Margaret King

Stories by Margaret King

Fidel's Little Mexico makes it special

Apr 2, 2010, 3:01 p.m.

SOLANA BEACH — It has been a while since Fidel and Martha Montanez handled the day-to-day operations at their popular restaurant in Eden Gardens. They're retired now, although Fidel still has a consulting role in the business. But the dishes coming out of the kitchen continue to have a pleasingly familiar flavor even to longtime patrons of Fidel's Little Mexico. The eatery got its start when Fidel operated a barbershop back in the 1960s. He and Martha started serving homemade tacos, enchiladas and other dishes to customers and friends. Eventually, ...

George Koob says alcohol is &#8220;a kind of universal reward drug&#8221; that acts on  the brain in complex and mysterious ways. (Eduardo Contreras / Union-Tribune)

Think. Drink. Think again.

Jun 29, 2009, 2 a.m.

There's nothing like a cold beer on a sweltering summer day. George Koob can tell you exactly what makes that beer so satisfying – how the alcohol triggers a cascade of pleasure-inducing neurotransmitters in the brain. “You go to a barbecue, and the beer you have in the first 30 minutes promotes relaxing,” said Koob, a leading researcher on the neurobiology of addiction. “That's why we call alcohol a social lubricant.” But keep pounding back the brews and the pleasurable response wanes. Heavy or chronic drinking turns things upside down, ...

Roasted Baby Spring Vegetables features fingerling potatoes, baby 

Hot properties

Mar 11, 2009, 2 a.m.

If you're aiming to win over a confirmed vegetable hater, here's a sure-fire strategy: Roast those veggies. When vegetables are roasted – cooked in a hot oven with little or no liquid – their exteriors become crisp and caramelized and their sweetness concentrated, giving them a comfort-food appeal that you just don't get from a raw carrot stick or steamed broccoli floret. “It makes vegetables so tasty that even people who don't like a certain vegetable find that they really love it,” said Andrea Chesman, author of “The Roasted Vegetable” ...