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Newsletter: Pasta, pasta, pasta (and, did we mention?, pasta)

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It’s June, although how exactly that happened is anyone’s guess. So welcome to a glorious weekend, with or without June gloom, with or without Game 2 of the NBA Finals, with or without “Wonder Woman,” with or without Jonathan Gold, who will be back next week with a review. (In the meantime, maybe you’ll want to catch up on a review you missed or remember particularly fondly. Some of us do that all the time.)

This week we’ve been thinking about making and eating many bowls of pasta. So we go on an impressive pasta crawl with an impressive chef, and we offer tips for preparing your own impressive dishes at home. We also check in on the latest chef to come back to L.A.: Jonathan Waxman, veteran not only of Barbuto and Chez Panisse, but of Michael’s in Santa Monica. We also have a profile of Amigo Bob Cantisano, one of the pioneers of the organic farming: not a bad read before you head to your own farmers market. And if you’re cooking, we have 19 recipes for ice cream; five for panzanella, the terrific bread salad; and a recipe for José Andrés’ chilled beet soup. Oh, and one more thing: Beer Week is coming! Welcome to almost-summer.

Amy Scattergood

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A SERIOUS PASTA CRAWL

It’s safe to say chef Scott Conant enjoys his pasta, given his day job: chef of the Ponte, his new Italian restaurant, as well as a few other gigs. Even so, three restaurants, eight hours and an impressive 18 bowls of pasta is a pretty serious commitment. But that’s what he and Deputy Food Editor Jenn Harris did the other night: a pasta crawl of epic proportions.

The beet pasta with goat cheese, poppyseeds and chives at Cento Pasta Bar inside Mignon in Los Angeles, sampled during a pasta crawl with chef Scott Conant.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

A PASTA PSA

In Evan Kleiman’s latest Italian cooking column, the longtime host of KCRW’s “Good Food” considers the issue of dry versus fresh pasta (spoiler alert: Kleiman has some less than complimentary things to say about much restaurant fresh pasta) and the importance of al dente. She also gives us her recipe for aglio e olio, the classic and insanely simple dish of spaghetti and garlic, olive oil and lemon and parsley. (And do not forget the peperoncino.)

One key to aglio e olio is al dente pasta. How to gauge that state? It's the precise moment the pasta relaxes into a full bend in boiling water.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
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IN PRAISE OF EGGS

Our latest Cookbook of the Week is “All About Eggs,” the fourth and last cookbook from the folks at Lucky Peach, the late and much lamented food magazine. It’s a mash-up of a collection — 88 recipes, plus lots of bits and pieces of prose from more than 50 chefs, science writers, novelists and other pretty great writers. Plus a recipe for egg tarts!

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Ever see a list of house rules behind the counter at your favorite bar? There’s one at the Varnish, and barman Eric Alperin and his co-writer, Deborah Stoll, tell us why in their new Behind the Bar column. Because it turns out that while there seems to be an unwritten code for how we behave at restaurants, often there is not when it comes to drinking establishments. Maybe it’s all that booze …

There's an etiquette of bar behavior. Do you know it?
(jacoblund / Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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STONE FRUIT ALERT

What’s in season at your L.A.-area farmers markets? Test Kitchen Director Noelle Carter gives us her weekly report: peaches and nectarines, in all their fragrant glory. Look for early white Spring Snow peaches, as well as the distinctive Donut or Saturn peaches. We also have recipes (frozen peach souffle, nectarine-cardamom ice cream) and a quick check of what’s on the horizon.

Yellow peaches at the Santa Monica farmers market.
(Noelle Carter / Los Angeles Times)

Goldbot: you can now talk to Jonathan Gold any time you want — or at least the robot version of him that now lives on Facebook Messenger. You can ask Goldbot for a personal restaurant recommendation based on location, type of food or price. The bot will also deliver Jonathan Gold’s latest reviews straight to your device.

The Daily Meal, the food and drink website under the editorial direction of Colman Andrews, is now one of our partners. Check out their 101 best pizzas in America and other stories, recipes and videos.

Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didn’t get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.

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