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Eater
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Eater
The Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week: July 28
The editors at Eater LA dine out several times a week, if not per day, which means we're always encountering standout dishes that deserve time in the limelight. Here's the very best of everything the team has eaten this week. Xiao long bao tortelloni from Kato's Summer Series with Funke in Downtown LA Xiao long bao tortelloni from Kato's summer series with Funke Rebecca Roland The latest installment of Kato's Summer Series, a dinner collaboration series bringing chefs from across LA to Row DTLA to collaborate with the restaurant, welcomed Evan Funke. On Sunday night, Funke could be spotted in the corner of the spacious tasting menu restaurant, clad in a denim shirt and apron, rolling out sheets of pasta by hand. Each dish channeled a bit of Funke and Yao, like chile crisp-topped burrata and tomatoes, and cacio e pepe tossed with zingy Taiwanese pepper. But the xiao long bao tortelloni stood out among the other dishes, with its carefully folded edges holding back rich broth. The outer was thinner than most pasta and slightly chewier than the usual xiao long bao, filled with pork and prawn. There was only one in the dish, but I would've been happy if the entire meal were just a steamer full of these. It's nice to see a fine dining restaurant let loose a little at collaborations, with hip-hop blaring over the speakers, and menus that read like a chef's fever dream. 777 S. Alameda Street, Building 1, Suite 114, Los Angeles, CA 90021. — Rebecca Roland, deputy editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Dry pepper fried tofu from Mala Class in Highland Park Dry pepper fried tofu from Mala Class in Highland Park. Rebecca Roland There is something about hot days that makes me crave spicy food, specifically Sichuan spice. On a recent afternoon when the sun was beating down on the city, I found myself in Highland Park looking for some heat. I tucked into jewel-boxed-sized Mala Class, a neighborhood Sichuan restaurant that punches well above its weight, and price point. The tight menu comprises mapo tofu, dumplings in chile oil, dan dan noodles, and a handful of other dishes. My favorite from the lineup was the dry pepper fried tofu, with crispy pieces of tofu dotted in numbing Sichuan peppers. The spice mix was flavorful, while still packing a punch, and the tofu cubes were fried until crispy on the outside with a still-soft interior. Each bite just made me want another, chased by bits of rice and dumplings every so often. 5816 York Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90042. — Rebecca Roland, deputy editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Smoked double-fried chicken wings from Happies Hand Made in the Arts District Smoked double-fried chicken wings from Happies Hand Made in the Arts District. Matthew Kang By now, the word on Joshua Skenes' Happies Hand Made has shown up on multiple social media accounts touting the fried chicken, like Hungry in LA's Eddie Sanchez declaring it his new favorite fried chicken in LA. While declaring anything comprised of chicken tenders (the least-interesting part of the bird) as the best fried chicken is initially suspect, Skenes does make a really delicious bird coated in a salsa macha and dried chile seasoning. Skenes quietly rolled out his double-fried cherrywood smoke chicken wings last week, served over a golden-brown waffle that he once topped with caviar at his temporarily closed Leopardo on La Brea Avenue. The wings are juicy and sweet with smoke flavor, cracker-like on the outside, and incredibly satisfying to eat. Skenes himself is often mixing drinks or prepping orders up front, with the line of customers not realizing the former chef of a three-Michelin-star restaurant (Saison) is making some of the best comfort food in Los Angeles right now. Or maybe they do realize that Skenes has poured so much energy into simple, reasonably priced food, and that's why they're willing to wait. 427 S. Hewitt Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90013. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Baja tuna tower at the Koast and Crossroads collaborative dinner in Hollywood Koast. Wonho Frank Lee It's always a delight when a dinner collaboration goes right; I always appreciate the effort brought about by chefs and operators preparing a meal together, but the meal is not always a great fit. But when Crossroads chef Tal Ronnen joined Koast chefs Kevin Meehan and Michael Kerner on July 24, everything hit. Ronnen created dishes that reinvented some of Koast's most memorable bites through a vegan lens, like a dreamy watermelon crudo, spectacular lobster mushroom cake, and citrusy rambutan ceviche. My crew nabbed a few Koast dishes a la carte, and all agreed that the Baja tuna tower filled with Baja bluefin tuna, avocado, and tons of tobiko fish eggs is worth returning for. It's as creamy as one would hope and bursting with roe. In short, it's a gorgeous bite of the ocean from the two Koast chefs served in a stunning and intimate room with an entry that's dramatic and fitting for the concept. I've been admiring Ronnen's menu at Crossroads for years, and now it's clearly time for me to make regular stops at Koast to try the rest of the menu. 6623 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90038 — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Eater LA All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Eater
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
Group Behind LA Hit Mother Wolf Is Opening an NYC Restaurant
is a born-and-raised New Yorker who is an editor for Eater's Northeast region and Eater New York, was the former Eater Austin editor for 10 years, and often writes about food and pop culture. The Los Angeles hospitality group behind chef Evan Funke's hit Italian spot, Mother Wolf, is going to be opening a new restaurant in New York City. Ten Five signed a 15-year lease on the ground floor of 125 West 57th Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues. It's a mixed-use development in the heart of Midtown's so-called Billionaires' Row, where the restaurant will take up 7,045 square feet on the ground floor, as first reported by the New York Post. Ten Five's managing partner, Dan Daley, said via a rep for the building's developers, 'We're excited to bring a new concept to this incredibly dynamic part of the city and to contribute to the continued evolution of this iconic corridor,' he wrote, describing it as 'a considered and ambitious project.' Ten Five's chief marketing officer, Kim Walker, writes to Eater that there are 'no further details to share,' but that the team is 'excited about the new space.' Eater has reached out to Funke to see if he is involved. Ten Five's first Los Angeles restaurants were coastal Mexican restaurant Ka'teen and rooftop bar Desert 5 Spot in 2021, inside the Tommie Hotel. Those were followed by Bar Lis in 2022, and French restaurant Mes Amis followed in 2022, both in the Thomson Hotel. But it wasn't until Ten Five debuted Mother Wolf in 2022, where Funke focuses on Roman-style Italian cuisine and especially his pastas, that they had a spot that received outsized culinary attention and celebrity patronage. At the time, Los Angeles Times critic Bill Addison described the spaghettone alla gricia as a 'pork-besotted masterpiece,' and was taken with 'all'amatriciana's potent mix of tomato and guanciale fused onto curving rigatoni.' Building on Mother Wolf's success, the group expanded with offshoots in Miami and Las Vegas. A rendering of 125 West 57th's entrance. Rendering: Neoscape Not all of their ventures have worked out. The company opened an LA-style British pub, the Chap, but closed it a year later, in 2023, in the middle of the company's lawsuit with then-partnering development company Relevant Group. This new, unnamed NYC restaurant isn't Ten Five's first venture into the five boroughs. Back in 2024, the group expanded Desert 5 Spot, a western-themed bar with bull riding, into Williamsburg. 125 West 57th is going to be a high-priced, fancy 30-story building run by real estate developers Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners and Cain International. The address had been home to the Calvary Baptist Church, dating back to the late 1800s, dubbed a 'skyscraper church.' As part of this new development, the church will reopen, occupying the second through 10th floors. The overall space is scheduled to open after Labor Day in September, per the Post. It's down the street from another big Midtown restaurant in the works. Over at 9 West 57th Street, Billy Durney and the team behind Kent Hospitality Group are working on their spot.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Whitewater River restoration project expands near St. Charles
Jun. 9—ST. CHARLES, Minn. — Conservation and habitat restoration efforts on the Whitewater River are spreading upstream. The second phase of nearly two miles of river restoration work in St. Charles, Minnesota, is set to begin later this month. The city approved putting phase two out for bids, with work expected to start in June, said Andrew Langholz, St. Charles city administrator. The first phase started in 2022. That restored fish habitat, stabilized banks, and incorporated native plantings along 2,500 feet of the Whitewater River through St. Charles City Park. Phase 2 this year will restore approximately 3,775-feet of the Whitewater River, from the Minnesota Highway 74 bridge to the pedestrian bridge east of Meadow View Park. That portion is expected to be complete in December this year. The timeline is yet to be established for a planned phase 3 to restore the remaining 3,490-feet of the Whitewater River, from the Meadow View Park to the city limit. Project funding comes from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' Conservation Partners Legacy program. The project adjusts the river's channel widths and curves and stabilizes the banks against erosion, said Dustan Hoffman, stream habitat specialist with the Minnesota DNR. The work will actually lengthen the river through the Winona County town. As a result, the water will flow more slowly, stay cooler and provide better habitat for fish and other wildlife. Rocks will be placed in the river bed and along banks as well as tree root wads that provide habitat and cover for fish and wildlife. The project will also reconnect the river to parts of its original floodplain, making it less prone to flooding — a benefit that's the result of a healthy river, project leaders said. "Ultimately, it's a habitat project," said Meghan Funke, water resources engineer at WHKS & Co., the lead contractor in the project. The project is the southernmost large-scale habitat restoration effort on the river. Those efforts have been ongoing for decades after farming and grazing led to erosion and catastrophic flooding in the Whitewater Valley. After the Whitewater River flooded 28 times in 1938, the Minnesota Legislature created the state's first conservation district. Since then, the scope of habitat restoration and wildlife management has grown to include parts of Wabasha, Winona, and Olmsted counties in the 27,000-acre Whitewater Wildlife Management Area. The downstream project in St. Charles will connect to the Whitewater State Park and WMA "It's a connection," Funke said. "The city is creating a resource upstream that will ultimately help the habitat downstream." WHKS and Funke have taken the lead on similar habitat restoration projects of waterways through town and cities. The results are cleaner waterways that are less prone to flooding and home to more native plants and animals, she said. "People are starting to value the rivers themselves as habitats," Funke said. Downstream, the river is a habitat for native trout and is a state-designated trout stream.
France 24
05-06-2025
- Business
- France 24
Germany's Merz heads for delicate talks with Trump
A month into his job, the conservative Merz, 69, is a staunch transatlanticist at pains to maintain good ties with what he considers post-war Germany's "indispensable" ally, despite Trump's unyielding "America First" stance. Merz will hope that his pledges to sharply increase Germany's NATO defence spending will please Trump, and that he can find common ground on confronting Russia after the mercurial US president voiced growing frustration with President Vladimir Putin. On Trump's threat to hammer the European Union with sharply higher tariffs, Merz, leader of the bloc's biggest economy, has argued that it must be self-confident in its negotiations with Washington, saying that "we're not supplicants". Despite the tensions, Merz said he was "looking forward" to his first face-to-face meeting with Trump. "Our alliance with America was, is, and remains of paramount importance for the security, freedom, and prosperity of Europe," he posted on X late Wednesday. His office has also voiced confidence that Merz will be spared the kind of public dressing down Trump delivered in the Oval Office to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa. Merz is looking ahead to his first in-person meeting with Trump "with great calmness and joy", his spokesman Stefan Kornelius said, pointing to their "very good relationship" so far. "Germany is the third-largest economy in the world, and we have a lot to offer as an economic partner of the USA," Kornelius said. "At the same time, a very constructive and positive relationship with America is very important to us, for our own economy and for the security of Germany and Europe." The two leaders -- both with business backgrounds and keen golf players -- are on first-name terms after several phone calls, Kornelius said, and Merz now has Trump's cellphone number on speed dial. Defence and trade Merz has been given the honour of staying at Blair House, the presidential guest residence on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House. Merz has even felt comfortable enough to have a little fun at Trump's expense, recently telling a TV interviewer that his every second or third word was "great". Whatever the personal chemistry, the policy issues are potentially explosive. Trump launched his roller-coaster series of trade policy shifts in April, with the threat of 50-percent US tariffs on European goods looming. Merz, who has sat on many corporate boards, is "very experienced in business, too -- the world from which Donald Trump comes," his chancellery chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, told the Funke media group. On the Ukraine war, where Germany strongly backs Kyiv, Merz will hope to convince Trump to heighten pressure on Putin through new sanctions to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire. Trump, 78, has recently expressed frustration with Putin, calling him "crazy", but without announcing concrete new measures. Merz's visit comes ahead of a G7 summit in Canada on June 15-17 and a NATO meeting in The Hague at the end of the month. Merz has said Germany is willing to follow a plan to raise defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP over coming years, with another 1.5 percent dedicated to security-related infrastructure. 'Calm and reasonable' Another potential flashpoint issue looms -- the vocal support Trump and some in his administration have given to the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which came second in February elections. US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Trump adviser Elon Musk have all weighed in in support of the AfD, which in Germany is shunned by all other political parties. When Germany's domestic intelligence service recently designated the AfD a "right-wing extremist" group, Rubio denounced the step as "tyranny in disguise". Merz slammed what he labelled "absurd observations" from Washington and said he "would like to encourage the American government... to largely stay out of" German domestic politics. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has also openly criticised Trump, saying this week that he frequently made statements "that seem directed against the fundamental foundations of our coexistence".
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Germany's Merz heads for delicate talks with Trump
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to meet with US President Donald Trump on Thursday, hoping to build a personal relationship despite discord over Ukraine and the threat of a trade war. A month into his job, the conservative Merz, 69, is a staunch transatlanticist at pains to maintain good ties with what he considers post-war Germany's "indispensable" ally, despite Trump's unyielding "America First" stance. Merz will hope that his pledges to sharply increase Germany's NATO defence spending will please Trump, and that he can find common ground on confronting Russia after the mercurial US president voiced growing frustration with President Vladimir Putin. On Trump's threat to hammer the European Union with sharply higher tariffs, Merz, leader of the bloc's biggest economy, has argued that it must be self-confident in its negotiations with Washington, saying that "we're not supplicants". Despite the tensions, Merz said he was "looking forward" to his first face-to-face meeting with Trump. Live Events "Our alliance with America was, is, and remains of paramount importance for the security, freedom, and prosperity of Europe," he posted on X late Wednesday. His office has also voiced confidence that Merz will be spared the kind of public dressing down Trump delivered in the Oval Office to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa. Merz is looking ahead to his first in-person meeting with Trump "with great calmness and joy", his spokesman Stefan Kornelius said, pointing to their "very good relationship" so far. "Germany is the third-largest economy in the world, and we have a lot to offer as an economic partner of the USA," Kornelius said. "At the same time, a very constructive and positive relationship with America is very important to us, for our own economy and for the security of Germany and Europe." The two leaders -- both with business backgrounds and keen golf players -- are on first-name terms after several phone calls, Kornelius said, and Merz now has Trump's cellphone number on speed dial. - Defence and trade - Merz has been given the honour of staying at Blair House, the presidential guest residence on Pennsylvania Avenue across from the White House. Merz has even felt comfortable enough to have a little fun at Trump's expense, recently telling a TV interviewer that his every second or third word was "great". Whatever the personal chemistry, the policy issues are potentially explosive. Trump launched his roller-coaster series of trade policy shifts in April, with the threat of 50-percent US tariffs on European goods looming. Merz, who has sat on many corporate boards, is "very experienced in business, too -- the world from which Donald Trump comes," his chancellery chief of staff, Thorsten Frei, told the Funke media group. On the Ukraine war , where Germany strongly backs Kyiv, Merz will hope to convince Trump to heighten pressure on Putin through new sanctions to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire. Trump, 78, has recently expressed frustration with Putin, calling him "crazy", but without announcing concrete new measures. Merz's visit comes ahead of a G7 summit in Canada on June 15-17 and a NATO meeting in The Hague at the end of the month. Merz has said Germany is willing to follow a plan to raise defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP over coming years, with another 1.5 percent dedicated to security-related infrastructure. - 'Calm and reasonable' - Another potential flashpoint issue looms -- the vocal support Trump and some in his administration have given to the far-right and anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which came second in February elections. US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former Trump adviser Elon Musk have all weighed in in support of the AfD, which in Germany is shunned by all other political parties. When Germany's domestic intelligence service recently designated the AfD a "right-wing extremist" group, Rubio denounced the step as "tyranny in disguise". Merz slammed what he labelled "absurd observations" from Washington and said he "would like to encourage the American government... to largely stay out of" German domestic politics. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has also openly criticised Trump, saying this week that he frequently made statements "that seem directed against the fundamental foundations of our coexistence".
