This week on Five Rules for the Good Life, I sit down with Los Angeles Timesrestaurant critic Bill Addison to break down the art of reading restaurant lists to celebrate their annual 101 Best Restaurants in LA list. We talk through his Five Rules for Navigating a Restaurant List, what makes a place worth your time, how to spot the real gems, and why great dining recs go way beyond buzzy names with tasting menus. From affordable neighborhood spots to splurge-worthy tables, Bill shares how he evaluates restaurants and what it takes to make a place unforgettable. If you’ve ever planned a trip around where to eat (or wanted to), this one’s for you.
This episode hits home, especially for someone who travels with their stomach leading the way. Bill gives a masterclass in parsing the hidden signals in a restaurant list—what’s missing, what’s included, and what it says about the person writing it. He also reminds us that real culinary culture lives not just in the fancy spots, but in the mom-and-pop joints and immigrant-run kitchens that define a city’s soul. Whether you’re planning your next big trip, trying to eat better in your own backyard, or just want to level up your restaurant intel, this is required listening.
It’s the holiday season!
The good people of Now Serving have all of your holiday bases covered with a bounty of beautifully signed books for all of your gift-giving needs.
Hello, and welcome to Five Rules for the Good Life. I’m your host, Darin Bresnitz.
Today, I sit down with my friend and restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times, Bill Addison, who shares his five rules for navigating a restaurant list to celebrate the newspaper’s annual release of their 101 Best Restaurant List.
He talks about the importance of trusting the experts, understanding the context of any list you delve into, and how by financially supporting newspapers and newsletters, you’ll get the most out of any research you read.
It is an insightful conversation from one of the people behind one of the most influential lists in all of America.
One technical note: there was a little bit of distortion during our recording, so please ignore any pops you might hear.
So let’s get into the rules.
Bill, so good to see you. Always a pleasure. Thank you for making time before the LA Times 101 Best Restaurant list drops. I know you’re a busy man, so I appreciate it.
Great to see you there, and thank you for having me.
We’ve talked a lot about finding and searching for new restaurants in your own city or abroad. Can you describe that feeling when you find a new place and it actually hits?
Yeah, I’m thinking of a restaurant in Paris called Datil that I went to this summer that just blew me away. I mean, I almost wanted to cry through the meal. It was mostly vegetarian cooking, but it was done with such finesse. And it was something that I feel like we’re missing in California with all our crazy, beautiful bounty here. I just felt emotional through it.
When something really hits, it hits more than the palate. It hits more than the senses. Yeah, it makes you think. It makes you feel. It just brings you back to your own humanity.
I’ve found that when I find these places, it feels like I found another home. And I know that when people find those places, you are in the envious position of people wanting to share them with you. Especially in Los Angeles, as people go, like, I found this gem, I found the spot, is it on your radar?
But I have to imagine it’s overwhelming. How do you handle so many recommendations coming to you all the time?
I’m looking more than ever in my 20-plus years of reviewing restaurants for a narrative that grabs me. If someone kindly emails me and tells me about a wonderful Italian restaurant in their neighborhood, I will certainly go to the website and scan the menu. But what gets representative of that cuisine, which is really many regional cuisines, on restaurant menus in America is often quite repetitive.
I’m always excited when somebody thinks outside the box, cooks from their own perspective, cooks from an intense curiosity that led them to some sort of contextual expertise. That just doesn’t apply to Italian food. That applies to every cuisine on the globe.
The known beauty of Los Angeles is that so many of them are here or so many of them will show up because our immigrant communities are what give the city meaning.
That’s one of the things a lot of people have come to love and respect about your own list, the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles, is that it is diverse. It does represent a lot of the city.
How do you marry an editorial approach with utility when putting the list together?
I am thinking about excellence and narrative or representation in equal amounts. Excellence is so subjective, but it’s very easy—or has been easy—in considering restaurant culture to just default to the fanciest, most ambitious restaurants.
I love that this decade, this moment in restaurant culture, for people who really care about dining, care about this subject, we all know that excellence comes in many, many forms.
It is amazing. My job, our job, is to think about that as broadly and as deeply as possible, which includes an awful lot of research and eating and following up and asking myself where a specific restaurant fits within the fabric of the community.
I think it’s really interesting to look at the community on both sides of the list—both those who are being put on it and those who are using it—either those who are locals or those who are coming to a city, whether it’s LA, Florence, Tokyo.
Because a lot of times you can look at these lists, especially when the numbers are in the 10, 20, 30, 40 recommendations and not sure how to use it, not sure how to read it. Which is why I’m so excited to have you here to share your five rules for navigating a restaurant list.
All right. Before we get into the rules, though, you mentioned you wanted to set up a little bit of framing, which I think is great because sometimes people just open a list and they haven’t even asked themselves, what am I looking for?
So let’s set the personal parameters of how you’re setting up your five rules before we get into the rules themselves.
I would say I present these rules, these thoughts, with the hypothesis that the listener knows, first of all, what they’re looking for or what interests them in a restaurant list at any given moment.
Are you looking for fresh inspiration? Are you looking for the worthiest splurge to celebrate a special occasion? Does the guide double for you as a cultural read?
The best lists probably address more than one of these needs. That’s the context when I thought through these five rules.
There’s a lot of thought that went into these rules. There’s a lot of research that goes into these lists.
I think it’s fair to say that not all lists are created equal. Some are written from one point of view, and some are crowdsourced.
Your first rule focuses on picking the list by someone who’s done all of the research. What’s your rule number one?
Rule number one is: Believe in expertise.
We do live in an age of all-around distrust. Media more than ever seems to bring out the negativity bias baked into our human survival mechanisms.
The number two and number three top ranked restaurants in Los Angeles on TripAdvisor—no shade, no judgment. Number two is Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. And number three is a Denny’s.
I want people to believe in those of us who are paid to eat, even if you don’t wholeheartedly agree with opinions of specific writers, because we really do have your interests at heart when we write a big list. We’re thinking within the context of a citywide dining scene.
And I think all good lists have a specificity to them, right? They nod to the obvious but also hope to encourage you in new directions, to point out people and cuisines that bring novel or specific perspectives.
That context and specificity can be easily missed if you just skip the opening, go straight to the spots listed, and say, “I don’t understand this perspective that’s being shared.”
Your second rule says, “Hold on, before you scroll down, read first.” What’s your second rule?
Rule number two: Give the introduction a chance.
Now listen, a lot of us are scarred from internet recipes that have nine paragraphs. Rarely do the introductions to restaurant lists have nine paragraphs because we know no one is going to read nine thick paragraphs.
That opening crunch of words that most people scroll by as fast as possible to just get to the names of restaurants—it’s totally understandable. But taking the 90 seconds to breeze through the introduction might ultimately save you time.
It’s where the writer is telling you a little bit more about what they’re up to beyond the clickbait headline and what that reveals.
When I’m researching a trip, for example, and I’m sifting through lists and I see, let’s say, a writer prominently mentions Michelin-starred restaurants in a given city, that might tell me that this writer is almost in a dialogue about whether she agrees with inspector ratings or not. So that’s a choice.
And maybe that’s what I want in Tokyo, but not what I want in Philadelphia.
Lists that focus only on the high ends of dining miss a huge part of any culinary scene—from food options to storytelling. Your third rule talks about scanning the list for these types of restaurants. What’s your rule number three?Rule number three, scan for the more affordable restaurants. Their inclusion speaks volumes. Yes. It’s important when writing a great restaurant list to plant a flag on your opinions of the greatest tasting menu restaurants, the places worth fighting for reservations. That’s important. But I’m always super interested in what a writer chooses for the more affordable neighborhood restaurants and why. They say so much about the research that went into the article. I’m looking for some engaging choices specifically that illuminate the immigrant communities in any given city. You get to know a neighborhood by its character, by its cultural flavor that bleeds into the restaurants. I want to know where do the locals eat when they’re not spending a crazy amount of money? Where do the locals eat when they want something fast and fantastic like Holbox? Holbox is one of my favorite restaurants to recommend. It checks every single box. It’s so beautifully affordable and it’s a lens into Los Angeles.
Being able to see those restaurants and to know about these restaurants is something that I feel lucky enough to have gotten off of certain lists. And not all those lists are free. Sometimes you have to support them. We’ve all heard democracy dies in the dark. True. And that’s sometimes because they can’t afford their electric bill. Your fourth rule talks about putting your money where your mouth is. What’s your rule number four? Rule number four, splurge for a subscription. And it’s not a big splurge. It’s not a big splurge. Most daily newspapers in America have some sort of $1 for the first three or six months. Yeah. Give us a shot. Speaking for myself, the Los Angeles Times pays for all my meals. I go to restaurants multiple times. They support knowledge. They support expertise through experience. Also, try out the monthly option for a Substack written by a person who had caught your eye doing interesting restaurant content on their social media. Yeah. They’re trying to support themselves. They’re trying to build an independent media company, essentially. I’m thinking of Vittles in London, I think is the greatest example of a newsletter that has grown into a small media company pulling in slash supporting multiple voices and seeking out the obscurest possible gems.
We’re all dubious of capitalism these days, but we’re all still living in it and expertise subsists on investment. It’s amazing how many of these major publications have invested in food, have put resources behind this type of journalistic coverage. Because, not to date myself, when I started traveling for food, I was checking Chow Hound, E. Gullet, regional newspapers for maybe a glimmering of a mention of food, a restaurant or dish to try out. What it taught me is that once you find a spot or two, it always pays, especially in a new city, to see if that place pops up somewhere else, which is a big part of your fifth and final rule. Cross check lists, especially if you’re traveling to eat. Especially is light. Yes. You have to if you’re traveling to eat. Yes.
This past summer, during a trip to Paris, we were there to celebrate a close friend’s 50th birthday. He chose Paris because he’d never been before. I hadn’t been in a decade. There were five to eight people to plan meals around at any given time. And it was my job to organize it all. Of course. Of course. But you live for this. You live for this. I do live for it. It was my pleasure, right? Heavy is the head, right? Right. I read all the lists. I went to Eater. I went to Condé Nast Traveler. Our dearly departed Emily Wilson and her newsletter, The Angel, because Emily goes to Paris a lot. For my subscription splurge that made planning so much easier, I ponied up for the Paris by Mouth newsletter. Oh, shout out. Yeah, which has lists and lists and lists. Organized by overall greatness, by geography, by days of the week and holidays even. Meg does great work. She does great work. I looked through all of them. I saw who leaned fancy, who leaned scrappy, where tastes intersected.
Over and over again, as one example, writers mentioned Breit’s Cafe. I hope I’m pronouncing that correctly. The Normandy Galette spot. Great sparkling pear cider from Normandy. And you know what? Affordable, total win with everyone. Everyone was so happy. And within walking distance from the Picasso Museum. Yep. Our group had a strong Lebanese contingent. My best friend, she’s Lebanese. I wanted to make sure that she and her family were impressed. And cross-checking pointed me to a tiny place called Kubri that is Lebanese, blends innovation and tradition in the cooking, woman chef, which was a real plus. Absolutely loved it. It was the only restaurant that I went back to twice on that trip because I was so taken by it. Seeing places more than once gave me confidence that not only I, but the people I was planning for would really love it. And then I could write my own newsletter, name checking all the places I’d loved in Paris. And I could give appropriate credit to the writers and publications that pointed me towards success.
And that for me is the implied sixth rule, which is paying it forward feels really good. It feels really good. There is this place called Osteria, Vini e Vecchi Sapori. It’s in Florence. We got it off an Eater list. I’ve been there. I probably sent you there. You probably didn’t send me there. It is the number one spot of our family in Italy. We got off the list. Anytime anyone goes there, we send them there. We have credit where credit’s due. Bill, so excited to see the 101 drop December 9th. If people want to pick up a copy of the physical list or they want to read it online, where can they go? What can they do? They can go to latimes.com forward slash 101. And then it’s going to be in print on the following Sunday, the 14th in the LA Times. If you have a print subscription and if not, and you love print, you can order it from the LA Times online store. It’s one of my favorite events. It’s the industry’s holiday party before everyone either scuttles off back to the restaurant or everyone disappears back home for the holidays. Bill, always a pleasure. I can’t wait to share another meal with you in the new year. So looking forward to it. I’ll probably pull a recommendation off your list. Please do. Thank you for having me, Darin. Thank you.
