Is Eater's Essential 38 the GOAT or the most chaotic list of all time? Plus, Jaca's talent pipeline, Tom Colicchio's memoir, and an interview with The Lonely Oyster's Dominique Crisp.

Is Eater’s new list of the Essential 38 Restaurants perfect, or is it the most chaotic list of all time? What do we find groundbreaking about Keith Corbin and Daniel Patterson’s upcoming fine dining concept? And where would we eat if we could only eat at 3 restaurants for the rest of our lives? 

Father Sal is with us to discuss all of the above, why you should check out a newly released Great British Baking Show companion pod, why you can maybe skip Tom Colicchio’s new memoir/cookbook, and why your next tasting menu experience might be a couple courses shorter.

Our interview today is with Chef Dominique Crisp, Culinary Director of The Lonely Oyster. Dom’s got a fascinating story and he also happens to be part of the Oyster Master Guild. That means Dom is to oysters what sommeliers are to wine. He teaches us to appreciate the wonderful world of merroir, and what distinguishes good oysters from oysters that are, to paraphrase Dom, better than s*x. Dom also tells us how the late, iconic Naomi Pomeroy played a pivotal role in his career, and what he learned from his previous venture Saso, which he opened in Pasadena smack dab in the middle of the pandemic and ultimately decided to walk away from despite its rip-roaring success. 

Helpful links:

Our free newsletter LA FOODSTACK, where you'll find most of the articles we referenced today https://thelacountdown.substack.com/

The Lonely Oyster https://thelonelyoyster.com/

Chef Dom Crisp https://www.instagram.com/domcrisp/

Keith Corbin's memoir https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677186/california-soul-by-keith-corbin/

The LA Food Podcast is produced with the help of:

Adam Skaggs

Tiffany Perez

Tim Bertolini

Abdo Hajj

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