NFTs have become a polarizing force within the entertainment industry. Remember when Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon tried to excite their audience with NFTs and instead made them cringe? Or when Tyler, The Creator asked “What the f*ck is a NFT?”
Some fans of The White Stripes were weirded out when the band announced last year that they were selling an NFT collection alongside a collaborative remix of their song “Seven Nation Army” with The Glitch Mob. The collection, done with artist Strangeloop, was described as “6 unique pieces of art, including a one-of-one full song visualizer that comes with a 7-inch vinyl test pressing of the remix.” But Jack White has now expressed his actual feelings about NFTs — he’s not as interested and into them as everyone thinks he is. “I don’t want to come out and say ‘I had nothing to do with this,’ ” he said in an interview with The Atlantic. “It is my band. We allowed it to happen. But it didn’t really interest me. It’s not something we’ll be doing very much of.”
“It gives off a vibe of ‘Well, if people are stupid enough to give me money for this, I’ll take it,’ ” he added.
As if Britney Spears hasn’t been through enough, her technically first husband Jason Alexander was arrested for crashing her wedding to Sam Asghari. Alexander reportedly tried to livestream the event on Instagram before tangling with Spears’ security who secured him until the cops arrived. He’s currently looking at charges for trespassing, vandalism, and battery.
Obviously, this was a crappy thing to do to Spears on her wedding day, which arrives on the heels of her winning a grueling legal battle to finally free herself from her conservatorship. However, the situation took a more jovial turn as Twitter ran wild with the fact that her ex shares the same name as Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander. Following news of the arrest, “Summer of George” started trending as people couldn’t resist referencing the classic episode where George Costanza thinks he’s about to have the best summer of his life. (Sorry to spoil a 30-year-old show, but he does not.)
You can see some of the reactions below, and these are just a tiny taste of the “Summer of George” tweets that are still pouring in as of this writing:
As for the now-arrested Alexander, Spears’ attorney has vowed to make sure he’s fully prosecuted for crashing her nuptials. Via TMZ:
Britney Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart, tells TMZ he’s “absolutely livid” Jason tried to crash the wedding and says Alexander needs to be locked up.
Rosengart tells us Britney is safe and adds … “I am personally working with the sheriff’s department to ensure Mr. Alexander is aggressively prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Despite Alexander’s trespassing, Spears’ wedding otherwise went off without a hitch as Madonna, Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton, Donatella Versace, and others attended the joyous event.
There are a lot of spirits competitions these days. And while you don’t really need to keep track of them all, I do — it is my job, after all. One great thing about awards competitions is that it does give you a sense of what’s out there that’s actually worth buying. Also, each of these competitions seems to have a slightly different top tier of winners, which adds some nice variety.
Case in point, the top winners from this year’s Ultimate Spirits Challenge (announced this week) contain a varied group of American whiskeys. Some of them, we’ve seen on other award lists. Some we haven’t. The Ultimate Spirits Challenge (USC) — which has the requisite elite group of industry pros as judges — is a rigorous blind tasting and judging process. For the 13th edition of the competition, thousands upon thousands of bottles from 50 countries were entered. Those pours were evaluated multiple times and given points that equated to “Great Value,” “Finalist,” and “Chairman’s Trophy” — the latter of which highlights the best of the best and was only awarded to 57 bottles across all categories.
To help you understand the list of this year’s Chairman’s Trophy winners from the American whiskey category, I’m listing each of them with my own tasting notes. I’m lucky enough to get to taste a lot of whiskeys and I’ve had nice experiences with each of these. Hopefully, my tasting notes will give you an idea of which of these amazing whiskeys you might actually want to add to your bar cart. Let’s jump in!
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This whiskey was distilled and laid down in barrels back in 2004. The barrels were vatted after 17 years and proofed down to the bottled-in-bond standard of 100 proof and then bottled in the iconic Old Fitz decanter for a Spring 2022 release.
Tasting Notes:
A hint of woodiness comes through on the nose via cherry tree bark with the faintest echo of dried rose next to soft vanilla oil, a hint of cedar, a distant thought of old leather, and a touch of burnt orange peels. The palate starts off softly with a lush vanilla cream that builds towards a winter spice matrix of nutmeg, allspice, and clove with a touch of cherrywood that sweetens toward dried cherries. That mid-palate builds on the cherry with spices (nutmeg and allspice) and sticky tobacco vibes as the finish arrives next to a super creamy dark cherry in vanilla cream feel with a dusting of dark chocolate and more of that dry cherry tree bark.
Bottom Line:
This is one of my favorite bourbon whiskey of 2022, so far. It’s outstanding yet fleeting, unfortunately. Still, if you come across this at a whiskey bar, buy a pour and spend some time luxuriating in the good stuff.
This whiskey was produced in the spring of 2003 at Buffalo Trace. Since then, it lost 73 percent of its volume to the angels as it rested in warehouses C, K, M, and Q on various floors. The barrels were then vatted, (barely) proofed down, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The nose has this matrix of dark holiday spices that layer into a Black Forest cake with the finest stewed cherries, the moistest chocolate sponge cake, and the richest cream with a touch of vanilla and dark chocolate shavings and a whisper of pink finishing salt. The palate really leans into the cherry with a bright but saucy vibe that’s spiked with nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon (and maybe a hint of ground ginger) while little firecrackers full of salted black licorice, dry cedar bark, and Cherry Coke fill in the background. The finish takes its time as the mid-palate cherry sweetness slowly dissolves into an old wooden garden box full of fresh dark potting soil bursting with fresh mint and spicy nasturtiums.
Bottom Line:
Every year, this release hits it out of the park. This is phenomenal whiskey with a very accessible and classic profile. It’s a whiskey that truly hits you emotionally with the “feels” and deep comfort. This is a can’t miss, even with the inflated aftermarket price tag.
Rye Whiskey: Smooth Ambler Founders’ Cask Strength Series
This whiskey is West Virginia in a glass. The juice is made from 88 percent rye with 12 percent malted barley. The spirit then rests for five years before it’s bottled as-is, with no filtration and no cutting with water.
Tasting Notes:
Black tea leads to what feels like a hint of Guinness’ roasted barley with notes of bitter dark chocolate, espresso beans, and burnt toffee with a thin line of vanilla cream and dried cherries. The palate builds on that foundation by sweetening that black tea considerably while dry and sharp cinnamon, clove, and anise add a layer of heat and a sense of dried mint and fennel counterpoint everything. The end sweetens again with a sense of woody maple syrup next to more of that dark toffee, bursting espresso beans, and soft and lush vanilla cream.
Bottom Line:
This is excellent rye whiskey. It dropped at the end of last year (December 2021) and I didn’t get a chance to review it for my best of 2021 list. Had I done, this would have been top tier.
Elmer T. Lee is another hugely popular release that’s very limited (and sought after). Where this differs from the other single barrels on this list is in the mash bill (this is a bit higher rye) and the placing of the barrel in the warehouse. It’s said that the barrels for Elmer T. Lee are stored where the master distiller himself used to store the barrels he kept for his own stash.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is like a decadent breakfast of pancakes smothered in cinnamon butter, dripping with the best maple syrup, and topped with a hand-made scoop of vanilla ice cream. The palate holds onto the vanilla and spice but settles into more of a floral honeyed sweetness with touches of cedar, old library book leather, and a hint of tobacco buzz. The end lingers for a while and leaves you with a dry pear tobacco warmth next to a cinnamon heat and maple bar sweetness.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those whiskeys that’s just good. I don’t need to pontificate or justify. It speaks for itself and delivers on every word of hype it gets.
Single Malt Whiskey: Courage & Conviction Cuvée Single Cask, Cask No. 1266
This whisky is made with 100 percent malted barley. That juice is then loaded into French red wine or Cuvee casks for a minimum of three years (each cask is hand-selected for its distinct flavor profile). These single casks were chosen for their beauty as a stand-alone whisky that doesn’t need any adulteration or cutting with water. The honey barrel is then bottled as-is at cask strength.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is seriously buttery with a touch of brandy butter next to lightly salted caramel with a vanilla whipped cream that merges into a fruity backbone with hints of raisins, new leather, and maybe a whisper of damp straw. Malts shine through first on the palate as hefty brown spices create a serious heat (from those ABVs) before a cherry tobacco chewiness kicks in with a hint of pear candy under all that malty spice and warmth. The mid-palate really leans into the dark and stewed cherry tobacco vibe as a hint of dry hay, reeds, and umami (sweetish tomato paste maybe?) poke in very late on the finish.
The Bottle:
This is another unique and delicious whiskey. It’s a testament to where the burgeoning American single malt whiskey game is headed. In fact, grabbing this bottle feels like you’re getting in on the ground floor of something big.
This new age statement released from Jack Daniel’s feels like a throwback to a bygone era in Tennessee Whiskey. The whiskey is aged for at least ten years. During that time, the barrels spend time in the “Buzzard’s Roost” at the top of the rickhouse. Once they hit the right flavor profile, those barrels are moved to the bottom floors of other warehouses to slow the aging down. Finally, the whiskey is vatted, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a rich matrix of cherry syrup, apple cores, sticky toffee, vanilla ice cream, and a thin line of wet and sweet wood. The palate opens up towards the dark fruit but dries it out and married it to a sticky and spicy tobacco leaf while toasted cedar soaked in salted caramel vibes with dry corn husks that are just singed. The finish really takes its time as the cherry attaches to an old cinnamon stick and the tobacco takes on a sticky chewiness with a mild savory fruit edge.
Bottom Line:
This whiskey continues to clean up at awards competitions this year. I can assure you that this is a legit bottle of Tennessee whiskey that’ll upend your preconceived notions about the mega-brand. It’s nuanced and deep but, more importantly, it’s really f*cking tasty.
Wheat Whiskey: Bainbridge Battle Point Two Islands Islay Cask
This organic wheat whiskey from up in Washinton has a pretty unique finish. The juice is made from 100% USDA organic soft white wheat pulled in from local Washington farms. The spirit then spends around two years mellowing in oak before it’s re-barreled into oak from Islay which held peaty whisky for ten to 12 years. After around ten months of finishing, the whiskey is vatted, proofed with local water, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The nose draws you in with a sense of soft and damp nori next to a whiff of beach campfire smoke made from driftwood underneath a metal grill that’s searing pineapple and tart apples with a hint of white pepper and vanilla bean. The palate layers in more of the driftwood campfire smoke with a savory sea salt edge leading toward smoked pork belly fat and maybe a hint of smoked salmon belly too next to a touch of old boot leather. The finish veers towards a sweet and smoked toffee candy with hints of maple syrup next to dark chocolate sauce flaked with more sea salt and just kissed with that driftwood smoke.
Bottom Line:
This is fresh and young (that grilled tropical fruit on the nose cannot be denied) while also feeling old and deep. It’s a complex sip that takes you somewhere. It’s a perfect beach party sip if you’re looking for one this summer.
Other: Barrell Whiskey Private Release DJA1 Blend 1 Finished in a St. Agrestis Brooklyn Amaro Cask American Whiskey
These whiskeys highlight the art of masterful blending. The juice in this case is a mix of 14-year-old Kentucky and Indiana whiskey barrels that are vatted and then re-filled into amaro casks from St. Agrestis in Brooklyn. After that final rest, the whiskey is then bottled as-is with zero fussing.
Tasting Notes:
The nose opens with a clear sense of apple Jolly Ranchers that leads to a deep layer of salted black licorice, sassafras, and singed sage next to peanut brittle and sultanas with a hint of old leathery vanilla under it all. The palate leans into the darker aspects of the licorice while a bitter and almost waxy dark cacao nib adheres to that old vanilla with a touch of creamy espresso, grapeseeds, and clove-heavy maple syrup. That sweetness informs the finish with a layer of burnt vanilla pods next to anise and nutmeg heavy gingerbread and a final note of stale cedar planks dipped in that spicy maple syrup.
Bottom Line:
As with all Barrell releases, this is funky, fresh, and very enticing. There’s so much going on that you’ll want to take your time with this one, add a little water, and really just let it wash over you. It’ll be a great tasting experience.
Most rich people don’t understand the novelty of going to the dollar store on the corner at 2 am to get a popsicle when it’s 99 degrees out and there isn’t any air conditioning in your cramped apartment, but the King Of Staten IslandPete Davidson sure does. In fact, that’s how he impresses his girlfriend Kim Kardashian because the idea of going out to get your own $2 ice cream is simply beyond her comprehension–she has people for that!
In the latest episode of Hulu’s The Kardashians, Kardashian revealed that she gets horny when her boyfriend Pete asks her to get ice cream. Like, in a serious way. “Pete is such a good, good person. I can’t even explain it,” she said as a talking head. “He just has the best heart and always thinks of the small things.”
She added, “One time, Pete was like, ‘Babe, let’s go get some ice cream at Thrifty,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, you are making me so f—ing horny.’ Rite Aid? Thrifty? It was literally like one of the best nights of my life.” Thrifty, of course, is the bargain brand of ice cream they sell at Rite Aid in the northeast. Hey, whatever gets you going.
Kardashian added that Davidson likes to gift her ice cream before trips, often getting her the treat before she jets off on her private plane. “I swear it’s like the cutest littlest things,” she said. It’s honestly the bare minimum, but good for her.
As it turns out, Davidson seems to impress his girlfriend with ice cream a lot. “We went to the movies in Staten Island and all I wanted was Dibs. I’m obsessed with Dibs. But you can only get them at like gas stations these days.” You can tell this is all so new for her since she said “in Staten Island” instead of “on Staten Island,” which is a common mistake. She’s used to getting ice cream in Italy, anyway.
In March, Foo Fighters and the rest of the music world were met with the tragic news that drummer Taylor Hawkins had died. Shortly after that, the band canceled all of their upcoming concerts. After working through the passing of their bandmate and friend away from the spotlight, the group’s remaining members are now ready to publicly honor Hawkins, as they just announced a pair of Hawkins tribute concerts for later this year.
Foo Fighters’ return to the stage will be welcomed, as they’ve been one of the most prolific and entertaining live bands of the past few decades. Through all of their performances, Dave Grohl and company have leaned on some songs more than others, so let’s take a look at the 10 songs Foo Fighters have performed the most over all these years.
(All data is accurate as of June 9, 2022, according to Setlist.fm. The site describes itself as “a free wiki-like service to collect and share setlists,” so the community-driven data may not be 100 percent complete or accurate. However, Setlist.fm is the most comprehensive resource for concert setlists online and is home to the best available data of its kind.)
10. “Big Me”
Performances: 611
Naturally, some songs from early in the band’s life are going to be high up on the list because of how long they’ve been around, and one such tune is “Big Me,” a single from the group’s self-titled debut album. The song is well-known for its music video, in which the band parodies iconic Mentos ads. That actually sparked a quirky concert tradition for Foo fans, where concertgoers would throw Mentos at the band.
9. “Best Of You”
Performances: 631
“Best Of You” has the distinction of being the only Foo Fighters song with its own Know Your Meme page, thanks to the terrific old video of Grohl just repeating “the best” over and over. The tune is more than a meme, though, as it’s actually the band’s highest-charting single, peaking at No. 18 on the Hot 100 chart. The In Your Honor lead single is perfect live, too, as the loud-quiet dynamics offer plenty of opportunity for concert catharsis.
8. “Breakout”
Performances: 725
The There Is Nothing Left To Lose era is where Foo Fighters started to really become a superstar group thanks to the success of both the album and the single “Learn To Fly,” the band’s first song to chart on the Hot 100 (more on that tune in a bit). That period spawned a number of memorable singles, including “Breakout,” which has become a live staple for the band (clearly, based on its presence on this list). It’s among the most energetic tunes in the band’s discography that’s a great song when it comes to room for audience participation, as seen in the Lollapalooza Chile 2022 performance above.
7. “All My Life”
Performances: 757
“All My Life” is an important song in Foo Fighters history, as it was part of the group starting to earn major respect on a mainstream level: It got them one of their first Grammy wins, for Best Hard Rock Performance in 2003. The simple-but-iconic opening riff is one that gets concert crowds excited after the first couple strums, and the song’s structure gives the audience time to ramp up their excitement for the in-your-face guitar work and soaring hook.
6. “Times Like These”
Performances: 774
With albums like There Is Nothing Left To Lose, In Your Honor, and One By One, the 2000s was an extremely strong decade for Foo Fighters. “Times Like These,” from the latter album, was one of the defining rock songs of the decade, Foo Fighters and beyond. It’s an excellent song for the band to have in its arsenal due to its versatility, as it’s perfect as an upbeat rocker but also for an acoustic performance, like this version from Howard Stern in 2002.
5. “Learn To Fly”
Performances: 889
As aforementioned, “Learn To Fly” was a transformative song for Foo Fighters and it’s also unlike a lot of others on this list. It rocks, for sure, but the power ballad it has more room to soar than any other song in the group’s oeuvre. Grohl has said the song is about a personal “search for some sort of inspiration” and that’s something he was able to communicate exceptionally well, as “Learn To Fly” remains one of the most moving songs the group has.
4. “This Is A Call”
Performances: 904
“This Is A Call” is where it all started. After the disbandment of Nirvana, Dave Grohl got to work on solo material under the name Foo Fighters and in 1995, he released “This Is A Call” as his first single. It immediately put this new Foo Fighters thing on the rock map, as it was a hit on the rock charts. It’s the most immediate bridge between Nirvana and Foo Fighters, so it’s got plenty of grunge edge along with the rock melodies that would let Foo Fighters soar for decades to come.
3. “My Hero”
Performances: 970
“My Hero” was a song that popped up a lot after Hawkins’ death, due to the memorable chorus — “There goes my hero / Watch him as he goes” — reflecting how a lot of people felt about the late drummer at the time. It’s bound to rear its head during the Hawkins tribute concerts, too, so get ready for it to be probably the most emotional moment of those shows.
2. “Monkey Wrench”
Performances: 997
While “This Is A Call” launched Foo Fighters the Dave Grohl project, “Monkey Wrench,” as the lead single from sophomore album The Colour And The Shape, launched Foo Fighters the band, as the second LP was the first one Grohl recorded with a full band. To this day, it’s commonly regarded as one of the group’s best songs and it’s still one of the biggest adrenaline rushes the band has shared, especially in a live setting.
1. “Everlong”
Performances: 1,086
“Everlong” is, without a doubt, Foo Fighters’ signature song (and the only one they’ve played live over a thousand times), as well as their most popular today: It has over 750 million streams on Spotify (if you count the plays from the acoustic version). Perhaps the most relevant factoid of all, though, is that it closed the band’s March 20 performance at Lollapalooza Argentina 2022, making it the last song Hawkins ever played on stage (that performance is above). In terms of a final song, it’s hard to think of a better note to end on than that.
Food, at the end of the day, is really about community. That’s certainly what it’s all about for MasterChef prodigy Fred Chang. And after wooing Gordon Ramsay on MasterChef and working for several Michelin-starred and James Beard Award-winning chefs, Chang took to social media to create a food-loving community of his own. Rather than starting a restaurant concept, he’s using his Instagram and blog, Freddy’s Harajuku, to build community and share new recipes.
As a member of the Asian American, Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community, Chang is also using his platform to create meaningful connections within the food space. For AAPI Heritage Month, he participated in “Love Through Food” — a Reels recipe activation in collaboration with Facebook and the various “Subtle Asian” Facebook groups.
“Being a part of the Subtle Asian Baking Facebook Group, I find myself learning so much about other members of the AAPI community through the dishes they grew up on,” he says.
It’s no surprise — considering his passion for both food and his heritage — that Chang has made his rounds to the best Asian restaurants in his home city of Los Angeles. So he’s giving us his guide to his all-time favorite Asian restaurants in LA.
“All of the restaurants listed here hold a special memory to me or were introduced to me by either a dear friend or family member,” he notes. “The fact that a vast and large city such as Los Angeles could feel like such a community through these restaurants still astounds me, and I hope at least one of these restaurants resonates with a fond food memory that you had.”
What I love about Elite Restaurant is that it is really no-frills dim sum. Located in Monterey Park, I have very specific memories of going here every New Year after my parents would take my sister and me to watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena. There really is no better way to start the new year than with char siu bao — think like American-style barbecue baby back pork ribs, but without the bones and stuffed into a bun! — custard buns, turnip cakes, roasted duck, and black bean spareribs. The pork belly in particular is a must – they prepare it Hong Kong style, meaning that the skin is roasted in salt until it is super thin and crispy. The end result is a tender piece of pork with skin that shatters and crunches like a potato chip!
As a baker, I also have a particular soft spot for the custard buns, because the buns themselves are light and fluffy, and they’re stuffed with creamy sweet custard. If anyone is unfamiliar with dim sum, I would say that Elite is a good way to be introduced to it in terms of authenticity but also just good eats in general!
Omar’s Kitchen — Artesia
Omar’s Kitchen
Omar’s Kitchen is a very unique restaurant in that it features Halal-style Chinese food. To give some background on this, there is a rather notable Uyghur population within the Xinjiang region of Northwest China. The result of this is Halal Chinese food, which is the best of two worlds because you have a lot of Chinese dishes like quotie — potstickers — or lanzhou style noodles, but featuring very Middle Eastern spices and ingredients, such as cumin, lamb, and yogurt.
I still remember my parents taking me here, and being blown away by the existence of this style of cuisine! The lamb potstickers are delicious, with the filling being juicy and pairing beautifully with black vinegar. The lamb ribs with cumin and onions are fragrant and the meat is both crispy at the ends from being deep-fried and succulent on the insides. My absolute favorite, however, is the laghman noodles. Thick noodles swimming in this smoky pepper broth with shredded pieces of lamb and colorful vegetables. That dish is something I dream about, crave constantly, and is worth me driving 30 miles just to eat!
SinBala — Arcadia
Simbala Restaurant
I would say in terms of nostalgia, SinBala hits a lot of those childhood memories for me. While I feel semi-obligated to put Din Tai Fung on this list to represent my native Taiwan, I feel like SinBala just better represents my Taiwanese childhood of foods that would be served in either a boba shop or a night market. My mom used to take me and my sister to SinBala whenever we were in the 626 area, and I cannot thank her enough for doing that.
A Taiwanese xiaochi (small bites) restaurant, SinBala focuses on the simpler things, ranging from stir-fried eggs and tomatoes to bean curd with seaweed and tea eggs, and my personal favorite, the SinBala sausage. The sausage is similar to Chinese lap cheong — being a sweet, fatty, and smoky situation — although the SinBala sausages are on the chunkier side and served with garlic for an extra bit of savory kick – a warning, you will need a breath mint after eating that, but it is worth it! I also adore their meatball soup, which is a clear broth scented with shallots and cilantro, with Taiwanese-style meatballs. That is something my grandma would make for me during my visits to Taiwan, and SinBala really just takes me back to those trips without having to break my wallet on an international flight.
Now I’m not even sure how many people are familiar with Indonesian food. But if I were to describe it, sweet, sour, salty, fragrant, and spicy would probably be the best adjectives. Think of all of the beautiful herbs of southeast Asian cuisine (mint, cilantro, basil), but also chilies, garlic, peanuts, and coconuts. When I went to Borneo Kalimantan, I was delighted by everything I ate! The chicken satay was a fun appetizer to nibble on, with a generous amount of the satay sauce drizzled all over the skewers. The laksa mee curry soup was a bowl of comfort, being these thick egg noodles served in a spicy-sweet coconut curry broth that just warms you up from the inside. We also got the roti flatbreads, which were flaky and almost feather-like and came with curry sauce to dip into.
However, the absolute showstopper was the nasi goreng, which is Indonesian-style fried rice. The rice was golden brown in color from being sauteed in sweet soy sauce and shrimp paste and was folded in with pieces of chicken, vegetables, egg, and topped with crispy shallot bits for crunch. This was a dish that you continued to eat away at, because each bite was slightly different, and it invited you to keep going back for another taste to see what ingredient will next hit your tastebuds! If you have never tried Indonesian food before, I highly recommend trying Borneo, as it would be a great introduction to the cuisine, all the while being a very authentic experience!
Ruen Pair — North Hollywood
Ruen Pair
I would like to personally thank my friend Sylvie for introducing me to this place. Located in Thai Town/Hollywood, Ruen Pair serves super traditional Thai cuisine. From curries to green papaya salads and pad thai and pad see iew, there really is something for everyone here. Personal favorites of mine include the duck curry, the pad thai, the papaya salad, and the fresh coconut juice. The duck curry is warming and comforting, and surprisingly the best part of it, besides the stewed duck meat, are the pieces of pineapple, which are sweet, sour, and smokey from being cooked in the curry. The papaya salad is also a textural delight, for those who have not eaten Thai food beyond just pad thai or curries. Made with green papaya — super similar in texture to a crunchy cucumber or a radish — it is sweet, sour, crunchy, and spicy, all things that make it addictive and worth ordering time and time again.
Also if you are not super stuffed on curries, noodles, and green papaya salad, you can go across the street to Bhan Kanom Thai for all kinds of Thai desserts as well, including khanom bueng, which are Thai street crepes stuffed with meringue and sweet egg floss!
Izakaya Hachi — Torrance
Izakaya Hachi
Izakaya Hachi is one of those places I always take friends who are visiting from out of town. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, an izakaya is a Japanese gastropub, focusing on small bites like yakitori skewers or onigiri. What is so special about Izakaya Hachi, compared to the other plethora of Japanese restaurants in Torrance, is their fun approach to Japanese pub food! They offer more typical izakaya food such as grilled beef tongue and skewers, as well as sushi and sashimi.
However, one of my absolute favorite items that they offer is the gobo chips, which are thinly shaved and fried pieces of burdock root that they finish with matcha salt. The combination is floral, salty, a little bitter, and crunchy, and they are a delight to eat! Another specialty are their hot pots, or nabe — pronounced “nah-beh.” Their motsu nabe is a generous portion, with everything you could possibly want from a Japanese restaurant — stewed cabbage, tofu, mushrooms, pork, and pork intestine — it might sound weird, but trust me, it is basically like pork belly but fattier! Their pumpkin zenzai dessert, which is this chilled, sweet pumpkin soup with dango — sweet rice cakes — is one of my all-time favorite Japanese desserts!
It would be criminal of me to make a list of Asian restaurants in LA and not include at least one Korean restaurant, especially given the abundance of Korean food here in the city. One of my absolute favorite restaurants in K-Town in Sun Nong Dan — honorable mentions to Ook Kook for really quality all-you-can-eat KBBQ and Cafe Bora for aesthetically pleasing Asian fusion desserts! I still have very distinct memories of my friends Justina and Carolyn taking me here almost a decade ago and we ordered the galbijjim. Not being super immersed in Korean food in general, I didn’t know what to expect, nor did I think what would arrive would be this gigantic clay pot filled with this bubbling spicy red broth, stuffed with stewed vegetables, rice cakes, and giant pieces of short rib. And to top off the theatrics, the waiter smothered the entire thing in mozzarella cheese and brûléed it tableside with a blowtorch until it was bubbly and caramelized. So we basically got dinner and a show! While the short ribs were delicious, surprisingly my favorite bite was the potatoes. Super soft and almost fluffy in the middle, while soaking up that super spicy broth and the flavor of the short ribs,
I found myself rummaging through the clay pot for any potatoes I could find!
Spoon and Pork holds a special memory for me because my friend from season nine of MasterChef, Ralph, took me along with our friend Ann here. Tucked in a cozy little corner of Historic FilipinoTown, Spoon and Pork is a modern Filipino bistro, doing more fusion takes on classic Filipino cuisine. The pork belly adobo and the lechon kawali were two things that immediately stood out to me: the adobo was salty, sour, and the pork was so tender, while the lechon had crunchy pork crackling, and was served with shaved purple cabbage, which added a gorgeous color and a nice, fresh crunch to contrast the really rich pork. Both dishes are iconically Filipino, while I also really enjoyed their buko tart, which was a miniature version of classic Filipino buko pie — buko is Tagalog for coconut, but more specifically, fresh green coconut that is soft and tender.
I still have fond memories of that dinner, and am forever thankful to Ralph for introducing me to the cuisine that he grew up on!
Fugetsu-Do — Little Tokyo
Fugetsu-Do
Now I could not have a list of Asian food places in LA without including at least one dessert spot! Fugetsu-Do holds a special place in my heart, being a mochi store in the heart of Little Tokyo that is over 100 years old. The shop is family-owned and managed, and makes probably close to thousands of individual mochi — glutinous rice cakes, think like a marshmallow but less sweet — every day. They have a variety of flavors, some more traditional like red bean ohagi, or more modern, like their blueberry mochi filled with blueberry-flavored white bean paste. One of their signatures is the rainbow dango, also called suama. They essentially roll several different colors of mochi together to form a rainbow-colored ultra-soft cloud so good that you’ll find yourself waking up in the middle of the night at 2 AM craving a boxful of them.
All of the mochi made and served at Fugestsu-Do are delicious and have this super-soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture to them that is different from your Trader Joe’s mochi ice creams. I am super fortunate to be raised in an area where Fugetsu-Do mochi is easily accessible — they also sell their mochi to several local Japanese grocery stores near where I live, but I will admit that the mochi from the store just tastes even better and are worth the trip to Little Tokyo!
Brodard Restaurant — Fountain Valley
Brodard Restaurant
I know that this is technically a list for L.A. and we are venturing out to the O.C., but truthfully, the best Vietnamese food in Southern California is always in or at least near the Garden Grove area! That is not even up for debate! And for me, Brodard Restaurant is like the crown jewel of Vietnamese food here in SoCal. Serving a variety of summer rolls, pho, banh mi, Vietnamese curries, and French desserts, there really is an option for everyone. My sister and I would also make a mini road trip out of driving down to Brodard and picking up their nem nuong cuon — grilled pork spring rolls — to go for dinner. The rolls contain pork sausage, these crispy fried egg roll wrapper bits, and crunchy fresh vegetables, and is served with a delicious nuoc mam sauce to finish! They are honestly the perfect road trip food!
Beyond the nem nuong cuon, I personally love their banh xeo and goat curries. Banh xeo is a thin pancake that is stuffed with pork belly, shrimp, bean sprouts, and bung means, and served with a plethora of fresh herbs, making it a really fresh and crunchy experience. There is a ton to Vietnamese food beyond pho, and Brodard really helps with introducing you to those dishes! In terms of their desserts, Brodard offers a variety of French pastries, tying in those French influences in Vietnamese cuisine further, including macarons, apple tarts, creme brulees, and my personal favorite, gateau opera!
We all have habits that don’t serve our health, and for Post Malone, one of those is smoking. He’s often seen with a cigarette in his hand and now we know a bit more about just how much smoking he does.
On a recent episode of the Full Send Podcast, Malone was asked how many cigarettes he smokes daily and he answered, “On a really terrible day? There’s a very fine line between a terrible day and a good day… 40, 45. By the time I ask Ben for that second pack, I’m like, ‘Alright dude, chill out,” right, you know? But then by the time I open that third pack, I’m like, ‘I’m a total piece of sh*t and I need to go to sleep.’”
As for the most cigarettes he’s smoked in a day, Malone estimates the number is “probably like 80.” For reference, the CDC previously reported that in 2016, the average number of cigarettes smoked per day by “daily smokers” was 14.
Malone also added (as HotNewHipHop notes), “I used to [smoke them in bed], but not really anymore. Now I have like a special zone — it has like my PC in it and my Magic: The Gathering sh*t, so I just go down there and f*cking rip cigs and build decks and die in Apex Legends. It definitely has [messed up my voice], but I mean, Johnny Cash smoked his whole life [and] he sounded cool, you know?”
Ted Cruz blamed his daughters for his ill-fated trip during a deadly winter storm in Texas, but now we know the real reason he fled to Cancun: Girls Gone Wild. On Thursday’s episode of the Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast, the gun-loving Texas senator fondly reminisced about the sleazy video series from the 2000s of usually inebriated women baring their breasts for a free t-shirt or hat during spring break, including in Cancun.
“[The Democrats are] doubling down when it comes to so many aspects of the economy — on the cultural social issues, they’re defending drag queens jiggling for kids, actual little tiny children in bars, 21 plus bars in Texas of all places, they’re defending it,” he told giggling co-host Michael Knowles. “You know, Michael, it reminds me of, do you remember those videos that would come out every spring break, Girls Gone Wild and it would have lots of college women in bikinis or not bikinis?”
The phrase “not bikinis” will haunt me for the rest of my life. But go on, Ted:
“It reminds me of much the same thing. This is Liberals Gone Wild. This is the crazy left that — this is AOC and Elizabeth Warren, thank God, not in bikinis, Um, but embracing their socialist nuttiness. I mean, it’s literally like someone sat down at a bar and said, how much crazy crap can we do?”
Girls Gone Wild founder, Joe Francis, has been arrested and sentenced numerous times, including in 2013 when he was “found guilty of three counts of false imprisonment, one count of assault causing great bodily injury, and one count of dissuading a witness during an incident in his Bel Air mansion in 2011… The charges stem from an incident in January 2011 in which, prosecutors say, Francis took three women home following a night out and refused to let them leave. He was also charged with attacking one of the women and bashing her head onto his tile floor.” In the recent documentary Rich & Shameless: Girls Gone Wild Exposed, a woman named Jannel also claimed that when she was 18, Francis “totally raped me. And then he got off of me like I was garbage.”
But that didn’t stop Ted from fondly recalling those informercial steel drums — or people from being skeezed out by his comments.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) fondly reminisces about “Girls Gone Wild” to make a point about liberals:
“This is AOC and Elizabeth Warren — thank God, not in bikinis — but embracing their socialist nuttiness.” pic.twitter.com/AwGNTojx6z
@SenTedCruz what a great example of the misogynistic bigoted hateful person you are! Guns over children, making fun of womens bodies, fleeing over responsibility What a disputable Senator you are https://t.co/TH6ABlGHul
After some teasing, Maggie Rogers announced her new album Surrender out in July. Her singles “That’s Where I Am” and “Want Want” showcased her new direction toward bigger, more ambitious pop anthems. About the latter track, she said, “It was really just about the fun of it all. Some bubblegum world to escape to in the middle of the isolation and darkness.” This bright texture of her songs has excited fans, previewing a colorful, uplifting record.
The “Alaska” singer recently announced that she’ll be bringing her new music to stages in the UK and Europe this fall on the Feral Joy tour. It will kick off in Leeds at the O2 Academy at the end of October, and it’ll go through to the end of November, ending in Stockholm at Cirkus. Rogers shared a teaser video promoting the tour today. Presumably, North American dates will be announced at some point in the near future.
Kendrick Lamar visits Accra, Ghana for the first time in the teaser for a new video project shared by Spotify. Although details are light, it appears that it’s a documentary that will premiere on the platform next week. In the teaser, Kendrick shares some of his philosophy, saying, “This life sh*t, it’s all about experience.” From some of the gorgeous imagery taken on the beaches and city streets of Ghana’s capital, he certainly had one heck of an experience there.
The project will be just one that the usually elusive Compton native has released this year. In May, Kendrick returned to the spotlight with the release of his new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers — his first new album since 2017’s Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. The album was accompanied by the single “N95” and a short film based on the album cut “We Cry Together” featuring actress Taylour Paige. Kendrick also announced The Big Steppers Tour supported by his PgLang signees Baby Keem and Tanna Leone.
The album was preceded by a flurry of activity from Kendrick, who teased its release with the fifth installment of his freestyle series, “The Heart.” Earlier this year, he joined Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and 50 Cent at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Stay tuned to see what he does next.
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張程晅 (@fredfredchangchang)
(@LibmanDot) 
