PAUL ARATOW is a writer and film producer in the entertainment industry. In 1970 he founded Chez Panisse with Alice Waters. Before that, he was a faculty member in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Also, it will be fun to go out for Vietnamese food afterwards. The current plan is to go to DaNang KrungThep at 905 San Pablo Ave, Albany; about 10 minutes drive from the Magnes. I haven't been there before, but the restaurant has good reviews on yelp.com and chowhound.com. And, best of all, they're supposed to make yummy banh xeo (enormous southern Vietnamese crepes). I can't wait to check them out. It's actually a Thai restaurant as well as a Vietnamese restaurant, so if you check out the menu at www.dkthaicuisine.com/, you have to scroll down a bit to get to the Vietnamese dishes.

Carl Chu founded Crossbridge Publishers in 2002. His book, Finding Chinese Food in Los Angeles, published in 2003, is a guide to our local Chinese dining experience. Chu takes us on a tour of Chinese food by region, focusing on several subcategories of cuisine and explains why different regions have the influences they do, and even how those cuisines are perceived by the rest of the Chinese populace. The book also provides explanation of ingredients and recipes used in classic dishes while inviting us to peek at Chinese culture through culinary traditions.

Lisa See grew up in Los Angeles, much of her time in Chinatown. Her first book, On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family traces the journey of See's great-grandfather, Fong See, family patriarch and 100-year-old godfather of Los Angeles's Chinatown. Her latest novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, 2005, is about nu shu, the secret writing developed and used by women in a small county in China for over a thousand years. See was the Publishers Weekly West Coast Correspondent for thirteen years. She wrote the libretto for Los Angeles Opera based on On Gold Mountain, which premiered June 2000 at the Japan American Theatre. She was honored as National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and was also the recipient of the Chinese American Museum's History Makers Award in Fall 2003.

Michael Woo is a former Los Angeles city councilman who is now an adjunct professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development. He authored the Hollywood Redevelopment Plan and helped plan the route of the MetroRail Red Line. He is chairman of the nonprofit group that runs the Hollywood Farmers Market (which he started 14 years ago as a city councilman), serves as governing board chairman of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, and was recently appointed to the L.A. City Planning Commission, bringing him back into the thick of the City's planning process.

Empress's Feast Dim Sum Luncheon
Empress Pavilion Restaurant

1:00pm following the June 10, 2006 program
"The History of Chinese Food in Los Angeles"
with Carl Chu, Sonia Mak, Lisa See and Michael Woo

Empress Pavilion's dim sum chef Mr. Chow and manager Ken Poon have designed a selection of extraordinary flavors for our luncheon. The assortment has never before been served at the restaurant and CHSC members will taste expensive, exotic flavors in special dim sum made especially for us.

Dim sum include scallop shiu mai dumpling with shark's fin, pumpkin egg roll, lobster dumpling, scallop dumpling with shrimp paste and country ham, mini lotus leaf-wrapped sticky rice with abalone, shrimp dumpling wrapped in spinach skin, scallop and mango roll, phoenix shrimp, plus Empress Pavilion's famous steamed barbecue pork buns. Dessert is a lotus seed paste peony, the Chinese flower of good luck and fortune.

$30 per person, including tax, gratuity and jasmine tea. Other drinks no-host.

Reservations and payment (member and one guest) must be received by June 7. Space is limited to 52 people. Reservations accepted in order of checks received.

Make your check payable to CHSC and mail to
Yvonne Dipre
9701 Kester Ave.
North Hills, CA 91343-2411
Questions? Call Yvonne at 818-621-3518

Empress Pavilion Restaurant 988 N. Hill St. (located in the Chinatown Bamboo Plaza) Parking entrance on Bernard St. (north side of plaza, between N. Hill and N. Broadway)

Members-Only Summer Fiesta at the Gilmore Adobe, located next to the Farmer's Market and the Grove in West Hollywood. More details will follow! Sunday, August 6, 2006

Hollywood Farmers Market

Used Cookbook Sale

The Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments will feature a talk by Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics, who will be speaking in Los Angeles about her new book, What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices.

Today's supermarket is ground zero for the food industry, a place where the giants of agribusiness compete for sales with profits--not nutrition or health--in mind. Join Marion Nestle as she discusses the myriad of issues that influence the choices we make at the supermarket everyday.

++ When: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 2:00pm
++ Where: Center for Community Health, The California Endowment, 1000 North Alameda Street, Yosemite Theatre, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (near Union Station)

++ Cost: Free

Space is limited. Please RSVP to Carol Chao at carol@preventioninstitute.org
with "LA Event" in the subject line, or call 510.444.7738.

The Los Angeles event has been cosponsored with the Southern California Public Health Association.

7:00pm, Tuesday, June 13 in the Board Room of the MTA Building, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012. A fee of $5 includes validated parking in the MTA garage.

In addition, the LARHF will meet at 5:00pm at Philippe's French Dip Restaurant for dinner, where they have a permanent satellite exhibit. A new exhibit about trains and freight cars used for moving food products will be viewed prior to the 7:00pm program.

Sincerely,
Denise Resetar
Secretary, CHSC
(818) 223 0480
E-MAIL CLICK HERE