My world view alternates between two very distinct yet merged realities – the sparkling psychedelic spiritual reality where nothing is real and the earthly bound plane of worldly pleasures. For myself, the temperament of the pleasure senses is because moderation can aid in staying in it for the long haul. Excess, in my experience has taken a toll on my body. Elements of restraint that are born out of guilt, sin, renunciation or any other religious dogma have no place in my zeitgeist, let me make that clear. My God wants me to experiences her divine form in all it’s various manifestations.
As it turns out many of these glories are edible, delectable and delicious!
This was a very flowery way of saying how much I love food. I’m an equal opportunity eater while trying my best to remain a conscious one. I’m going to slowly add a food section into this website that contains not just ramblings but also a professional service that I’ll get into later.
My passion for edible excellence has led me to traveling the world searching for that elusive taste bud orgasm. Italy, Japan and Spain are to no surprise the top three culinary destinations that I’ve experienced thus far. I’ve yet to go to Vietnam, Greece and Turkey to taste their offerings, that will happen soon.
Somewhere within my path, my love for creativity and social connection led me to venture somewhat intensely in culinary school where I learned to formalize my cooking skills that were originally instilled from my mother.
And now, without any hesitation, my love of food has inspired me to become a consumer possessed at giving feedback if a restaurant or service deserves it. I can’t sit idly by and spend my hard earned money on something that’s advertised as delicious when it’s anything but. I’m constantly amazed at how many good eateries fuck up, phone in and give up on many core dishes that should be extraordinary. It’s as if they rob Peter to pay Paul while leaving John alone to die in the woods. There’s no excuse.
Below is a sampling of my letters of feedback to a few LA institutions that I feel are honest, direct yet respectful. If you love food and eating out as much as I do I encourage you to write your local kitchen if you feel disappointed. You’d be surprised to how many of them listen to you and are so pleased that you’ve taken the time to write them.
Letter to Santa Monica Erewhon:
Not sure why the breakfast burritos at the new Santa Monica location don’t follow the recipe from the Venice location.
It would be fine if you were trying something else out and wanted to experiment, if you wanted to make it better perhaps.
But you haven’t. It’s not that good.
The Venice breakfast burrito is extraordinary – it’s one of the best in LA. The hash browns, steak, sauce, etc…make up something worth traveling for. Why did you half ass the Santa Monica version?
If each store is autonomous, I get it. However something tells me that’s not the case.
Can you please fix this tremendous oversight?
With love,
-zl sent from the singularity
Zach Leary
zachleary.com
213-864-XXXX
The Erewhon Response:
Same ownership all stores.
Sincerely,
Tony Antoci
CEO
Erewhon Markets
7660 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA. 90036
323-602-XXXX
Letter from QuickSand (West LA) in response to my query on their lack of creative execution:
Hi Zach,
First of all, thank you. Your email made my day. I appreciate your feedback, and you are absolutely correct on both points:
Wolf & Crow legitimized the sandwich shop big time and they’re approach needs to be replicated everywhere.
Bay Cities still has a monopoly which is amazing considering the talent in this town. Gotta give them credit though!! They’re a money machine.
As for us, sadly, we’ve been so busy running a restaurant, our creativity has taken a back seat lately. The good news is, we will be shaking things up shortly as we open up our second location on Washington Blvd. in Culver City. The menu over there will be slightly different which will give us the canvas to create (or re-create) more adventurous sandwiches!
If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list, since we will be blasting out our opening details in early May.
Thanks again for your kind words,
Jeff
Letter to Sweet Rose Creamery (with reply), one of many:
On Thu, Nov 17, 2016 at 4:42 PM, “Zach Leary” <[email protected]> wrote:
Sweet Rose friends – your recent Chef Picks are simply too exaggerated. They are autumnal to a fault. Every single flavor is like some holiday pie made into an ice cream. You don’t need Spiced Pumpkin and Cinnamon and Apple Pie. It’s redundant and boring. One of those is enough to satisfy your endless quest to represent some sort of seasonal satisfaction. This is LA, this isn’t Vermont. It’s like one big spiced fest.
It’s ok to riff on chocolate, malt, cookies, berries and perhaps even a nut butter of some kind or dare I say lavender, all year round. There is but one chocolate flavor on the entire menu? That is no way to grow an Ice Cream empire! I look to you to blow my palette away as you have done for years now!
Seriously – enough. You’re losing your way and it’s not ok. I can not continue to spent $100 a month at your shop under these conditions!! Please get a grip and get the Chefs Picks back in order – The Earl Grey and Malted Milk flavors would suffice while one of those awful spiced flavors goes away.
Thank you and good day.
Hi Zach,
Thanks for your feedback – I’m sorry to hear you are not pleased with our recent flavors! We do our best to incorporate seasonality as you know as well as change things up to appeal to all different tastes. I’ll definitely pass your feedback along to our chef and team. Please do check back with us in December when we’ll have another batch of flavors coming out! We really appreciate our loyal customers and hope to be able to offer something pleasing to each of you.
All my best,
Margot