From foie gras to falafel, Food Critics Club covers it all

Junior Mathias Gesser is a man of many tastes. He loves the Cuban food at Versailles, a small outlet on Sepulveda. He frequents Amigos for their tasty burritos. He has attested that he can live off of Korean barbecue for days.

So when he and junior Christian Stanbrook came up with the idea to start Food Critics Club, the real mystery is why it hadn’t come to them sooner.

“It just kind of hit me. I was just walking down the school halls with [Stanbrook], and I stopped and looked at him and just said, ‘what if we did this?’” Gesser said.

Club president Gesser and vice president Stanbrook started the club last October, and it now meets every Tuesday in Room 206. Around 30 members attend each week to chat, eat lunch and kick around ideas of restaurants they could review.

Each week, Gesser, Stanbrook and the club generates a restaurant review for its blog, miracostafoodcriticsclub.blogspot.com.

Gesser and Stanbrook first select a “genre” of food to review (they began with Italian and have since covered American, Puerto Rican and, of course, Korean) and then take suggestions at their meetings from other members as to determine what restaurant they will visit over the weekend.

“We believe that the best food can be found in the most unexpected of places. For example, a club favorite, Furusato Korean Barbecue, is in a relatively run-down section of Gardena. That, however, does not take away from the dining experience,” Stanbrook said.

After all ideas are pitched, Gesser and Stanbrook choose a restaurant and plan the trip.  Over the weekend, the entire club visits the restaurant together and discusses the experience.

Selected restaurants are often South Bay establishments, but the club has covered eateries as far as downtown Los Angeles. Most recently, the club visited Chronic Tacos in Redondo Beach.

“We want to go to places that Costa students would want to go to; we’re not going to go to Santa Barbara or Venice or something. We try to keep it local,” Gesser said.

After the club eats out together, members discuss their dining experience. Then, Gesser and Stanbrook write a review, compiling their own opinions as well as the club members’ judgments. Each review is then posted on the club’s blog and is available for all to see and read.

Gesser and Stanbrook say they started the club over a shared enthusiasm for the local culinary scene.

“We usually eat out at least once every weekend with our friends, and we thought to ourselves, ‘Why not turn a passion of ours into something that would benefit the Mira Costa community?’” Stanbrook said.

Members say they keep coming back for the friendly atmosphere and the chance to indulge in unique foods.

“It’s a club with a lot of friends, and you get to try all sorts of new food,” junior Jake Cavallo said.

The club is also working toward broadening its community service efforts. At recent meetings, they have begun planning a canned food drive and discussed a benefit concert to help victims of the recent earthquake in Chile.

“We’re definitely going to be having some community service stuff because we need community service for ASB, and we just want to get active with volunteering because we have a lot of people coming,” Gesser said.

In the meantime, Gesser and Stanbrook plan to continue exploring the South Bay’s food scene.

“It’s easier than it seems, reviewing a restaurant, and we urge each and every student at Mira Costa to give it a try sometime in the future. The sense of accomplishment is almost as powerful as the thought of spending quality time with loved ones while eating, hopefully, delicious food,” Stanbrook said.