For me they can be hit or miss. Or could be the case of if Sergio (Pla and/or Fern is in the kitchen) is in the house. I think it’s the latter.
I am more interested in their Rice and Curry concept. I hope they have the fish balls to do it ala Northern Thai Food Club style menu, 100% regional speciality menu/100% Southern Thai menu
The tourists can eat at Luv2eat for their pad Thai
I think the use of the word ‘essential’ is gradually changing in the arena of food writing. These days, to me, it’s become clickbait.
Man, tough crowd here. I think Luv2Eat is absolute crack and one of my favorite places to bring visitors to show just how terrible the thai food is where they live.
That’s hilarious. I try to expose foreign or small-town guests to good food, but then realize that maybe they’ll be happier at an Olvera Street restaurant, or Hop Woo. Though everyone seems to love Korean bbq.
Don’t get me wrong, I luv the place. My beef here is with the overuse of the word ‘essential’…
Yeah, guess that makes sense. Probably Eater’s fault (and that’s where Bill came from).
Totally agree. Excited to see how specific they get for their lunch place.
I really miss Ganda lol.
I believe Jonathan Gold pioneered “essential” to make it clear that his annual LA Weekly lists were not “the best” but rather a selection of restaurants that captured in some way the essence of LA.
Which if you read the end of Addison’s review is exactly how he’s using the word here.
I’m skeptical that it was Gold’s idea to use “Best” in his annual 101 lists at the Times.
Agree, though I feel that “essential” has been somewhat hijacked since.
All adjectives have been degraded by cheaply, shoddily made websites.
here is my absolutely essential write-up of our lunch at luv2eat in december. there was rain on the forecast and so we didn’t get to sit outside. but we’d got there right after opening and there was barely anyone there. they checked our vaccination proof (and kept doing so carefully for everyone who came in after us) and sat us in the front room, where we were by ourselves for most of the meal–the larger room got quite packed later.
the food was very good again. highlights: moo ping, kua gling with sator, pad ka pi. the massaman did seem a little more coconut milk-heavy than i remembered from before. the only minor complaint: heat levels. we asked for thai hot and they asked to choose a number on a 1-10 scale (which i don’t remember from before either–but it had been a while). remembering how hot their hottest can be we asked for 7 for the hot dishes and were told that was still pretty hot. but nothing was actually very hot and on the check they were all marked “medium”. communication breakdown in the kitchen? you have to ask for 9 or 10 if you really want hot and get it turned up to 11 to blow out your eyeballs? i’m not sure.
anyway, it was a very good meal. more details and pics are on the blog.
your blog is an inspiration. outta curiosity, how long does it take u to write something like that up?
Someone clue me in on the ubiquitous Sergio reference. Honestly, I thought there was a chef named Sergio who job hopped alot. I now suspect that there is no one Sergio…
the one and only sergio
Sergio is both an actual person and a metaphor
Sergio the chef used to co-own mariscos Chente with his ex wife. Ppl would comment that the food was not nearly as good when he wasn’t cooking in the kitchen including jgold. Sergio now owns seafood 106 underground in Inglewood in his back yard.
When posters refer to Sergio generally, they are meaning that the chef was in the kitchen or was cooking. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing…
One of those people was @westsidegal who, if memory serves, upset TPTB on ChowHound by suggesting that potential diners “ask if Sergio’s working” (that’s a paraphrase) before ordering. (Or maybe she suggested calling before going to Mariscos Chente?) CH thought she had some connection to the restaurant because she was a major voice for it.
with very few exceptions–only my longer pieces on food issues–the difference between typing time and composition time on my blog posts is usually a minute or two.
Ahh…That famous BYOR (Bring-Your-Own-Rice) incident.