LEVINS EATING FOOD! EPISODE ONE!

May 27, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Yeah hoe! I made my own tv show about me eating food – exactly what the public wanted!

I shot this thing with my pal Aidan Keogh. Last month we spent a day driving to all my favourite weird hot dog spots around Sydney, eating some dawgs and making cinematic history.

Here are the spots we visit in the video:

La Paula, 9 Barbara St, Fairfield 

Kana Express, 359 Pitt St, Sydney

Chinatown Night Market, Dixon St, Chinatown

And one more which you really don’t want to visit. Not for food anyway.

There will be a new one of these every month or so. I’m really psyched about it! I love eating food!

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5 GREAT PIZZAS IN NAPLES

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Originally posted on You Only Live Once

Disclaimer: This list should actually read “5 Great Pizzas, 1 Kinda Bad Pizza and an Amazing Bowl of Pasta in Naples”.

My wife and I spent 3 days in Naples, Italy at the beginning of this year. It was bitterly cold but we had no fear, because everywhere we wanted to go had a woodfire oven cranked up high. Naples is the home of pizza, arguably the best food in the world. Although I grew up loving a bastardized version of pizza, a fat cousin with bbq sauce and stuffed crust, in my grease-clogged heart I knew that in order to pay my true respects to the pizza gods, I had to eat the purest pizza as they intended. I had to go where pizza was invented and devour some of that OG pie. No hot dog stuffed crust or shwarma meat, just simple ingredients cooked to perfection. This was our pizza pilgrimage.

Il Pizzaiolo del Presidente, Via Tribunali 120, 80138 (see map)
We started our pizza pilgrimage here and I recommend you doing the same – this is a great all rounder pizza. A simple but great margherita. We ordered the Margherita con Bufala, which comes covered in buffalo mozzarella. These small circles of white cheese bubble with oil and stretch as you bite them in half. The crust is nicely charred, one of the best things about pizzas in Napoli! If you are one of those “I don’t like eating pizza crusts wahhhh” kind of people maybe you should lock yourself in a cupboard for a week and punch yourself in the face instead of coming to Italy because you are a bad person.

L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, Via Cesare Sersale 1/3, 80139 (see map)
A few hours later we had made our way over to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, which is the pizza place most famous for being in a Julia Roberts movie called Eat, Pray, Love. It is widely regarded by all reviewers as the best in the city and by god did I want to prove them wrong. I wanted this place to be so shit! Who wants to agree with a Julia Roberts movie? I wanted to come home, walk over to the nearest Video Ezy, find a copy of Eat, Pray, Love and yell “WRONG!” in its face! Unfortunately my fantastic and mature plan was never to be because man alive, is the pizza at da Michele perfect. The soft, charred and chewy dough resembles naan bread a little, and the oily cheese mixes with the sauce in the middle of the pizza to create an incredible soup that’s impossible to eat with your hands. You gotta use cutlery with this pizza but goddamn is it worth it. We ate one pizza each which may have been a mistake since we planned to check out another pizza place later that night and the pies at da Michele are MASSIVE. They are so good though. Honestly you could come to Naples and only eat pizza from here and you could leave with no regrets. This was in my top 5 of things I’ve ever eaten. I owe Julia Roberts an apology. Just kidding, fuck Julia Roberts.

Da Pellone, via Nazionale nr 93, Quartiere Vasto (see map)
Have you ever been drunk off pizza? After two pizzas to ourselves from two different spots in a couple of hours we were delirious and decided to walk off our pizza induced stupor by heading to the other side of the city, where we would eat more pizza at a place called Da Pellone. We played it safe here and ordered one pizza to share. The problem was that this pizza was a monster – slightly wider than the pies at da Michele but almost double the thickness! I wish I could go into more detail but we were hammered off pizzas by this point in the night. All I can remember is that 1. this was a pizza and 2. we didn’t eat it all. We put ourselves on a pizza ban for the next 12 hours.

Pizzeria Brandi, Salita S. Anna di Palazzo, 1-2, 80100 (see map)
Remember how I said that one of these pizzas was kinda bad? Here it is. Pizzeria Brandi is credited with inventing the Margherita Pizza. We figured that while we in the town that invented pizza, why not go to the spot that invented the Margherita? The pizza here doesn’t hold a candle to the other pizza joints in Napoli. It’s by no means bad, in fact it’s better than almost every Margherita Pizza I’ve had in Sydney, but there are much better pizzas in this city to spend your money on. The biggest difference that Brandi offers is service. Where other pizza restaurants in Naples are very laid back and you can see your pizza being made while you wait, Brandi awkwardly tries to offer fine dining service with your pizza. Yes they have a much larger menu on offer too but the overall vibe was really offputting. You should skip this one!

Di Matteo, Via del Tribunali, 94, 80138 (see map)
See this glorious pizza above? This was breakfast on our last day in Naples, and ranks up there as one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had. The pizzas here are excellent. The sauce is a little chunkier than other joints and best of all, this was the only pizza we had that wasn’t just charred around the edges – the dough at Di Matteo bubbles so much that patches in the middle get charred as well! As good as this was, Margherita pizzas aren’t even what people rave about when they talk about Di Matteo – it’s all about the Pizza Fritta:

At some of the pizza spots we went to there was a huge deep fryer near the pizza oven. It looks like a giant beer keg filled with oil. Mostly these are used to fry arancini balls but some geniuses use them to make Pizza Fritta – a whole deep fried pizza! This isn’t battered or anything though – they put the toppings on one disc of dough and seal it shut with another, then drop the pizza into oil where it cooks for a few minutes, the dough bubbling and expanding while it swims in the oil. When it gets to your table it’s this glorious puff, as you can see above. As soon as you touch it with your knife it deflates and reveals the ricotta, sauce and meat inside.

Obviously this was ridiculously good. The kind of thing that you just keep nibbling at even though your stomach is about to burst. Honestly I could just eat deep fried pizza dough with some sauce to dunk it in for the rest of my life. What a great life that would be.

Europeo di Mattozi, Via M. Campodisola 4-8, 80133 (see map)
This was the last pizza of our trip, at a place that we weren’t going to go to until my friend Cam saw I was in Naples on the Instagramz and stressed how important it was that we come to Europeo di Matozzi before we leave. So, with 90 minutes until our train left Napoli Stazione we headed there for lunch. We were worried when we sat down though. This place was pretty la-di-dah. After the not so great pizza at Brandi, this was a bad omen. Thankfully, Europeo di Matozzi delivered like Dominoes (as in it delivered on it’s premise of good food, not as in delivered to your door at 3:30 on a Sunday arvo, maybe Dominoes was actually a pretty bad choice of comparison point). This pizza was topped with a few cherry tomatoes, plus a nice glug of oil to swim alongside the oil from the melted cheese. It wasn’t quite as good as the other pizzas we’d had in the last few days, but the real reason we were here wasn’t actually the pizza – it was for a little pasta dish called Frutti Di Mare, which means ‘fruits of the sea’.

This was, without a doubt, the best bowl of pasta I’ve ever eaten. The pasta was handmade, al dente and salty with the simple sauce – butter, parsely, garlic and the taste of the ocean – which came from the prawns, clams, octopus, crab and scampi in the bowl. All these creatures were cooked perfectly, they must’ve been cooked separately because not one bite was over or undercooked. It was so fresh, simple and goddamn good. Almost as good as the pizza at da Michele. Almost. I wouldn’t dare anger the pizza gods by putting a bowl of pasta on the same level.

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So there you have it. A solid couple of days in Naples. Some other things worth doing that aren’t pizza or pasta related include trying to cross the street at night while yelling absurd claims like “This place is like the European Vietnam!“, visiting the ‘Castle of the Egg’ and filling what little room is left in your stomach with rum babas, the cute dessert that is native to Naples.

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DO THE DIP VOLUME 2!

May 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment

I made a hot new rap mix to celebrate The Dip’s 2nd birthday. I made one last year with a tonne of Miami Bass on it. Since we’re launching a new hip hop / r&b night this Thursday I thought I’d make this one a straight up rap mix. These are the songs that we blast in the kitchen, and in the car on our drive home from work. It’s almost 50% songs produced by DJ Mustard, which is pretty special.

Tracklist: WAVEY DAVEY B INTRO / THEM PHRESH BOYZ dip / DJ DRAMA (feat TRAVIS PORTER & KIRKO BANGZ) real niggas in the building / YOUNG JEEZY feat 2 CHAINZ r.i.p. / TY$ & JOE MOSES weekend / RASHAD feat T.I. & YOUNG DRO tell em what they want to hear / YG toot it & boot it / MYSTIKAL bouncin’ back / YG pop it / HOT BOYS feat BIG TYMERS i need a hot girl / T.I. feat LIL’ WAYNE ball / TRAVIS PORTER feat TYGA ayy ladies / TYGA feat RICK ROSS dope / FRENCH MONTANA feat TYGA & ACE HOOD thrilla in manilla / 2 CHAINZ i’m different / RICH KIDZ house wife / E-40 feat YG, IAMSU & PROBLEM function / BEYONCE feat LIL’ KEKE, SLIM THUG, WILLIE D, SCARFACE, Z-RO & BUN B i been on (h town remix)

Speaking of mustard, we’re having a goddamned Hot Dog Eating Contest this Thursday night! Lots of awesome prizes to be won – all the details are here on The Dip site. 

We also made our first ever t-shirts, which will be on sale this Thursday night, and online over at Label State.

And we’re launching a new weekly party! DIP HOP – rap and r&b every Thursday night in the Front Bar at Goodgod for FREE. I’m DJing every week plus kool pals like Joyride, Franco, Elston, Leon Smith, Radge and more are playing too.

Enjoy the mix and come along this Thursday night if you can! 

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HALFWAY CROOKS THIS WEEKEND

May 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Halfway Crooks, my rap party with Franco and Elston, is back on this weekend! Did you see the article I wrote for Oyster last month with my top 10 tracks from the first 4 years of Crooks? It’s a good one!

Franco has made an awesome mix for you to get familiar with before tomorrow – the final in his Lush Lyfe mix series – THE FINAL WAVE. Listen and download below!

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BATMAN TRIVIA TOMORROW NIGHT!

April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment


Holy bonus round, Batman!

It almost didn’t happen last month – the whole club was evacuated due to a fire next door (our number one suspect was Firebug) but the Dark Knight has risen like he was born to do – it’s time for Batman Trivia!

Super friends Angus Truskett and Andrew Levins have been deep in the Batcave plotting and planning an evening of trivia dedicated to their favourite hero – the dark knight, the caped crusader – BATMAN!

Featuring back-breakingly hard questions from the Batman comics, movies, cartoons, games and the legacy of Gotham city!

Start forming your Justice League team and come down to win some bat-prizes at the Batman trivia night that Sydney deserves!

Table bookings are strongly encouraged and available now through The Dip. Email us on do@thedip.com.au!

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MY GUIDE TO COMIC BOOK STORES IN SYDNEY

April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Originally posted on youonlyliveonce.com.au. This is the first of many posts I’ll be doing for them in the next couple of weeks!

Comics! They’re the best, right? I read like 100 a week! But every time I try talking to my “friends” about how ball shakingly good the new issue of Saga was, I get the same response! “Levins! I don’t have the disposable income that a DJ Chef can afford! I work in social media! I get paid in likes!”

I feel your pain pal. But you can thank the Asgardian gods, for this weekend is Free Comic Book Day! The only day of the year when you can walk into any comic book store dressed as your favourite Robin and fill your utility belt with FREE COMICS! Each year all the comic book companies put out a couple of free issues for stores to giveaway. Do you like watching The Walking Dead but have never read the comic? Why not pick up the free Walking Dead comic coming out this weekend! Were you confused at the end of The Avengers when that blue smiling guy showed up? Find out who he is in the free INFINTY comic! Looking forward to Man Of Steel? There’s a free Superman comic too! There’s also a stack of comics for kids so if you’re worried about being an adult in a comic book store, why not bring a kid and save your cred while showering said kid with FREE COMICS!

But where shall you go to collect all your free comics? I’ve put together a complete list of all the comic book stores in Sydney to assist your free-comic-getting. We’ll start in the CBD and then move out to the suburbs.

King’s Comics, (facebook page) 310 Pitt St, Sydney +61 2 9267 5615

If you’ve never been inside a comic book store, Kings is a great place to start. This huge and well organised store is a perfect example of what a comic book store should be – you’ll find an unbelievable amount of comics from mainstream and independent publishers, a great selection of toys and most importantly, friendly staff who know their shit. There’s not much worse than going into a comic book store and being greeted by rude staff who don’t give two shits about you or the comics in their store. Whether you’re new to comics or an obsessive geek, the staff at Kings are always good for a helpful chat. They’re also good for wearing the best costumes each Free Comic Book Day – last year they all dressed as X-Men!

Their range of comics and trades is frequently updated and they definitely order more of every new issue than any other comic book store in Sydney. The one thing you won’t find at Kings is an extensive range of back issues – their back issues boxes only go back a couple of years – but the enormous selection of new comics easily makes up for this. 

Kings Comics doubles it’s greatness on Free Comic Book Day – and although it might be a bit of a wait to get in, once you’re inside you’ll be treated to 20% off everything in store, 50% off all back issues plus giveaways and cosplay competitions.

Comic Kingdom, 71 Liverpool St, Sydney +61 2 9267 1685

Sydney’s oldest comic book store Comic Kingdom is insane. There are so many things stacked up against it – the organisation of the store is a shambles, the staff are awful (and seem genuinely pleased at their awfulness), they only get a small amount of new comics in each week. But in the years that I’ve been coming to Comic Kingdom, knowing it’s flaws as I walk up the stairs, I’ve found some amazing comics. 

Downstairs at Comic Kingdom is a wild mess of toys, magazines, trading cards, kids comics, books, manga and the strangest collection of movies on VHS that nobody in Sydney wants. It’s worth having a browse through here just for the sheer novelty of how much junk surrounds you. Upstairs is where all the comics live. Newer comics and trades line the walls, with boxes full of older comics beneath them. In a roped off section out the back there’s an insane amount of DC and Marvel back issues dating back to the 70s. If you ask nicely, the staff will let you back there to peruse the selection. Everything is reasonably cheap, there’s a stack of stuff priced at a dollar or less and there are some real gems to be found!

I’ve grown to love Comic Kingdom, and for all it’s flaws, I hope it stays open for a few more decades. If you go in there expecting bad service and a bit of a search for some good shit, you’ll learn to love it too. Their festivities for Free Comic Book Day are pretty minimal, everything in store is already 25% off (it has been for the last couple of months), last year they had a dude selling tshirts out the front so maybe that’ll happen again. Tshirts!

Kinokuniya, (facebook page) Level 2, The Galeries, 500 George St, Sydney +61 2 9262 7996

The best bookstore in Sydney, Kinokuniya, has a damn good graphic novels section. You’ll find trades from DC, Marvel, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Image and more, for a little less money than every other comic book store (especially if you’re a Kinokuniya member). The staff in the section are friendly and helpful, if not quite as knowledgeable as the staff at Kings.

Kinokuniya put on quite a show for Free Comic Book Day as well, offering 20% off all graphic novels each year plus hosting an Artist’s Alley which features 12 Australian comic creators selling and signing their work. The Australian comics scene is rarely supported by anyone so it’s very cool to see Kinokuniya give the creators some shine.

Elizabeth’s Bookshop, 343 Pitt St, Sydney +61 2 9267 2533

Elizabeth’s Bookshop is just across the road from Kings Comics. They have all the Asterix and Tin Tin comics and a small section of secondhand comics. Youll find a few boxes of single issues and a shelf or two of trades. New stock is added fairly infrequently but I’ve found some cool stuff there. I doubt they’ll be doing anything for Free Comic Book Day but if you’re already going to Kings why not pop over and try find a bargain. There’s an Elizabeth’s Bookshop in Newtown as well with a significantly smaller collection of comics for sale. 

The Comic Shop, (facebook page) 10a/170 George St, Liverpool +61 2 9601 2622

The Comic Shop in Liverpool: boring name, awesome store. They’ve got an amazing amount of comics, mostly single issues from all publishers and a good selection of trades as well. Their toy selection rivals Kings Comics, in fact they might actually have more. They’ve got hundreds of statues, so if for some reason having an alternate reality Moon Knight bust in your bedroom staring at you while you sleep is appealing, they’ve got you covered!

The Comic Shop is a fair way out of the city, but even if you dont live nearby it’s definitely worth the trek out. The staff are outgoing and friendly without being annoying. It makes me happy that a store like this can be doing so well in the burbs. They’ve got a lot of back issues which are actually pretty dear however if you head out there this Saturday you’ll be treated to 50% off all back issues which is nice. Everything else in the store is between 25 – 35% off as well which makes The Comic Shop a must visit in your Free Comic Book Day travels.

The Phantom Zone, (facebook page) Shop 22C Horwood Place, Parramatta 2150 +61 2 9891 1848

Just around the corner from Parramatta Westfield, The Phantom Zone is a quaint, clean and well organised comic book store with a nice display of new comics, an impressive amount of trades lining the walls and a modest selection of toys and collectibles. There’s a few boxes of back issues from the big publishers dating back five years or so. 

The owner is friendly enough when he serves you but every time I’ve been inside the store it’s just been me and him in there, me hovering silently around the comics and him staring into his computer, clicking his mouse. Why is that an issue? I guess given the size and location of his store you’d expect a little warmth to convince you to come back. Who goes to comic stores for warmth though?! This is a good store to visit if you’re ever in Parramatta but not as worth the trek out of the city as The Comic Shop is. The Phantom Zone is a way cooler name though.

For Free Comic Book Day, The Phantom Zone is discounting everything in the store by 20% and giving out prizes for everyone in a costume.

Arcadia Unbound, 331 Stoney Creek Rd, Kingsgrove, +61 2 9510 4884

The only comic book store in The Shire, Arcadia Unbound is also the only store on this list that I’ve never actually been to. I only found out about it today! They don’t even have a website!

What they do have is the coolest entry though. Look at that fucking thing! So badass. While I’ve never set foot inside Arcadia Bound, I did visit their stall at Supernova last year and they had an amazing selection of back issues dating back 30 years or so, all for pretty good prices. The dude running it, who I presume works at the store too, was super nice. Arcadia Unbound are yet to announce their plans for Free Comic Book Day but at the very least if you head in you’ll get your free comics!

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So there you have it. All of Sydney’s comic book stores. So many places to get so many free comics! Then you can brag to your geeky friends about how many free comics you got, before punching one of them in face for saying “Bazinga!”. I’m actually gonna try to visit all of these stores this Saturday, so if you see an out of breath kool guy in a beyond half arsed cosplay attempt (I’m contemplating writing “I’M BATMAN” on my head with a sharpie) please say hello.

Also, if anybody wants to sell me the John Ostrander run of Martian Manhunter, get at me on Twitter.

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MOM’S SPAGHETTI

April 30, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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There was an Eminem / 8 Mile reference in last week’s issues of FF and Uncanny X-Men.

Uncanny X-Men writer Brian Bendis had this to say about it:

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POP THAT! THIS WEEKEND

April 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Pop That!, my party with Shantan from Stolen Records, is back again this Saturday night at Goodgod Small Club.

We’ve got a pal from Brisbane playing with us – Mr Sampology! He selected a few youtubes for Oyster Magazine and put ‘em up in this sweet post: http://oystermag.com/oyster-playlist-sampology

Also I made a couple of award winning short films which you can view in their entirety here: http://youonlyliveonce.com.au/pop-that/

See you on Saturday! Or not, you jerk.

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WEDDING ACTIVITY BOOK

April 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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We gave these out at our wedding with crayons. The knees in these photos belong to Michelle, my new 22 year old Aunty in law (seriously).

The front cover is a rip off of The Amazing Spiderman Annual 21, aka the wedding of Spiderman and Mary Jane.

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I GOT MARRIED & MADE A MIX 2 CELEBRATE

April 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Hey! I got married on the weekend, to the girl of my goddamn dreams BIANCA.

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We made a mix of all our favourite love songs that we have played the hell out of over the 5 years we’ve been together. We gave the mix out to our wedding guests but here it is for YOU to enjoy.

These are the songs we like to dance to, to fall asleep to, to sing to each other in the car, to play to our friends at 5am. It’s a mixed bag of cute jams from a lot of different genres.

Obviously I had to get a Wavey Davey B intro as well.

Levins & B – The Soundtrack 2 Da Wedding

Tracklist:

Wavey Davey B Intro

Sleepy Brown – Me, My Baby & My Cadillac

Slum Village – Fall In Love

50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg – 21 Questions

Jay-Z feat Beyonce – ‘03 Bonnie & Clyde

Cassie feat. Diddy – Must Be Love

Justin Timberlake – Strawberry Bubblegum

Spectral Display – It Takes A Muscle To Fall In Love

Rufus Wainwright – Tiergarten (Supermayer Remix)

The Juan McLean – Happy House

Larry Heard – The Sun Can’t Compare

Lykke Li – Breaking It Up (Pocketknife Remix)

Ghost Town DJs – My Boo

Alessi Brothers – Seabird

Hot Chip – Take It In (Osborne Remix)

K-Ci & Jojo – All My Life

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BONUS BEAT: The Apology Rap!

My amazing friends Nina and Charlie (Nina / Nina’s Dad took the photos in this post too!) put together this incredible song featuring raps from all my international friends who couldn’t make it down for the wedding – including my cousin Patrick, B’s old friend Lucy, Heaps Decent affiliates Erin and Lucas (and their little baby Miles!), plus superstar DJs Jess Jubilee, Nick Catchdubs, Diplo and Anna Lunoe with her husband and best rapper on the whole track Hendo. Nina and Charlie produced the whole thing and sang the hook, which has been in my head since the wedding!

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The wedding was the best day of my life. I highly recommend everybody get married and spend all the money and time putting on the hugest party of their dreams. We added a lot of cool personal touches to the day which I’ll put up here over the next couple of days, along with 4 billion photos of me kissing the cutest gal in the universe.

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