People like to tell you the weather is perfect in Los Angeles. This is an out-and-out lie, created, I think, to increase the glamour of a city hell-bent on being glamorous. One of my biggest beefs about Los Angeles (besides traffic and no discernable autumn) is that nights are cool and pretty much always require a jacket, which is sure to ruin adorable summer ensembles. But I had to send my complaints a-packing the other night when we were blessed with a truly perfect warm evening. I, an always-cold person, was comfortable in short sleeves, pants and sandals, and my friends and I got to watch the sun sink below a row of particularly tall palm trees. It was a wonderful night to be an Angeleno, and luckily, we chose the perfect activity for such a night: another picnic/movie outside at Hollywood Forever.

This night also seemed a great chance to hold another round of the Great American Dip-Off since Trader Joe’s dips are a favorite toteable at these events. This week’s contenders: Artichoke Antipasto and Spicy Feta Dip. And the judges: Adam, Maggie, Rob, Shayna and myself.

This match-up was a little bit like watching a game only to see who’s going to compete against your favorite team in the second round. The judges had quite a bit of wine and had difficulty focusing, but then the dips weren’t really interesting enough to warrant our attention, no slam dunks, no fancy footwork. They just plodded along and seemed more or less happy to be in the game at all. Spicy Feta Dip ended up winning 4-2 since Adam voted twice, even though the group generally felt Artichoke Antipasto had more potential. Still, we determined it’s better off as a sandwich spread than as a true dip—it has a strong artichoke taste (as it should) but needs the balance of other flavors to truly appreciate its artichokiness. I recommend spreading some of the antipasto on bread, top with sautéed mushrooms, cover with provolone, then broil.

Our winner, Spicy Feta Dip, true to its name, was mildly spicy and very feta-y, and some people said, yeah, sure, I’d serve it at a party. But Maggie and I decided later that these people were wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. While it’s a perfectly acceptable dip, and we probably wouldn’t shun it altogether at a party, it just overtheedge.jpgdoesn’t make sense to invite Spicy Feta Dip when there are so many other better dips out there. In short, expect Spicy Feta Dip to get stomped in the next round . . . unless there’s another equally weak bracket.

P.S. You must put Over the Edge, Matt Dillon’s first movie, on your Netflix queue, the movie we viewed at Hollywood Forever. It’s part actually-funny, part dated-funny, even though it’s primarily a drama. And I pictured it here, since I forgot to take a photograph of the dips before we tossed them.