Rating: 
Summary: Not the greatest...
Review: "Hungry" is disappointing. I mostly agree with the first reviewer, though I'm not a big Zagat fan -- Jonathan Gold's book "Counter Intelligence" is better than Zagat or "Hungry."And it's hilarious that every "review" since the first one has been an utter rave, and they all voted the first review "not useful"...they're not very subtle about their ballot-box stuffing! :-) Anyway, don't take the phony votes at face-value - if you have to, thumb through it at a bookstore before you buy.
Rating:
Summary: Not the greatest...
Review: "Hungry" is disappointing. I mostly agree with the first reviewer, though I'm not a big Zagat fan -- Jonathan Gold's book "Counter Intelligence" is better than Zagat or "Hungry." And it's hilarious that every "review" since the first one has been an utter rave, and they all voted the first review "not useful"...they're not very subtle about their ballot-box stuffing! :-) Anyway, don't take the phony votes at face-value - if you have to, thumb through it at a bookstore before you buy.
Rating:
Summary: Not the greatest...
Review: "Hungry" is disappointing. I mostly agree with the first reviewer, though I'm not a big Zagat fan -- Jonathan Gold's book "Counter Intelligence" is better than Zagat or "Hungry." And it's hilarious that every "review" since the first one has been an utter rave, and they all voted the first review "not useful"...they're not very subtle about their ballot-box stuffing! :-) Anyway, don't take the phony votes at face-value - if you have to, thumb through it at a bookstore before you buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely useful
Review: As a newcomer to Los Angeles, Hungry? has saved me countless hours of driving aimlessly through the city streets in search of decent yet cheap (I'm currenly job-hunting) places to eat. The write-ups are quick and to the point, and include the information I truly want to know. It is especially invaluable in a city as large as LA, where there may be 10 different Thai restaurants within a four block radius, with no indication of which one is truly good and which one may give you food poisoning. Unlike the stuffy Zagat guide, which assumes everyone has tons of disposable income, this book is -- as the title suggests -- for real people who just want great food at a reasonable price.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely useful
Review: As a newcomer to Los Angeles, Hungry? has saved me countless hours of driving aimlessly through the city streets in search of decent yet cheap (I'm currenly job-hunting) places to eat. The write-ups are quick and to the point, and include the information I truly want to know. It is especially invaluable in a city as large as LA, where there may be 10 different Thai restaurants within a four block radius, with no indication of which one is truly good and which one may give you food poisoning. Unlike the stuffy Zagat guide, which assumes everyone has tons of disposable income, this book is -- as the title suggests -- for real people who just want great food at a reasonable price.
Rating: 
Summary: Not my first choice
Review: Even in its second edition, "Hungry" continues to prove how smart the Zagats are. "Hungry" lists an army of contributors (each adopting the identical hip/sassy/self-aware tone for their bio), but clearly no one was in charge. ... [O]rganization is poor (guess what area of town "La La Go North East" is) and the book is filled with digressions that just aren't germane to picking a place to eat now. Typical is a lengthy paean to a long-gone Brentwood pizza joint called Regular Jon's which not only misspells the name of the pizzeria, but fails to review, or even mention, the restaurant which replaced it. Elsewhere, a contributor discusses the architecture of a defunct chili restaurant, but doesn't bother rating Mr. Cecil's, the rib place that now operates there. (He does take time to urge you to buy his book about wacky California, though.) As a result of all of these cooks in the kitchen, the book is much thicker than a Zagat guide, though it reviews far fewer places. Ultimately, it's just less useful. "Hungry" isn't awful by any means. If you buy Zagat every single year, you'll want "Hungry" too. But if you're about to buy your first guide to L.A. restaurants, get the brown one.
Rating:
Summary: Not my first choice
Review: Even in its second edition, "Hungry" continues to prove how smart the Zagats are. "Hungry" lists an army of contributors (each adopting the identical hip/sassy/self-aware tone for their bio), but clearly no one was in charge. ... [O]rganization is poor (guess what area of town "La La Go North East" is) and the book is filled with digressions that just aren't germane to picking a place to eat now. Typical is a lengthy paean to a long-gone Brentwood pizza joint called Regular Jon's which not only misspells the name of the pizzeria, but fails to review, or even mention, the restaurant which replaced it. Elsewhere, a contributor discusses the architecture of a defunct chili restaurant, but doesn't bother rating Mr. Cecil's, the rib place that now operates there. (He does take time to urge you to buy his book about wacky California, though.) As a result of all of these cooks in the kitchen, the book is much thicker than a Zagat guide, though it reviews far fewer places. Ultimately, it's just less useful. "Hungry" isn't awful by any means. If you buy Zagat every single year, you'll want "Hungry" too. But if you're about to buy your first guide to L.A. restaurants, get the brown one.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Best Way to Find Cool Secret Places in L.A.
Review: Hands down, this book is the absolute best way to find the really cool places in L.A. that everyone else has overlooked. I'd actually been living in L.A. for several years before I got this book, and had been to a lot of the "standard" places that every other guidebook talks about--most of which were so-so or really overpriced. The thing about L.A. is that it's such a big city, with everything scattered, that it's easy to fall into a rut when you go out to eat, because everyone just knows the same 5 places that are close to their apartment (which is why, I suppose, they end up on every survey.) It's not an easy town to explore. But my favorite part of this book is how--rather than breaking listings down just by cuisine--the book is also organized by neighborhood, and they've done their research on the whole city, not just the (really overdone) westside. I can't count the number of times that I've been out across the city somewhere and gotten hungry and, instead of rushing back to someplace I'd been a hundred times, I pulled out the book, found the part of town I was in, and found some cool place within 5 blocks. And everyplace I've been has been awesome. Not to mention that the whole point of the book is to find the best CHEAP food in L.A. I think that the cutoff is $10 for a meal, and that covers everything from diners to really amazing places (one of my favorite Italian places could probably charge $50 a plate if it were on the Westside) It will probably end up making you the person that everyone comes to for a restaurant recommendation. I had one friend who called me every week asking for new places to impress a date, so in the end I bought him a copy, too.
Rating:
Summary: A Super Great Guide to Eating Your Way Through LA
Review: Hey, I was a fan of the first book, a poorly edited book with great content and a smart concept-break LA down by neighborhood and then get real locals to write about their favorite places.
The new book is a million times better and includes foods as wide ranging as Korean Barbecue and authentic Peruvian to the best hot dogs and places to take your vegan buddy (that won't make you gag). The book is funny, more insightful than other food guides and, while I don't always agree with every reviewers' opinion, at least I get a good enough rundown of the place to know they've been there-unlike a lot of other books that look like they've been assembled with a lot of help from the phone book.
Rating:
Summary: Find the places that Zagat's misses
Review: I'm so pleased by the second edition of Hungry?! I've been a resident of LA for some time and I'm still discovering new and interesting places, thanks to the book. It's easy to navigate and find that special hideaway. Unlike Zagat's, Hungry's reviewers actually have an opinion about the places they review because they've really been there. The book makes for fun reading besides - the sidebars are hilarious and the history section interesting - and the overall look make it a great, funky, gift....better than that maroon blah Zagat's book.
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