People have always come to me for advice: Where can we find the perfect steak? What chef made this dish three years ago? Who has the best gin cocktail in L.A.? When did that restaurant close? Why did that place get three stars?! Where do YOU love to eat??
I usually have the answers, or at least a very opinionated quip. How did I end up here? A lot of 150-word blurbs…and a lot of eating, drinking and living.
My unique and fair perspective on the world of restaurants, bars, food, cooking and chefs comes from working in the restaurant industry for more than 10 years and writing about it for even longer. I was most recently the Los Angeles editor for the epicurean daily email, Tasting Table, which launched in February 2009. Before that, I was gossiping over at Eater LA, which I also helped launch (for the Curbed Network…see a pattern?). In my younger days, I was a city-guide girl perfecting the art of the two-paragraph restaurant review, and came to realize that it’s like writing a poem vs. a short story vs. a novel. It’s an art.
Suffice it to say, I’ve made my way around the scene here and beyond, offering my expertise on everything from foie gras to frozen yogurt. I’ve written for numerous print publications, made a few T.V. appearances and continue my love affair with radio.
While I still freelance, consult and contribute around the internets, consider this my home for all sorts of newsy tidbits, observations, snap shots and general frivolity about restaurants, dining, cooking, drinking, travel and other fabulously delicious things. I’ll focus on Los Angeles primarily, but you never know where my thoughts will end up.
About the name Chow Balla: Balla, my surname, is not pronounced “BALLa” as in “I’m a balla (say what); high, roller baby (baby, baby); shot colla (that’s right); ain’t nobody this crazy (like me),” as true as any of that may be (thanks, Chingy).
Instead, Balla is pronounced with a short ‘a’ as in bat or ballet. It’s a play on Ciao, Bella! because my friends, who helped come up with it, are very clever. Let’s chow down!
XOXO,
Lesley
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