It’s going to be a great summer for grilling
Plus, we delve into the simmering issue of dine-in service fees at local restaurants. Is the Jon & Vinny’s model the future?
What song on your summertime playlists most conjures up a great cook-out? For me it is “On a Sunday Afternoon” by Riverside’s own A Lighter Shade of Brown. The track by the 1990s Chicano rap group features an irresistible hook from vocalist Shiro that transports me right to a carne asada, that summertime ritual that is arguably embedded in the local genetic code.
I’m Daniel Hernandez, Food editor, and in this week’s Tasting Notes, we explore the wonders of grilling in Southern California, just in time for the start of summer. Plus, we delve into a simmering issue at local restaurants: the proliferation of service fees.
The sun came out just in time
It would have been quite a bad omen if the sun rose on Wednesday’s summer solstice (7:57 a.m. June 21, to be precise) over a layer of clouds. May gray and June gloom have been brutal this year, and I swear it practically gave me S.A.D. So I took it as a terrifically good sign that the sun shone clear that morning in a cloudless sky. Right away, I wanted to grill that day.
There’s nothing like getting together with family and friends at someone’s backyard or at a park and cooking outdoors. It is one of the great pleasures of life in our region, where the ritual takes so many brilliant forms. For many, it is the carne asada.
Our team’s summertime grilling package takes us on a typical weekend asada with L.A. native restaurateur and cookbook author Bricia Lopez. She shares five recipes with us from her new book “Asada,” co-authored with L.A. Taco editor Javier Cabral, including her arrachera verde, frijoles charros and blended guacamole. The day we all gathered at Ernest E. Debs Regional Park to try them out was a crystallizing reminder for me how good we have it — captured beautifully in film photographs by Carlos Jaramillo.
Read all the package’s stories here, including a new guide on the best in barbecue from critic Bill Addison and assistant editor Danielle Dorsey, columnist Ben Mims’ on Lukas Volger‘s veggie burgers, and Jenn Harris’ portrait of Armenian grilling with the family behind Garni Meat Market in Pasadena.
Dorsey also set out with photographers on a dream assignment, as far as I’m concerned: talking to Angelenos at local public parks about what they’re cooking on the grill. Don’t miss these images by Jason Armond, Allen J. Schaben and Shelby Moore.
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Is a dine-fee service fee a tip?
When I sit down at a restaurant and it is time to ask for the check, my eye lately has been going directly to the bottom. Not the bottom line, but just before, to look for a curious addition to the total price that’s starting to get a lot of folks talking: a service fee. Is it 5%, 10% or even — gulp — 18%? Most importantly, I sometimes ask myself, does this mean I don’t have to leave a tip?
This week, Food staff writer Cindy Carcamo gives us a detailed report on how the simmering struggle over service fees is playing out at one restaurant chain, L.A.’s Jon & Vinny’s. The buzzy pizza and pasta spot was hit with a class-action lawsuit on Tuesday that alleges the restaurant is in violation of the state’s gratuity law; workers claim that the company denied them tips.
Many guests, the suit alleges, believe that the fee is their server’s gratuity and leave little to no extra gratuity. Jon & Vinny’s, led by noted local food figures Jon Shook, Vinny Dotolo and Helen Johannesen, says it strongly believes in the service-fee model, because it helps democratize the restaurant’s earnings for service across all hourly employees, including those not present at the point of service.
“It’s hard as a transitional mind-set to see the direction and movement that we want to make for our entire team, all of our hourly employees,” Johannesen said. “It’s actually something we really believe in, quite strongly.”
The full story is worth your read.
The case, if it moves forward, will surely be closely watched, both for the star-wattage of its defendants and because it could be a bellwether as the struggling restaurant industry figures out how to survive in a post-pandemic new world.
What are your thoughts on the issue? Are service fees the future, or do they run afoul of servers’ earnings? Share your responses below and we’ll keep the conversation going next week.
And keep reading below ...
‘The Bear’ crawl
I watched the whole first season of “The Bear” on FX and fell in love with all the characters in the wildly chaotic kitchen of the fictional Original Beef of Chicagoland — and had no idea until recently that the show’s baker, Marcus, is from Inglewood. Actor Lionel Boyce plays Marcus brilliantly as a budding connoisseur of his craft, and as Harris discovers in her latest installment of the Crawl, he knows his hometown eats.
The two start off with salmon croquettes at the Serving Spoon on Centinela Avenue, a place that makes you feel like you’re home no matter where you come from. I love squeezing into a counter space and diving into some pancakes and wings. Boyce played Pop Warner for Baldwin Hills and grew up partly with Tyler, the Creator. “I used to come here with my dad,” Boyce tells Harris at the Serving Spoon. “This place always delivers.”
A lot more great eating ensues.
Have a question?
Also ...
— Do you love Mini Kabob? This new video with chef Armen Martirosyan in our series from The Times’ kitchen is a must-watch.
— The Hollywood writers strike has hit restaurants hard, yet kitchens are standing by striking writers as the impasse with studios slogs on. Stephanie Breijo reports.
— After a public outry, vegan favorite Nic’s on Beverly will live on.
— Strawberries were a little off this year, right? Reporter Helen Li explains why.
— Take me to Downey for mariscos, at this Harris find El Muelle 8.
— And finally, what is it about the pickup truck that invites hanging out? Or more particularly, hanging out and eating? “My truck is the thing I eat most in, on, near, beside and with,” writes Danny Palumbo, in this entertaining — and convincing — first-person piece. See you at the drive-thru!
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