The Monday Media Diet with Emily Wilson

On Shop Rat, friend of WITI Priyanka Mattoo, and Rockhouse Hotel in Negril, Jamaica

I love Emily Wilson’s LA food writing on The Angel. So happy to have her with us this week. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

I’m a food writer based in Los Angeles. I’ve contributed to the LA Times, Bon Appétit, Eater, TASTE, the San Francisco Chronicle, and New York Magazine, amongst other publications. These days, I’m mostly writing for my Substack, The Angel, where I go deep on the L.A. food scene, from profiles to reported features to highly opinionated lists. 

Describe your media diet. 

I’m always wishing I had a more solidified routine around media consumption, but it’s a bit scattered if I’m being honest. Newsletters are my main conduit for reading (although I do get the New York Times in print on Sundays), and I subscribe to way more than I can consume daily. Eater LA, Eater NY, LA Times Food, Grub Street, The New Yorker Food, and TASTE are my core sources for keeping up with the food world. Vittles, over in London, is my inspiration read—I love what Jonathan Nunn and team are doing, and I especially enjoy his restaurant reviews.

Otherwise, I regularly click through The New York Times’ morning briefing and Cooking, T Magazine, Public Announcement, Dirt, FOUND LA & NY, and The Athletic (for NBA and WBNA news, specifically). I read Lauren Sherman’s Line Sheet for fashion news and John Heilemann for politics (both Puck). I like Chris Black’s GQ Column, Pulling Weeds. And I love all of these Substacks: Sam Loves The Market, Blackbird Spyplane, Shop Rat, The Best Bit, Claire Ptak, Salad for President, Bite Sized, anchovies & soup, Herb Sundays, David Lebovitz Newsletter, Wordloaf. I’m sure I’m forgetting some.

My go-to podcasts are How Long Gone, This is TASTE, and Poog.

What’s the last great book you read?

Priyanka Mattoo’s Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones, and before that, The Four Humors by Mina Seckin. Both excellent. 

What are you reading now?

All Fours by Miranda July. I’m also bringing Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Long Island Compromise and Edward A. Bunyard’s The Anatomy of Dessert with me on vacation next week, plus Jonathan Gold’s Counter Intelligence for a re-up.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

I read it from cover to cover, stopping to read the stories I’m interested in if I have the time or earmarking them to return to later if I don’t. That said, I go through phases of subscribing to print magazines—the backlog becomes too daunting, and my inbox is already insane. I’m looking forward to reading through the latest issue of Cake Zine, though, which is candy-themed and sitting next to me right now.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

Helen Rosner and Hannah Goldfield in The New Yorker. Many people are reading them, but many people also are not, and together they make up what I think is the best food section out there right now. Helen has a gift for the medium of restaurant criticism, and Hannah is such a sharp writer with great taste. Also, Jonathan Nunn!

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone? 

XBloom, which powers the best coffee machine of all time, has changed my life, or at least my mornings. I also love Letterboxd, which has eliminated the act of streaming app doomscrolling by allowing me to catalog which movies I want to watch and see what my friends are watching.

Plane or train?

Train, no doubt. They’re more comfortable and easier to work and read on. Planes are a necessary evil and sort of disgusting!

What is one place everyone should visit? 

Stissing House in Pine Plains, NY. Or Rockhouse Hotel in Negril, Jamaica. 

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into

I’m so deep in the rabbit hole of restaurants in L.A., and when I lived in New York, where I was born and raised, I existed deep in the rabbit hole of New York restaurants. My beat, ultimately, is restaurants — knowing about them, dining at them, cataloging them into maps and lists, criticizing them, loving them. Every time I travel to a new place, I tap a few trusted sources for recommendations, then plunge into a rabbit hole, researching and scoping out spots on Google Maps until I want to pull my hair out. But at least I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of the restaurant scene and decisions made on where I’ll dine. It’s exhausting, but I can’t help myself.

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Emily Wilson (EW)

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