This week on The LA Food Podcast, Luca welcomes back Nancy DaSilva, co-host of Compliments to the Chef, certified New Yorker, and our official ambassador from LA’s louder, older, and more globally hyped culinary sibling: New York City.

We kick things off with a Thanksgiving ice-breaker before diving straight into the State of Dining in NYC. Is the vibe doom, boom, or mellow in-between? Nancy walks us through the restaurant openings shaping 2025, the spots she loves, the ones that let her down, and the trends taking over New York—while we compare them to LA’s little-gem-salad, Bub-and-Grandma’s-bread era.

We also get into the NY food-media moment: the new critics at The New York Times, the rise of Feed Me and J. Lee’s podcast, and what it means for how diners discover restaurants. Then it’s Michelin time—what shocked Nancy in the 2025 Guide, how New Yorkers actually use it, and how it stacks up to LA’s still-evolving Michelin culture.

From impossible New York reservations to Blackbird’s traction on both coasts, we break down how people are actually eating, booking and talking about restaurants right now. And yes, Nancy finally answers the question every Angeleno secretly wants to know: In 2025, does New York respect LA dining?

Then we close with a special Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss lightning round featuring:
• turkey prices soaring 70%
• Meadow Lane, NYC’s new luxury-grocery fever dream
• the rise of $945 caviar advent calendars
• Bukayo Saka’s deranged childhood breakfast

If you love restaurant culture, food media, LA vs NY banter, or just need a Thanksgiving distraction, this one is for you.

This week on The LA Food Podcast, Luca and Sal dive into the most chaotic, delicious, and debate-worthy stories shaping Los Angeles dining and the national food world.

We kick things off with recent eats at Wilde’s and Camphor before launching into our first-ever extended Chef’s Kiss or Big Miss lightning round.

We break down Eater National’s Best New Restaurants 2025, including L.A.’s powerhouse showing with Ki, Komal, and Betsy — and what it means for the “LA restaurant scene is dying” narrative. We also get into Eater LA’s Best Sandwiches list, debating Bay Cities’ shocking omission.

Next, we dig into LA Taco’s reporting on Taqueria Frontera’s ICE-delayed opening, the national wave of barista union wins, and Helen Rosner’s hot take that “recipes are brain rot.” Plus, Emily Sundberg says the best bars have terrible Instagrams — is she right?

We also look at America’s top foodcation destinations, and the revelation that Josh Hutcherson is just a Silver Lake guy who loves Dayglow, Salt & Straw, and Night + Market Song like the rest of us. And in a wild twist, Eric Greenspan is leaving the Tesla Diner to open… a Jewish deli. Is ditching robot service for pastrami a chef’s kiss or a big miss?

Finally, the mailbag returns with two bangers: • What inconvenient LA food is worth it? • What’s the best season of Top Chef?

If you love LA restaurants, food news, chef drama, labor stories, sandwiches, tacos, and wildly specific opinions, this episode is loaded.

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

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Vote for Mis Tacones PDX

This week on The LA Food Podcast, Luca sits down with Ben Leventhal — the founder of Eater and Resy — to talk about his most ambitious project yet: Blackbird, a next-gen restaurant loyalty and payments app that might reshape how we dine out and how restaurants survive. Recorded at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, the conversation breaks down how Blackbird rewards you for actually showing up and paying at your favorite restaurants, why Ben thinks this model could transform the industry’s financial future, and how LA’s rollout fits into his vision for the app. We also get into Ben’s background in food media and reservations, and as a die-hard New Yorker, what he really thinks about Los Angeles as a tier 1 dining city.

Before that, Luca and Father Sal kick things off with recent eats — from Atelier Manna to the San Diego Food + Wine Festival — before diving into a rare silver lining for food media. We react to a week of big news:

• The New York Times naming two new associate food critics, including friend of the pod Ryan Sutton
  

• Elazar Sontag taking over as restaurant critic at The Washington Post
  

• Emily Sundberg’s Feed Me launching the podcast Expense Account
  

• And rumors of a brand-new food media startup from former Puck staffers
  

In Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss, we tackle:

• Robot woks and automation at LA spots Tigawok and Robowok
  

• The Infatuation’s Best New Restaurants in LA list for 2025
  

• Big three-star demotions in the Michelin Guide (Alinea, Masa, The Inn at Little Washington)
  

• AI-driven restaurant marketing and fully AI-generated ad campaigns
  

• And looming tariffs on Italian imports and what that could mean for pasta night
  

We close with a Mailbag question on whether it’s finally time for us to launch a LA Food Awards of our own.

If you care about LA restaurants, restaurant tech, loyalty apps, Blackbird, food media, Michelin stars, and the future of dining, this episode is for you.

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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