Simon Kim has been a fighter all his life. From schoolyard fights in Seoul, South Korea to bar brawls in Long Island, his scrappiness was borne of a restlessness that plagued him until he found his calling: hospitality (ironically). After working his way up from a front desk agent at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to the manager of a lavish restaurant there, Kim made a name for himself as the guy the whales, or uber high-stakes gamblers, wanted to see. Kim joined us in studio to trace his path from 7th grade earth science to opening two Michelin starred restaurants in just over a year, highlighting the hospitality lessons he's learned along the way. Then, we get into the biggest food stories of the week, from pop-up woes to boozy advent calendars, kids on iPads in restaurants and more. We've also got a survey out that'll help us make the Digest better and better. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps us out! Take it here. Stories: • Beer for Christmas • Please Don't Let Your 4 y.o. Lose in Restaurants • Rome Restaurant Scams Tourists Out of Hundreds Featuring: Simon Kim (@simonkimnyc) Hosts: Amanda Kludt (@kludt),  Editor in Chief, Eater Daniel Geneen (@danielgeneen), Producer, Eater Produced by: Martha Daniel (@martha_c_daniel) More to explore: Check out more great reporting from the Eater newsroom. Subscribe to Amanda’s weekly newsletter here. Follow Us: Eater.com Facebok.com/Eater YouTube.com/Eater @eater on Twitter and Instagram Get in Touch: digest@eater.com About Eater: Eater obsessively covers the world through the lens of food, telling stories via audio, television, digital video, and publications in 24 cities across the US and UK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Simon Kim has been a fighter all his life. From schoolyard fights in Seoul, South Korea to bar brawls in Long Island, his scrappiness was borne of a restlessness that plagued him until he found his calling: hospitality (ironically). After working his way up from a front desk agent at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to the manager of a lavish restaurant there, Kim made a name for himself as the guy the whales, or uber high-stakes gamblers, wanted to see. Kim joined us in studio to trace his path from 7th grade earth science to opening two Michelin starred restaurants in just over a year, highlighting the hospitality lessons he's learned along the way. Then, we get into the biggest food stories of the week, from pop-up woes to boozy advent calendars, kids on iPads in restaurants and more. We've also got a survey out that'll help us make the Digest better and better. It takes no more than five minutes, and it really helps us out! Take it here. Stories: • Beer for Christmas • Please Don't Let Your 4 y.o. Lose in Restaurants • Rome Restaurant Scams Tourists Out of Hundreds Featuring: Simon Kim (@simonkimnyc) Hosts: Amanda Kludt (@kludt),  Editor in Chief, Eater Daniel Geneen (@danielgeneen), Producer, Eater Produced by: Martha Daniel (@martha_c_daniel) More to explore: Check out more great reporting from the Eater newsroom. Subscribe to Amanda’s weekly newsletter here. Follow Us: Eater.com Facebok.com/Eater YouTube.com/Eater @eater on Twitter and Instagram Get in Touch: digest@eater.com About Eater: Eater obsessively covers the world through the lens of food, telling stories via audio, television, digital video, and publications in 24 cities across the US and UK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices