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Welcome (back) to Dining Confidential, a series in which Eater discusses restaurant recommendations by well-known personalities around town.
There may not be anyone having a better year than Rachel Bloom, the longtime stage comedy performer whose show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend keeps picking up steam. Now in its second season, the show follows Bloom’s character Rebecca Bunch as she hopelessly follows a forgotten love from New York City out to West Covina, California, all while singing and dancing and generally looking fabulous.
The show managed to nab plenty of hardware (and Emmy nod for choreography, a Best Actress Golden Globe for Bloom herself) and tons of fans in just its first year, and is now rounding into season two with lots more to discuss. Oh, and there will be doughnuts.
Bloom took a few minutes out of her busy shooting schedule to talk about growing up in Los Angeles, her favorite recent meals, and how hard it can be to keep a sweet tooth at bay.
I know you and husband Dan Gregor like to dine out in Los Angeles. Where have you been loving lately?
Oh my god, so many places. For a while we were going to Sage in Echo Park, but we just had the best meal I’ve ever had in Los Angeles at n/naka. We managed to get in, and everything was completely amazing.
I can’t believe you made it in, that’s awesome. How is it balancing the desire to eat so well with the rigors of shooting a television show?
It’s a struggle. You have to find balance with food. On set it’s actually worse than being out in the world, because everything is just right there. It’s all available. Lately I’ve been eating more vegan, trying for less meat in general, and that’s been good. I try to get out of my own way and just have people bring me that stuff on set.
Is there anything, sweets or otherwise, that you’re still a sucker for? Like things you grew up eating?
I grew up here actually, so nothing super regional. I did live in New York City for six years though, and I miss black and white cookies a lot. Oh, and cannoli, which you could literally get on every corner.
I think it’s more about how I used to be able to eat as a kid, not really needing to care. They used to just have sticky buns at school as a snack! Then my metabolism ground to a halt at 22, and my body type changed. I have to be a lot more careful.
Your show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is set just east of here in West Covina. How do you and your writers handle food on the show?
We just try to be honest, really. The show is a lot about the struggle within ourselves between what we do to makes ourselves feel good, and what we maybe should be doing. There’s a lot of carbs on the show. We eat a lot of doughnuts [laughs].
We just shot a scene where I totally house a blueberry muffin, that was great to shoot. We drink a lot of boba too. But it’s not in a way where we have to comment on it, we’re just drinking it. The show is in West Covina, and that’s just how people eat sometimes. Not just here but in America, so we try to show that honestly.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend airs Fridays at 9 p.m. on CW.