LAT

Tale of two taste tests

Daily News burger panelAre we entering an era of cross-newspaper snark? Yesterday it was Daily News blogger Mariel Garza making fun of an L.A. Times editor who finds Los Angeles ugly and who had the poor sense to say so in print. Today it's the Battle of the Beef.

The cash-strapped Times, you'll remember, spent something like $1,700 to taste-test cloned beef with celebrity foodies at Campanile — and reported the results prominently on Sunday's front page. Well, today's Daily News front page answered with a more humble experiment. Let's do this as a Q-and-A:

The Times tested $35 Porterhouse steaks — what did the Daily News sample?
"Premium" burgers from McDonalds, In-N-Out, Fatburger, Carl's Jr. and Burger King.

Any roasted fingerling potatoes or sauteed hedgehog mushrooms?
It appears not.

Total cost of food for the Daily News?
$19.71

The Times' testing panel included big-name chefs and Huell Howser — ten in all. The DN's?
Food editor Natalie Haughton, Graphics editor Gregg Miller, a high school football player and the owner of Dandy Don's Homemade Ice Cream.

Did they meet at Campanile or perhaps at the Valley equivalent?
Uh, no. The Daily News office in Woodland Hills sufficed.

The LAT's wine cost perhaps $66 a bottle. At Chez Woodland Hills?
Hahahaha.

After all that, the Times panel found no difference between cloned and regular beef. Who won the Daily News test?
The new McDonald's Angus Third Pounder, all 760 calories of it. "Best in class," said the judges.

Just for kicks, which burger fared worst?
Burger King's Angus Steak Burger: "Didn't taste like a hamburger...Not very appealing."

Both stories on page one, two days apart — coincidence?
I think not.

Photo: Andy Holzman/Daily News


More by Kevin Roderick:
Standing up to Harvey Weinstein
The Media
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
LA Observed Notes: Photos of the homeless, photos that found homes
Recent LAT stories on LA Observed:
LA Times gets a top editor with nothing but questions
LA Observed Notes: Harvey Weinstein stripped bare
Why the LA Times' new theater column needs a new name
Helping in Houston, new lion cubs, Garcetti's back
Memo: New LA Times publisher drops web widget
Warren Olney leaving KCRW's radio lineup
LA Times purge 'capped a month of newsroom turmoil'
As the L.A. Times turns ...


 

LA Observed on Twitter