Restaurants

In an age of long commutes, late sports practices, endless workdays and 24/7 television programming, the image of Mom hanging up her dish towel at 7 p.m. and declaring "the kitchen is closed" seems a quaint relic of an earlier era. It also harks back to a thinner America. And that may be no coincidence. A new study, conducted on mice, hints at an unexpected contributor to the nation's epidemic of obesity - and, if later human studies bear it out, a possible way to have our cake and eat it too, with less risk of weight gain and the diseases that come with it. Just eat your cake - or better yet, an apple - earlier.

Benihana Inc., the Japanese-style and sushi restaurant chain known for slicing, dicing and frying food in front of diners, has accepted an offer to be sold to a private equity group for $296 million. Angelo, Gordon & Co. plans to pay Benihana shareholders $16.30 a share in cash in a transaction that's been approved by the Miami-based chain's board. Benihana shareholders must also approve the acquisition. The price is a premium of 46% over the average closing price for the 30 days before March 13, when Benihana first said it was exploring strategic alternatives for its business.

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

With work set to begin soon on a $1-billion luxury hotel in downtown Los Angeles, developer Korean Air revealed some details about the tower that is expected to dramatically alter the city's skyline. The skyscraper will be the second-tallest structure in Southern California at 70 stories, only slightly shorter than the US Bank Tower office building, said Yang Ho Cho, the chairman of Korean Air. The design is still a work in progress, but guests are expected to be whisked by high-speed elevators to the lobby on the 70th floor, where they will check in. The top floor will also have a restaurant, bar and infinity swimming pool.

Plenty of restaurants have been advertising their efforts to offer healthful choices, and it's possible to eat carefully just about anywhere. But researchers say nearly all the entrees they reviewed at 245 U.S. chains fail to meet federal guidelines. Think about it, and you can figure out some likely culprits: burgers with cheese, bacon and sauce; pastas with four cheeses and sausages; outsize servings of meat; salads covered in fatty, salty dressings. For a study published online in the journal Public Health Nutrition, researchers looked at the nutritional content of 30,923 menu items, including those from children's menus, from 245 brands of restaurants.

Jessica Gueghlein never used to give it a second thought when she wanted a good hamburger — she headed to In-N-Out, that drive-through icon of Southern California car culture. But her affections have strayed. Lately she's been hitting an East Coast upstart aggressively expanding in California — Five Guys Burgers and Fries. "We chose this over In-N-Out," said Gueghlein, chowing down with family members at the Five Guys in Valencia that opened in January. She liked the fresh, flavorful burgers and hand-cut fries at Five Guys — as well as the novelty of trying something new. "It's the fourth time we've been here since they opened.

Nine people sickened by a salmonella outbreak linked to fresh tomatoes ate at two restaurants from the same chain, federal officials confirmed Friday. The chain's name and restaurant location are confidential, said David Acheson, the associate commissioner for foods at the Food and Drug Administration, during a conference call with reporters. A spokesman for the agency also declined to provide the time frame for the cases -- or say whether the restaurants were in the same state. The Chicago Department of Public Health identified nine people who ate at a restaurant in May and came down with salmonella, though Tim Hadac, a spokesman for the department, said he did not know whether the nine cases were the same ones Acheson referenced Friday.

The stark landscape looms large here: miles of open land pockmarked by desert scrub; jumbled rocks heaped upon one another to create wild mountains; cantankerous cactuses ready to hurl daggers if you come too close. Landscapes don't come much more ruggedly Western than this. So it's not surprising to find restaurants that feature an Old West menu.

I have a confession to make: I hate brunch buffets, those all you-can-eat affairs where, faced with a selection as long as a football field, you promptly lose your mind and pile your plate to the point you're confronting far more than you can realistically consume or appreciate. And some people don't stop there. I think the moment I swore off such extravagances was a Sunday morning at the Rainbow Room in New York. The buffet there is famous for the view, and for the fact that the buffet spread slowly revolves like a turntable.

It was wonderful reading about all the "old" restaurants in Los Angeles circa 1940-1960 ("In Celebration of Restaurants Past," Sept. 29). They brought back lovely memories of special dining during my "salad days." However, I precede Ms. Dosti and Mr. Andrews by some years, and grew up in Long Beach in the 1930s. On Sunday afternoons, my mother, father and I would sedately motor on surface streets in an always-gray Oldsmobile or Buick to dine out in downtown Los Angeles. Who can forget all the charming places like: Pig 'n' Whistle; Carolina Pines; Lucas; Goodfellow's Grotto; Dinty Moore's; Victor Hugo; Bit of Sweden; the original Lawry's; the Baltimore Hotel, and so many others?

The Man Who Changed the Way We Eat Thomas McNamee Free Press, 339 pp., $27 Ask your average Food Network viewer or Yelp poster about Craig Claiborne and you're likely to be met with a blank look and a "Who?" How fleeting is fame in the food world. Claiborne is one of the giants of this modern age, even if today - less than 20 years after his passing - he is largely forgotten. People remember James Beard because of the foundation that keeps his name alive. Julia Child lives on in television reruns (even if some fans now believe she looked just like Meryl Streep)

Sunny Spot A Caribbean-inspired joint from chef Roy Choi, with rum cocktails, tropicalia and a reggae soundtrack. LOCATION 822 Washington Blvd., Venice, (310) 448-8884, sunnyspotvenice.com. PRICES Appetizers, $4 to $12; larger plates, $12 to $18 (and way up for special dishes); desserts, $4 to $8. DETAILS The kitchen is open 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 p.m. to midnight Thursday to Saturday. Credit cards. Full bar. Valet parking.

Short Order A retro-ish mix of blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, unconventional folk and indie rock, to go with burgers, shakes and fries, courtesy of resident "music guy" Josh Pressman. "Meet Me in the City" Junior Kimbrough "Oh Well (Live at the BBC)" Fleetwood Mac "Ten Thousand Words" the Avett Brothers Bazaar Electronic with a lot of European, particularly Spanish, music to match the modern tapas at the Bazaar and "salt air" margaritas at Bar Centro, courtesy of Prescriptive Music.

Is a hyper-curated playlist the new house-made charcuterie? Whether a restaurant's playing Lady Gaga or Langhorne Slim says as much about the place as its Mason jar drinking glasses or farm-to-table pickle plate. And in an era when even Facebook tracks one's music choices, restaurants are paying more attention than ever to what goes with the hickory-roasted carrots - not just the za'tar -laced crème fraîche but, say, also Lambchop (the band, not the meat). When a customer walks into a restaurant - even before Jack White's "Sixteen Saltines" becomes the soundtrack for the sunchoke soup - the music sets the tone for the dining experience, says Bill Chait, the restaurateur behind L.A.'s Short Order, Picca, Sotto, Rivera and Playa, among others.

Plenty of restaurants have been advertising their efforts to offer healthful choices, and it's possible to eat carefully just about anywhere. But researchers say nearly all the entrees they reviewed at 245 U.S. chains fail to meet federal guidelines. Think about it, and you can figure out some likely culprits: burgers with cheese, bacon and sauce; pastas with four cheeses and sausages; outsize servings of meat; salads covered in fatty, salty dressings. For a study published online in the journal Public Health Nutrition, researchers looked at the nutritional content of 30,923 menu items, including those from children's menus, from 245 brands of restaurants.

All you need in your pocket or purse to find a hot restaurant. Name: Chef's Feed Available for: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad; Android coming soon. What it does: Profiles award-winning chefs and their favorite dishes at specific restaurants in certain cities. From there, you can map the restaurant, add it to your profile and itinerary, rate the dish and tell your friends about it using Twitter or Facebook. Cost: Free. What's hot: This app is becoming a better tool for business travelers.

Is a hyper-curated playlist the new house-made charcuterie? Whether a restaurant's playing Lady Gaga or Langhorne Slim says as much about the place as its Mason jar drinking glasses or farm-to-table pickle plate. And in an era when even Facebook tracks one's music choices, restaurants are paying more attention than ever to what goes with the hickory-roasted carrots - not just the za'tar -laced crème fraîche but, say, also Lambchop (the band, not the meat). When a customer walks into a restaurant - even before Jack White's "Sixteen Saltines" becomes the soundtrack for the sunchoke soup - the music sets the tone for the dining experience, says Bill Chait, the restaurateur behind L.A.'s Short Order, Picca, Sotto, Rivera and Playa, among others.

Have you ever been frightened by a dumpling? Truly, genuinely scared? Because the juicy crab and pork buns at Wang Xing Ji - smoking-hot dumplings the size of water balloons, sneakily full of boiling juice - could probably be weaponized. You could deploy them as grenades, I'm pretty sure, lobbing the heavy spheroids over battlements. Or you could employ them as sub-lethal projectiles, splatting them into the enemy at will, although the sticky broth is undoubtedly prohibited in an obscure codicil of the Geneva Conventions.

What an appealing slice-of-life California town, an easy day trip by car or train. Come for the history, stay for the food. This restaurant-intensive ranch town is the oldest community in Orange County. If San Juan Capistrano - or SJC - had a dating profile it would say: "Self-deprecating, authentic, still likes a good time. " The bed. Choices here are limited, though a new hotel is on the way. Till then, you have the Residence Inn Marriott, with one- and two-bedroom suites starting at $179 (33711 Camino Capistrano; [949]

The Portland Hop. I know, it sounds like a dance craze in 1937. But really, it's what you do when Southern California gets you down and you need to drink small-batch beer, eat Northwestern locavore meals and see bike commuters in the rain. My wife, daughter and I hit Portland, Ore., for a few days last August. Here's the report. The bed. Once a Days Inn, the Hotel Modera (515 S.W. Clay St.; [503] 484-1084, hotelmodera.com; rooms for two start at about $129 in spring) got a serious upgrade before opening in 2008.