Acquired Taste Food Podcasts

Welcome to the first-ever LA Food Pod Holiday Party! Father Sal joins us to talk holiday plans and to try our hands at some festive mixology. We're making something called a Merry Margarita, brought to us by our friends at Hornitos. Will we like it? Will we hate it? Will you want to try making it for your holiday gathering? Listen to find out. 

But that’s not all. What is a holiday party without some sort of game? In a game that only makes sense in the context of the LA Food Podcast, Father Sal and I have combed the food lists of 2023 from the likes of the LA Times, Eater, The Infatuation and more, to draft which ones we thought did the best job. It's a deliciously convoluted white elephant of sorts, except instead of gifts, what you get to walk away with is our arbitrary ranking of a bunch of other arbitrary rankings. What’s not to love?

Helpful links:

Eater Where to Eat https://www.eater.com/23506205/best-places-to-eat-restaurants-travel-2023

NYT Mexico City dishes https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/t-magazine/mexico-city-restaurants-food.html

LAT Hall of Fame https://www.latimes.com/food/list/los-angeles-hall-of-fame-restaurants-modern-classics

LA Taco pupusas https://lataco.com/best-pupusas-los-angeles

LA Taco tacos https://lataco.com/69-best-tacos-in-la

LA Times Italian Sandwiches https://www.latimes.com/food/list/best-italian-sub-sandwiches-los-angeles-guide

Infatuation Celebrity-owned restaurants https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/the-celebrity-owned-restaurant-power-rankings

LAist Cheap Fast Eats Gardena https://laist.com/brief/news/food/deliciously-messy-teriyaki-burgers-a-bowling-alley-coffee-shop-and-secret-shu-its-cheap-fast-eats-gardena

Kenji Lopez Alt for South Seattle Emerald https://southseattleemerald.com/2023/08/26/j-kenji-lopez-alts-favorite-south-end-restaurants/

NYT's LA 25 https://www.nytimes.com/article/best-restaurants-los-angeles.html

We’re joined by Brant Cox and Sylvio Martins of The Infatuation LA to break down their list of the Best New Restaurants of 2023. They dropped this list a couple of weeks ago now, and it includes some truly stellar spots that have graced the LA dining scene this past year, such as Donna’s of Echo Park and Loreto of Frogtown. Brant and Sylvio walk us through their process for compiling this list. We learn about their favorites, honorable mentions that just missed out, and why some big names like Funke and Poltergeist didn’t quite make the cut. 

We also talk food trends of 2023 - from the Great Martini Revival to the seemingly inescapable barrage of red sauce Italian spots flooding our timelines - and they look forward to 2024, discussing which upcoming restaurant openings have them chomping at the bit. 

First though, there are a couple of headlines in the food world I wanted to discuss, from LA’s Al Fresco Program moving towards permanence to the closure of several big name restaurants.

Helpful links:

Infatuation Best New Restaurants 2023 https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/collection/best-new-restaurants-los-angeles-2023

LAT on Al Fresco dining https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-12-08/los-angeles-city-council-permanent-al-fresco-dining

Michelin adds 3 LA restaurants to guide https://la.eater.com/2023/12/12/23998495/michelin-guide-discoveries-2023-hibi-baroo-olivia-restaurants-los-angeles

Kinn closure https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-11-21/los-angeles-korean-restaurant-kinn-chef-mental-health#:~:text=On%20closing%20L.A.'s%20Kinn%2C%20chef%20highlights%20mental%20health%20issues,close%20his%20tasting%2Dmenu%20restaurant.

Craft closure https://la.eater.com/2023/11/20/23969943/craft-la-kinn-koreatown-closed-restaurants-los-angeles-november-2023

Angry Egret closure https://la.eater.com/2023/12/14/24001272/chef-wes-avila-angry-egret-dinette-chinatown-restaurant-closure-los-angeles

LA Times restaurant critic Bill Addison dropped his much-anticipated 101 Best Restaurants list on Tuesday and it’s set the internet abuzz with thoughts and reactions aplenty. Congratulations to all of the restaurants who made the list, I hope you’re all celebrating accordingly. I offer some high-level observations and perhaps a couple of nuggets of constructive criticism. Because that’s just the helpful guy that I am. 

We’re also joined by Father Sal to talk about the trend of influencer-backed restaurants, and we also break down the latest season of The Great British Bake Off. The Bake Off conversation is jolly good fun - we talk about the new host, our fave contestants, and we get into a pretty heated debate about whether this is actually a show about food, or if it’s really just vibes. 

Helpful links:

101 list https://www.latimes.com/food/list/101-best-los-angeles-restaurants-ranked-2023

Hall of Fame https://www.latimes.com/food/list/los-angeles-hall-of-fame-restaurants-modern-classics

LA Times on influencer-backed restaurants https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-11-24/influencer-backed-restaurants-los-angeles-worth-the-hype

Great British Bake Off https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/

Eater article defending Prue https://www.eater.com/23972427/leave-prue-leith-alone-great-british-bake-off

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Today’s episode is all about gratitude. For our main course today, I’m joined by Father Sal to reminisce on the meals that we feel most grateful for in 2023. And although yes, there are tales of surf n turf burritos, roasted bone marrow gnocchi, and pizza so good that it haunts my dreams to this day, it’s really a conversation about the intangibles that make certain meals that much more memorable. 

But first, Father Sal and I chop up the latest and greatest headlines in the food world. There’s a GOAT-level list of Best Dishes in Mexico City from The New York Times and a not-so-GOAT level list of where to eat in LA from pop singer Tate McRae. We do a “cop or drop” inspired by the many food holiday gift guides that have come out in the past week, and Father Sal gives us his expert take on the Infatuation’s latest guide to LA’s Indian and Pakistani restaurants. There’s a fun little helping of bad idea/horrible idea for ya, and for dessert, we’ve got another edition of our acclaimed segment, “Shitty Yelp Review of the Week,” in which we each share a moment in the past week when the people in our lives would have been justified in leaving us a shitty yelp review as humans. Let’s just say that mine involves shrimp tacos, a stray dog, and Poltergeist chef Diego Argoti. You won’t wanna miss it.

Helpful links:

The best food guide, in my opinion https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-food-scene/a-food-themed-holiday-gift-guide

Infatuation's Best Indian and Pakistani restaurants https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/the-best-indian-pakistani-restaurants-in-la

NYT's Best Dishes in CDMX https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/14/t-magazine/mexico-city-restaurants-food.html

Infatuation's Best New Restaurants 2023 https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/collection/best-new-restaurants-los-angeles-2023

Infatuation's Tate McRae list https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/tate-mcrae-la-restaurants

NY Carbone private dining club https://www.grubstreet.com/2023/11/zzs-club-carbone-privato-nyc.html

We’re joined today by writer and editor Virali Dave to talk all things Negronis. Virali is a well-versed and passionate consumer of cocktail culture, and the well loved Italian cocktail has been an obsession of hers as of late. She joins us to talk about the cocktail’s origins, how to tell if your bartender’s making you a good one, and where to find the five best versions around the City of Angels. We also spend some time talking about her journey as a food writer, from her humble beginnings fact checking at The Ringer, to her most recent experience writing and editing some pretty awesome pieces for Eater LA. 

Also... there have been some important developments with respect to legal street vending in Los Angeles. In October, LA City Council Member Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion that could have some pretty significant ramifications for LA’s street vendors. We’re joined by Doug Smith of Inclusive Action for the City to break down what it all means.

Helpful links:

Virali on IG https://www.instagram.com/virali/?hl=en

Virali's article on Rendition Room https://la.eater.com/2023/9/11/23863248/rendition-room-speakeasy-studio-city-scott-warren-bartender-feature

Rendition Room https://therenditionroom.wildapricot.org/

Margot https://www.margot.la/

Grandmaster Recorders https://grandmasterrecorders.com/

Baar Baar https://www.baarbaarla.com/

We’re joined today by Farley Elliott. One of Los Angeles’ preeminent voices in food media, Farley’s been bringing us mouth-watering stories for more than a decade via the likes of LAist, LA Weekly and, more recently, in his capacity as Senior Editor of Eater LA. Farley recently announced that he’d be leaving Eater for a new adventure as the So Cal Bureau Chief of SF Gate, where he’s already gotten off to a fast start, covering interesting topics ranging from In N Out Burger’s reclusive founder to the LA dude who went viral for ordering a scooped, gluten-free bagel at a New York City bagel shop.