As I waited for my order at Zankou Chicken in Pasadena on Sunday, reading LA Weekly, a burly man approached my table and asked if I was a writer. This stranger turned out to be The New Diner, the food blogger from Diamond Bar who hits restaurants all over not only the Inland Valley but all over L.A. to boot. He might be in Chatsworth one day, Anaheim the next and Long Beach the next.

We’d e-mailed a few times but hadn’t met. As a reader of his blog, I knew not to praise the people of Orange County (whom he reflexively refers to as “the pretentious, jerk people of Orange County,” for instance, here) or to talk any trash about the late Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas (the subject of a New Diner spinoff blog, Unitas We Stand). It was cool to meet him.

He was at Zankou for his blog, I was just there for a meal. Read what he had to say here. I like Zankou too.