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Chefs Susan Feniger (left) and Mary Sue Milliken teach a cooking class at Border Grill in downtown Los Angeles. Photo by Rory Owen Delaney.

Have you been to a cooking class at Border Grill? If you haven’t, then you’re missing out on a truly fun and informative time. Remedy your situation by attending Salsa 101 taught by none of that than chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the original Two Hot Tamales and two Top Chef Masters contestants.

While enjoying a multi-course lunch with signature cocktails, you’ll learn the essentials of creating salsas that you can incorporate into a variety of dishes, including soups, salads, barbecue and even dessert. You’ll learn lots of cooking tips from Milliken and Feniger, such as how the ends of cucumbers are bitter; how you should sharpen a knife at a 15 degree angle and always wipe it off immediately after cutting citrus; how you should cut fish against the grain just like beef; how onions have the most sugar of all vegetables, which means they will oxidize immediately if put in a food processor; and much more.

You’ll also get to take a recipe booklet home so you can recreate what you learned at home. Good food, good company, good take-aways — what more can you ask for?

Salsa 101 & Beyond with Mary Sue and Susan

Saturday, June 2, 2012
11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Border Grill Downtown LA
445 S. Figueroa St.
Los Angeles, CA 90071

Call (213) 486-5171 for reservations.
$75 per person

Note: I attended a similar class as a guest of Border Grill.

Bakelab goodies. From Bakelab.

Artisanal L.A.: This weekend-long shopping, tasting and educational event comes from those who brought you the L.A. Street Food Fest and Unique L.A., so you know it’ll be fun. Artisanal L.A. will showcase the city’s finest local, sustainable and handmade edibles, including treats from Bakelab, Cake Monkey Bakery, Bonadea Drinks, Scoops and The Oaks Gourmet, among many others. For $10 (advance purchase; $15 at the door), you’ll get unlimited entry for two days to enjoy all this plus local craft beer and spirits tastings, a one-of-a-kind tote bag for the first 1,000 attendees, arts and crafts workshops, speakers and chef demonstrations, giveaways, Pitchfork’s Mud Baron giving out seedlings, and gift wrap hosted by Uncouth Gourmands benefiting the LA Regional Food Bank. Partial proceeds will benefit Los Angeles Unified School District’s Edible School Gardens.

The Cooper Building
860 S. Los Angeles St., 11th Floor Penthouse
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Oct. 23 and Oct. 24
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa: Billed as the Ritz-Carlton of pet hotels, The Barkley is opening up this weekend in Westlake. While there are other shi-shi pet hotels, including D Pet Hotels, what makes this place unique is its inclusion of birds and exotics in its description of “pets.” Now you can house your dog, cat, bird and snake all at the same place! There are overnight accommodations, grooming and spa services, day camp, obedience training, and pick-up and delivery service. The full-service day spa services include baths, body massages, mud-masks and “pawdicures.” Prices start at $45 per night. Not too shabby, huh? If you’d like to check it out, there will be sneak preview tours this weekend with entertainment, auctions, raffles and food with all proceeds benefiting local pet charities. Advance tickets are free with registration.

The Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa
31166 Via Colinas
Westlake Village, CA 91362

Preview tours Oct. 23 and Oct. 24
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Grand opening Oct. 25

The Food Event: Los Angeles magazine’s annual event will also be celebrating the magazine’s 50th anniversary and its November “Mexican Food Lovers Guide” issue. The day will feature chefs, culinary experts and sommeliers with lots of unlimited food, wine and other treats, including the Top Chef Masters panel in the Conversation Lounge. Some of the luminaries scheduled to appear are Susan Feniger of Street and Border Grill, Mark Gold of Eva Restaurant, Laurent Quenioux of Bistro LQ, Ian Blackburn of LearnAboutWine and more. On top of all that is the location of the event, Saddlerock Ranch in the Malibu hills, home to Semler and Saddlerock wines. Nice!

Saddlerock Ranch
31727 Mulholland Highway
Malibu, CA 90265

Oct. 24
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$95 in advance (for $5 more get a one-year subscription to Los Angeles magazine, too); $110 at the door

La Grande Orange is celebrating two years in Pasadena with a buy one, get one deal. On Monday, March 22, (that’s today) and Tuesday, March 23, buy one entree and get a second entree for just $2.00 during lunch and dinner.

And keep an eye out for the Cart For A Cause food truck, which launches Tuesday in Beverly Hills at United Talent Agency from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. with chef Nobu Matsuhisa dishing up $10 meals. The truck will run once a week with a different celebrity chef, starting with Matsuhisa and continuing with the likes of Walter Manzke, Susan Feniger, Sal Marino, Eric Greenspan, Josef Centeno, Jean Francois Meteigner, and Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook. All proceeds go to support St. Vincent’s Meals on Wheels, so not only do you get a gourmet meal at a bargain price, you’re helping out others in need. Follow the cart on Twitter at @CartForACause for times and locations.

Correction: Chef Alex Becker from Nobu will actually be the one serving up the food truck meals, not Matsuhisa himself. Apologies for the confusion.

Weekends just don’t come around quickly enough. To celebrate the coming of this weekend, here are some events to consider:

Friday: Harveys, purveyors of fancy seat belt hand bags, is continuing its search for the most arty of designs to feature in its Melrose Avenue store and to feature on one of its bags. From 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., stop by the store to help narrow the entries down from 10 to three. Hot dogs, party punch and raffles will sustain you through what promises to be an arduous voting process.

Saturday: D.O.G. pet boutique on La Cienega in West Hollywood is hosting a custom jewelry event for your furry friends. Bring you four-legged friend to the Bling Your Bitch event (not the best name, I know) between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to check out the myriad charms, crystals and pearls available to create your own doggie jewelry, which can be coordinated to some you make for yourself, too. Prices start at $12 for the Gems4Paws-designed bling. Oh, and there’s champagne!

Sunday: The 23rd Annual Great Chefs of Los Angeles is themed “Go Green, Go Organic” and will feature more than 30 L.A.-area chefs and their food, including the Dragos, Benjamin Ford, Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger, Neal Fraser and Akasha Richmond. Enjoy all the food and alcohol you can handle from 12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at CBS Studio Center in Studio City. There will also be auctions to benefit the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. Tickets are $150, but you can get them for $75 through Goldstar.

And if you haven’t had enough, stop by Stinkers Truck Stop‘s one-year anniversary party. The oh-so-ironic Silver Lake bar will be having drink specials, a DJ and swag giveaways from 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Because you need to close out the weekend right.

Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, purveyors of Mexican and international street food, are launching a taco truck tomorrow. The Border Grill Taco Truck, which will pull from the cooking duo’s Border Grill and Ciudad restaurants, will serve $2 gourmet tacos, green corn tamales and empanadas, among other items. The truck will be parked downtown at 433 S. Spring St. from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Hopefully Feniger will include some menu items from Street; it only makes sense to include street food on a taco truck, doesn’t it? From EaterLA.