Who cares.
So says Bill Esparaza (aka Street Gourmet LA) writing in LA Magazine.
Your move @westsidegal
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I thought he was manning the asada grill @ Loqui.
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Thatās James Beard Foundation Award Winning Bill Esparza aka StreetGourmetLA to you!
(FWIW I have been to ConiāSeafood post-Sergio and it was very good, though apparently thatās Chenteās daughter Connieās place anyway. Hence, I guess, the name. I also went to the one in Mar Vista many years ago, and it was unsurprisingly also very good. Though I guess the ownership/kitchen control is murkier there.)
Winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Congrats on the JBF medal!!!
hear that? thatās the sound of even more credibility gassing out of the beard awards.
without a doubt, esparza excels in finding excellent places to eat mexican food. but his piss-poor āwriting,ā and
attitude deserve something less than positive reinforcement.
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Couldnāt agree more
Huh? I donāt get the vitriol.
Where was the poor attitude?
homie canāt get off baylessā cock.
that said, he puts together Tacolandia so I got nothing but love.
I donāt think the writing is any worse than Clarissaās and linus has nothing but love for Clarissa. Got figure.
porthos, i think youāre exaggerating a bit here. iāve never claimed any great love for clarissaās writing (that i
remember. then again, i drink.), only disgust at the amount of vitriol spewed her direction.
i think iāll let āany worse than clarissaāsā stand as the ringing endorsement it isā¦hee
esparza sure knows his mexican food, but his āattitudeā is clear if you read his posts, his blog and his
responses to comments made about same.
no big whup. after all, thank zoroaster, iāve never met the dude, so who cares what i think?
I remember Bill taking shots at another posterās personal tastes. Something about likening a posterās taste in Mexican food to considering Kenny G to be jazz. It might have been Tlapazola at issue.
He and some other poster (might have been eat nopal) werenāt being very polite at all toward the other poster. I think the mods stepped in and either told folks to chill or they might have even deleted the posts. He or his henchman said something about frank talk like this was common in Mexican culture and no harm was meant. Paraphrasing, āOne will say things like, āThis is my daughter - isnāt she fat!?āā
I get that he is passionate about Mexican cuisine and giving it and those carrying the torch itās due. I just feel itās necessary to slight those ānot in the knowā like he is.
I like Bill but he clearly misses the sarcastic/joking nature of the J Gold article he quotes. Kind of sad.
Bill has a definite passion, point-of-view and attitude that can rub certain sensitive, and tender souls the wrong way - it is part of his charm, IMHO.
But I can also say he has always been extremely generous in answering my questions. Once, before a trip to Mexico City I took a few years ago, he was extremely generous and gracious with his time - he gave me a slew of fantastic chow-formation.
he is absolutely generous when it comes to giving advice about where to eat. ive
taken advantage of that myself.
however, mr. ciaobob, i disagree with the first part of your post in that it puts
the onus on the receivers of said āattitude,ā and not the giver.
when haeldur mentioned missing a joke, i thought that nailed it. guy doesnt
have much of a sense of humour, at least in print.
I suspect heās at Baroo which is closed for a little while. I think heās building out a new grilling station to spec.
Bill Esparza used to annoy the living daylights out of me. Instead of celebrating the tremendous quality and diversity of Mexican food in LA, he would complain constantly about how bad everything was here compared to Mexico. He also would routinely commit the fallacy of equating āauthenticā with ātastes good.ā I found it infuriating.
However, writing for more mainstream audiences has mellowed him out a great deal. I no longer perceive the same undercurrent of judgment in all of this posts. He seems more inclined to embrace the positives of eating in LA, instead of dwelling relentlessly on the negative.
I also have to say, I totally thought of Esparza during my underwhelming meal at Topolobampo in Chicago last month. It actually reminded me of Tlapazola Grill lol.