About this episode
This week on The LA Food Podcast, Luca sits down with Ben Leventhal — the founder of Eater and Resy — to talk about his most ambitious project yet: Blackbird, a next-gen restaurant loyalty and payments app that might reshape how we dine out and how restaurants survive. Recorded at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, the conversation breaks down how Blackbird rewards you for actually showing up and paying at your favorite restaurants, why Ben thinks this model could transform the industry’s financial future, and how LA’s rollout fits into his vision for the app. We also get into Ben’s background in food media and reservations, and as a die-hard New Yorker, what he really thinks about Los Angeles as a tier 1 dining city.Before that, Luca and Father Sal kick things off with recent eats — from Atelier Manna to the San Diego Food + Wine Festival — before diving into a rare silver lining for food media. We react to a week of big news:The New York Times naming two new associate food critics, including friend of the pod Ryan SuttonElazar Sontag taking over as restaurant critic at The Washington PostEmily Sundberg’s Feed Me launching the podcast Expense AccountAnd rumors of a brand-new food media startup from former Puck staffersIn Chef’s Kiss / Big Miss, we tackle:Robot woks and automation at LA spots Tigawok and RobowokThe Infatuation’s Best New Restaurants in LA list for 2025Big three-star demotions in the Michelin Guide (Alinea, Masa, The Inn at Little Washington)AI-driven re
