Tomorrow on YouTube: Millennial Food Quiz

Recently, a Facebook friend shared the featured image on this post, which is a millennial food quiz. This friend lives in the New Orleans area and most of the people who commented on the post had relatively low scores, which I mention in tomorrow’s video. I can only imagine what the results for someone in Los Angeles or San Francisco would look like. My score wouldn’t have been nearly as high if we didn’t live in Hollywood for three years.

In tomorrow’s video, I go over the list one item at a time. I’ll also reveal if I know what it is, if I’ve eaten it, and where I’ve eaten it… if I remember. I know, this would’ve been a much better video if Alana and I recorded it together… maybe we’ll do a part two!

Feb142020

Be Your Own Valentine!

Every single year, we take a glimpse on social media and see our streams filled with a complete variety of statuses on Valentine’s Day. They range from extremely happy to very sad. Fortunately, for us, we’ve been able to share the past nine together. While we usually avoid presents (since we go so crazy on our birthday and Christmas), we’re not shy about enjoying a really nice dinner together. Last year we enjoyed a meal at celebrity chef Scott Conant’s The Ponte in Los Angeles. (I just learned that is is permanently closed.) It was both romantic and delicious. This year, tonight, we’re going to Gabrielle Restaurant, here in New Orleans. We’re looking forward to it.

Whether you have someone to spend the night with, and regardless if you do or don’t have plans, we want you to take a moment to value the most important person in your life… YOU!

May072019

Dumpling Monster (WeHo, Los Angeles)

Head over to Dumpling Monster while you still can; soon there will be lines out the door and prices will increase! Years and years ago, we wrote one of the first reviews for Sunny Blue. Even though we don’t (and shouldn’t) take any credit for their success, when we first started going there, there weren’t any lines whatsoever. Once it got popular, there’d often be a thirty minute wait and eventually the quality even dipped a bit. The two founders opened another location in Culver City and were rarely at the Main Street Santa Monica location ever. We were thrilled for their success, but it lost the magic it once had.

Something similar might happen with Dumpling Monster. The prices are great and the food is both fresh and flavorful. Most dumpling spots are either dirty hole in the walls or really high-end spots with long waits, like the two in Century City Mall. This is the perfect middle ground. It is clean, well organized and easy to access. It isn’t very busy because the shop is hiding behind a pet boarding facility on Santa Monica Blvd, but once people discover this spot it will be busy.

We first tried it for delivery and were thrilled with the price and quality of the food. We decided to go into their physical location and found the overall experience equally exceptional. My only issue was that the crispy beef roll was served with a side of sriracha. Since their other dumpling dipping sauces are complex flavor profiles, this was disappointing. Fortunately, the roll itself was so good that it didn’t need sauce.

It is only a matter of time before their delivery wait times increase, their small seating area is packed and their prices go up. It is hard to predict if the quality goes up or down, but you should definitely try it sooner than later. Being on top of the game, or in front of the pack, helps you stay hungry and fit.

They travel really well! We recommend delivery for those lazy nights.

And make sure to ask for extra dipping sauce. I usually run out halfway through an order.

Oct072018

India’s Tandoori Hollywood

You may have noticed that India’s Tandoori – Hollywood isn’t on our 2018 LA’s Must-Visit Restaurants list. That’s because we were simply craving Indian food one night and instead of ordering in like we usually do, we pulled up Yelp and looked in vain for walkable Indian restaurants. That’s when I was blinking a few times at my screen when an Indian restaurant I hadn’t seen before showed, with a location that was only 0.3 miles away! Now, here’s the humdinger. Once we finally discovered where the restaurant was, we realized that the Himilayan/Indian restaurant that was there before it was gone. This location had a frequent turn-over for restaurants. Sometimes, it would be the same management, but simply a re-branding, so needless to say, we were a little skeptical. But, cautious as we were, we still tramped on down to eat at India’s Tandoori Hollywood.

Aug052018

Division 3: LA Restaurant Review

Next up on our must-visit restaurants of Los Angeles, we visited a breakfast joint! We went to Division 3 which is a tiny hole-in-the-wall place in Hollywood. It was suggested by Alton Brown, a culinary great we have followed, respected, and admired for a long time. He said the biscuits were to die for, of something of that vein, so we decided…we must try it!

Jul212018

Losing Jonathan Gold

This is a heavy, heavy day in Los Angeles. While I was watching (on television) a hostage situation wrap up at a local Trader Joe’s in Silver Lake, I was scrolling through my Instagram, when I saw more horrible news. Jonathan Gold dies at 57. What?! That must be a joke? He’s been fine. However, apparently, he hasn’t been fine. In early July, Gold was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, damn, it must’ve been aggressive for him to be gone already. This is devastating for Los Angeles. Devastating for us at Hungry & Fit too, he was a hero in the food industry. He even inspired us to do our LA’s Must-Visit Restaurants quest.

Who was Jonathan Gold? He was a Pulitzer-prize, James Beard-award winning food critic, but that doesn’t even cover it. He drove a green pick-up truck and barely turned in his articles in on time. He used his art–and it was art–to shine light on small “ethnic” food joints and lift Los Angeles up to be respected across the food industry alongside New York and San Francisco. Jonathan Gold focused on being positive, unlike many food critics (or critics in general). As he became more and more popular, he knew that his voice was powerful, and he used it for good.

Image source

Jun212018

Lukshon: LA Restaurant Review

It’s been a while since we posted regarding our epic eating tour of Los Angeles (gotta-eat-em-all). Remember that one where we made a list of the must-visit restaurants of 2018? There have been a few things that have gotten in the way since then like our honeymoon, but have no fear, we have stand-out restaurants to review for you! Next stop on our tasting-the-best-of-Los-Angeles list is Lukshon.

Lukshon, a modern restaurant focused on Southeast-Asian flavors, was brought to life by the same chef who opened the famous Father’s Office, Angelenos’ favorite burger & beer spot–Sang Yoon. This man knows how to hit you with flavor and keep your palette guessing and craving for more. The creativity of his work is out of bounds and stunning. Don’t get tricked by the menu prices–this place is pricey because “hot plates” and “cold plates” are small plates and you’re bound to get a good amount of them. Even though we weren’t ready for the price of the meal, we can sit here and tell you that it’s worth it. It’s a dining experience you aren’t likely to forget.

May242018

We Flew WOW Air and Here’s What Happened

If you’ve been keeping up with our social media and the blog, you’ll know that we just returned from our honeymoon in Ireland. We’re not rich and we needed to save some money on the trip. I had set a watch for cheap flights on the app called Hopper and lo and behold, cheap flights appeared. The only thing was…it was WOW Air. We had heard horror stories about WOW Air so we were a little apprehensive, but the price was too good to beat. After scouring over a million different reviews of the budget airline, I made a decision and bought the tickets.

I was able to put it out of my mind for a little, but as the trip neared closer and closer, my worry grew again. Would we be cramped up like cattle, starving and parched? Would it be the worst flight of our lives? Would it ruin our trip? All of these things passed through my mind, but I kept remembering how much money we had saved by going with them. I also asked around with my friends and got mixed reviews. Basically, the advice was to manage your expectations. So we did. We went into the flight expecting it to be the worst in our lives. We flew four flights with them: two at 9 hours and two at 2.5 hours. Let’s break it down.

Apr192018

Dune: LA Restaurant Review

Next stop on our quest to hit the best eateries in Los Angeles was Dune. All four of us enjoyed our food at Dune, plain and simple. One vegetarian and three meat eaters, celebrating a birthday and going to an eatery that came highly recommended from a very reliable source. The food at Dune we would consider to be fresh Middle Eastern cuisine. It has distinct flavors that aren’t afraid to be bold.

Mar252018

How to Use Yelp

There’s a good chance that the only time you’ve heard about Yelp, it didn’t help you build trust in their brand. They’ve had a ton of bad publicity and we’ve actually had plenty of negative experiences with them, but let’s focus on the positive. Here in LA, Jonathan Gold’s 101 list is the “gold standard” for where to eat. LA Weekly just came out with a 99 Essential Restaurant list, and we can’t help but think that whoever compiled that list was GREATLY influenced by Gold. Sadly, even here in LA, very few people outside of the food industry know who he is.

It can be hard to find good places to eat and most people aren’t willing to do a ton of research. They don’t want to Google “best food critic in LA” and then read through Gold’s hundreds of reviews over the year. Instead, we look for more convenient options. Whether it is a reflection of our laziness or desire to save time, services that compile reviews have become extremely popular. Rotten Tomatoes is a great resource for movies, Amazon for consumer goods and Metacritic for video games. While Yelp is far from a household name, it does provide that similar service for businesses… especially places to eat!

There are two ways to use Yelp. You can either check out reviews as a guest or you can become a user and review businesses. Technically, a third way exists, as a business owner but we’re not going that direction today. As a guest, you can quickly type in “sushi” in New York and get an idea where the restaurant is, how much it costs, when it is open and what the population thinks about the food. While we don’t necessarily agree with the aggregate scores of certain places, and while we don’t necessarily trust Yelp’s filter, you’re much better off using Yelp than just walking into the first place you see.