Excerpts below, but the Full interview can heard on the podcast, LISTEN HERE, and available anywhere podcasts are found “Let Me Tell You Why…with Jeremy Jacobowitz”! In the full interview we dive deeper into my new favorite LA restaurant RVR, what she thinks of the LA Bagel craze, and her thoughts on In N Out vs Shake Shack.

Big picture, what is happening in the LA food scene right now? What’s exciting you?

I think for a minute there, and even still for a little bit, we were only seeing kind of these like big deep pocketed openings, places that are coming from elsewhere or, you know, from the East Coast. We had a couple big Italian restaurants like Marea and Alba open here, and places that are already established here opening up like other locations. But I think now we're starting to see more independent restaurants coming up again. More stuff like Rasarumah, which is a new Malaysian place from Chef Johnny Lee who had Pearl River Deli in Chinatown. That's really exciting. Places like Vin Folk, this like super cute, very tiny packed wine bar restaurant in Manhattan Beach. So kind of more of the experimental, smaller wild child restaurants that I think LA has always been known for are starting to open up again, which is which has been exciting to see.

What classics are definitely worth it?

Langer's Deli. I know you have great pastrami in New York, of course, but there's something so special about Langer's Deli and that double baked rye bread and Norm Langer himself. There's so much history in that deli, and character, and that's a number one must visit for me and also Jitlada, the Thai restaurant in Thai town. There are so many dishes like the crispy morning glory salad, all of the curries. And she's grabbing a lot of the herbs and chilies from her own backyard. And Marisco Jalisco, like the crispy shrimp tacos from that truck are just like so, so Los Angeles and so encapsulate why this is such a special food city.

What are types of cuisines that people may not realize are thriving in LA?

I think that Filipino food is something thriving in LA. It has been for a while, but I think that's something that people might find unexpected. Our little Ethiopia is amazing. And so I feel like Ethiopian food is something that will make LA a real destination for Ethiopian dining.

I don't know, we kind of have everything, it feels like such a luxury and you can really find anything you want, like regional Mexican cuisine if you want Oaxacan, you know, it doesn't, you know, it's just, it's crazy. We have everything.

What impact has the fires had on the LA restaurant community?

I mean, there's so many restaurants that, you there were a lot of restaurants we lost because of the fire, or they actually burnt down. And then there are also restaurants that are in the surrounding areas that have not been able to reopen yet. And their future is kind of in limbo at the moment. But it's like, can they afford to stay closed? Can they afford to reopen? The recovery from the fires has been extremely slow. It's scary.

There's a restaurant, a fantastic restaurant that was in Pasadena called Bar Chelou. And, you know, the owners are moving to a different state and opening a restaurant there because it's not, it's just not sustainable to be here anymore for some people. And it was hard before that, you know, California, Los Angeles, especially is a very expensive place to run a business. As you know, January is already a slow time for restaurants. So this was just like triple, you know, quadruple whammy of not good.

People are still coming out of this and figuring out how they're going to recover. But also it just was like, I was just so proud of how not just the hospitality industry in Los Angeles just like showed up for each other and the community in general. Like these are chefs who may have lost their businesses and also lost their houses. And they were just like, you know, showing up for World Central Kitchen or just themselves in like smaller groups, just figuring out how can we feed people, you know, our walk-in is full of food. It's going to go bad. Like, let's just feed people with it, you know? The way that that industry kind of put what they personally needed aside to help other people was just astounding. I'm still amazed by it.

I hope that people know how important it is to keep going out, you know, and to keep supporting restaurants. And I know funds are super tight right now, so just like, I just hope that anyone who is in a position to do so can keep doing that.

What is the most iconic LA restaurant in your eyes?

I mean, we have some really old, amazing ones like Musso and Frank Grill, you know, or like Casa Vega. I don't know that I could pick one. I think if you gave me a type of cuisine, I might be able to pick one for each time. I don't know if there's one blanket iconic restaurant for all of Los Angeles that I would award.

MUSIC

Deep cut, but I went back and listened to the Tough Enough II soundtrack, and it is my teenage years on one album. Limp Bizkit, Cold, Trust Company, Weezer, Queens of the Stone Age, Unwritten Law! It brought back ALL THE FEELS, and has to be like a top 5 album of all time! LISTEN HERE

YOUTUBE

One of my fav accounts to follow on youtube is moist critical, aka penguinz 0, aka charlie. He is my go to source to know what’s going on online, and just hilarious to watch! While he streams basically every night for hours, I usually just catch up with the clips the next day, but this past weekend I watched multiple 4 hour streams of him playing the new indie drug simulation game Schedule 1. This game is blowing up, and while I had no interest in playing it, watching him play has had me cackling laughing for hours! WATCH HERE