2018 LA Weekly 99 Essential Restaurants

I totally get it…the disclaimer is for folks going there expecting a CUT (or something similar) experience. Steak N’Stein is not that…but they do offer a fun everyday experience…one that I love during the cooler months of the year. Admittedly, I am not a fan of the strange fountain they put in the fireplace during the summer.

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When it comes to most Asian foods, Eater isn’t the place to go to.

Well I can’t emphasize enough that Rogue 99 was Tien’s idea. It’s a Jedi coalition.

I’m not familiar with Star Wars, but I assume The Empire is a capable organization? Because I feel like the new Weekly is really in over its head - there’s the listing a restaurant that isn’t open, but also, the Weekly’s marketing manager wrote one of the entries on the list. I would say they don’t respect church/state, but I also think they don’t even know about.

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It’s hard to get much done without employees.

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i don’t think that’s the point.

For me, the biggest omissions are:

Officine Brera – probably my favorite Italian restaurant in LA. Great food in a mature environment. I think restaurants with mature environments get unfairly dinged in these lists. (See also omissions of Drago Centro and Valentino.) The reviewers are looking for loud, crowded, and hip. All three of the restaurants I just mentioned would likely get a Michelin star.

Rossoblu – also great. Perhaps would get a Michelin star.

Urasawa – perhaps the best meal in LA

Vespertine – one of the most interesting and serious meals in LA

Mori Sushi – some of the best sushi in LA

Then, I would say some of these places on this list are mediocre if not horrible. E.g.: Stuffed Sandwich (horrible).

Best. Line. Ever.

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They think they’re organized and are capable to a degree but at the cost of having no heart, no soul. Self intere$t seems to be the goal.

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FIFY

You and most people on FTC are the 1% when it comes to food info and knowledge. For most layman Eater is probably their best source for info, certainly better than Yelp. I have friends we go to dinner with 1x per month that routinely offend me with their choices.

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Do many non-foodies even know about Eater? I find it good for news but hit and miss for recommendations. Some of their lists (particularly the higher-profile ones) are clearly written by well-informed professionals. Others not so much.

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According to comScore there are 51M users who visit Eater.com sites each month.
About Us - Eater

If you search for a term like “best restaurant in Minneapolis” or “best Korean bbq in NYC” Eater lists and articles are in the top 3 non-paid search results. I assume a lot of traffic is from searches and not people who go to Eater on their own for the content.

I wouldn’t trust Eater’s own stats.

Alexa ranks Yelp #35 out of all US web sites, Eater is #512. SimilarWeb ranks Yelp #1 in food & drink, Chowhound #28, Eater #86.

I’d love to see the other 85 sites ahead of Eater. I assume FTC is #2?

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The Empire is like Microsoft back when people cared about Windows vs. Mac. And it was lead by a guy w/ a really big head. As in, a physically very large head.

And there can be no Jedi alliance… Hence “The Last Jedi” subtitle of the last Star Wars movie.

:wink:

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Yes for Steak N’Stein, and also for the Dal Rae: not the be-all, end-all, but places that are somehow more than they seem.

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I’ll take this one.

Our #1 traffic driver to the site daily is people coming to the homepage, not just scrolling through lists they found by Google searching or coming because of one pop on a particular news story. Those are integral to what Eater does as well, but la.eater.com as a landing page is used by many, many folks daily, meaning they are going to Eater on their own for the content.

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Makes sense to me. Appreciate what you all do.

even my freaking parents are all over it
you guys do great, fair work

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I’m not a valley denizen anymore, but it is consistently ridiculous how ignored the valley (outside of the newer places in Studio City which is basically Santa Monica without the beach) is on these lists. Casa Vega as the lone Mexican place? 3x more Thai restaurants in Hollywood than North Hollywood? I swear by the food writing in this town you’d think that it’s Barstow on a grander scale.

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