World Cup parties where the food is as exciting as the games

There is no shortage of World Cup parties in Los Angeles, especially when it comes to parties with good food and drink.

Across LA, there are restaurants and bars that are adding big-screen TVs to their dining rooms for the first time, and plenty of sports bars that are always offering something tasty. This week we stopped by three viewing parties where the food is as much an attraction as the games, where you can cheer on your team while eating fire-grilled meat at one of LA's most popular pop-ups, pizza at one of the city's most historic (and previously closed) restaurants, and empanadas and imported Argentine beer at a block party in South LA

Estrano Verano x Skyduster beer

Since genre-bending restaurant Poltergeist closed, it might be hard to find chef Diego Argoti – until now. His esoteric sidewalk pop-up cake, Estranooccurs sporadically. But thanks to a partnership with L.A. brewery Skyduster Beer, Argoti and his renegade kitchen team can be caught cooking every game day in the Fashion District, with a residence called Estrano Verano attached to Skyduster's new 17,000-square-foot brewery.

“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to cook in my life,” Argoti said.

Cooking for 35 guests at Poltergeist felt much easier and more predictable – even if its menu was more complex. Now he will cater for between 300 and 400 guests on a busy match day, create creative twists on classic pub dishes during the week and offer a sophisticated live-fire menu at the weekend.

There are thick short-rib burgers with hoisin-flavored caramelized onions and malt vinegar aioli; a rotation of hot dogs; a Caesar salad with tart lime leaf dressing; and a Thai-inspired fried chicken sandwich fried in a masa dredge to complement Skyduster's current lineup, which includes a cucumber beer, a super dry lager and an Italian pilsner, among others.

On weekends, look for slightly more complex dishes like grilled ribs, stone fruit and tomatoes aguachile-style, bone-in pork chops and Moroccan-style chicken.

“What a time, the World Cup,” said Skyduster co-owner Johnny Marler. “It is the world sport played completely together and you have an Ecuadorian [Argoti] and a Canadian [Marler] Together we represent Los Angeles as a beer garden and all these areas of life.”

They ordered a custom Santa Maria-style grill and found a small food truck to serve as their kitchen.

Marler and Argoti occasionally worked at the same events. Halfway through, when 90 guests were sitting on a terrace, the gas went out. Marler assumed the event would be canceled, but Argoti ripped the old grill out of the kitchen and moved it outside.

“The show didn’t just go on, it got even better now that everyone was out there surrounded by fire,” Marler said. “I thought, 'Nothing's going to stop this man.' Then I thought, “We really need to work together.” ”

Beyond Estrano Verano's appearance at Skyduster during the World Cup, Argoti's pub-style fare will continue to be offered there and at the Skyduster taproom being built in Silver Lake. Follow Skyduster on Instagram for game day plans.

1124 San Julian St., Los Angeles, skyduster.com

Clifton's return

The kitchen of one of the city's most historic, colorful and recently closed restaurants is back in action, using Clifton's former cafeteria space to prepare a range of football-inspired pizzas and collaborate with local chefs during the World Cup.

Founded in 1935, Clifton's was originally one of eight locations and served as a restaurant for Angelenos during the Great Depression. It became a showcase for Clifford Clinton's whimsical decor, which still exists today. In April, former owner Andrew Meieran told the Times that he was permanently closing Clifton's because of rising operating costs, a deteriorating downtown area and repeated vandalism. But now it's back.

The Robhana Group – which also owns the historic Tom Bergins Irish Pub, the Edison and the Variety Arts Theater – bought Clifton's in April and hopes to revitalize the venue with a bang. The first two floors of the maze-like space were opened up and equipped with large-screen televisions and projectors on game days. The matches are also projected onto some walls and the taxidermy has been given festive touches.

The company hired restaurateur Raj Nallapothola and LA Pizza Alliance organizer David Turkell to help create the food and drink menus. Mother Wolf and Bestia alum George Silyan spearheaded a new sourdough pizza program with a Neapolitan twist.

The on-site commissary kitchen produces 69-hour fermented dough that is baked in the cafeteria's decades-old pizza oven and made into themed pies like Peléroni with pepperoni, ricotta and mozzarella; the Red Card, made with guanciale and spicy red Calabrian chilies; and team-inspired options like Morocco's Modern Life, topped with merguez, mint and labneh.

In addition, Silyan is expanding the menu to include pasta, smash burgers and collaborations with local chefs. For Thursday's Mexico-South Korea game, former LA Times 101 List restaurant Soban joined the team and served a shared bulgogi and daikon radish pizza. There's also a new world championship cocktail menu in play, with themed drinks like the mezcal and turmeric-tinged Sweeper and the bourbon, vermouth and ume liqueur Number Ten.

“I always talked about Clifton's Cafeteria back then and how important it was to my family when they immigrated here to Los Angeles,” Turkell said. “It's an honor to be able to help reopen this place and I'm just really excited to be a part of it. … We really want this to benefit the people who are most committed to the city because that's the kind of energy we need to really open this place successfully.”

A new Instagram account, @CliftonsLA, is now live posting and updates about watch parties and daily food menus.

648 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, cliftonsdtla.com

Fuegos LA

Guests spill out onto the sidewalk from the patio-turned-parking lot, and Corpian links sizzle on the live-fire grill. Once ready, they slide into buns and are topped with potato chips and condiments like mustard, chimichurri, and Criolla sauce.

Nearby, an outdoor pizza oven bakes one fugazza, a thick Argentinian pizza, after another. Inside, paper trays of empanadas are flying out of the kitchen. It's another game day at Argentine restaurant and wine bar Fuegos LA in South LA, and it's a particularly fitting place to watch an Argentina game.

Between the outdoor terrace – complete with long tables and a large TV – and the dining room, which has its own tables, chairs and TVs, Argentine expats Federico Laboureau and Maximilian Pizzi's restaurant is newly decorated for the World Cup. Fans murmur “permiso, permiso” as they walk through the crowded dining room and terrace, bottles of imported Quilmes and glasses of Malbec filled to the brim in their hands. The energy is frenetic, especially when Argentina plays.

Pizzi said some guests arrived four hours early on Tuesday to stake out tables near the screens for Argentina's first game. The crowd outside looked like rolling waves of blue and white stripes: almost everyone wore an Argentina jersey, wrapped themselves in the flag or painted it on their faces. For the less die-hard fans, Pizzi and Laboureau offer printed lyrics to the celebration of Argentine football.

Ricardo Yernazian cheered on the team from the terrace. He and his wife moved from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles in 2000; They have never returned since and enjoy dining at LA's Argentinian restaurants for a taste and memory. On Tuesday they visited Fuegos LA for the first time, which they heard about from an Argentinian friend. Yernazian said he will likely return to Fuegos LA to watch parties, possibly with his three children, although he will watch many from home.

“But this one,” he said, “I didn’t want to miss.”

Fire: 3957 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 403-2133