a newoption that includes an eggs and bacon breakfast sandwich on a housemade basil concha, a breakfast burrito with eggs, tater tots, pico de gallo and Italian cannellini beans, and a classic Italian panzerotti stuffed pizza with potato, chorizo and tomatillo salsa. Chefs these days are cooking their own personal narratives, which are surprisingly relatable. What has surprised the Zeccas most after opening Amiga Amore is how many of their customers relate to the Italian-Mexican experience. “There are so many people that come in, and say, 'We're just like you … your restaurant is like our story and we love to eat here because you feed us both.'"is one of the newest on the list and the most corporate. The website copy defines the food as “inventive, freeform tacos break all the rules. Inspired by flavors from around the world, we use fresh ingredients to serve up tacos that are as unique as they are delicious.” The beach-themed Eagle Rock restaurant with big open-air windows and extra loud music feels like you’ve stepped into a Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch. A full bar serves up margaritas or whatever you want, and there are two big-screen TVs for the sports fans. Embracing Wolfgang Puck and P.F. Chang’s approach to fusion, it takes it to the next level by including a wide range of cuisines beyond French, American, and pan-Asian cooking, reflecting the people of Los Angeles who speak at least There’s a long list of those flour tortilla “freeform tacos” — post-fusion in overdrive — ranging from Vietnamese Banh Mi tacos, to Mexican barbacoa, to American cheeseburger, Indian tikka masala, and even a take on the Greek chicken pita.“We’ve taken signature dishes from cultures across the world and altered them to rest inside a tortilla,” says executive Chef Jonathan Paiz. “What other taco spot can take you on a culinary journey that spans from New Orleans to Vietnam? Los Angeles is a melting pot of people from all across the world and we wanted to embody that aspect into distinct, delicious tacos.” Sadly though, the flavors are muted. The Greek Life taco, inspired by Paiz’s Greek ancestry, is filled with juicy chicken, tzatziki, pico de gallo, pickled red onion and surprisingly crispy french fries, but lacks a sufficient amount of spice, perhaps not surprising from a restaurant that is trying to cover too many cuisines at once. Taco/Social is the ultimate fusion family restaurant. Sure it’s gimmicky, but it has something for everybody, including the opportunity for a tired parent to enjoy a cocktail with dinner.Juan Garcia of Goat Mafia and Saucy Chick owner’s Rhea Patel Michel and husband Marcel Rene Michel — who opened their pop-up after being furloughed from their jobs during the pandemic — did not hesitate when the opportunity arrived to combine Indian-Mexican rotisserie chicken with traditional Mexican goat birria to create something new. Mom’s Beans, Smoked Chicken Wings with featured flavors Jeera, Pibil, Ambli, Charred Haldi Cauliflower, Jeera Rice, Fenugreek Esquites, Birria Taco, Pibil Rotisserie Taco, Saucy Chick Goat MafiaThe casual flavor-packed restaurant serves unique dishes like the birria de chivo bowl with Garcia’s signature century-old family goat birria recipe and Saucy Chick’s Indian jeera rice, hearty mayocoba beans, and hand-pressed corn tortillas. The hand-brined 24-hour marinated rotisserie chicken is served with a selection of sauces like the Mexican-leaning creamy pibil with achiote, garlic, citrus, and oregano or the pungent jeera sauce made from caramelized onions, garlic, ginger, and packed with cumin. There are also plenty of sides to choose from, such as a truly unique “kachumber salad” combining cucumber, mustard seed, coconut, peanuts, lime, and mint, as well as an array of refreshing agua frescas with an Indian twist, like the ginger jamaica.The chefs come from immigrant families and encountered fusion early on in their lives. “Growing up, we would eat grilled cheese with a garlic chutney paste and masala egg omelets,” said Patel Michel. Garcia’s first mind-blowing encounter with fusion was Pizza Loca’s asada pizza — a rare treat as his Mexican-American immigrant family rarely ordered take-out.. “There is creativity and strength in diversity. As cultures converge and weave into intricate tapestries, food serves as a medium for storytellers and an opportunity for marginalized voices to have a platform,” said Patel Michel.Send it our way. We can’t reply to every query we receive but we will try to help. We’d love to hear from you.
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