I know, how original, right? A picture of The Waffle’s Cornmeal Jalapeno Waffle ($12, with fried chicken, greens and gravy).

Well, I like it.

So no matter how many LA food reviews you read, today you have to see it again.

Because it’s something I keep going back to.

Sometimes with a six-fifty milkshake on the side.

But this story isn’t about me.

It’s about other people’s waffles.

Because that’s really what Hollywood’s The Waffle is all about – ordering the waffle that is just so you.

So no scoffing at your friends’ orders, even if they decide to have a Chocolate Waffle at lunchtime (eeeewwww!). This breaded breakfast luxury is a form self-expression. A waffle at The Waffle is the syrup-compatible version of music and blue jeans.

The Waffle
6255 W. Sunset Blvd.
In the big office building on the corner of Sunset and Argyle
Hollywood, Calif.
http://www.thewaffle.us/Site/Home.html

There’s no mistaking this summer event because it’s all in the name: Outdoor Cinema Food Fest L.A.

Billed as “the ultimate picnic” with “no basket required,” here’s the breakdown:

Outdoor – Downtown’s Exposition Park is where most take place; Grand Hope Park and Beverly Hills’ La Cienega Park will also host.

Cinema – Swingers, The Big Lebowski… View schedule online.

Food Fest – 60 food trucks on rotation throughout July and August.

Among the 10 trucks set for this weekend, I’m saving room for a cone from Lake Street Creamery, L.A.’s transient ice cream makers who have our streets a-buzz this summer for Donut-flavored scoops. According to their Twitter page, there’s a new flavor named Don Draper; like the man himself, this flavor could be yours only if you can track him down.

Outdoor Cinema Food Fest
Los Angeles, Calif.
Saturdays, July and August 2010, 6-11pm
Admission $8 each or 4 for $5 each (plus extra for parking)
OutdoorCinemaFoodFest.com

Restaurant week in Palm Springs is a great excuse to sample favorite home-away-from-home restaurants in L.A.’s glam, palm-lined playground for a fraction of the cost. Deals at over 100 restaurants last through the weekend, ending this Sunday, June 13.

At Jackalope Ranch guests opt for a $36-menu of high-styled southwestern courses including local corn chowder and boneless kobe short ribs (restaurant week only), sip aged tequila during the venue’s reputable happy hour, and explore the lawns and waterfalls of the hotel-like grounds that spread over six acres. Quintessentially Palm Springs, even though it’s only been open a year and a half, the ranch is the perfect place to dress in hot white and sandals that sparkle.

Jackalope Ranch in Indio, on the eastern edge of the Palm Springs area, makes margaritas with fresh hand-squeezed lime juice and organic agave nectar.

Palm Springs Restaurant Week
June 4-13, 2010
www.palmspringsrestaurantweek.com

Jackalope Ranch
Lunch 11:30 to 3pm daily
Happy hour 3:30 to 6pm nightly
Dinner 5pm nightly
80-400 Highway 111
Indio, CA 92201
760-342-1999

Palm Springs is a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles.

There are 6 Vendys L.A. finalists:

India Jones Chow Truck
Hot Dog Kings
Bigmista’s Barbecue
Nina’s Food (pictured)
Grilled Cheese Truck
Tacos el Galuzo

A tax-deductable fifty bucks admission price gets you food from the best street vendors in Los Angeles, drinks too, and goes toward raising money for the movement to protect vendors’ rights.

Vendys L.A.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
4-7pm
MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, California
Streetvendor.org

Hello, spring.

Gingergrass sounds like spring and tastes like it too. For when the days are longer and nights are warmer, this urban Vietnamese eatery, open until 11pm some nights, can make a fabulous spring even fabulouser.

Popular: Shrimp chips on the table, 33 Beer from Tien Giang Province ($5), Bo Bia (rice paper with jicama, coconut, mushrooms, egg and peanuts, $5.95) and the Pork Belly special

Atmosphere: Since the restaurant advertises “Fresh Vietnamese Cuisine,” it would be wrong to assume that steaming bowls of pho come out of the kitchen tasting like they do in mid-town Hanoi. It’s all about expectations; expect “fresh” and “cuisine” and a clientele to match; and order something besides the pho.

Gingergrass

2396 Glendale Blvd.

Silver Lake, Ca. 90039

(323) 644-1600

L.A. girls can’t help it; we’re heat-seekers. Perpetually cold, we clutch venti mint teas and cling to bowls of hot soup like it’s our job. It’s all in the name of warmth. Even on sunny spring days the recently re-opened Doughboys in West L.A. is making a business out of serving one of my favorite soup and salad combos in the city: 15 salad selections, 11 soup selections, combined any way for $11.95. Plus, because no one should have to leave his or her sidewalk table without trying the restaurant’s homemade bread, the menu says the S & S combo comes with “our grilled French baguette bread.” Mine didn’t come out with the order, but I borrowed some slices from the side of my friend’s Warm Portabello Mushroom and Pancetta salad with potatoes (pictured) and we were equally happy. Triangles of crusty-on-the-outside bread dipped in my huge bowl of spinach-heavy Stracciatella soup next to a heap of Medditeraneo salad – takes the April chill off. Warms the soul.

Doughboys Café & Bakery Restaurant

8136 West Third Street

Los Angeles, CA 90048

323.852.1020

http://www.doughboyscafe.com/

Costumes? Check. Egg art? You know it. Delicious brunch? Of course. Springy greens? Covered in ‘em (literally). Kids’ activities? Naturally.

Playful Royal/T in Culver City scores on all accounts for Easter this year. Their April 4, 2010 brunch will include egg scrambles, sandwiches, Peter Rabbit’s Carrot Ginger Soup, and the royally appealing Easter High Tea: quiche, egg salad sandwich, smoked salmon canap, tuna tartar, colorful macaroons, carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting, mixed berries, Easter themed treats and your choice of tea for $25.

royal-t.org

The spacious café/art space will feature a Kids’ Craft Garden and a viewing of Lyman Sebastian Tilleringer’s Ukrainian-inspired Easter egg art from noon to 3pm.

Royal/T
8910 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 559-6300

café@royal-t.org
www.royal-t.org

Cafe 10am-5pm daily
Shop & Space 10am-6pm daily

The event has attracted increasing numbers of bread and cheese worshippers to downtown Los Angeles since 2003. It’s the golden age of grilled cheese!

From GrilledCheeseInvitational.com: “The GCI promotes an almost scary pursuit of perfection in a Grilled Cheese Sammich and allows for amateur and professional chefs to compete side-by-side in the hopes of becoming a true Grilled Cheese Champion.”

“Grilled cheese, for the longest time, was held prisoner to the childrens’ menu at most restaurants,” event founder Tim Walker lamented on the Kevin and Bean radio show in 2009. Things are so much better now. Last year 250+ competitors greased up eleven-inch frying pans for 1,700 judges in three categories: Missionary Position (basic; the hardest to win), Kama Sutra (inventive ingredients) and the Honey Pot (dessert sandwiches).

Official rules for the 2010 event will be announced April 1, 2010.

Grilled Cheese Invitational
April 24, 2010
Los Angeles State Historical Park
1245 North Spring Street
Downtown L.A.
12-6pm
GrilledCheeseInvitational.com