Anne Marie Panoringan is Culture OC’s well-informed food columnist. She reports industry news, current events and trends. Anne Marie also contributes regularly to Eater Los Angeles, LAist, TASTE and a host of other well-respected publications. Anne Marie joins us in-studio to discuss her work as Food Columnist for Culture OC and highlight her current columns.
When we last spoke with Chef Michael Hung (ex-Faith & Flower in DTLA) last December he was the Executive Chef of The Colony Club restaurant located inside The Colony Palms Hotel and SO.PA at L’Horizon Palm Springs. Chef Michael is now surfing the culinary waves at the Palm Springs Surf Club, an unusual destination water oasis in the desert.
Chef Michael Hung oversees the soon to be Navigator, the ultimate dining experience at the Palm Springs Surf Club. Navigator features indoor and outdoor seating offering breathtaking views of the surf and mountains where guests indulge in a curated artisanal menu reflecting the cuisine of famous surf regions around the globe. The bar features TVs and a craft cocktail program, complemented by an extensive wine list. Chef Michael takes a break from his busy kitchens to join us.
SoCalGas is hosting the 11th Annual SoCalGas Foodservice Equipment Expo (2 days) on Tuesday, October 22nd and Wednesday, October 23rd from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the SoCalGas Energy Resource Center in Downey. “With no-cost registration, the 11th annual Foodservice Equipment Expo provides an opportunity to Reconnect, Rebuild, and Innovate at one of the industry's largest West Coast showcases of natural gas and energy-efficient commercial foodservice equipment. Leading industry manufacturers will display and demonstrate their brands as attendees visit booths and live-action cooking stations, sample artisan foods cooked on a variety of natural gas equipment, network, and learn about available rebates.” SoCalGas Co.’s Gina Christian (Foodservice Technical Specialist) is our guest providing all the details.
Restaurateur and Chef Dustin Trani represents the 4th generation of the celebrated Trani Family to be an owner/chef cooking in San Pedro. Currently he is best known for J. Trani’s Ristorante which is his Family’s successor restaurant to their original San Pedro establishment, Trani’s Majestic Café opened in 1925 in downtown San Pedro. His latest venture (in the works since 2019) is the ambitious, Trani’s Dockside Station located in San Pedro’s historic waterfront in a vintage (fully restored and renovated) 1920 building that initially served as an immigration hall. In more recent years it was the local diner, Canetti’s Seafood Grotto, which closed in 2010 after a 70-year run. The exterior has been restored and preserved along with the addition of a striking, art deco neon vertical sign. Trani’s Dockside celebrated their year anniversary earlier in the year. Chef Dustin Trani joins us with all the update details for Trani’s Dockside Station.
Our own Chef Andrew Gruel, the menu-maker behind the full-service Calico Fish House (in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach) provides another timely and informative “Ask the Chef” segment where he responds to listeners’ thoughtful inquiries. Lots of premium options available for tastier chicken. What do all the labels means and which are really worth the extra cost? Chef Andrew explains…
All of this and heaping helpings of extra deliciousness on this week’s not-to-miss show!
Good morning Southern California and welcome. If you're food obsessed you've come to the right place. Join us for the next two hours and you won't go away hungry. One of the first American culinary icons Julia Child said people who love to eat are always the best people. We agree. Live from the AMA 30K LAA studios at Angel Stadium and Anaheim, The SoCal Restaurant Show is on the air. And welcome back. It is The SoCal Restaurant Show and happily we're here with you every Saturday morning from 10 a.m. until 12 noon right here on AMA 30 K L A A the home of Angels Baseball 2025 and also the area home for Las Vegas Raiders football. And you can also catch us on the AMA 30K LAA Angels app. I'm Andy Harris, the executive producer and co-host of the show. Glad to have you out there. Thanks for spending a little bit of your Saturday morning with us. We definitely do appreciate it. My colleague chef Andrew Grohl of the Calico Fish House on Pacific Coast Highway in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach is going to be joining us a little later in the show with his usual Ask the Chef segment. And he is going to be mobbed this weekend because it is air show weekend in Huntington Beach. And the throngs definitely descend on Huntington Beach. Definitely a wild time but a big event for Huntington Beach. And what Chef Andrew is going to be chatting about this morning in his Ask the Chef segment is we're all eating a lot more chicken right now because in terms of her protein it's definitely a better value for the dollar. But there are also a lot of premium options available for chicken. And what we're going to be talking about with Chef Andrew is what are some of those better premium chicken options that are really worth the money. And Chef Andrew's had a lot of experience with chicken, jdori chicken in particular when he had his fast casual concept two birds in Irvine. He was actually the largest jdori chicken customer for west coast prime meat. So he knows a little bit about chicken. Also some of the terms that are used with the better grades of chicken. For instance, what does free range chicken mean or pasture raised chicken. Some of these words really don't have any legal definition. So there's a little hot air. Some of them actually do have official designations from governmental authorities. So we'll kind of clear the air on that. Do keep up with us on social media. What we try to do there is really bridge the gap between shows on Saturday mornings, providing you with more we hope useful information. So of course the visuals are there where we go to a restaurant or talk about a gourmet specialty food product. We try to give you some visuals still pictures and where we can video that just kind of enhances the pros that we do here on the radio. So be looking for that. Also we try to have all kinds of information there. Particularly when we have a cookbook author on the show and as the holidays approach, this is one of the big release times every year for the big cookbooks. So we'll be having some cookbook authors on that have worthy cookbooks. Particularly is our foodie audience is looking for a great holiday cookbook to give for that certain someone. What we try to do is is post a recipe or two for the book just to give you the listener a better idea of what the book is all about kind of bringing it alive and also post pictures of some of the completed dishes. So definitely keep that in mind. Website is easy at SoCalRestaurantShow.com. Facebook is SoCalRestaurantShow. Send us a tweet or an X and many of you do @SoCalRestaurant. And as we love to say but never get tired of saying for the very best and provocative food imagery Instagram to @SoCalRestaurantShow. And we're enthusiastically presented each and every week by Melissa's world variety produce and West Coast Prime Meats. And looking ahead to next Saturday, it's going to be a very special day here on the SoCalRestaurant Show on AM830 KLAA because we are going to be celebrating the 12th anniversary of the launch of the SoCalRestaurant Show. And of course we have to do it in style. So we're getting out of the studio. We are going to be at the West Drift Manhattan Beach which is an autograph collection hotel that not too coincidentally is the official hotel of the Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival which is next weekend, next Friday evening and next Saturday evening which we've been talking about for several weeks on the show. New event, we're very excited about it because it is showcasing some of the prominent chefs who work and cook in Manhattan Beach and surrounding environs. And they just don't get as much attention as they deserve. They're actually Michelin recognized chefs that cook in Manhattan Beach as well as a lot of more casual restaurants, some good dinner houses, some good fast casual restaurants that are still independently owned. So we've been very happy to showcase the selection of chefs that are going to be part of Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. And as a matter of fact, this morning, we're going to be profiling two other chefs that are going to be part of the Friday evening of Manhattan Beach Food and Wine. But next Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, we are going to be broadcasting the show live from the West Drift Manhattan Beach and it is going to be a parade of celebrity chefs that are going to be part of this event Manhattan Beach Food and Wine because not only are there a wonderful assortment of very high profile South Bay and other areas of LA chefs and so in California that are part of this event. But there are celebrity chefs that are really coming from all over the country to be part of this. So it's 25 recognized high profile chefs Friday night and then 25 different high profile chefs for Saturday night. Pretty special because we don't normally see these out of town chefs coming into LA to be cooking at a food festival. And in terms of our lineup for next Saturday, I'll just tease one chef but celebrity chef from the Food Network, Jet Tila who you've seen across their programming will be on with us. And for those of you that have a long memory and have followed the show since I launched 12 years ago, Jet Tila graciously was my first co-host for the first three years of the show until his travel and TV schedule became so jam packed that he just really didn't have the time anymore. But he's always been our emeritus co-host and a big supporter of the show. And a good friend of the community when there is a need out there for a charity event, Jet usually leads the charge in terms of doing those things. And let me tell you, he's a busy guy because basically Monday through Friday he is on the road everywhere nationally. And likes to try to get back to his home in Calabasas on the weekends to be with his family because he's got two younger children. So all good. But you know, we're delighted to welcome Jet Tila back. And just as a footnote, he is participating in the Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival. He will be there Friday evening. So we will be joined in the next segment by Anne Marie Panerungen, who you know is culture OC's food writer. She has been out there and will also be talking about a cruise that she recently was on. And I think until about three or four years ago Anne Marie had not had a lot of experience at sea cruising. She wasn't sure if that's something she really wanted to do because she's a very active person. And obviously cruising won her over because she's been on a number of them since then. So we'll definitely talk to Anne Marie about her recent experience. She's got a great piece in the new issue of taste from South Coast Plaza that will tell you how you can get that online. There are also print copies that are available out there. And because it is Fall Food Festival season, we'll be talking about a great Orange County event that's coming up next Thursday at the Sigur Stem Center, which is tastemakers of Orange County. Always sells out wonderful event with local chefs. So, as always, a lot on our menu this morning. You are listening to the SoCal restaurant show. We're proudly presented by Melissa's World Variety Produce. When we come back, it's Anne Marie Panerungen. And we shall return momentarily. [MUSIC PLAYING]
