Welcome to episode 100. We hosted a live show to celebrate at Little Joy Cocktails in Echo Park, and what you’re about to hear is the recording of said live show. Father Sal and I were joined by Eater’s Mona Holmes to run through the headlines of the day and to play a round of Chef’s Kiss Big Miss. We debuted the first-ever LA Food Pod quiz - big thanks and sincere apologies to David Turkell of Turk’s Pizza Party for participating. And, finally, we had a conversation with Jackson Kalb of Ospi, Jemma, and Top Chef fame, on running a restaurant in today’s tricky economic environment, among other things.

But first, Father Sal joins me for some slightly indulgent navel-gazing on what this podcast means to us, and we also quickly touch on some exciting events we attended this week, including a very insightful panel discussion on restaurant PR and marketing hosted by New School, and a comedy show presented by none other than former Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi.

Helpful links:

Mona Holmes https://www.instagram.com/monaeats/?hl=en

Jackson Kalb https://www.instagram.com/jacksonkalb/?hl=en

Ospi https://ospi.com/venice

Jemma https://jemmarestaurants.com/

Little Joy https://littlejoy.la/

The LA Food Pod Live Show was produced by:

Robert Haleblian https://www.instagram.com/robert_haleblian/?hl=en

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Go check out The Lonely Oyster in Echo Park! https://thelonelyoyster.com/

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Get 10% off at House of Macadamias using code "LAFOOD" https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/pages/la-foods

What do the best competition cook of all time, an uber-accomplished LA restaurateur and the author of one of the year’s best cookbooks have in common? Well, they’re all the same person and her name is Brooke Williamson.

Brooke just released her first-ever cookbook, dear listener. It’s called SUN-KISSED COOKING, and it’s available now in stores. Brooke’s with us today to tell us what inspired the new book, why now felt like the right time in her storied career to release her first book, and what she liked and didn’t like about the arduous process of writing a cookbook.

Of course, I wouldn’t be doing my job if we didn’t also talk about her career as a prodigy on the Los Angeles restaurant scene, the secrets to her extraterrestrial ability as a competition cook, and how she’s seen the role of a restaurant operator evolve since opening her first restaurant back in the early aughts.

Helpful links:

Sun-Kissed Cooking https://www.harpercollins.com/products/sun-kissed-cooking-brooke-williamson?variant=41531003830306

Brooke on IG https://www.instagram.com/chefbrookew/?hl=en

The LA Food Podcast is produced with the help of:

Abdo Hajj

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Go check out The Lonely Oyster in Echo Park! https://thelonelyoyster.com/

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Get 10% off at House of Macadamias using code "LAFOOD" https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/pages/la-foods

Today on The LA Food Podcast… What game is Norm Langer playing by reposting Rick Caruso’s scathing video of Mayor Karen Bass’ efforts (or lacktherof) to clean up MacArthur Park? Why is Martha Stewart irate over the way she’s being portrayed in her brand new Netflix documentary “Martha?” And why is a trip Dan Tana’s pretty much obligatory in your near future, dear listener?

We’re joined today by SF Gate’s Karen Palmer to discuss all of the above. She’s filling in for Father Sal and, dare I say, Father Sal watch out. If he keeps abusing his PTO days, Karen just made a case for why there might need to be a change in administration. Too soon?

In Part 2 we’re joined by Richard Pink of Pink’s Hot Dogs. The Hollywood icon that is Pink’s is celebrating its 85th birthday and is giving out 85 cent hot dogs to celebrate. I caught up with Richard at Pink’s to hear about the promotion, but more importantly, to hear his reflections on the little hot dog stand that could.

As always please consider leaving us a rating or a review wherever you listen to podcasts. I’m your host Luca Servodio and without further ado, let’s chow down.

Helpful links:

Karen Palmer https://www.sfgate.com/author/karen-palmer/

Karen on IG https://www.instagram.com/karenlpalmer/?hl=en

Karen’s piece on Dan Tana’s https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/california-italian-restaurant-dan-tanas-19880183.php

Pink’s https://www.pinkshollywood.com/

Langer’s re-post of Rick Caruso https://www.instagram.com/p/DB7CglYvmzQ/?hl=en

New York Times interview with Martha Stewart https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/30/movies/martha-stewart-netflix-documentary.html

Eater’s stories on Martha https://www.eater.com/search?q=martha+stewart

Taste on nonalcoholic martinis https://tastecooking.com/a-good-na-martini-is-possible/

The LA Food Podcast is produced with the help of:

Abdo Hajj

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Go check out The Lonely Oyster in Echo Park! https://thelonelyoyster.com/

–

Get 10% off at House of Macadamias using code "LAFOOD" https://www.houseofmacadamias.com/pages/la-foods