Munch has taken up running as a way to work off all of the, erm, munching. It's not something Munch really wants to do, but eating a giant bowl of pasta or a french fries-adorned sandwich feels even better when you get out and move around a bit beforehand. It seems like you earned it. Recently, Munch took a run through the Strip District. Let me tell you, friends, this was not a good idea. (Today)

LOS ANGELES -- Ding. Bzzzt. Bap. Beep. That's the sound of conversation in restaurants these days. Where cell phones once posed a nuisance as people chatted loudly into them during meals, smartphones now present a whole new set of etiquette issues as entire tables disappear into the Internet via small glowing screens. (Today)

Valentine's Day Elements Contemporary Cuisine will offer a full menu for Valentine's dining, along with a four-course prix fixe for $40 per person, which will be available Friday through Feb. 18. (Today)

The Oakland neighborhood is something of a dining conundrum. Based on its cultural, educational and professional offerings, it should be a restaurant hot spot. But the dining scene is dominated mostly by cheap restaurants and bars (some very good, some not so good) and only a handful of more upscale options. (02/02/2012)

Every dude has what Munch calls a Dude Business Plan. Occasionally laid out in smudgy pen on the back of the napkin, these proposals are often pitched during happy hour specials and are, approximately 99 percent of the time, bars, taverns or restaurants. The rest of the time they involve starting a website or "just, you know, moving to South America." As in "You know what, dude? (02/02/2012)