Big-time collaborations

There’s a massive Visiting Chef dinner series happening at Hotel Bel-Air on May 3, as part of the ongoing LA Times Food Bowl. The dinner will feature Massimo Bottura, Roy Choi, Nancy Silverton, and Puck himself, and costs a whopping $500 per person. It’s a six-course affair, and at the very least some of the proceeds are going to non-profits like Chefs to End Hunger and Food for Soul.

Your friendly neighborhood chef de cuisine

Good news for the affable Denis Crutchfield, as he’s been officially installed as chef de cuisine at Craft in Century City. The Tom Colicchio restaurant will now have Crutchfield more formally installed as overall kitchen lead as the comforting finer dining restaurant moves into the summer.

Tarzana’s next

The upcoming Magpies Softserve is nearly ready in Tarzana, as you can see by the below construction shot. The space will carry much the same feel as their Silver Lake original, and should land with plenty of time to ramp up for any summer heatwaves.

A very design-friendly Starbucks

There’s a colorful new Starbucks being proposed for Santa Monica, says Curbed LA, right along historic Ocean Front Walk. The Arts Architects property could include bright purple overhangs, and a colorful aquatic mural along the edge of the roof.

Parsnip fans abound

There’s more and more love coming for Highland Park’s new restaurant Parsnip, including this ode to the place by LA Weekly’s Besha Rodell. The simple Romanian highlight is already becoming popular with the neighborhood, and now an even bigger media fawning period may be starting up.

Pizza deals

The Westlake Village location of Barone’s is doing a pizza deal today, to celebrate their two-year anniversary. The square pie aficionados offer a half-off deal across the board on pizza, plus a complimentary wine tasting and more.

Off menu offerings

WP24 by Wolfgang Puck is also celebrating an anniversary, working a new off-menu option called 24/7 that lets guests sample around from the restaurant’s prodigious playbook with a number of $7 options to snack on. There’s the pork belly bao, the steamed chicken dumplings, you just ask to ask your server — so sly winks required.

The new STK hideaway

Since bar exclusivity is all the rage these days, it’s worth knowing about STK Los Angeles’s new poolside bar called, appropriately, The Hideout. The outdoor option, formerly called The Backyard, will offer food, drinks, and a chic look to folks staying on property. Expect a reopening in May.

New faces at Broken Spanish

With Mike Lay moving on from Broken Spanish a while back, there’s been a gap in leadership at the bar. Now comes Darwin Pornel, who transitions over from Faith & Flower to revamp the cocktails just a couple of blocks away.

More Ceviche Project

Want more ceviche in your life? Stylish chef Octavio Olivas is bringing his Ceviche Project back to Los Angeles after a run in Mexico, this time landing his dinner series at Bar Bandini in Echo Park on April 30.