L.A.’s World Cup of Food

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, July 7, and you can expect a mostly sunny day (mid 80s). 

My colleague Antonia Cereijido is a die-hard World Cup fan. Not just for the soccer, but also because it creates a “moment where people get to celebrate their diasporic identities.”

“I'm Argentinian, and the World Cup for me is so fun because the Argentinean community in the U.S. is very small — but once every four years, everyone cares about Argentina all of a sudden, because we have the best player in the world, Lionel Messi,” Antonia explained. 

It can sometimes be difficult to find Argentine-American community in L.A., Antonia said.  But all that changes during the World Cup, when Argentinians gather en masse in places like the San Fernando Valley’s Mercado Buenos Aires, where she watched last Friday’s game with an excited crowd. 

That’s one of many wonderful things about the greater Los Angeles area. The region is a world capital of diasporas, and as these global games unfolded, you could find local watch parties for nearly every country. (Last month, Antonia even wrote about the tiny Paraguayan community in L.A., and what the games have meant to them.)

All of this helped spark Antonia’s idea for L.A. Material’s Culinary Cup — a high-stakes tournament between restaurants representing every country that made the Round of 16.

She was also inspired by Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos’ Mundial de los Desayunos, or World Cup of Breakfasts, which pitted breakfast food from countries around the world against each other last year.

“I thought, ‘Oh, L.A. is the perfect place to talk about different global cuisines, because we have so many different restaurants from all over the world, and so we could recreate a similar sort of thing,” she said. “I think it's an opportunity to keep the festive, multicultural competition alive through food, which is another cultural touchpoint that, like fútbol, unites us all.”

Restaurants in the Culinary Cup were nominated by readers in L.A. Material’s members-only Discord forum, with the list whittled down through weeks of voting and spirited discussion. (The exception to that process being the rare examples where there appeared to be only a  single eating establishment representing that country’s cuisine, such as the Torrance-based home cook selling Paraguayan-style empanadas or the San Pedro church that hosts Norwegian luncheons.) 

The Culinary Cup Round of 16, which reflects the actual seeding of its equivalent World Cup round, began yesterday. Going forward, World Cup results will have no bearing on the Culinary Cup — countries like Mexico that have already been knocked out of the soccer tournament still have a chance to win the food tournament.

To vote for a restaurant, just click on it below (More about each of the restaurants can be found here.)

Voters have until Thursday, July 9th at 3 p.m. to vote in the Round of 16.

Winners of the eight matches will move on to the Quarterfinals on July 10th. The Semifinals will be held on July 16, and the Championship on July 17.

For the record: An earlier version of this newsletter erroneously stated that Morocco had been knocked out of the World Cup. In fact, Morocco defeated Canada on Saturday and will play France in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

A NEW KIND OF PARKING TICKET: Parking too close to a marked crosswalk — a violation known as “daylighting” — can get you a $63 ticket. (The law actually went into effect last year, but LAist reports that after a lengthy grace period, Southern California parking enforcement departments will now be cracking down on violators.) 

THE HACK AND THE FLACK: The San Francisco Standard has a fascinating profile of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton’s wife Rachel Whetstone — a Silicon Valley PR superstar who’s led communications for some of the world’s biggest tech companies. She has not attended a single one of her husband’s campaign events, per the story. 

COURT REPORTER CONTROVERSY: The California Supreme Court is weighing whether to lift a long-standing ban on electronically recording most civil court proceedings, according to the L.A. Times.

CARUSO CASH: Former L.A. mayoral candidate and Republican-turned-Democrat Rick Caruso donated $25,000 to the GOP-led ballot effort to pass a voter ID requirement in California. As Politico reports, the support of a Republican priority is striking for a figure who’s worked hard to demonstrate their allegiance to the Democratic party.

LOGJAM: Yosemite National Park, already notorious for crowds, has been overrun with visitors since the Trump administration eliminated its summer reservation system.

A Classic California Ranch in Glendale 

Nestled against a mountain backdrop in Glendale, this three-bedroom, two-bath house has real mid-century California dream energy. It’s a low-slung California ranch house on a curving, suburban street just off the 2 Freeway, with a sweet little backyard and highly-rated elementary and middle schools less than a mile away. 

It’s listed at $1.275 million and is just over 1,500 square feet.

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: "The Two-headed Calf" by Laura Gilpin.

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