In its inception three years ago, Current TV set out to hire about 50 rotating hosts for the channel. When the network, whose “spiritual leader” is Al Gore, came across two film students at the University of Miami, they stopped that search and hired two guys -- Max Lugavere and Jason Silva -- to be the face of the station, which aims to be the “HBO of the YouTube generation.” The duo moved to L.A, became roommates, and on January 12th, launched their first daily show for the network.

“Al Gore has said that the Internet is the most participatory medium of our time,” says Silva. “What he wanted to do was bring that level of participation to television -- to embrace user-generated content and news journalism.” While some co-host situations seem forced, Max and Jason are actually best friends in real life. “Our friendship is based on the fact that we have similar taste in food,” says Lugavere. The two self-proclaimed health nuts, who love sneaking away from set for lunch, met us at the recently-opened healthy restaurant Natura Mediterranean Foods, to discuss ethnic comfort food and dating in L.A.:

JS: The name of this place stood out for us. The best Lebanese comfort food with brown rice and everything organic. We try to eat really healthy. We live above an organic supermarket.

So you cook?
ML: We can toast bread – that’s in our domestic skill set. But we don’t cook. We’re in the studio a lot. But for lunch we like to run out to a quick healthy restaurant. L.A. has the best affordable delicious restaurants. This place has the best Lebanese comfort food.

A plate of hummus and thin pita is served.

JS: The hummus tastes like it was just ground. It’s so pure. Doesn’t taste like supermarket hummus. We are both obsessed with ethnic food: Thai, Indian, Brazilian, Venezuelan. We’ve been known to come to the same restaurant twice in one day. The attention to detail is what we love about this place.
ML: We both love really old ethnic comfort food. Like Ethiopian food. L.A. has the largest Ethiopian community outside Ethiopia.
JS: We really appreciate it when an ethnic restaurant takes the time to give it that new-wave healthy twist. Old comfort food reexamined.

A plate of eggplant layered with onions, tomatoes and peppers is brought out.

What do you do when you’re not in the studio?
JS: We have several fun activities. Max is really into guitar. I like indoor rock climbing. I hike, go to Malibu. If I can discover some new place to see in L.A. every weekend, I’m happy.
ML: Wow. This looks amazing. Very exciting. A lot of my free time is not spent exploring, unfortunately. It’s spent writing songs and exploring that side of myself. Shall we? (he digs into the eggplant) I want to explore the Griffith Observatory. Maybe bring a bottle of wine, bring a girl. Wow, look at this. Really good. I’m not a huge fan of eggplant but this is delicious. A nice combination of garden-like flavors.

Chicken kabob and beef kabob are brought out with grilled veggies, brown rice, Tahini sauce, and yogurt cucumber sauce.

ML: We love LA. It’s a town that nurtures the feeling of expression. Everybody is here to do something. The entertainment business is ultimately a creative business. And everyone here is in it. This kabob is the shit.
JS: Our experience here has been anything but shallow. We came here to work for a meaningful network with a meaningful mission behind it. I feel like everywhere I turn there’s something to see. The other day I went to the Getty Museum. I was like, are you kidding me? No line, no wait. I can come here and have a glass a wine. In many ways this is the birthplace of the culture of the world, and I like that. You can go to Morocco to see posters of the movies that were made and conceived here.
ML: I love that you can get brown rice here. We won’t eat white rice because brown rice is so much better for you. We don’t eat in the studio because it’s all white bread and Skippy peanut butter. We carry our vitamins with us. Gotta be healthy. They make a great lentil meatball. Could we try one of those?

You’re both single. What’s dating like in L.A.?
JS: That’s where we sometimes tend to agree with the L.A. stereotype.
ML: We do put in a lot of effort.
JS: I’ve had the L.A. experience where I’ve been dating a girl and we go to a party and we can’t be holding hands at the party because there’s some producer there.”
ML: I’ve been single for ten months and enjoy being single. I’d like to meet a special somebody. I think that to some degree I enjoy the times I wish I had a girlfriend. I think that being romantically unhappy helps me write better songs. They say that Kafka ended four marriages because he couldn’t write. I love this sauce (pointing out the tahini). These are tasty, hun.

~Sara Costello


Natura Mediterranean Foods, 8250 W 3rd St. (323) 655-5551