Butcher

For four decades, Doheny Glatt Kosher meat market has been one of California's preeminent suppliers of food that meets the requirements of Jewish law, offering not just staples like brisket and chicken but high-end fare including bison, prime steaks and grass-fed beef. But allegations that Doheny has sold meat that was not properly certified under kosher rules have suddenly divided the city's Jewish community, forcing longtime customers doing their shopping before Shabbat Friday to decide how much they trusted their butcher.

MINNEAPOLIS - Mike Butcher is aware of the chatter. The pitching coach knows there are legions of fans who look at the Angels' major league-worst 5.43 earned-run average and think he should be fired. He also knows people above him in the organization might feel the same way. After hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was fired last May in the wake of the team's sluggish start, who's to say the Angels wouldn't make a similar move with Butcher if the pitchers continue to struggle? "It doesn't bother me, not at all," said Butcher, when asked before Wednesday's rainout whether Hatcher's dismissal, the first off Manager Mike Scioscia's coaching staff in 13 years, made him feel less secure about his job. "It's not going to make me do my job any different or make me feel any different.

The butcher is back. After decades of laboring in obscurity, seeing their craft slip away to the point it was practically extinct, butchers — real meat cutters, not guys who repackage steaks from Cryovac bags — are regaining their respected place in the food chain. You can see it in the crowds at Lindy & Grundy on Fairfax Avenue and at McCall's Meat & Fish Co. in Los Feliz, where customers line up outside when word comes in that a whole pig has been delivered. Southern California meat market standbys, including the Huntington Meats and Marconda's Meats in the original Farmers Market, high-end supermarket chains Bristol Farms, Gelson's and Whole Foods, are seeing business pick up. There's even a MEAT club at UCLA — the Meat Education and Appreciation Team — that sponsors meat cooking events, including trips to butcher shops for private lessons.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched an investigation into the Doheny Glatt Kosher meat market as controversy brews over the integrity of products sold there. The owner of Doheny, Michael Engelman, faces accusations of selling meat that was not properly certified under kosher rules. Last week, a council of rabbis pulled Doheny's kosher certification and, in a statement Friday, raised the possibility of "legal action," a recourse to secular courts that would be rare. Tuesday, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed that the Doheny market is under investigation.

For five decades, Doheny Glatt Kosher meat market has been one of California's preeminent suppliers of food that meets the requirements of Jewish law, offering staples such as brisket and chicken as well as bison, prime steak and grass-fed beef. But on Friday, the esteemed butcher was at the center of an angry debate that had spread across L.A.'s Jewish community. The owner of Doheny faces accusations of selling meat that was not properly certified under kosher rules. Longtime customers doing their shopping before Shabbat were forced to decide how much they trusted their butcher.

Three 55-gallon drums with an estimated $805,000 in silver coins hidden by Butcher, a convicted bank fraud artist, were recovered in a rented truck at a suburban Knoxville, Tenn., airport. Federal authorities also said they recovered $732,000 in U.S. Treasury coupons that Butcher had hidden from bankruptcy creditors, who have claims of $237 million against him.

Want to learn more about meat? There are several recent good books. "Whole Beast Butchery" by Ryan Farr with Brigit Binns (Chronicle, $40). Do you really like cutting meat? I mean, really like it? This book, from the owner of San Francisco's 4505 Meats, is packed with very detailed, somewhat graphic photos of that being done. Granted, most of us will never be in a position to break down a whole short loin of beef, but there is a certain reassurance in knowing how it's done.

Howard D. Strum (Letters, May 15) asks how our senators can vote to freeze Social Security benefits in the name of budget-deficit reduction while at the same time voting against a 10% cut in their own salaries. The best answer to that question was given by Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), explaining why Congress doesn't decrease deficit spending. He said, "It's awfully hard to get a hog to butcher itself." MARY L. DOUGLASS Oceanside

It really makes my day to read the letters of all the viewers who complain about how the networks butcher theatrical movies on television. If these people had any sense, they would call their local cable company or fork out a few hundred bucks for a videocassette machine and take advantage of the dollar-a-day tape rental specials. Don Manuel, Hollywood

Sheriff's officials say a knife-wielding suspect who was shot and killed at the Merced County courthouse Monday afternoon was the same person who rammed his car into the building a year ago. The suspect has been identified by authorities as 40-year-old Robert Eaton. Deputies shot Eaton after he entered the courthouse brandishing two butcher knives. No one else was injured.

For four decades, Doheny Glatt Kosher meat market has been one of California's preeminent suppliers of food that meets the requirements of Jewish law, offering not just staples like brisket and chicken but high-end fare including bison, prime steaks and grass-fed beef. But allegations that Doheny has sold meat that was not properly certified under kosher rules have suddenly divided the city's Jewish community, forcing longtime customers doing their shopping before Shabbat Friday to decide how much they trusted their butcher.

For five decades, Doheny Glatt Kosher meat market has been one of California's preeminent suppliers of food that meets the requirements of Jewish law, offering staples such as brisket and chicken as well as bison, prime steak and grass-fed beef. But on Friday, the esteemed butcher was at the center of an angry debate that had spread across L.A.'s Jewish community. The owner of Doheny faces accusations of selling meat that was not properly certified under kosher rules. Longtime customers doing their shopping before Shabbat were forced to decide how much they trusted their butcher.

BOSTON — Mike Butcher is under fire for the first time in six years as pitching coach, the Angels struggling to the point where many fans are calling for Butcher to be dumped the way hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was in May. Butcher, whose staffs have excelled for most of his tenure in Anaheim, hasn't retreated into a corner and gone into a rope-a-dope. Asked about the criticism before Tuesday night's game at Fenway Park, Butcher came out swinging. "I'm not going to defend my job, because I know how good I am," he said.

Bouchon turns 1: Until the end of the week, pastry chef Alen Ramos is offering signature items at Bouchon Bakery to commemorate its 1st birthday. The goodies include birthday cake macaron; tomato-brie summer sandwich; farmers market strawberry lemonade; and vanilla bean canele. Patrons can toast on the actual birthday, Friday, with a $1 glass of lemonade. Until Sunday. 235 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, (310) 271-9910 x621 . www.bouchonbakery.com . Georgian feast with Satellite Republic: Satellite Republic will cook a four-course dinner at Jancar Jones Gallery on Aug. 24. Guests can enjoy wine from the suggested cash donation bar at 6:30 p.m. and promptly afterward, dinner of elderberry tonic, tonis puri bread with fresh herbs; roasted eggplant satzivi ; khinkali dumplings filled with lamb and adjika sauce; grilled sturgeon with pickled green beans and plum sauce; and walnut baklava.

Lauren Conrad of "The Hills" fame -- and also fashion-line fame and "L.A. Candy" novel series fame -- has an online video series called Crafty Creations. In it, she undertakes low-end DIY projects, such as melting crayons on a board and calling it art, making a bracelet out of washers, and building corkboards from wine corks. Supportive commenters leave messages like "Lauren~ Just when I think you have done it all you come up with Crafty-creations, Absolutely LOVE!!!" and "You are still so adorable!

Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher has been suspended for one game and issued an undisclosed fine for leaving the dugout to argue balls and strikes and "aggressively arguing" with an umpire during the Angels' game Sunday against Seattle, Major League Baseball announced Tuesday.  Butcher will serve his suspension during the Angels' game against Cleveland on Tuesday, the league said.  Butcher was ejected in the first inning of the Angels' game...

It is my humble opinion that the Rose Parade is a spectacle of excess and in poor taste. To butcher all these lovely flowers and to contort them into all kinds of silly images shows how little we care about their beauty. It would be nice to know that we can still come up with some creative ideas that would put all this effort to better use. MARIA MARDAUNIG Redondo Beach

To the person who declared that the study of math was a waste of time (letter, March 17), it should be pointed out that colleges and universities are not supposed to be mere vocational schools. Math is a mental discipline that teaches students how to think, something most of them need badly. Whether or not you will ever need to use a quadratic equation is irrelevant. The rigorous logic involved is a valuable tool for a great many activities. THOMAS D. BUTCHER San Diego

This should be right up Lindy and Grundy 's alley: toy butcher shops for aspiring young butchers from Victorian England. Look at that detail! The butcher's neatly tied apron, the blue scarf tucked around his neck, his knife laid at the corner of the butcher block table, the precision of the cuts. Even the bloody sawdust on the floor. This particular one dates from 1840. I came across the link to these toy butcher shops at the weirdly gruesome and eclectic Morbid Anatomy blog, "surveying the interstices of art and medicine, death and culture.” Always something to learn there, and, of course, I've got the Morbid Anatomy library and museum   on my itinerary next time I'm anywhere near Brooklyn.

It kind of makes sense when you think about it, but I was still taken aback by the announcement that the launch party for Joseph Shuldiner's new cookbook "Pure Vegan" will be held at Lindy & Grundy . That, of course, is a butcher shop, albeit of a very particular type. Anyway, the party is Aug. 19 from 6 to 9 p.m. It will be very interesting to see what is served. And will the meat cases be full or empty? This is not the time to proselytize, girls. Shuldiner is the founder of the Institute of Domestic Technology, a kind of new-age, back-to-the-roots home ec department.