Meet Your Food Blogger: Javier Cabral of Teenage Glutster

Javier Cabral turned 21 two weeks ago, which means not only that now he can legally drink alcohol when he eats out with his blogger friends, but that the name of his blog, Teenage Glutster, seems a bit outdated. Some might agree that after a mention from Dana Goodyear in a New Yorker profile of Jonathan Gold a few months ago, and two assignments for the 2010 Saveur 100 list, the Glutster is growing up. "I have no problem still with that name, as it is the name that has gotten me places," said Cabral over lunch at Mayura in Culver City last Friday. But I don't think I'll feel the same when I'm pushing 40 or something. I have a feeling it's going to be one of those Screech or Urkel cases, just gonna follow me until I die."

Cabral's blog is dominated by course-by-course accounts of PR dinners hosted by restaurants for bloggers. His latest post, about a dinner he attended recently at Kabuki in Hollywood, contains 17 photos and 1,249 words. He includes the prices of some of the dishes he consumes, even though he was invited and ate entirely for free. (The post is entitled "Full Menu Privileges.") Last weekend, he was invited on a wine tasting tour of the Santa Ynez Valley with seven bloggers, including Bill Esparza of Street Gourmet LA, Josh Lurie ofFood GPS, and Fiona of Gourmet Pigs, who managed to score a scholarship from FoodBuzz to pay for the trip. We spoke with Cabral about food blogger ethics, his justification for attending so many PR dinners and his feelings about East L.A.

E.Z. Wrightson

SI: When did your interest in food start to emerge?

JC: I used to see a shrink in Culver City. My brother lived out here and we would get dinner afterward. I realized that I looked forward to the dinner afterward, not the therapy. I used to pick up The Weekly back in high school for punk rock listings, and started reading Gold's reviews. I transferred from Garfield High School to Alhambra High and went from witnessing two stabbings a day to taking two extra classes a day. Instead of making a fresh start and finding new friends, I just got into food. When my friends would go to In 'N Out after school, I'd go for pho.

SI: Do your parents and your friends read your blog?

JC: No, my friends make fun of me for it, they don't read it. My parents are old and don't use the Internet. They only speak Spanish. The only time they paid attention was when a fact checker wrote his first piece about me in Hoy. It was a "zero to hero" piece.

SI: Do you think anonymity is important for food critics? You blog often about PR blogger dinners--do you ever feel conflicted about the ethics of having your meal paid for?

JC: Anonymity is an older thing. Now it's not important because there are so many bloggers. People want to put a face to bloggers. Bloggers want their picture and their name out there. There's a link between whether you like it or they give you free food. I never trash food, not like Tony C. When bad stuff happens, if I don't like it, I won't write about it.

SI: So you're saying that if you have a bad experience at a restaurant, and your meal was comped, you simply won't write about it?

JC: I want to do this for a living, I want to get my foot in the door with all these PR people, so I think it's common courtesy after a free, expensive meal to give your thoughts on it. Or at least mention it.

Teenage Glutster

Kabuki's sake and soy seabass

SI: Where do you typically eat out?

JC: The only time I get to go out to eat is for PR dinners since I don't have a job and I'm on financial aid at PCC. [Cabral is currently studying culinary arts at Pasadena City College.]

SI: Would you be interested in blogging from another city, or are you attached to Los Angeles?