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PODCAST

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts

Acquired Taste Media

Welcome to Acquired Taste Food Podcasts, the feed where you get fed. We believe everyone is entitled to unreasonably strong opinions about what they eat. We just happen to yell those beliefs into a microphone. OUR SHOWS: LA FOOD PODCAST🌴 For LA food news, gossip and restaurant reality checks, hosted by Luca Servodio with special contributors Father Sal and Karen Palmer. TAQUEANDO WITH BILL ESPARZA 🌮 For deep dives on street food culture and hotter-than-hell takes, produced by Robert

arts food

All Episodes

01:11:30

Matt Rodbard Co-Hosts: Sqirl By Night, More Noma...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/03/06

Matt Rodbard of This Is TASTE joins Luca Servodio as guest co-host on The LA Food Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of food media, restaurant discovery, and what’s happening right now in the LA dining scene.They dig into Rodbard’s recent interviews with Emma Orlow of Caper Media and David Cho of the restaurant discovery app Postcard, exploring the idea of “post-traffic” food media, whether apps like Beli and Postcard change how we discover restaurants, and what the next

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01:42:13

Is Michelin Wrong About SELINE? A Gloomy James Beard...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/02/27

Father Sal records his final episode as a bachelor, we launch our new Couch Potatoes Top Chef recap series, and then we head straight to Santa Monica for one of the most ambitious meals in Los Angeles: SELINE.Chef Dave Beran’s winter tasting menu is structured around the idea of “outside” and “inside” — cold, memory, warmth, progression. We break down the sunflower sequence disguised as cod, the venison tartare that had us laughing mid-bite, the short rib slider moment, and whether SELINE is already

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01:39:47

Eater Takes Max & Helen's Heat, New York Times...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/02/20

This week on The LA Food Podcast, we’re diving deep into LA’s cocktail culture with James Beard semifinalist Max Reis, beverage director of Mirate and Daisy Margarita Bar. Max shares his journey from Napa to Los Angeles, how he became one of the country’s most respected mezcal advocates, and what it takes to build a world-class bar program. In Part 1, Luca and Father Sal recap a legendary Echo Park bar crawl, including strategy, standout stops, and inevitable chaos. Plus, Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss

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01:32:10

Alison Roman on AI, LA Dining & Reinvention. Plus,...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/02/13

Alison Roman joins The LA Food Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation on cookbooks, creativity, and the unsettling rise of AI-generated recipes. We dive into Something From Nothing, her evolving aesthetic, growing up in the San Fernando Valley, and her early days in LA fine dining. Before that, Father Sal and Luca break down meals at Lucia, Bess, Max & Helen’s, and Cheesesteaks by Matu, plus the fallout from last week’s LA Dining Scam debate. In Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss: Noma controversy, Villa’s

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01:00:16

The LA Dining "Scam" Debate Breaking People's Brains:...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/02/06

On this episode of The LA Food Podcast, Luca Servodio is joined by food reporter Karen Palmer to break down the viral LA dining discourse sparked by Kerry Rose Schwartz (@comfywithkerry) and her claim that “LA fine dining is a scam.”We dig into why Kerry’s videos exploded, the pushback from chefs like Jeremy Fox, and what the backlash reveals about hype culture, pricing, influencer power, and the widening expectation gap facing Los Angeles restaurants. Is this a needed reality check for diners—or

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01:21:38

LA's James Beard Supremacy; Noma Silences the Haters...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/01/30

On this episode of The LA Food Podcast, we’re doing a little bit of everything — industry analysis, hot takes, and a long, thoughtful sit-down with two people quietly shaping what neighborhood dining looks like in Los Angeles right now.In Part 1, Father Sal joins Luca to break down the 2026 James Beard Award semifinalists. LA had a massive showing this year, but how does it stack up against past years — and which semifinalists actually have a real shot at winning? We dig into the numbers, the

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00:55:08

Keeping Up With Kato: Why Jon Yao & Ryan Bailey Never...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/01/23

On this episode of The LA Food Podcast, Luca sits down with Chef Jon Yao and Ryan Bailey (Co-owner, DOO & Wine Director) of Kato, one of Los Angeles’s most acclaimed and ambitious restaurants. The conversation traces Kato’s evolution from its pre-Michelin West LA strip-mall era to its Arts District rebirth — unpacking how Jon and Ryan built a fine-dining institution that balances Taiwanese & SGV roots, Western technique, fermentation, hearth cooking, and one of the most forward-thinking

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01:36:31

In Defense of Noma's $1500 Price Tag (Not Really)....

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/01/16

Today on The LA Food Podcast, we break down the LA food story that set the internet on fire: René Redzepi brings Noma to Silver Lake at $1500 per person. With guest Karen Palmer, we dissect the announcement, the backlash, the economics, and whether the outrage is justified—plus why “reindeer penis” somehow became part of the discourse.Then on Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss, we tackle the surprise return of Gourmet Magazine, a Westside restaurant losing its liquor license to NIMBY neighbors, the growing case

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01:04:56

New Year, New Laws for California Restaurants. Plus,...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/01/09

Welcome back to The LA Food Podcast! In our second episode of 2026, Father Sal and Luca kick things off with Recent Eats, covering Hermon’s, Superba, Connie & Ted’s, and Etra. Then we dive into the new California food laws taking effect in 2026 — including updates to minimum wage, plastic bag rules, delivery app regulations, tortilla fortification, allergen menu labeling, retirement plan requirements, outdoor dining extensions, and more.Using reporting from Eater LA’s Mona Holmes, we break down

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01:17:09

Food Resolutions, What’s In & Out for 2026, and...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2026/01/02

It’s the first episode of The LA Food Podcast in 2026, and Luca Servodio and Father Sal are kicking off the new year the only way they know how: with food resolutions, trend forecasting, and a healthy dose of Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss.On this episode, Luca and Sal trade three food-related resolutions each, from how they plan to dine out in 2026 to charitable goals that may or may not end in regret. Luca also officially announces the food category he’ll be counting down for the 2026 LA Countdown, while

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00:49:49

Building Budonoki: From USC Apartment Pop-Ups to One...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/12/26

It’s a Christmas-week episode of The LA Food Podcast, and we’re celebrating with one of the most joyful restaurants in Los Angeles.This week, Luca Servodio sits down with Eric Bedroussian and Josh Hartley, the hospitality-driven duo behind Budonoki, the wildly popular Virgil Village izakaya that started as a roaming pop-up and grew into one of LA’s most electric dining rooms.In this How I Built This–style conversation, Eric and Josh walk us through how they met, how Budonoki evolved from college

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01:14:51

The 2025 LA Food Awards

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/12/19

The LA Food Podcast does awards… our way. In this first-ever LA Food Awards, Luca Servodio and Father Sal toss out the tired “Best Chef / Best New Restaurant” formula and replace it with an audio awards ceremony celebrating the restaurants, chefs, and cultural moments that actually defined LA dining in 2025. At least for us. From the FOMO Award for the restaurants we’re most anxious to finally visit, to debates over the hottest restaurants in LA — both physically and spiritually, we dig into what it

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01:45:09

Inside the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants List With...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/12/12

The LA food equivalent of a new Taylor Swift album dropped this week. The Los Angeles Times has released its annual 101 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles list, and Acquired Taste got early access before anyone else.On this episode of The LA Food Podcast, Luca Servodio sits down with LA Times restaurant critics Bill Addison and Jenn Harris at Mercado La Paloma, which was named the number one restaurant on the 101 for 2025. The trio digs deep into how the list is made, how hundreds of meals are

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01:21:21

James Beard Awards Controversy Explained, Wagyu Wars,...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/12/05

Welcome back to The LA Food Podcast. This week, Luca and Karen Palmer dive into one of the most fascinating food stories of the year: the global fight over wagyu. Karen breaks down what Japanese producers are trying to protect, whether A5 wagyu is actually worth the hype, and why the debate mirrors DOP fights in Italy over ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes and Neapolitan pizza standards.We also unpack Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America 2025, where California dominated the list and Los

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01:06:58

New York Dining in 2025: NYC's American Bistro Boom,...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/11/28

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

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01:03:00

3 LA Restaurants Make Eater’s Best New Restaurants,...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/11/21

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

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01:29:16

Eater/Resy Founder Ben Leventhal on Blackbird and the...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/11/14

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

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01:23:38

Ludo Lefebvre Just Wants To Be Free. Plus, David...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/11/07

On this episode of The LA Food Podcast, host Luca Servodio sits down with legendary chef Ludo Lefebvre — the culinary rockstar behind LudoBites, Petit Trois, and some of Los Angeles’ most influential restaurants. Recorded inside his intimate Paris-inspired bistro, this candid conversation dives into Ludo’s early days disrupting the LA dining scene, his transition into a restaurant empire, and why he still believes food — and butter — are the ultimate forms of creative freedom.Plus, co-host Karen

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01:51:11

150th episode mailbag: Peer-pressured meals, LA food...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/10/31

It’s a spooky milestone — 150 episodes of The LA Food Podcast! In this special Halloween edition, Luca Servodio and Father Sal dig into your listener questions in our first-ever mailbag episode: from the meals we felt peer pressured into liking to the undercooked food stories LA media ignores, and even what we’d do for restaurants if we were Mayor of Los Angeles. Expect chaos, confessions, and Father Sal’s unsolicited online dating advice.We also recap recent meals at Cafe Triste, RVR, Anajak and

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01:03:31

NYT savages Spago. Plus, Next Gen Chef hot takes and...

Acquired Taste Food Podcasts ·

2025/10/24

Did the New York Times just cross the line with its brutal review of an LA dining icon? 🍽️ This week on The LA Food Podcast, we unpack Tejal Rao’s headline-grabbing critique of Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, the Beverly Hills institution she labeled merely “Satisfactory.” On our segment Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss, we debate: was this fair criticism, coastal bias, or just plain nonsense?Plus, we’re diving into:🍔 Bold new California legislation that could transform how restaurants operate💸 Our insider tips for

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