SoCal(orific)
Take a bite out of the LA food scene
‘‘You have to try Eggslut.’’ I lost count of the number of times the breakfast joint was recommended to me over a week in Los Angeles, in the United States. In this city, people like their food, and like to keep on top of the hottest places to eat it.
But as a visitor, it can feel like you’ll never really be part of the scene.
So here I am, preparing to eat my way to the heart of the City of Angels, guided by food writer Hillary Eaton on one of the very first ‘‘Experiences’’ offered on Airbnb’s new Trips platform.
Airbnb Trips, which allows people to book multi-day tours or activities as well as holiday homes, launched with much fanfare at the 2016 Airbnb Open conference in November.
Hailed as ‘‘the most significant development in [Airbnb’s] eight-year history’’, the offer of Experiences marks a shift in direction for a travel company, which started out providing a platform to let out spare rooms.
But Airbnb insists it remains true to its ethos of allowing travellers to belong the world over. No soulless tours on ageing buses here, it claims; instead the buzzword is ‘‘immersion’’, promising to throw the visitor into local life.
Currently available in 12 cities worldwide, Experiences will launch in New Zealand next year, starting with Queenstown. They are, by no means, all about food – in LA, Eaton’s Expert Tastes three-day offering is joined by others such as surfing on Malibu beach, urban pottery, and guest-list access to underground dance music.
There are also Experiences that promise social good, by supporting charities and non-profits – including two days with Ron Finley, the ‘‘guerrilla gardener’’ whose documentary and TED talk on urban food-growing projects in some of LA’s poorest neighbourhoods shot him to fame.
We meet Eaton at Unit 120, a Chinatown restaurant space converted into a culinary incubator for up-andcoming chefs and restauranteurs to test out their newest food concepts.
Outside, a long queue snakes past a row of unpromising-looking Chinese takeaways and hipster coffee shops – people wait for hours for a taste of Howlin’ Ray’s fried chicken, just a few doors down. So far, so hip.
Inside, it’s an unusual welcome. ‘‘Enjoy our balls in yo’ mouth’’ proclaims the sandwich board of a man in a banana suit, armed with a megaphone and Hello Kitty sunglasses.
Nguyen Tran began his journey into cookery on the wrong side of the law. It turns out that opening a pop-up restaurant in your apartment, which then becomes an enormous hit, can get you into trouble with both your landlord and City Hall.
But that, and his famous banana costume, also got him noticed, and Tran’s (legitimate) pop-up, Starry Kitchen, is currently making waves in LA.
We’re trying the aforementioned balls, light bites of crispy rice-covered tofu with a wonderfully spicy sauce, as our first Expert Taste.
As we eat, Eaton gives us an overview of the LA culinary scene. A writer for LA Weekly, Vice, and more, she trained as a chef before becoming a food critic and has appeared as an expert on MasterChef.
She’s the kind of person who can get you a table at the place that’s booked up weeks in advance. She’s also the kind of person who can get a round of chicken from Howlin’ Ray’s on the table in a matter of minutes. No twohour line for us, thank you very much.
As we choose our fried chicken – country, medium, or so-spicy-youcan’t-touch-your-eyes-for-a-week – it’s time for a toast. Anthony Cailan is our sommelier, tasked with finding a tipple that can stand up to the heat. He’s all about organic, natural wines, the newest drinks trend in the city.
Next, it’s into the kitchen to meet chef Alvin Cailan – Anthony’s brother, and the founder of that mostrecommended of LA breakfast places, Eggslut.
Fillipino-American Cailan’s newest concept is Amboy, offering a modern take on the Fillipino food he and his brothers grew up eating themselves. Right now, he’s also writing a
Hillary Eaton is the kind of person who can get you a table at the place that’s booked up weeks in advance. She’s also the kind of person who can get a round of chicken from Howlin’ Ray’s on the table in a matter of minutes.
cookbook of some of those recipes with Eaton.
He heaps salt on the tray of whole pompano fish – picked up by his dad, who still knows the best market stalls – as he tells us how Amboy is slang for a second-generation Filipino ‘‘American boy’’, and talks us though his journey into cookery and a successful restaurant.
Cailan shows us how to create a Filipino-inspired butter sauce, and how to crisp and char the fish until it’s perfect – ‘‘The fish will tell you when to flip it.’’ It’s a side to eating out that most of us rarely get to see – and by the time that fish arrives on our table back in the dining room, we are aching to dig in.
Cailan serves it alongside crispy pork belly, sticky rice, and bread with sweet yam paste – made by pastry chef Isa Fabro – in a Filipino Kamayan-style feast.
The guests chat, drink, and swap food tips around the long table in what would normally be the finale of three days of ‘‘immersion’’ on Eaton’s experience.
I leave with a list of must-eat restaurants for the rest of my trip, and the promise of help with bookings if I struggle to get a table at any of the best spots. First on the list is, of course, Eggslut, which I finally manage to check out a few days later. (Yes, it really is as good as they say.)
Trips sets out to ‘‘make travel magical again’’ – but at $469 for three days for Expert Tastes, which does not include accommodation or travel, that magic definitely isn’t going to be accessible for everyone.
Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-founder and CEO, says half of the experiences available are priced under NZ$280, but plenty will set you back much more. It’s a pretty big step away from the humble, airbed-in-the-lounge rental, which the company so likes to remind people that it started out with.
So do I feel ‘‘immersed’’ in LA food culture as a result? I certainly head off into the evening feeling well-fed, and Eaton’s must-try list, plus the connections I have made with some of the other participants, makes me feel less of a clueless and lonely tourist in a new city. It’s a great idea.
And the best bit? The next time someone mentions Eggslut, I can smile and say, ‘‘Oh yes, I know the chef.’’ If that’s not ‘‘belonging’’, then what is?