The LA Food Podcast

Gustavo Arellano is one of Southern California’s most influential voices in food and culture over the course of the last 25 years. Gustavo is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and he’s also currently the namesake of KCRW and Gustavo’s Great Tortilla Tournament, which culminates this October 8 at Smorgasburg in Downtown LA.  He’s a best-selling author, he was the long-time food critic of the storied OC Weekly, and his TV appearances include the likes of David Chang’s Ugly Delicious, Chelsea Handler’s Chelsea Lately and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. He joins the pod today to tell us about his storied career, from his days at the OC Weekly to his more recent endeavors with the Times and KCRW. His anecdotes are absolutely hilarious, and his takes are hotter than the chili peppers he apparently grows in his front yard. More than anything, I found Gustavo’s whole approach to food wholly refreshing. The joy, curiosity and excitement with which he approaches pretty much any topic is contagious, whether he’s talking about the current state of food journalism or what distinguishes a good tortilla from a crappy one. And by the way, we get into both on this podcast! Helpful links: Gustavo's website https://www.gustavoarellano.org/newsletters/ The tortilla tournament https://www.kcrw.com/events/tortilla-tournament Alta Baja Market https://www.altabajamarket.com/ Taco USA https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Taco-USA/Gustavo-Arellano/9781439148624 Gustavo's LA Times page https://www.latimes.com/people/gustavo-arellano Gustavo on X https://twitter.com/GustavoArellano Gustavo on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/gustavo_arellano/?hl=en

Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports went viral last week after he posted one of his One Bite Pizza Reviews. He was reviewing Dragon Pizza, a small independent pizza shop in Somerville, Massachusetts. Turns out the owner, Charlie Redd, wasn’t such a fan of Portnoy’s and came out front to give the man a pizza of his mind. See what I did there? Never mind.  This was just the beginning though! Their profanity-laden interaction quickly became the talk of TikTok, Instagram, and the app formerly known as Twitter. Portnoy went on Tucker Carlson to talk about the incident, and Redd did an interview with Bon Appetit to give his side of the story. The situation spiraled out of control with Portnoy’s followers pulling out all of the stops to mess with Dragon Pizza, including tanking their Yelp rating and putting in fake orders at the shop.  It’s a pizza feud that says a lot about the state of food criticism, the power of food influencers, and the insanity of the culture wars. I had to have Father Sal join me to chop up all the hairy details and discuss the questions of do we care, why do we care, and what the heck does this all mean?

Carmen Dianne and Kara Still are the co-founders of Prosperity Market, a farmers market on wheels whose mission is to support local black farmers and food businesses throughout L.A. and create food access in communities where it’s currently lacking. They believe that by focusing on the local food system, they can feed their neighbors, and create a substantial economic impact.  Carmen and Kara join the pod today for a fascinating conversation on how Prosperity Market was born, the systemic challenges facing black farmers and business owners in today’s society, and what we can do as consumers and concerned citizens to create an ecosystem where everyone can thrive. Father Sal also joins us to discuss a week of escape rooms and good eatin’ in our City of Angels. We break down the tasting menu at Holbox, debate the criteria for what makes a good taco crawl, and reminisce on a pretty epic night out at The old Airliner in Lincoln Heights on the heels of the news that it’s now being re-oponed as a fancy pan-Asian restaurant. Helpful links: Prosperity Market https://www.prosperitymarketla.com/ Together We're Greater fundraiser https://www.prosperitymarketla.com/its-bigger-than-us-initiative/ LA Times Prosperity Market article https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-08-18/prosperity-market-helps-black-owned-businesses-stay-open-los-angeles Food insecurity info https://www.prosperitymarketla.com/about/#why Poltergeist article https://la.eater.com/2023/8/30/23851438/poltergeist-restaurant-button-mash-echo-park-los-angeles-service-check Airliner re-opens https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-09-04/century-old-lincoln-heights-bar-the-airliner-reopens Tesar fired https://pagesix.com/2023/09/01/top-chefs-john-tesar-out-at-own-eatery-after-three-months-following-altercation/

Gilberto Cetina is the chef and owner of Holbox, the Los Angeles Times 2023 Restaurant of the Year. On this episode, Cetina traces the journey that brought him to where he is today. We talk about the dreaded childhood chore that was helping his family make tamales to sell at church, his adolescence spent spearfishing with his cousins on the Yucatan peninsula, the experience that was opening the family’s first restaurant, Chichen Itza, and what he learned from a failed expansion into a second location. The story culminates, of course, with the opening of Holbox, and Chef Cetina is very generous in letting us see behind the curtain to learn more about the magic behind some of his most iconic dishes.  Helpful links: Holbox website https://www.holboxla.com/#/ Holbox on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/holboxlosangeles/ Chichen Itza https://www.chichenitzarestaurant.com/ LA Times names Holbox 2023 Restaurant of the Year https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-06-13/gilberto-cetina-holbox-los-angeles-times-2023-restaurant-of-the-year

UK cooking show Five Star Chef has finally made it to Netflix, and Father Sal joins me today to break down what can only be described as the best British export to grace these shores since Harry Styles began serving angelic sounds and androgynous fashion choices. Five Star Chef follows a cast of up-and-coming chefs as they compete to take over the iconic Palm Court restaurant at the five-star Langham Hotel in London. The show is a bona fide rollercoaster of emotion, and whether you’ve seen it or not, I think you’ll enjoy our discussion of what makes a cooking show actually good, as opposed to the gimmicky nonsense clogging up our Hulu home screens.  But first, Sal and I get into the Los Angeles food news of the past couple weeks. We discuss an absolutely heinous list brought to us by the LA Times, why a vegan restaurant in Santa Monica has decided to add meat to their menu, and what the heck is driving all of the high profile restaurant closures we’re seeing in 2023. Tallulah, we hardly knew ya. Helpful links: Five Star Chef https://www.netflix.com/title/81507383 Margo starts serving meat https://la.eater.com/2023/8/21/23840379/margos-former-plant-based-adds-meat-to-menu-santa-monica-restaurant Restaurant closures https://la.eater.com/2023/8/22/23840539/biggest-restaurant-closures-los-angeles-summer-2023-news Etta-gate https://la.eater.com/2023/8/22/23842250/etta-culver-city-eviction-staff-layoffs-los-angeles-news Kristen Kish feature https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/22/dining/kristen-kish-top-chef.html LA Times NY list https://www.latimes.com/food/list/15-nostalgic-new-york-inspired-restaurants-for-a-slice-of-the-big-apple

Lien Ta is the restaurateur behind All Day Baby, Here’s Looking At You and Tet a Tet. Lien’s story is a fascinating one, and we retrace her steps from her childhood in Georgia eating beige foods at Chili’s to her culinary awakening in New Orleans, which eventually resulted in her opening one of LA’s best loved restaurants of the last decade, Here’s Looking At You in Koreatown. We discuss the challenges of opening a new restaurant, what it was like to close seemingly for good during the pandemic, only to then rise from the ashes against all odds. From her leadership at her restaurants to her work supporting woman-owned business with Regarding Her Food, Lien is truly a shining light in the Los Angeles food community, and I’m stoked for you to hear our conversation.  Also on this episode… The Infatuation released a controversial list of the 19 best pizzerias in Los Angeles this week. This caused quite a stir to say the least, so I outline the pizzerias I think were most hard-done by being excluded from the list.  Helpful links: Lien's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lientigre/?hl=en Here's Looking At You https://www.hereslookingatyoula.com/ All Day Baby https://www.alldaybabyla.com/ Regarding Her Food https://www.regardingherfood.com/ Infatuation Pizza List https://www.theinfatuation.com/los-angeles/guides/the-best-pizza-in-los-angeles Pizzana https://pizzana.com/ Milana's http://www.milanasnewyorkpizzeria.com/ Pi LA https://pila213.com/ Gra https://xn--gr-nia.com/ Gorilla Pies https://gorillapies.com/ Dough Daddy https://www.instagram.com/doughdaddyla/?hl=en Dtown Pizzeria https://www.dtownpizzeria.com/ Lucky Nick's luckynickspizza.com Brandoni Pepperoni https://www.brandoni-pepperoni.com/ Quarantine Pizza Company https://www.instagram.com/quarantinepizzaco/ Hail Mary Pizza https://hailmarypizzala.com/ Hot Tongue https://www.hottonguepizza.com/ Tomato Pie https://www.tomatopiepizzajoint.com/ Bagel and Slice https://bagelandslice.com/ Pizza Wagon of Brooklyn https://www.pizzawagonofbrooklynmenu.com/ Dough Box https://order.doughboxla.com/ Blackbird https://blackbirdpizzashopla.com/ Mother Wolf https://www.motherwolfla.com/ Speak Cheezy https://www.speak-cheezy.com/ Best Bet https://www.bestbetpizzeria.la/ Friends and Family https://www.ffpizzaco.com/ Ghisallo https://www.ghisallo.la/

David Chang’s Secret Chef is out on Hulu, and Father Sal joins me to break down the first season. We discuss the concept, the contestants, the challenges, and ask ourselves whether one of the most iconoclastic chefs in the game succeeded in breaking the mold of cooking competition shows. We also discuss a couple of chaotic news weeks in food. Taco Maria has closed, John Tesar tried to get canceled, a diabolical service fee spreadsheet has burst onto the scene, and our city has been confronted with a pork crisis that’s squeezing barbecue pitmasters and carniceros alike… We discuss all of that and more. Helpful links: Secret Chef https://press.hulu.com/shows/secret-chef/ Pork crisis https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-08-04/los-angeles-barbecue-restaurants-react-to-proposition-12-pork-prices Taco Maria closure https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-25/taco-maria-closes-saturday-carlos-salgado-future-relocation Service charge spreadsheet https://la.eater.com/2023/8/8/23823809/los-angeles-service-charge-reddit-am-intel Tesar loses it https://la.eater.com/2023/8/9/23823674/chef-john-tesar-video-strike-union-labor-workers-orange-county-yelling-knife-restaurant-news The Bear Season 3 predictions https://chicago.eater.com/2023/7/28/23809939/the-bear-season-3-fx-hulu-predictions Dave Portnoy pizza fest https://www.tmz.com/2023/08/01/barstool-sports-dave-portnoy-one-bite-pizza-festival/ Restaurant reservation fee https://ny.eater.com/2023/8/3/23817542/reservation-fees-deposits-resy-opentable-nyc?_gl=1*1bx0wxg*

We are joined today by Tanya Kollar, the food curator of Outside Lands. She has the massive responsibility of assembling the vendors that keep the masses fed, working with them to figure out how they’re going to serve their food in a festival setting, and ironing out all of the mind-boggling logistics to make it all happen. Even if you’re not going to the festival next week, you’re gonna want to add some of the restaurants we discuss to your Bay Area bucket list.  I also share with you 3 incredible meals I’ve had recently. I’ve been eating like a damn prince lately, if I’m being honest, and it was insanely difficult to choose just 3 for today’s pod. But alas, choices were made, and I’ve got stories of mariscos, roast beef and Italian ice coming your way in just a minute.  Helpful links: Outside Lands https://sfoutsidelands.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwoK2mBhDzARIsADGbjermZ_F1mXw-bzNW2_B9Lb5aXZ0GprL0-rhBc0oCd-BuKRC9K5NyVhQaAn7sEALw_wcB Outside Lands food https://sfoutsidelands.com/food-and-drink/taste-of-the-bay-area/ Za Za Za www.zazaza.la Pane Bianco https://www.pizzeriabianco.com/pane-bianco-los-angeles Coco's To-Go Go https://www.instagram.com/cocostogogo/?hl=en

Joining us on the pod today are Francesca Pistorio and Francesco Lucatorto, the husband-and-wife team behind Ceci’s Gastronomia in Silver Lake. Ceci’s is designed to recreate the authentic Nonna experience. If you’ve got a Nonna, an abuela, an Oma or any kind of grandmother, you know what I’m talking about. You stop by her house for a quick coffee, maybe a pastry, and before you can say “mamma mia”, you’re leaving with a to-go container of lasagna, gnocco alla romana, suppli and whatever the heck she felt like whipping up on that particular day. Well guess what, that’s also what happens every time I go to Ceci’s. And Not only is the food at Ceci’s spectacular, the experience is too. It’s cozy, familial, welcoming, and frankly, the closest approximation to a true Italian breakfast-and-lunch spot that you can find in Los Angeles. What about Francesco and Francesca, you ask? Well, they’re an absolute treat. Their story of falling in love with food and with each other will leave you hankering for a rewatch of your favorite Italy-based rom com. Under the Tuscan Sun would be my choice. What’s yours? We talk about surfing, suppli, the state of Italian food in LA, and so much more. Helpful links: Ceci's https://www.cecisoven.com/ Ceci's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cecis_gastronomia/?hl=en Taste of Italy https://www.iamla.org/taste-of-italy/

Ian Asbury is the Co-founder of Good Clean Fun, an absolutely bitchin’ natural wine shop and bar in downtown LA. Natural wine has been on the rise for a minute now, but a lot of folks are still skeptical. How is it made? Is it real wine? Is it even any good? These are all questions we get into with Ian, who’s passion for the form is, frankly contagious. We also talk about his journey from dining at Olive Gardens in Beaverton, Oregon to becoming a widely respected food and wine entrepreneur in our City of Angels.  Father Sal also joins us to break down Michelin’s California Guide, which was released earlier this week. Once again, Los Angeles was low-key snubbed, losing two stars and gaining only one. We tlak about what this says about LA, what this says about Michelin, and whether you as an eater should even care. We also spend a little bit of time talking about the LA Times’ recent coverage of Mexico City. Daniel Hernandez published a nice little three-piece set on the changing face of the city, and how to best enjoy it as a traveling Angeleno.  Helpful links: Good Clean Fun https://gcfwines.com/ California Michelin Guide https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/article/michelin-star-revelation/michelin-guide-california-stars LAT on Mexico City https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-07-13/mexico-city-essay-daniel-hernandez LAT tips for traveling in Mexico City https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2023-07-14/mexico-city-tips-dos-donts-daniel-hernandez LAT Mexico City recs https://www.latimes.com/food/list/best-mexico-city-restaurants-bars-tacos-cantinas-dessert