What's Eric Eating Episodes 376 and 377
Cheap Eats host Ali Khan dishes on the decline of inexpensive meals
On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” food writer and TV host Ali Khan joins CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss his career. Best known as the host of Cheap Eats on the Cooking Channel, he also makes regular appearances on shows such as The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Chopped.
The conversation begins with Khan explaining how he built his career from guidebooks to blogs to television. In particular, a burger column he wrote for L.A. Taco website paved the way for his status as a burger expert who has sampled examples all over the country.
While Khan is known primarily for documenting cheap eats, he tells Sandler they’re getting harder to find. Sandler notes that the $8 bowl of pho now costs $12 or more.
“The thing is, the pho ain’t changed. It’s the same pho it was when it was $8,” Khan says. “That’s what’s so hard. The same thing that I remember, that I had over and over again, just to look at the price now within such recent memory. It makes me, who to a degree for my social audience is synonymous with cheap eats — It’s like, cheap eats is dead.
“If anything, I look at 2020 as the restaurants may have shied away from us, but I spent so much time in my kitchen learning to cook better. The only way to justify some of this stuff is to cook more at home and understand that dining out in any capacity is something of a luxury.”
Listen to the full interview to hear Khan’s thoughts on Houston’s dining scene as well as an exchange about the current state of food TV.
In this week’s other episode, Sandler and co-host Mary Clarkson discuss the news of the week. They begin by talking about Barbacana, an ambitious new restaurant that will open in downtown Houston later this year. From there, they turn to country star Koe Wetzel’s plans to open a new bar in Midtown.
In the restaurants of the week segment, Clarkson and Sandler offer thoughts on their meal at Birdie’s, an award-winning restaurant in Austin that’s known for its European-inspired cuisine and innovative service model that blends counter service with fine dining touches. The episode concludes with some thoughts on Nickel City, the Austin-based bar that recently opened a location in the East End.
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