Sea Bass

Salt-roasted sea bass Total time: 45 minutes Servings: 4 to 6 1 (3- to 4-pound) whole sea bass or rockfish, cleaned and scaled, head and tail intact 10 sprigs thyme 5 cups kosher salt 10 eggs, whites only 1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Clip the fins off the fish and stuff its cavity with thyme. 2. Using your hands, in a large bowl mix together salt and egg whites until the salt looks and feels like wet sand. 3. Spread a bed of the salt mixture on a sheet pan or roasting pan, lay the fish on top, and then mold the salt mixture around it tightly, sealing the fish entirely.

WASHINGTON - President Obama served up a steady course of one-liners at the Gridiron Club dinner Saturday night, a storied song-and-joke fest attended by Washington's political power brokers and the journalists who cover them, providing a timely stage for the White House's new charm offensive. “Because of 'sequester,' they cut my tails," quipped Obama, the headline guest at the 128th annual event, a white-tie affair that pokes fun at official Washington. "There is one thing in Washington that didn't get cut: The length of this dinner.

  Braised sea bass with black olive vinaigrette Total time: 30 minutes Servings: 4 Black olive vinaigrette Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 1 tablespoon minced black olives 3 tablespoons black olive juice 1/4 cup Champagne vinegar 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup grape seed oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper In a medium bowl, combine the minced black olives, olive juice and vinegar.

California's Central Coast seems to be exploding with restaurants. In Templeton, try Martin's on Main, a converted garage that is now a hamburger stand. Delicious cheeseburgers with bacon, and a nice owner trying to make it work. I highly recommend it. The other find is Madeline's Restaurant in Cambria, with linen tablecloths, fresh flowers and a friendly owner-chef. Everything is very fresh. The sea bass with mango glaze was the best I have ever had. Martin's on Main, 628 S. Main St., Templeton; (805)

It turns out Chilean sea bass, which burst on the food scene in the early 1980s, isn't technically a sea bass at all. Biologists say it should be called the Patagonian tooth-fish. Artichoke: the Sensitive Thistle At the Super Bowl, Pepsi ran a commercial that showed a chef praising artichokes while a text scrolled across the screen reading, "One day this may be interesting to you, but until that time comes. . . ." Then the scene switched to skateboarding kids drinking Pepsi.

The white sea bass is found from San Francisco south to the Bay of Magdalena in Baja and in the northern Gulf of California. The fish appear off the coast of Mexico in late spring, and they occasionally find their way to California markets. This month, the California sea bass season opened for three months. At this time, the supply should be consistent and the quality greatly improved over the Mexican fish, which takes considerably longer to reach the marketplace.

As reliably as masses of sea bass gather off the Southern California coast each summer, boatloads of anglers arrive to reel them in. But their bountiful catches are an illusion, scientists say. The populations of kelp bass and barred sand bass, two of the most popular — and easy to catch — saltwater fishes in Southern California, have plummeted 90% since 1980, according to a study led by a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography...

I enjoyed the informative article on the Chilean sea bass (In Season, "Whales, Storms Peril Bass," March 17) and how endangered they are. I couldn't believe my eyes when the back page had a recipe to cook the sea bass (Culinary SOS, "Sea Bass, by Way of Asia"). Very bad taste by the Food editors. STEPHEN ESMOND Via e-mail

Menu Caesar salad Sea Bass Stew Garlic bread Amaretto cookies with fresh berries Here's an updated classic--fish stew--that makes a casual yet elegant weeknight dinner. Sea bass is the perfect base, since this firm white-fleshed fish holds up well in stews and soups. Be careful not to overcook or it will become tough and dry; simply simmer a few minutes until the fish turns opaque and flakes when tested with a fork.

Manhattan Beach has unveiled an art project about the endangered giant black sea bass at the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab. Reiko Goto, a part-time faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, created the project. A 7-foot-long outline of a sea bass hangs from the ceiling of the Roundhouse Lab. Tissue paper fish scales painted by children are affixed to the wooden image. The city is also setting up a Web site on the fish.

Salt-roasted sea bass Total time: 45 minutes Servings: 4 to 6 1 (3- to 4-pound) whole sea bass or rockfish, cleaned and scaled, head and tail intact 10 sprigs thyme 5 cups kosher salt 10 eggs, whites only 1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Clip the fins off the fish and stuff its cavity with thyme. 2. Using your hands, in a large bowl mix together salt and egg whites until the salt looks and feels like wet sand. 3. Spread a bed of the salt mixture on a sheet pan or roasting pan, lay the fish on top, and then mold the salt mixture around it tightly, sealing the fish entirely.

As reliably as masses of sea bass gather off the Southern California coast each summer, boatloads of anglers arrive to reel them in. But their bountiful catches are an illusion, scientists say. The populations of kelp bass and barred sand bass, two of the most popular — and easy to catch — saltwater fishes in Southern California, have plummeted 90% since 1980, according to a study led by a researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography...

  Braised sea bass with black olive vinaigrette Total time: 30 minutes Servings: 4 Black olive vinaigrette Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 1 tablespoon minced black olives 3 tablespoons black olive juice 1/4 cup Champagne vinegar 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup grape seed oil Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper In a medium bowl, combine the minced black olives, olive juice and vinegar.

A fish tale that got a lot of play online earlier this year headed into the courtroom Thursday when two men were charged with catching a rare giant black sea bass off the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach. The fish they hauled in measured 62 inches long and weighed 140 to 200 pounds, authorities said. John Francis Brady, 45, of Huntington Beach and Jonathan Paul Apothaker, 45, of Valley Village, if convicted, face up to six months in jail on charges of misdemeanor possession of a black sea bass, which is listed as critically endangered in California.

Do only Prius-driving, gay-marriage-supporting, organic-crazed liberals shop at Whole Foods? Not anymore. Since Aug. 11, when Whole Foods CEO John Mackey published an Op-Ed article in the Wall Street Journal opposing President Obama's healthcare reform ideas, customers who disagree have boycotted -- or at least have claimed to be boycotting -- the high-end supermarket chain. In response, a lot of other people, who oppose the proposed reforms, have apparently developed a sudden taste for organic kumquats.

At the latest London import, Cecconi's, an expat Brit orders a cocktail, leans back against the luxurious cushions strewn along the terrace banquette and opens the morning's Times -- that would be the Times of London. Hostesses have a tony British accent, some of the servers too. A gentleman in a bespoke suit with tie and matching hankie tucked into his breast pocket glides past our table at lunch.

Olive sauce, combined with fish and fresh arugula, gives this dish an intense flavor without being too aggressive. Many of your guests might not even recognize the olive flavor. Executive chef Mario Marfia of Madeo Ristorante in San Pedro likes to use the sauce to give the fish he cooks a mysterious air. It's easy to prepare with just about any fish, but Marfia often uses sea bass. Serve with a California Chardonnay or an Italian dry sparkling wine.

DEAR SOS: I'm hoping you will obtain the recipe for Chilean sea bass served at Walt's Wharf in Seal Beach. It's unbelievable. CAROLYN METCALF La Canada DEAR CAROLYN: Before you begin cooking, go to an Asian market or gourmet food store and get some sake kasu paste. According to Mark Tydell, Walt's Wharf executive chef, plain sake may be substituted, but the taste will not be the same.

Scientists have announced that they are testing a plan to train fish to catch themselves by swimming into a net when they hear a tone that signals feeding time. If it works, the system could eventually allow black sea bass to be released into the open ocean, where they would grow to market size, then swim into an underwater cage when they hear the signal. The key question for fish farmers: How many fish will actually return, and how many will be lost to predators or simply swim away?

"SLOW BURN" is an appropriate film title, given the time it's taken getting into theaters -- the thriller opens Friday after originally being slated for release in 2005 -- but for Jolene Blalock, who plays a prosecutor opposite Ray Liotta, the timing couldn't be better. "It's just such a departure from what I'm known for," said the former space-alien scientist of the "Star Trek" prequel "Enterprise." "It just reminds me of all the things I still want to do.