Steven Weiss

His name may not be familiar, but Bishop Lamont is becoming one of the craftiest MCs on the West Coast. He's released a series of buzz-building mix tapes since signing with Dr. Dre two years ago, the latest of which, Caltroit, is an impressive collaboration with producer/rapper Black Milk, a...

Kowabunga! (or Big 4 Goes to the Beach) must have been an awful lot of fun to dream up. Following on the heels of the group's other high-concept restaurants, like Ed Debevic's pseudo-Fifties diner and Steamers' display-kitchen fish cookery, this restaurant is a send-up of the beach culture of California...

"Darling," whispers my companion. Alas, the endearment is intended not for me but for the restaurant in which we are dining, Annie's Steak & Pasta Company. This pretty little place looks a bit like a country-lodge sitting room and serves a cuisine reminiscent of the old-fashioned steak-and-spaghetti houses of Omaha,...

I'm with a friend in the new Hollywood Deli & Bar and our sandwich platters are brought to the table. As promised--both by the friend and several other informants who have recommended this place--the sandwiches are deli-Goliaths, each a mouth-wide mound of meaty magnificence. I'm enjoying the sight when I...

Well-meaning people sometimes open rotten restaurants. Addressing here a specific instance of this phenomenon fills me with angst, because I am well- aware of the financial exposure of the people involved. Restaurants demand top-heavy capital expenditure. You have to buy all the stoves and all the tables and all the...