Acquired Taste Food Podcasts

Acquired Taste Media
  • 4.9 (67)
  • Food
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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 Haleblian. COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF 📺 To not feel so alone while you binge food TV shows ranging from To

  1. 6h ago

    Eater LA's Mona Holmes Confronts Bill Esparza Over Villa's Tacos | TAQUEANDO WITH BILL ESPARZA

    Bill Esparza welcomes Mona Holmes, editor of Eater LA, to Taqueando for a candid, hilarious, and occasionally confrontational conversation about Los Angeles food, journalism, and the people shaping the city's restaurant scene. First, Bill and Mona lay down the rules of food event etiquette, including how to escape a conversation that just won't end. Then they get into the increasingly precarious state of food journalism, the rise of influencers, and why great restaurant coverage requires more than a camera and a supposedly impeccable palate. Things get especially interesting when Mona confronts Bill over his infamous criticism of Villa's Tacos, sparking a debate about journalistic responsibility, professional boundaries, and whether food writers sometimes go too far. They also tackle allegations of AI-generated Michelin Guide reviews, the political failures making life harder for LA restaurants, and what city leaders should actually be doing to help. Finally, Mona shares her personal restaurant recommendations for convincing skeptical New Yorkers that Los Angeles is one of the greatest food cities in the world. It's a spirited conversation between two people who love LA, love its restaurants, and aren't afraid to disagree about either. Follow Mona Holmes and read her work at Eater LA. TAQUEANDO with Bill Esparza is part of the Acquired Taste Media podcast network.

    Eater LA's Mona Holmes Confronts Bill Esparza Over Villa's Tacos | TAQUEANDO WITH BILL ESPARZA

  2. 1d ago

    Return of the Soggy Bottom (Pastry Week) | GBBO S17 E6 | COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF

    It's Pastry Week in the Great British Bake Off tent, and Nancy and Bits are thrilled to be back to the show's roots: weird British meat pies, questionable fillings, and elaborate pastry sculptures that probably shouldn't exist. This week, the bakers tackle savory handheld pies, Nigella Lawson's Polish karpatka technical, and a freeform pie showstopper that gives us everything from a stop-motion chicken to a deeply unsettling snake. The ladies discuss whether Paul Hollywood has ever encountered a bánh mì, the increasingly compelling case for Tom to win the whole thing, Nigella's refreshing refusal to be intimidated by Paul, and which bakers are running out of steam. Then, things go spectacularly off the rails during the Gingham Altar. Nancy declares the New York City dining scene officially dead, while Bits launches an impassioned crusade against the most irritating trends in food influencer culture. Plus: why everyone should Brick their phone, why men insist on aggressively slapping raw meat in cooking videos, and the case for becoming a regular at your neighborhood restaurant. Come for the pastry, stay for the cultural criticism. LINKS & MENTIONS The Great British Bake Off official website Nigella Lawson's Karpatka recipe Brick: Take back control of your phone Compliments to the Chef on Apple Podcasts Follow along with Compliments to the Chef for weekly recaps of The Great British Bake Off, Top Chef, and all the food television drama worth discussing.

    Return of the Soggy Bottom (Pastry Week) | GBBO S17 E6 | COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF

  3. 2d ago

    How Keith Corbin Turned Alta Into a Top 10 LA Restaurant | THE LA FOOD PODCAST INTERVIEWS

    Chef Keith Corbin is rewriting the rules of California cuisine, and he's doing it in a way that could only happen in Los Angeles. This week on The LA Food Podcast: Interviews, Luca sits down with the acclaimed chef, author of California Soul, and owner of Alta Adams for a wide-ranging conversation about the restaurant's bold reinvention, the food cultures that shaped him, and why his cooking is more personal than ever. Keith breaks down his new approach to cooking, which he calls "transposition" rather than fusion, and explains how dishes like duck confit with mole demi-glace and miso-glazed eggplant tell the story of LA's cultural crossroads. The conversation also gets into the challenges of reinventing an already beloved restaurant, Keith's complicated relationship with gentrification in West Adams, and his ongoing fight to bring investment and opportunity to his hometown of Watts. Plus, Keith reveals what really happened when he heard Luca's controversial comparison of Alta Adams and Little Mountain (spoiler: he drove straight to Montecito to investigate), takes us behind the scenes of America's Culinary Cup, reveals which competitor intimidated him most, and explains why Padma Lakshmi might be the toughest judge in food television. From Michelin stars and community activism to In-N-Out burgers and the future of LA dining, it's a funny, thoughtful, and deeply Los Angeles conversation with one of the city's most compelling chefs. LINKS & MENTIONS Alta Adams: https://www.altaadams.com/ California Soul by Keith Corbin: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677186/california-soul-by-keith-corbin/ Little Mountain (Montecito): https://www.littlemountainsb.com/ America's Culinary Cup (Paramount+): https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/americas-culinary-cup/ Broken Spanish Comedor: https://brokenspanishcomedor.com/ LA Times review of the new Alta Adams: https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2026-08-27/alta-adams-reopening-keith-corbin-restaurant-review Follow The LA Food Podcast for more conversations with the chefs, restaurateurs, and personalities shaping how Los Angeles eats.

    How Keith Corbin Turned Alta Into a Top 10 LA Restaurant | THE LA FOOD PODCAST INTERVIEWS

  4. 5d ago

    The Definitive LA Times 101 Best Restaurants Analysis | THE LA FOOD PODCAST

    Today on The LA Food Podcast, Father Sal and I have once again committed the frankly psychotic act of treating the LA Times' annual 101 Best Restaurants list like it's the NBA Draft, dear listener. We've got spreadsheets, hot takes, and enough grievances to keep a restaurant publicist employed through Christmas. The 2026 list is here, and we've got some questions. Is newcomer Lielle really the best restaurant in Los Angeles? Has Funke somehow become more essential than Bestia and Bavel? Does Alta Adams' meteoric rise to #10 prove that Keith Corbin is having the year of his life? And what exactly did Pizzeria Bianco do to deserve getting kicked off the list altogether? We're going deep on the biggest risers, the most brutal falls, the perennial heavyweights, the most egregious snubs, and the restaurants we're betting on for 2027. Plus, we discuss my OTHER 101, because apparently one list of 101 restaurants simply wasn't enough. But first, we recap the sold-out Echo Park Pizza Crawl, which raised $1,750 for Soccer Without Borders, plus some very good eating at the LA Food Bowl, Carousel, Mr. T, and Quarter Sheets, where I may or may not have committed an act of betrayal against my best friend. And in Chef's Kiss / Big Miss, we're tackling the explosive Memo Torres vs. LA Taco saga, an absolutely deranged scrambled egg scene in Nathan Fielder's Elizabeth Holmes documentary, restaurants finally putting their foot down on menu substitutions, and the horrifying economics of Halloween candy. It's a big one, dear listener. Get comfortable. LINKS AND FURTHER READING Memo Torres responds to LA Taco Eater on the scrambled eggs scene in You Can See Everything Eater on restaurants pushing back against substitutions The New York Times on skyrocketing Halloween candy prices THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY SLANG.AI Slang.ai is an AI phone concierge built specifically for restaurants, helping teams handle incoming calls, reservations, guest questions, and more, so staff can focus on the people actually dining with them. With its new Superhost technology, Slang.ai can recognize guests' emotions, adapt naturally to conversations, and even handle interruptions and language switches. Restaurant groups like Memento Mori Hospitality and Telefèric Barcelona are already using Slang to help manage their phones. Learn more about Slang.ai and Superhost here: https://www.slang.ai/restaurants?utm_source=la_food_podcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=superhost_launch_oct_26&utm_content=ad_read And check out our recent interview with Chloe Makhani of Casaléna to hear how her restaurant uses Slang.ai to improve hospitality. Powered by Acquired Taste Media.

    The Definitive LA Times 101 Best Restaurants Analysis | THE LA FOOD PODCAST

  5. Oct 28

    LA TACO's Meltdown: Memo Torres, Javier Cabral & the Fallout | TAQUEANDO WITH BILL ESPARZA

    All hell has broken loose at LA TACO. Following the firing of longtime reporter Memo Torres, the departure of Izzy Ramirez, and a series of increasingly contentious public statements, one of Los Angeles' most beloved independent publications finds itself at the center of an extraordinary controversy. Bill Esparza and Rob break down the entire saga, from the ethical questions surrounding Torres' relationship with a California state senator to LA TACO's handling of the fallout, its ownership structure, and allegations of newsroom dysfunction. Bill also opens up about his own complicated history with editor-in-chief Javier Cabral, including a little-known story about how he landed the book deal for L.A. Mexicano. Then, in a stunning late-night twist, Torres publishes his side of the story while Bill and Rob are recording, prompting an emergency addendum and a whole new set of questions about LA TACO's future. Plus, the guys recap the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants celebration, the growing influence of Latino chefs on LA's dining scene, and some of the list's biggest surprises. It's an unusually explosive episode of Taqueando, and nobody is holding back.

    LA TACO's Meltdown: Memo Torres, Javier Cabral & the Fallout | TAQUEANDO WITH BILL ESPARZA

  6. Oct 27

    Anything off the trolley, dear? (Dessert Week) | GBBO S17 E5 | COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF

    It's Dessert Week in the Great British Bake Off tent, but somehow Elizabeth Holmes has found her way into the conversation. Nancy and Bits are back to recap Season 17, Episode 5, where the bakers tackle self-saucing puddings, a tricky bread-and-butter pudding technical, and a gloriously retro dessert trolley showstopper. We're talking soggy bottoms, questionable textures, and who's emerging as a serious contender for the Bake Off crown. Plus, the ladies take a major detour into You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder's bizarre new Elizabeth Holmes documentary. What happens when the mind behind Nathan for You and The Rehearsal turns his attention to the disgraced Theranos founder? Nancy and Bits have plenty to discuss. From British puddings to Silicon Valley fraud, it's another delightfully unhinged episode of Compliments to the Chef!

    Anything off the trolley, dear? (Dessert Week) | GBBO S17 E5 | COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF

  7. Oct 26

    Bill Addison & Jenn Harris Break Down the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants of 2026 | THE LA FOOD POD INTERVIEWS

    The Los Angeles Times 101 Best Restaurants of 2026 is here, and the two people behind the list are joining us to break it all down. LA Times restaurant critics Bill Addison and Jenn Harris return to The LA Food Podcast to explain how they chose LA's best restaurants, why newcomer Lielle earned the coveted No. 1 spot, and what this year's rankings reveal about the state of dining in Los Angeles. We get into the biggest surprises, snubs, and shake-ups, including why three-Michelin-starred Somni didn't make the list, how Alta Adams rocketed into the top 10, why restaurants like Barbacoa Ramirez tumbled down the rankings, and what happened to Pizzeria Bianco. Plus, Bill and Jenn discuss the restaurants making a comeback, the exciting new openings redefining LA dining, and why the word "best" might not be the best way to describe the 101 in the first place. From Holbox and Kato to Broken Spanish Comedor, n/naka, and Osteria Mozza, we're going behind the scenes of LA's most anticipated restaurant list. Read the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants of 2026: https://www.latimes.com/food Subscribe to The LA Food Podcast for weekly conversations about Los Angeles restaurants, chefs, food news, and everything happening in LA's dining scene.

    Bill Addison & Jenn Harris Break Down the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants of 2026 | THE LA FOOD POD INTERVIEWS

  8. Oct 23

    Karen Bass vs. Nithya Raman: Who's Better for LA Restaurants? | THE LA FOOD PODCAST

    Who should run Los Angeles if your single biggest political concern is where you're having dinner? This week, Luca does something no one asked him to do: turns The LA Food Podcast into a political endorsement machine. Karen Bass vs. Nithya Raman. Five rounds. Restaurant permitting, street vendors, housing, homelessness, Hollywood, and the most important question of all: which candidate would be more fun to grab a beer with? By the end, we're endorsing someone. Democracy has never tasted so good. Plus, Luca visits the new Bar Fortuna, has a life-changing steak experience at Gwen, and declares Quarter Sheets one of his favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. Then Luca's wife returns for Chef's Kiss / Big Miss to tackle the possible resurrection of Horses, the James Beard Awards finally recognizing food influencers, Cole's controversial comeback, LA's chicken Caesar wrap obsession, and whether restaurants are collecting a little too much information about their customers. THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY SLANG AI Slang AI is an AI-powered phone concierge built specifically for restaurants, helping teams handle calls, answer guest questions, and spend more time doing what they do best: providing great hospitality. Its new Superhost technology makes conversations feel more natural than ever, even when guests change their minds, interrupt, or switch languages. Learn more at Slang.ai and check out our recent interview with Chloe Makhani of Casaléna to hear how her restaurant is putting it to work. LINKS & FURTHER READING The mayoral showdown Karen Bass: https://www.karenbass.com/ Nithya Raman: https://www.nithyaforthecity.com/ Chef's Kiss / Big Miss Horses is plotting a comeback (Hoodline): https://hoodline.com/2026/09/hollywood-s-horses-plots-sunset-strip-comeback-after-cat-killing-scandal-530k-in-debt/ James Beard Awards introduce new short-form creator categories: https://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/media-awards/broadcast-media-awards Cole's is reopening with new ownership (LA Times): https://www.latimes.com/food/story/2026-10-20/french-dip-icon-coles-will-return-new-menu-new-ownership-same-bukowski-sign How the Chicken Caesar Wrap Ate Los Angeles (Eater): https://la.eater.com/now-trending-los-angeles/307804/chicken-caesar-wrap-los-angeles-restaurants-trend Hospitality Shouldn't Require So Much Data (Ravenous): https://www.weareravenous.com/hospitality-shouldnt-require-so-much-data/ Subscribe, leave us a review, and tell us who YOU think deserves the keys to City Hall.

    Karen Bass vs. Nithya Raman: Who's Better for LA Restaurants? | THE LA FOOD PODCAST
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About

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 Haleblian. COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF 📺 To not feel so alone while you binge food TV shows ranging from To

Information

  • Creator
    Acquired Taste Media
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    221
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Acquired Taste Media
  • Show Website
    Acquired Taste Food Podcasts

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