"Everyone likes Mexican food and everyone likes Chinese food, so why not combine forces?" [Flickr: R. E. ~] Name: Don Chow Tacos Vendors: Dominic Lau and Lawrence Lie. What do you sell? Chinese-Mexican fusion Twitter: @donchowtacos Location and hours: For now, Thursday through Saturday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., but we are looking to expand. Tacos. [Flickr: R. E. ~] How long have you been street fooding? About eight months. How has Twitter affected business? Twitter is definitely a great communication tool that's changed the way people communicate—but the food is still the most important part. It's safe to say that Twitter has helped us attract a tech-savvy audience who can know exactly when and where we are at... More

Note: On Mondays, one of our various Market Scene correspondents checks in with what's fresh at farmstands, what's coming up, and what you better get while the gettin's good. This week, we hear from Los Angeles correspondent Leah Greenstein of SpicySaltySweet. Take us to the market, Leah! Persimmons from Peacock Family Farm. If fall had an official color—like poppies are the official flower of California, Humuhumunukunukuapua`a is the official fish of Hawaii and Crocs are the official shoe of Mario Batali—it would have to be orange. Vibrant, warm and evocative of piles of crisp leaves perfect for jumping in, or the jack-o-lantern shrapnel you wade through the morning after Halloween, orange permeates the season. Here are some of my favorite... More

Note: It's time for another edition of Street Food Profiles. This week we meet a banh mi truck. [Photographs: Nom Nom Truck] Name: Nom Nom Truck Vendor: David Stankunas Twitter: @nomnomtruck Location and hours: All over Los Angeles for lunch, evening, and late-night. Primarily we've been heading out to west Los Angeles, but we still get to places like Hollywood, mid-Wilshire, Koreatown, Silver Lake and Torrance. What's on the menu? Banh mi, Vietnamese-inspired tacos (basically a banh mi in a corn tortilla instead of bread), and various other Vietnamese snacks and drinks. How long have you been street fooding? For about 5 weeks. How has Twitter affected business? Twitter is a huge part of our business. Not only is it... More

Note: On Mondays, one of our various Market Scene correspondents checks in with what's fresh at farmstands, what's coming up, and what you better get while the gettin's good. This week, we hear from SoCal correspondent Leah Greenstein of SpicySaltySweet. Take us to the market, Leah! Carnival Squash at McGrath Family Farms. [Photographs: Leah Greenstein] I'm tired of tomatoes. There. I said it. After two months straight gorging myself on Early Girls and Purple Cherokees, Green Zebras and Sun Golds, I think I've finally had enough tangy-sweet-tomato-goodness to last me until next summer—or at least until January, when I break into my stash of homemade canned heirloom tomatoes for lasagnas and stews. Fortunately, the Los Angeles farmers' markets (and Southern... More

Note: It's time for another edition of Street Food Profiles. This week we scoot to the West Coast. [Photographs: Green Truck] Name: Green Truck Vendor: Bobby Allen Location and hours? Multiple locations around Los Angeles, typically from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Follow @Green_truck on Twitter for updates. The "Mother Trucker" burger: a homemade vegan patty with heirloom tomatoes, sprouts, and mixed greens, topped with "Trucker sauce." What do you sell? Organic, vegan-friendly food, including burgers, chicken burritos, Niman beef hot dogs, line-caught albacore tuna sandwiches, falafel wraps with tzatziki, fries, and fresh melon frescas. How long have you been street fooding? The company formed in 2006 and we've been rolling around Los Angeles since early 2007.... More

Pink box from Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland, Oregon. [Flickr: mulmatsherm] There are many cultural differences between the West and East coasts but it takes a true doughnut eater to notice the one involving different-colored bakery boxes. When Jessie Oleson of Cakespy (and our own baking blogger) moved out west, she spotted the Pepto Bismol-colored boxes after being so used to white ones. It turns out the difference has something to do with Cambodia (yes, we're all over the map here). According to an "Ask Chris" column in Los Angeles Magazine: Cambodians fleeing the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s arrived in large numbers in Southern California, where they were recruited by Winchell’s. At the time the coated, greaseproof boxes... More

Note: Since this street food trend is blowing up, we're going to spend every week spotlighting a different vendor. This week in Street Food Profiles, we scoot to the West Coast. [Photographs: Let's Be Frank] Name: Let's Be Frank hot dog cart Vendor: Larry Bain Location and hours? San Francisco: Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays at the Crissy Field Warming Hut (near the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Los Angeles: Wednesdays through Sundays at Helms in Culver City. What do you sell? Frank Dog, Brat Dog, Bird Dog, "Hot" Dog, and "Not" Dog, along with beverages and chips For how many years? Four years in San Francisco and two years in Los Angeles.... More

Note: On Mondays, one of our various Market Scene correspondents checks in with what's fresh at farmstands, what's coming up, and what you better get while the gettin's good. This week, we hear from West Coast correspondent Leah Greenstein of Spicy Salty Sweet. Take us to the market, Leah! [Photographs: Leah Greenstein] Labor Day can mark the end of summer or the unofficial start of fall, depending on how you look at it. This time last year autumn's apples, pears, and pomegranates had already begun to arrive but this weekend at the Santa Monica Pico Farmers' Market on Cloverfield and Pico (map) summer seemed to be holding as tight as a kid to their last day's of freedom before school... More

Cherry Coke Zero will sound pretty humdrum after you get a load of all 500-ish specialty sodas available at Galco's Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles, a carbonation haven since 1897. Owner John Nese is very proud of his collection. Red Ribbon root beer is still brewed with sassafras root bark; Bubble Up is made with actual lemon and lime oils; Manhattan Special is a coffee soda that's been roasted in Brooklyn since 1897. Nese thinks diet sodas are for the birds, but admits that Stewart's Black Cherry isn't bad. This mini-documentary is part of Chow's Obsessives series. Watch it after the jump.... More

Moving is a pain. I should know, I've done it some 26 times. Between clawing your way from beneath a tower of Pisa constructed out of different-sized boxes at your old home, eating fast but cheap food because you can't find your silverware and stubbing your toes on the rubble of boxes at your new place while wandering around aimlessly in the night looking for a light switch that isn't there, you can get a bit surly. A rainbow of sweet peppers When my fiancée and I decamped our beloved Fairfax apartment for the West Side a couple of weeks ago, I lamented being eight miles and a 25-minute drive farther from the Hollywood Farmers' Market—the site of my... More