This $18 Tavern Pizza Is Super Tasty!
St. Louis-style pies at Ops East Village. Plus: Papa D'Amour's sandwiches, Strange Delight's dirty rice, and what to expect during Year Three at The Lo Times!
Dear Friends! The Lo Times is two years old! Thanks for helping keep the lights on at my tiny food media site. Restaurant reviews are super expensive from a cost perspective (food ain’t free) and from a labor perspective (these columns take a long time to write).
Even major publications have a tough time making criticism work! But this Substack continues to push forward, with extended city guides, food news, cheat sheets, essays, and multi-visit restaurant reviews. I pay for all my meals, so this wouldn’t be possible without your generous support. Thank you again.
Behind the paywall, you’ll find a pizza review, a sandwich review, and a dirty rice review. But first…
The Lo Times, Year Three: What to Expect and What It Takes
Why did you lower the price of annual subscriptions?
To make our criticism more accessible.
In the late spring, I noticed that first-year subscribers weren’t renewing…chiefly because of price. As you can imagine: The Lo Times isn’t a cheap publication to run; I’m reviewing restaurants in one of the most expensive cities in the world. But! The last thing I want is loyal readers having to cancel. So about a week before our anniversary, I dropped annual prices. We’ll see if this works, but so far, renewals have ticked up, which is a relief, lol.
How much does a single review cost to publish?
I spend about $500 on most columns, though longer efforts like Sushi Sho, Kabawa (split into two reviews), The Splurge List, and The Steakhouse Guide can approach or exceed $1,000 in expenses.
What is coverage going to look like in year three?
Hopefully, you’ll see a lot of the same stuff you all love!
Steaks and chops will remain a pillar of our coverage, especially as diners try to be more responsible-ish consumers of those quintessentially American luxuries. And we’ll continue to publish more reviews of edibles! You can also stay tuned for more splurge columns and city guides.
In particular, I’ve been super proud of my essays and reports this past year. Those missives have addressed: the cruelty of Trump’s immigration crackdown, the absurdity of student deportations, the importance of M.F.K. Fisher, the flaws of ChatGPT, the Los Angeles fires, the absurdity of overpolicing the subways, and the vital Pizza Guys of Long Island. Also, you should check out our new-ish website, with lots of fun little sections: Best Tacos, Best Pizza, Best Sandwiches, and Best Steaks.
Wait, stop, do people actually read The Lo Times website lol??
Yes!!! And that’s something interesting about my Substack. Over the past five months, our largest source of pageviews has not been email opens. Instead, Google search has driven most of our traffic since at least the beginning of February. That search engine is our second-largest driver of paid subscribers, behind direct visits. I should add: I’ve been working hard on SEO since day one, so it’s nice to see this pay off!
Okay, but how many people view your site?
The Lo Times is a small enterprise!
Early last year, we were averaging around 25,000 pageviews every 30 days or so. But since February, The Lo Times has consistently received over 53,000 views per month, occasionally hitting 60,000-63,000 views over a 30-day period. Yes, some super-high profile Substacks get more traffic for individual columns, but for me, these numbers are very meaningful. Over the past year, we’ve generated over half a million pageviews. Not bad for four (long) columns a month. Not bad for a site that generally focuses on a single city (hopefully, that will change…).
I won’t get too much into the Secret Sutton Sauce of what columns do well and which ones don’t, but one thing I’m especially proud of is how many folks come back to our coverage in the months after publication. Our journalism has an extraordinarily long “tail,” a pull that extends way beyond same-day email opens.
What are your most read stories?
I publish that list at the end of the year. But since last June, my most-read non-news pieces are America’s Best Edibles, The Steakhouse Guide, and my Ceres review.
If you had more resources, how would The Lo Times change?
In an ideal world, I’d love to hire a freelance reporter who could help me tag team a weekly or daily restaurant news column, with little notes on policy (“no taxes on tips,” “immigration enforcement”)…and with blurbs on the city’s larger arts & culture scene. Let’s call that vision a fun and flirty riff (lol) on the opening pages of The New Yorker. And obviously, I’d expand our city guides and reviews in such a way that it would be the product of multiple voices, and not just mine.
You’re already writing about the arts more often, yes?
Yes!! Museums are where I do some of my best thinking, so this past year I’ve penned essays on:
Diego Rivera and Modern Mexican cooking;
José Clemente Orozco and immigration;
Amy Sherald and strawberry ice cream.
Perhaps I’ll have something to say about Kent Monkman’s new exhibit in Denver? Perhaps! Sometimes, it’s just nice to think about our restaurant world outside of actual restaurants. And sometimes, it’s just nice to cover the arts because they’re beautiful and moving, as is the case with these works by Marcela Avelar.
Any plans for advertising or Google News placement?
I love Substack, and I appreciate the hard work of everyone there; a few staffers in particular have helped me tremendously over the past two years!
That said, I wish Substack could find some way to zestfully advocate for Google News pickups. Getting listed high up on News can have a substantial impact on readership. Alas, even if I’m the first one on a story, or close behind, Google News (which tracks The Lo Times) largely ignores my efforts. This is a bummer, and makes covering events like World’s 50 Best, Michelin, and James Beard a lot tougher. I also wish Substack was a friendlier place for advertising, as that’s something I’m looking into, especially in the edibles, consumables, and CPG spaces.
You quote a lot of other folks in your stories…
I firmly believe that a central purpose of criticism is to keep all of us in conversation with one another. That’s especially important to keep alive the writing of folks who aren’t perpetually online (hey there, Alan Richman!). And quoting other folks is all the more vital in an era where some aspects of food writing can feel more like “content”, and less like journalism. So if I can give a little “voice” to another critic in my reviews or even in my city guides, I’ll do my best to quote and link.
Behind the Paywall: Where to eat over the Fourth of July Weekend!
Pizza Review: The “tavern” pies at the new East Village Ops
Sandwich review: Dominique Ansel’s very good shrimp sandwich
Seafood Review: Strange Delight’s insanely good dirty rice
Also: Rowdy Rooster brings back the vada pav
Finally: My NYT Top 100 movie ballot….