I love sandwiches. If I were stranded on a desert isle, I’d want sandwich fixin’s with me. Sometimes, I fantasize about having my own little sandwich shop–but I’d be hard-pressed to make an offering more satisfying than those at Santoro’s in Burbank!

It’s just a damn fine sandwich!!

Left: TurkeyLurkey with EVERYTHING (turkey, cheese, mustard, mayo, oil, chopped onion, diced tomato, pickle and herb vinaigrette)
Right: Meatball & Cheese

Santoro’s Submarine Sandwich
1423 W Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA
(818) 848-8888

“The shallow life!” barked the man next to us in the stall of a Downtown Los Angeles Marriott men’s room. He spilled out of the can chuckling like a beast and scrubbing his crotch, where a stain the shape of Napa Valley was oozing.

“Here’s to the shallow life,” he said while rearranging a stray hair from his nearly vacant scalp, before pushing through the double doors and back out to the feeding frenzy of the Los Angeles Wine and Food Festival’s opening night. The wine tasting had attracted a bizarre crowd: the ubiquitous weekend getaway lovers, thirsty to swill and swoon, locked in endless purple-tongued embrace; whole families from god-knows-where, teetering toward dessert trays like they’d never seen carrot cake before; and of course the winery reps, in full force, out to flaunt their varietals, taste the competition’s pinot, or if nothing else, sleep with it.

Now, Hot Knives are professionals, and we were prepared for wine country—we’d come hopped-up on strong weed, with all manner of business cards, recording devices and reporters’ notebooks to note the nuance of every vintage—but this was a different class of tasting we were clearly unprepared for: that of “convention booty.”
»continue reading Food and Wining in Los Angeles

Sing along with the commercial in English or Spanish at:
titostacos.com > TV/Press > Tito’s Tacos Television Commercial

Sunday. Day two of my heavy anticipation of having Brent’s Deli. For years and years I’ve lived near and loved the fine dinings of this local family eatery. Family opened and owned since 1967, the Sisken (sp?- Seskin) family has been providing deli goodness to the Northwest San Fernando Valley, Jew and Gentile alike, with a large array of deli classics. Dishes such as bacon and eggs, pancakes, roast beef, knockwurst, creamed white fish and a whole assortment of whacky dried kosher fish, along with burgers, salads, soups and desserts alike.

If you’ve ever ventured to the west valley for any length of time, you would easily recognize the white pickups with converted refrigerator trailers and green writing, signifying some lucky office or family gathered for a weekend briss is enjoying what Brent cranks out. For the record, Brent is the son and successor to the family fortune that is still run by and maintained by Brent’s dad Ron, a fixture at the restaurant for years who still greets you kindly and feeds you heartily.
»continue reading The Receptacle Eats Brent’s Deli

Starting with the low end of the bill and working our way up, here’s the skinny on this Dog Days of Summer show for which we have some tickets to giveaway.

Breakdowns on 3 of bands and a link to enter to win tickets after the jump.

Anathallo

Rainer Maria

The Format

»continue reading Win Tix to The Format, et al. @ Avalon This Thurs

Visit our concert calendar for a full show list, links to buy tickets and our top picks.

PICK OF THE WEEK: The Little Radio Casino Convoy

$50 gets you a complimentary breakfast, luxury coach ride with free booze to Vegas, and a concert with full sets from The Secret Machines, Autolux and Giant Drag. And it’s Vegas so it’s really a free ticket. Just go to the blackjack table and bet $50. If you lose just keep doubling your previous bet until you win. Trust me.

Reminder: check your ATM withdrawal limit beforehand
Reminder #2: after midnight your ATM limit is reset

Win Tickets to see The Format w/ Rainer Maria & Anathallo @ Avalon This Thursday, August 31

“Fans of pitch-perfect indie pop who are eagerly awaiting the Shins’ next gem should divert their attention to… Arizona’s The Format.”
-Spin Magazine

Rainer Maria & Anathallo open the show.

Question: Are The Format the next Shins?
Send your answer to… Contest Closed. Thanks to all that entered. More ticket giveaways next week.

myspace.com/theformat

• Wed 10/11 Futureheads @ Safari Sam’s
• Tue 9/12 Black Keys @ Amoeba (free)

TUESDAY
Foo Fighters, Frank Black, Petra Haden @ Pantages
Mia Doi Todd @ Little Temple
Pete Yorn @ Roxy
Plot To Blow Up the Eiffel Tower @ Troubadour
»continue reading Losanjealous Concert Picks: August 28 - September 3

This is a RedCold®. Some vendors sell RedHotsâ„¢. Victor and I bought two alleged “RedHotsâ„¢” outside the Wiltern LG prior to the Wolf Parade concert, 25 August 2006. $7 total. The man was ‘all out of baconwrapped™’ so we opted for the RedHotsâ„¢ (second vendor hadn’t set up shop yet). After purchase we noticed the warmer burners were not lit. Said alleged RedHotâ„¢ was easily one of the worst, coldest food items I’ve ever charged. I still ate the thing, don’t get me wrong…but it was bad news. Red…Cold.

Fortunately the taco truck outside the Ktown market at 5th had our backs and we were properly sated.

Following the concert I watched a man purchase a RedCold®, eat two bites, turn his nose up, look at me and proceed to balance it delicately atop the shorty outside the Wiltern LG, where it was then captured via RAZR™. Introducing: The RedCold® by Stefane Monzon.

PHOTO UPDATE! Losanjealous Victor presents Stefane Monzon’s RedCold®: A View From Above for your consideration

The Losanjealous Benevolent Society gathers a weekly list of strange happenings and fun events in LA–the more ridiculous, the better. Visit our events calendar for the full list. And if you’re organizing or know of an event you think belongs on the list, send us info at tips@losanjealous.com.

FRIDAY

A Tribute to the Sounds of Forbidden Planet @ Schindler House
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Louis and Bebe Barron’s otherworldly soundtrack with four composers still under its spell: Thomas Dimuzio, Tom Grimley, Sukho Lee and David Rothbaum.

Roger Corman In Person: The Early Years @ Egyptian
Roger Corman is probably best known as the director mastermind behind Vincent Price’s string of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and the producer who helped give film luminaries their first jobs in the film business. We’re very excited to welcome Roger Corman to this In-Person Tribute. Through Sun 8/27.

»continue reading Losanjealous Benevolent Society Events: August 25 - 31

Multiple Choice Quiz

There are 2 popular bands playing underpublicized shows in undersized venues on the same night in different parts of L.A.

Do you choose:

A) “Los Dientes Del Perro” (a.k.a. The Killers) @ Troubadour.
(On sale @ 1 pm today via fax order only.)

B) “BRMC” (a.k.a. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) @ Echo

Or do you go with:

C) Wolf Parade @ Wiltern, for whom there are tickets still available and who are better than both those bands combined.

Time’s up. Number 2 pencils down. Pass your Scantron to the cute girl with the bracelets and long hair on your left.

#4: the Starbucks at the corner of San Vicente and La Brea

It’s 153°. Lightning flickers like frames of a silent movie. Elevators of thunder ascend cloud apartments.

How I missed this Starbucks baffles me. And I’m not easily baffled. Bamboozled, sure, but I’ve been to every single one around it. This Starbucks is the house on the police map that doesn’t have a thumbtack. The one equidistant from all the chalk silhouettes. The one where the murderer arranges his syringes.

Then I think, of course I missed it. It’s at the freakin’ corner of La Brea and San Vick (San Vicente for you tourists.) If this city’s streets are a game of Chutes and Ladders then you’ve just been dropped down two slides where the birthday cake got burnt and the orange cat gouged your eyes out. Spin another 3 and you’ll be raking leaves in Inglewood. I think it used to be an outpost where the pony express didn’t feel like picking up mail.

I’m working on my latest screenplay, Mexican Cheerleader (”She doesn’t belong”). I’ve written three pages. A picket fence of lightning skirts the city. This heat. My mind woozes. Am I in Miracle Mile east. . .or south Mid-City? I couldn’t even tell you. Shit’s gettin’ twisty. My mind’s is playin’ tricks on me. Then this guy walks in. Wears a cowboy hat and a combat boot, with some crazy stuff in between. Man there are homeless dudes and there are homeless dudes. And this dude is homeless. But he’s also cool. But he’s also homeless. But he’s also cool. Which is it, DeMarco, cool or homeless?

“Hey man, are you cool or are you homeless?”
»continue reading Bill DeMarco Rates the Top 50 Starbucks in LA: This Week: #4

We tried to look the other way, really we did. As we had previously whined about the potentially dubious business practices of the Westside Rentals listings empire, we figured we’d let this one go. But for over a month now, WSR has persisted on flooding news outlets with advertisements veiled as press releases citing pseudo-scientific findings, complete with colorful Powerpoint charts, that, on first glance, just may make rent costs appear to be easing, and thus a more attractive option.

If you haven’t seen these, here’s the gist. WSR has been cranking out press releases supposedly demonstrating up/down trends in rent costs in various areas (Westside, South Bay, etc.) over a sampling period of a whole 2 months. As noted over at Curbed, some of these press releases may show a either a negligible (+0.5% on the Westside) or bafflingly massive (+110% in Bel Air?) uptick in rents, but one effect of these releases is to portray a broader downward trend in rent costs.
»continue reading Westside Rentals: More Funny Business?

As seen on the Lancaster Metrolink Line. Northbound, approximately 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, August 16. See its beauty, sense its shape. It is truly perfect.

On paper, it would have been so easy for you to not like them, another bloghyped Canadian band and another one with “wolf” in the name, at that. The early band pics revealed some irony, a few tatoos and a couple of muschaches. So, right out of the gate, before you even heard a single song, you’re not having it. Then, the whole Modest Mouse connection was not something you were sold on either. Next, this relatively-unknown band wrecks their hotel room at the Queen Mary at ATP like they’re Led fuckin’ Zeppelin. This was the final straw, as you loved the Queen Mary and it’s rich history. No one fucks with the Queen Mary. And so finally, the LP drops and it has many of the same songs from their pair of e.p.s. The camel’s back is broken when it gets the infamous 9.2 score handed out by the Russian judge. Surely the fix was in, and you were having none of it.

But at some point you succumbed to see what the hype was all about–when will you learn, this never works, this detatched ’see what the hype is all about’ attitude–and you Soulseek’d the CD and let it occupy some real estate on your MP3 player for a while. Now, whenever one of it’s tracks comes up on scramble mode, it grabs you and puts you in a time, a place, or a frame of mind, as some great songs can. There are little phrases here and there, a guitar lick, a synth riff, a sung lyric, that bore themselves into your head that you find yourself hearing again and again long after pulling out your headphones. And what do you know, it really is a great record, in and of its own merit. On top of that, their live show is winning. Now you’ve got yourself a favorite band even though you were ready to hate them. Many affairs have a similar story.

Win tickets to see Wolf Parade at The Wiltern LG this Friday, 8/25. Send an e-mail to us with your name and why you want to check out the show.

If you don’t win, a few tickets are still available.

Pic from kurren’s flickr

Sitting just outside the federal building downtown, where masses of recent immigrants huddle to breathe free, is a much-loved Los Angeles landmark. Borne of a cracked sidewalk, lovingly poured in asphalt and welcoming us with open arms is The Man in the Concrete.

LJ: Good morning, Man in the Concrete. How are you doing?

MitC:

LJ: Great to hear. Does it hurt when large men step on your face?

MitC:

LJ: Huh. I wouldn’t have thought that. And birds?

MitC:

LJ: Oh God.

MitC:

LJ: Well, that’s all the time we have. Thanks for stopping by. No, please, don’t get up.