Mar 16, 2015
In the year since I first talked to Andrew Levins on my podcast, he's notched up some major achievements – such as becoming a dad and accidentally ending up as face of the opposition to Barry O'Farrell's lockout laws. He also closed The Dip (where he found himself making 200 burgers in an hour) and landed on the other side of food-reviewing game – writing criticism as editor of TwoThousand.
In this guise, he's really tested himself – such as enduring a Vegemite-crust-stuffed pizza so that we don't have to (he calls it “one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten” ) as well as expanding the geographical reach of TwoThousand to some of his favourite postcodes outside the inner city. This includes heading to “Sydney’s greatest suburb” and sharing with readers the details of his Cabramatta Happy Meal (take note: the sugarcane juice stand he recommends is knockout-level good) or the place in Sydney where you can eat baos that are like burgers.
And speaking of buns and patties, he talks about some of his most memorable reviews (such as his take on The Burger Project), plus being sent overseas by California's tourism board to document his “favourite fast food place in LA”, the piggy fries at Oinkster and the place where Levins knocked back the "best tacos of my life” at 4am, AKA “one of the best meals I’ve had in my life”.
We also chat about the unexpected second life of his cookbook, whether he misses cooking commercially, the grossest thing he’s ever had to do as a chef, and where he likes to eat in Sydney with his son, Archie (Pinbone, ACME and Moon Park to name a few of their fave hangouts).