Cooking at the Skirball with ‘Las Abuelitas’

“Las Abuelitas Kitchen,” a program featuring USC food scholar Sarah Portnoy and the food of Mexico, is at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., on Sun., Feb. 19 at 4 p.m.

A short documentary about 10 elders will be included in the program, along with live food demos and three of the abuelitas (Spanish for grandmothers) featured in the film.

Enjoy a tasting of each dish and view a small exhibition that shares the abuelitas’ stories and culinary artifacts.

“The Jewish Dog,” a oneman performance, takes place Thurs., Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Skirball. The play views the Holocaust through the eyes of a canine.

Visit skirball.org.

taking over this business in November, with her husband Miguel Morel, right before the holiday rush, and she felt like the new kid on the block. Luckily, the tenured staff is staying with her and has been very welcoming. “The staff has gone way beyond my expectations,” she said. This is a big relief as she’s still figuring out the basics, like where the lights are and how the email system works.

Park trained as a lawyer, and she and her husband — a chef and sommelier — also own a restaurant in their native Guam.

Since Fancifull has been a longstanding, successful local business, she isn’t looking to make any major changes. Minor tweaks to the back end of the business, like upgrading the computer system, are what she’s thinking. Eventually, she’d like to change the retail portion of the store to make it even more appealing and accessible, but that’s in the future. For now, she has a lot to learn. As she says, “I hope I do them [previous owners Terry and Wally August] proud. My journey begins.”

If you are looking to connect with someone, take a stroll to Fancifull at the intersection of Melrose Avenue and Larchmont Boulevard, 5617 mitted for safe cooking. Then they bring the food home to sell and serve.

There were eight food options on offer the day we visited, and we ordered four of them. We enjoyed the labneh crisp, which is a toasted rectangle of flatbread with olive oil, dried mint and za’atar and circles of soujouk, a dried beef sausage, for $4; $2 without the sausage. It was a perfect nibble.

Soujouk also features in a small but satisfying wrap, alongside fried cheese, tomatoes, parsley, pickled turnips and peppers for a savory and salty $12 taste.

Ful medames is a fava bean version of hummus. Pureed favas are mixed with tahini, jalapeños, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. The $12 creamy dip was served with pita. I prefer the brighter garbanzo bean version.

A refreshing bowl of fatteh has a base of hummus supporting garbanzo beans, fried pita chips and almond slivers. A hot olive oil drizzle finishes the dish. A small bowl is $12; large is $15.

Nawal. 838 Solano Ave., Los Angeles 90012. No telephone. Follow on Instagram @nawal_losangeles

Most of the time we get our pizza to go so we can eat in front of the television, and many pizzerias are barely set up to accommodate people who want to eat their pies on the premises.

Ronan, a pizzeria with a small selection of surprisingly high-end Italian dishes — such as a crispy half chicken for $34 with olive pistachio pesto and fennel pollen and $36 spicy clams with fennel, pine nuts and cheesy garlic bread — has an inviting dining room and string-lit patio.

Ronan’s $15 mixed lettuce salad with pickled chili and cucumber vinaigrette is leagues above standard pizza parlor salad fare.

Ronan’s pizzas are small, puffy and speckled with burnt spots. The dough is delicious, as are the various combinations of toppings, which include such choices as soppressata, togarashi (a Japanese spice mixture) and gorgonzola. Their classic Margherita, $21, has a deeply flavored San Marzano tomato sauce crowned by mozzarella and pecorino romano. A scattering of fresh basil leaves is integral to the flavor.

A sauce-less $25 pizza topped with guanciale, peppery ricotta and a touch of honey was also terrific, but we were disappointed with the dip accompanying the clever “Ode to Philippe,” a huge calzone filled with excellent shaved roast beef, $27.

At home, we made beef broth with thyme and garlic, and that perked up the leftover calzone considerably.

Ronan. 7315 Melrose Ave., between Fuller and Poinsettia. 323-917-5100.