Jeff Gordinier: The Antidote to LA Fatigue

Joan McNamara is Joan from Joan’s on Third and she’s back on Air Jordan to talk everything Thanksgiving, including how to create the perfect holiday meal with her food, new ways to enhance turkey, fresh cranberry sauce vs. that canned jelly sh*t, what dishes gravy should and should not be poured on, Jordan’s day after sandwich, and the best Thanksgiving food item according to Joan. Plus, new Joan’s menu items and locations are on the way, her perfect grilled cheese, those new candy bars, and how this Chinese chicken salad institution came to be and why it continues to butter Los Angeles with love.

Max's LA cocktail spots, lots of Somni 2.0 talk, BTS of the Air Jordan soundtrack, best new restaurants of the year, top croissants, more candy talk, more Hector talk, more sharing handrolls, the Oxalis breakfast burrito, Koo Koo Roo is coming, Kushiba is no more, clown influencers, the ideal wedding, sending food back to the kitchen, splitting a wine pairing, Thanksgiving plans, Max's advice for finding true love, and more LA vs. NY nonsense.

Josh Peck joins Jordan and Max for the ultimate late October sugar snacking session. Snickers vs. Baby Ruth, Red Vines vs. Twizzlers, Peanut vs. Peanut Butter M&Ms, the offical top five trick or treat offerings shocks Jordan, and is Candy Corn a Halloween hit or total sh*t? Plus, the McDonald's chicken Big Mac and giant McNuggets Jordo needs, Josh surprises with a nerdy contender, and Max tastes some gummies for the first time while looking like he's in witness protection.

The best of Los Angeles Japanese cuisine is reluctantly ranked by Max based on what he has experienced, and it's all sushi, tempura, barbecue and both the high and low end greatness. But first, Jordan's top meal of the year, his annual Yom Kippur break the fast extravaganza is reviewed, and somehow all the bagels, Sees candy, "soufflés," and the Jordo sandwich is news to Max.

Travis Lett, the Gjelina genius is back in Venice with RVR, a love letter of an Izakaya to Japan, where Max and Jordan recently shared a California produce driven meal. In this first look of the newly opened restaurant, the fellas break down the menu including best bites and what to expect from one of Shapiro's culinary heroes. Plus, Jordan ran late because of a new saun and ice situation, the shocking parking on Abbott Kinney, sharing food and paying the bill etiquette, dessert high-fives, and a big food news rumor about Max is exposed and explained.

Jordan has been lost in a food haze of parties for 13-year-olds lately, so he educates Max on the ways of the Hebrew school graduate party. Top passed appetizers and cocaktail hour stations are discussed, old school vs. new school celebrations are explained, and the ultimate candy grab situation is experienced. Plus, in yet another unfortunate Chubby Tale, Jordan takes us through a recent coma inducing nosh performance consisting of a top mitzvah station, the high level LA burger, taco, and shawarma, too many slices of pizza, and tequila brands Max frowns upon, but it's all Jewish excellence in the end.

Jordan and Max answer audience questions covering everything from pre-drinking and post-creaming, Fall ingredient depression, bread vs. rice, veganism, Jordo Travolta, RVR is finally opening, and a Diet Coke vessel ranking. Plus, the Langer's closure rumor, LA Times' 37 sandwiches, the best cereals, unicorn wines, no underwear in Japan, restaurant dumpings, the neck beard is cauing a stir, mother sauce talk, Kazunori and Nanban-Kan orders, and more jabbing accustions.

Dominick DiBartolomeo welcomes Jordan and Max into the private dining room of The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills to get a taste of the newest sandwich on the menu, a cheesy fried pork masterpiece. The boys give their reviews, then offer Dom ideas for sandwiches they want launched next, and Max talks this recent eating tour of Japan including the best bite, impossible sushi reservations, Tokyo pizza, a hell of a burger and fries, and how Los Angeles' Japanese games compares to it all. Plus, Max may become a fashion influencer, the neck beard, egg on burgers and pizza hate, but egg salad love especially with a cutlet, and of course the BIG question: is Max on Ozempic?

Prime slices have dominated the Los Angeles pie game for a decade thanks to Zak Fishman, who enters the Sherman Oaks Food Building to talk top toppings, busiest days of the year, cornmeal thoughts, Jordan's impossible salad bar and arcade concept, a ricotta debate and best white pies in town, Chicago representation, what exactly grandma and football styles are, we don’t need no stinking calzones, a lack of mom and pop stuffed crust, pizza sandwiches, a crunch pursuit, stank cheese has gotta go, and back in the day LA pizza.

Esquire writer Jeff Gordinier has returned to living in Los Angeles after decades of being a New Yorker to share endless happy dining thoughts on Jordan’s favorite bite, a beautiful Apple Pan vs. Pie ’N Burger take, “the bloated rock operas of the culinary realm,” a plague of under-seasoning, Addison love, eating pain, the perfect LA bang bang, learning about a restaurant through hospitality, this year’s best new restaurant scouting, San Diego's present, New York's past, having too many children, no “bounty” talk, egg goo, 1999 movies, how to be a better man, and who’s more optimized: Jordan or Max?