Episode 355: LA’s Top Two Food Festivals

06/17/18 • 81 min

We catch up with Nic Adler, the festival director behind two of Los Angeles’ top eating-and-drinking experiences: Eat Drink Vegan and Arroyo Seco Weekend. Eat Drink Vegan--originally called the Vegan Beer and Food Festival--was started by Nic, a vegan himself, in 2009. That first year was a gathering of 400 people in the parking lot of his very own The Roxy Theatre. This year’s crowd of 10,000+ surrounded the Rose Bowl, and there were more than 450 vendors in attendance. Now in its second year, Arroyo Seco Weekend combines great food--Burritos La Palma, Hatchet Hall and Freedman’s are among the restaurants participating--with great rock music. The 2018 headliners are Neil Young, Kings of Leon, Jack White and Robert Plant. We hit up our vault and revisit a musical guest from 2014: Psychic Twin. Erin Fein began writing and recording as Psychic Twin, and while recording by herself, doubling her vocals and singing melodies, she began to feel that she was in a way working with her twin. Psychic Twin gave us a live performance from their EP, Two Visions.

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Episode 354: Heavy Metal Jewish Deli and Wild Metalism

Restaurateur Jonah Freedman opened his eponymous Jewish deli, Freedman’s, in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood in late 2017, and folks have been kvelling over the decor, vibes and Chef Liz Johnson’s cooking. In a very short time, Freedman’s has earned a slew of accolades from the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Eater and Food & Wine, who tapped Liz for its 2018 “Best New Chefs” class. Liz and Jonah catch us up on all things happening at their deli in a strip mall. Brooklyn’s art rock, post-punk quintet, BODEGA, takes a break from their current tour to join us in-studio for a live performance. The band recently released their debut album, Endless Scroll. Check out their latest music video and single, “Gyrate.”

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Episode 356: Cookbook Albums & Playing in the Grey

Chef Chris Kronner has been a Bay Area stalwart for more than a decade now. He first came on the scene working with Chad Robertson at his flagship, Tartine Bakery. He then bounced around for while with stints in NYC, Uruguay, Japan, England, Switzerland and Peru, among other locales, before opening KronnerBurger in 2015 in Oakland. Chris’ burgers are a something of a phenomenon, drawing acclaim far and wide. Sadly, in early 2018 a fire closed KronnerBurger, but not to worry Chris has landed on his feet with both a new cookbook, A Burger to Believe In, and a new kitchen gig, linking up with Robertson again to open Henry’s in Berkeley. Prima is the rock project from Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, Rose Blanshei. Over the years, Prima’s developed a reputation for powerful lyricism and emotional storytelling driven by Rose’s searing voice which evokes the likes of Patti Smith, PJ Harvey and Karen O, complemented by her guitar whose sound she says is inspired by, “Lightning. Dirt. Metals. Debt.” Prima’s debut EP, Performance, was released in summer 2017, and is the result of Rose plumbing the innermost emotional depths of pain, suffering and violence. Rose joins us in studio to talk about the arc of Prima over the years, and also gives us a live studio performance. Check out Prima’s latest single, “Diva.”

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