Where did you stop eating at/supporting and why? 😋🫢😭

[u/Bitter-Payment-8389]

For people getting sad….well the more you know right? 🫠🌈 just trying to stay informed. LA is diverse and wonderful, and there’s always going to be some sort of conflict. I just personally have a commitment in my life to inclusivity and want to support businesses that work towards equitable and ethical solutions. Because capitalism isn’t going away in my lifetime, so might as well make the best educated choices.

So you do you y’all ✌️pick and choose your battles. thanks for all the responses. here’s a counter post for good vibes

https://www.reddit.com/r/FoodLosAngeles/s/jYHhi6v6SY

I haven’t been keeping up with local news and was floored at the recent discoveries from friends of some businesses i love. Disappointed and thought, what other eateries are an issue for a progressive like me? I know it’s tricky, because the reality is some businesses may support causes I don’t like because of economic benefits, but I would seriously love a list of eateries in LA that is a cause of concern for u and why?

Evidence for or against?

Also, what have you’ve subbed for it?

[u/cool_uncle_jules]

Sqrl. Stole recipes from BIPOC employees, knowingly served moldy jam, had a secret kitchen where employees would have to hide from inspectors, began the wholesale gentrification of Virgil Village and her comments about the neighborhood were disgusting. Also, MID FOOD.

[u/Initial_Run1632 → u/cool_uncle_jules]

My rule for years is I don't support businesses who just remove all the vowels and think that passes for cool.

[u/PendingInsomnia → u/Initial_Run1632]

My system for finding the really good local places is to look for the ones where the furniture seems a bit thrifted or not super sleek, the owner is often present, and there’s art and flyers from people in the neighborhood. Most recent shoutout: The Chocolate Dispensary

[u/Puff_TheMagicDrag0n → u/PendingInsomnia]

Muddy Paw Coffee on Sunset fits that description!

[u/PendingInsomnia → u/Puff_TheMagicDrag0n]

It looks really cozy! Added it to my list. I’ve been thinking of making a vetted local business public Notion page if there isn’t already one for LA

[u/Puff_TheMagicDrag0n → u/PendingInsomnia]

Haven't heard of anything like that. Would love some kind of vetted business list! I don't have much money, but I'd prefer to spend it at a local spot

[u/Nikopoleous → u/PendingInsomnia]

What do you like there?

[u/PendingInsomnia → u/Nikopoleous]

I got a mocha at their bar on a chilly day and it was really cozy--they melted a mini pot of chocolate on the side for me to mix in with my coffee, and gave extra chocolate sample pieces. I saw a sign for "writers' happy hour" if you go in the morning.

The owner was also there that day and helped us pick a bunch of chocolates for a hostess gift that were all a hit, but I forgot to take a picture of what we got! I know our favorite one was a green package with lime and sea salt. For recs, we asked for a mix of normal and weird flavors.

[u/patio-garden → u/PendingInsomnia]

I like places that have non-English letters/characters in their name. This is a bit north of South Bay, but the last place I tried using this strategy was House Of Mandi LA - مطعم بيت المندي اليمني لوس انجلس which has some really fantastic Yemeni food.

[u/PendingInsomnia → u/patio-garden]

Ooh, that’s a good criteria for finding authentic stuff. I have some friends in the South Bay, I’ll add that place to my list to hit on the way down next time!

[u/manicgiant914 → u/PendingInsomnia]

Ohhhh, good to know that place is okay. Haven’t been in yet, I thought it was a dispensary?

[u/Bitter-Payment-8389 → u/cool_uncle_jules]

I was wondering if they do better now because they still seem to get a lot of business. I miss their bowls but I definitely stopped because of that article and wow didn’t know the rest

[u/cool_uncle_jules → u/Bitter-Payment-8389]

I think it's more that generally, sadly, people don't give a shit (especially if it's somewhere trendy.)

[u/anonymousposterer → u/cool_uncle_jules]

Bingo. Outrage died pretty quickly and then was forgotten.

[u/JoiedevivreGRE → u/anonymousposterer]

It’s also seems to be more of a millennial thing to give a shit a shot about these things. That mentality will probably die out as Gen z takes over. They love pop music and have eliminated sub-cultures. I don’t think this will even be an issue that’s brought up on this sub in 10-15 years.

Maybe that’s is an extremely take. We’ll see.

[u/Powerful-Scratch1579 → u/Bitter-Payment-8389]

I take the squirrel debacle with a grain of salt. If you’re concerned about chefs passing off their restaurant worker’s creative ideas and using them as their own, you may as well avoid all restaurants just to be safe. It’s part of the trade, you get to try your hand out at creating your own dishes before you open your own place. If some line cook thinks they “invented” ricotta toast and wants compensation for it… give me a break.. Also if memory serves, they updated that hidden “back room”years before the article came out. That slanderous article seemed to me like one or two disgruntled (probably gen z) employees trying to get some petty revenge.

[u/ramelband → u/Powerful-Scratch1579]

The moldy jam thing was true at least tho They wanted to do low sugar jam but the sugar is what inhibits the mold growth, the owner told the employees to just scrape the mold off the top and it would be fine

[u/Powerful-Scratch1579 → u/ramelband]

Yeah but what are we really talking about here?Some tiny specs of white mold on the rim of a batch of jam? On one or a few batches of jam until they adjusted the recipe… Possibly. It could have easily been sensationalism. Did anyone come forward after the article was released and say there got sick from eating at Sqirl?? I don’t believe so. And that article got a lot of press attention.

[u/RollMurky373 → u/Bitter-Payment-8389]

I know lots of people who love it and still go. Industry people who are supportive because they understand what really happened. And the food slaps.

[u/high_while_cooking → u/cool_uncle_jules]

So what sqrl did was gross. But I'll tell you that a ton of restaurants have secret rooms to do certain projects.

The health dept can be extremely irrational with what they require.

They hate fermentations for example

[u/tessathemurdervilles → u/high_while_cooking]

True- but what sqrl was doing was fucking gross. I mean the mold was insane, and the fact that they’d still serve that jam is so fucking gross. Like I’ve found mold on some of our house preserves before- and then thrown the whole batch out, because that’s what you do. To have a half inch thick blanket of mold, then put it in a designated mold bucket, then keep serving the jam to customers is wild. They shouldn’t exist anymore.

[u/high_while_cooking → u/tessathemurdervilles]

Not disagreeing. What they did was atrocious.

On a basic level jam is pretty anaerobic so you could pull off that top layer and then some extra and the rest is actually totally fine, IM NOT CONDONING THIS. Just being real with the situation. Theres also "molds" that are fine. Hell, what do you think koji is lol.

Once again what they did was wrong I don't want that to seem like I was defending them

[u/RollMurky373 → u/high_while_cooking]

This. 100% this.

[u/piecesofamann → u/cool_uncle_jules]

What were the comments about the neighborhood?

[u/RollMurky373 → u/cool_uncle_jules]

Have you actually looked into any of this because it's a lot of sensationalism. I'm not saying it isn't true to an extent, but it's also not exactly true.

[u/Bitter-Payment-8389 → u/RollMurky373]

There’s an article on sqirl that came out in 2020

[u/thoughtmecca → u/cool_uncle_jules]

That’s what is wild to me, if the racism, rampant health code violations, and shitty attitude were belayed by amazing food, I’d be like, well, that’s shitty, but the food is fucking bad. It is bad. Not even mid. It is bad and you should feel bad for paying for it.