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

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