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Notes on Living in Los Angeles

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Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#31

Post by [deleted] »

chews wrote: post #22
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

As an angelino I disagree, and I say so because of logistics. LA has access to the world's nexus of food. Almost every sprig of lettuce you eat comes from California, we get the food that travels the least and access to the best foods that have to travel the most, I say this because my brother is a food importer at LAX. I get to eat mangos from Pakistan, starfruit from Indonesia, and steak from Japan with ton's of fr…

[deleted]

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#32

Post by timavr »

Lived in LA for a decade plus.

The biggest problem in LA is the traffic, plus that you need a car to go anywhere.

Try to go on average day from Griffith Park(Observatory in the picture) to Santa Monica(surfing). You will hate your life.

People who live in LA are kinda used to crazy traffic, but if your value your time, LA is not the place to be

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#33

Post by s0rce »

rootusrootus wrote: post #21
Uhhrrr wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some weighting of variety and quality it probably does very well. But yeah, this is best read as a love letter, where some qualities of the beloved are overlooked. Similarly, "if you wake up at dawn in Los Angeles, and you have good time management skills, you can go for a walk on the beach, then go skiing in the afternoon, then fall asleep in the high desert at night" is probably true, but you'd better like the…

I'd rather try the same trick in Portland than LA, though we may not be able to satisfy the high desert requirement. Still require some driving, but it wouldn't be as brutal.

I think you could do it in 5-6hr of driving starting in Portland (drive to coast, drive to Mt Hood, and then drive east somewhere, maybe Shaniko). Without traffic (hah) its probably about 2hr less driving in LA (LA->Santa Monica->Big Bear(if there is snow)->Lucerne Valley)

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#34

Post by presentation »

carabiner wrote: post #10
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

Jonathan Gold was food critic for the LA Times, and is the only critic to win a Pulitzer. Michelin doesn't rate in LA any more though, then again Michelin has always been biased towards Western European high-end cuisine which is not really were LA shines.

Yeah, I live in Tokyo and think that the Michelin Guide has no idea what good Japanese food is and should be disregarded there lol. I only really trust it for expensive European fare.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#35

Post by presentation »

er4hn wrote: post #15
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

As a Bay Area transplant to LA I would say that Los Angeles has a large and diverse food scene. There are lots of places to get good food, and because there are so many places it never felt that hard to get reservations. Even a place as famous as Bestia I was able to get same day reservations twice. Contrast that with lines around the block to get good, but not life changing Ramen (Orenchi, South Bay Area). Or a near…

Bay Area is very overrated for food.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#36

Post by ipnon »

MrGando wrote: post #17

> My impression is that Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close. I have a galaxy-brained theory about why this is. Restaurants decline when they sell prestige, rather than food. (This is why Manhattan is often not a good place to eat.) Stops reading and closes the window. Seriously, what the hell. LA is a great place to eat, but for the love of G... Paris? Tokyo? NYC also kicks LA's ass to the g…

LA has the best everyday food. Other cities surely have better fine dining.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#37

Post by secondaryacct »

yokaze wrote: post #27
thesausageking wrote: post #2

I lost trust in the whole article when it came to the paragraph on food. LA has a great food scene, but I would put Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Chicago, and probably another 5-10 cities ahead of it. Saying "Los Angeles is the world’s best food city, and it’s not close" is myopic.

I can't speak about Bangkok, or Chicago. On Tokyo, Barcelona, and to a lesser extend LA, SF, I feel more confident to say something. It is greatly a question what you are looking for, and the author quite apparently appreciates the variety. And I have to give it to them, I do not think that Tokyo or Barcelona are in the same league there. That is not to disparage the quality of the food. I hold Tokyo in high regard,…

I m not sure what level of pricee you expect, also. But LA is really far and hispano-american to be truly neutral culinarily.

I'm french and therefore a bit food snob. I live in Hong Kong, a place where the local food is 3 USD a meal, and the meat dicey while most nationalities, French especially, are represented at all price levels. It's still going to be skewed toward Asian taste (where are the Camembert sushi, a staple of parisian cheap sushi restaurant!?)

I dont know american food scene but it's probably horrendous: a memory of a 2 week stay in NYC when I was 16 scarred me: people in the US call "fat" "food", they cant actually comprehend taste. Just like my indian friends are so burned by spice they cant see the difference between different types of steaks (and tbh, like I find all type of spice just tasteless fire and cant distinguish them).

It's not bias you have, it's complete ignorance, I humbly assert :D I hope at least you're not the kind of american who think fortune cookies are traditional chinese culinary culture (it s an american invention)...

But if you speak of ultra luxury chefs and their distribution vs Tokyo or Barcelona you may be right, but it hardly matters: that's not real food either.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#38

Post by magwa101 »

Very economically diverse. Racially, nothing near NYC. LA is a country and all the different areas are states/provinces. I lived there for 25 years, moving every 5, and it was amazing. Venice, Silver Lake, West Side, Downtown, Mt. Wash.

What the author does not acknowledge, is that the traffic keeps you home on weekends. I always say about LA: more to do than anywhere, but you do less of it.

Re: Notes on Living in Los Angeles

#39

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

timavr wrote: post #32

Lived in LA for a decade plus. The biggest problem in LA is the traffic, plus that you need a car to go anywhere. Try to go on average day from Griffith Park(Observatory in the picture) to Santa Monica(surfing). You will hate your life. People who live in LA are kinda used to crazy traffic, but if your value your time, LA is not the place to be

Leaving LA for exactly this reason.

Not just because of the time. But because there is hardly anywhere to live that isn't filled with cars AND walkable.

It's nice that the city has become a lot more walkable - but it's not that enjoyable walking alongside what is basically a highway - I.E. Hollywood, Sunset, and Santa Monica Blvd.

It's such a shame that the city with some of the best weather in the country, and that would otherwise be great for biking, is the city with one of the strongest car cultures in the world.

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