What the James Beard Awards and World's 50 Best tell us about dining in 2024. Plus, is Little Tokyo "endangered?" And what the heck is up with Joey Chestnut?

Kuya Lord’s Chef Lord Maynard Llera took home this James Beard Award this week for Best Chef California, and we’d like to extend him and his whole staff a heartfelt LA Food Pod congratulations. Today’s episode is all about awards. I’m joined by Father Sal to discuss LA’ showing at the Beards, as well as some of the most interesting takeaways from the World’s 50 Best, which was also announced since our last episode.  We talk about what these awards tell us about the state of dining in 2024, whether we’d rather win a Beard Award or be named on the World’s 50 Best and why, and which award recipients caught our eye and may warrant an LA Food Pod excursion in the future.  We also discuss a fascinating Karen Palmer article in SF Gate on why Little Tokyo as we know it may be endangered, and finally, the earth-shaking news that competitive eating GOAT Joey Chestnut has been banned from the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Stick around to the end if you want to hear a true story about the time that I, your friendly neighborhood podcast host, won an eating competition of my own. It’s a tale that’s frankly not for the faint of heart.  Helpful Links: James Beard Award 2024 Winners https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/the-2024-james-beard-award-winners World's 50 Best https://www.theworlds50best.com/ Overheard at the World's 50 Best https://vegas.eater.com/2024/6/6/24173200/worlds-50-best-restaurants-awards-overheard-gossip-las-vegas-strip-winners SF Gate on Little Tokyo https://www.sfgate.com/la/article/little-tokyo-los-angeles-endangered-restaurants-19463905.php Joey Chestnut-gate https://www.npr.org/2024/06/12/nx-s1-5003036/joey-chestnut-banned-nathans-hot-dog-eating-competition John Mulaney's Everybody's in LA https://www.netflix.com/title/81742123 Gordon Ramsey's Food Stars https://www.fox.com/gordon-ramsays-food-stars/