Jonathan Gold at LA Weekly

7/6/2016
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Jonathan Gold's 60 Korean Dishes
Every Angeleno Should Know
4 years ago | Korean Cuisine
SHOPPING
BOOKS
LISTS
LAST NIGHT
FILM AND TV
TRAVEL
A CONSIDERABLE TOWN
HOLIDAYS
See Also: A Google map for all 60 of the

Korean dishes Jonathan Gold says every
Angeleno should know, read "5
Koreatown Restaurants Open 24 Hours:
Hangover Soup," learn about "5
Koreatown Beer Joints: Hite
Requirement," or just look at more of
Ann...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Baco Mercat

4 years ago | Restaurant Reviews
Click here for Anne Fishbein's slide show.

Bco Mercat is Josef Centeno's new bar
down in the Old Bank district, a dim, close
space just south of Pete's. It has been
getting some attention lately for the
crunchy, paper-thin Catalan pizza call...
Golden Deli: A New Restaurant, in the

Style of Chipotle
4 years ago | Chinese Cuisine
Golden Deli has been the default

Vietnamese noodleshop in the San
Gabriel Valley for a couple of generations
now, a cramped, eternally crowded
storefront where the pho, and especially
the fried springrolls called cha gio, have
always been worth th...
Where to Find Breakfast Tacos in

L.A.?
4 years ago | Breakfast
http://www.laweekly.com/authors/jonathangold2126528
Dear Mr. Gold: As a former resident of

South Texas, I often miss the unique
Texas-style breakfast tacos so ubiquitous
there. (I like mine with machacado.) I'm
sure you know that these are not the
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sure you know that these are not the

same as breakfast burritos, and are
dened well in...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Shanghai No.

1 Seafood Village

Let's get this out of the way: Shanghai No.
1 Seafood Village is the most ambitious
Chinese restaurant to open in Los Angeles
in a decade maybe ever, if you don't
count Hong Kongstyle seafo...
Where Does a Restaurant Critic Go

When He's Not on the Clock?
4 years ago | Burritos
I am often asked where I eat when I am

not on the clock, when the agenda
includes neither distant anticucherias nor
Korean silkworm soup. And the answer I
have not quite given, although I probably
end up there once a week, is the Pasadena
takeout ...
Rocio Camacho's Latest: Mole de los

Dioses
4 years ago | Mexican Cuisine
Mole -- we've all had mole. Los Angeles

may be the best place to eat mole outside
Oaxaca and maybe the D.F., a bastion of
both Oaxacan and Poblano styles of the
ultracomplex sauce. If you can't nd the
famous seven moles of Oaxaca here,
you're no...
What's With All the Beer Pubs?

4 years ago | Beer
Dear Mr. Gold: What's with all these beer

pubs? It's very 1991 Denver. --Eric
Beteille, via Facebook...
Bouillabaisse: Meant for the Poor,

Now for the Rich
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: It's that time of year, cold

and dark early, which means there is
nothing more inviting than that wave of
heat and spice when you enter a great
Italian trattoria. I'm hunting for the best
bouillabaisse in town, in a joint that is as...
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bouillabaisse in town, in a joint that is as...
Jonathan Gold's Angeli Caffe Eulogy


The chilly Wednesday evening before
Angeli Caffe closed for good, you could
grab a bar seat at Pizzeria Mozza without
waiting, and there were only two or three
dudes in line at Pink's hot dog stand. If
yo...
Aroma Cafe: Even If You Can't

Pronounce Pljeskavica, You Can
Point
5 years ago
Can you say pljeskavica? I kind of can't,

which may be why I don't visit this
Bosnian cafe as often as I would like to -which is kind of a lot, considering they
also have wonderful spinach bureks;
enormous Slav-tinged meze platters of
salami, ch...
Sushi Kimagure Ike: Pasadena's Best

Sushi Bar Ever?
5 years ago | Japanese Cuisine
For years, Sushi Ike was the best sushi bar

in Hollywood, the place you went when
you wanted to escape from the shy
neologisms of Geisha House and KatsuYa for something close to classic, Edostyle sushi. Ike-san was never a ashy
sushi chef, b...
Where in L.A. is Tarte Flambe?

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: A friend of mine lives near

the French eatery La Poubelle and I live
close to Cafe Stella. We alternate. But
while La Poubelle serves atbread, Stella
does not. And I've been thinking: Why is
tarte ambe so hard to nd in...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Westfield

Culver City Food Court

The loneliest evening I ever spent in New
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Orleans was on my rst visit to the city, at

the glistening food court into which the
great soul-food cook Buster Holmes had
been transplanted, half a century on...
Milo and Olive: 3rd Wave Pizza +

Empire-building in Santa Monica
5 years ago | Pizza
Those Rustic Canyon guys? It's an empire

they're building in Santa Monica, from ice
cream, to wine, to breakfast -- and now
pizza, at this new, perpetually crowded
small-plates restaurant whose dining
room probably is smaller than some of its
cust...
Jewish Iraqi Food: Yes, But in Los

Angeles?
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My parents are coming to

visit soon and I was hoping to do them
proud by nding some authentic Iraqi
cuisine akin to what my Baghdad-born
father grew up eating just outside of Tel
Aviv. His mother has stuffed us many a
visit with t...
Carousel: The Joy of Mezze, With or

Without Belly Dancing
5 years ago | Middle Eastern Cuisine
The Lebanese-Armenian restaurant

Carousel has been holding down its
position in Little Armenia longer than
almost anyone can remember, as it's a
reliable place for kebab platters, the usual
salads, and an exemplary version of
muhammara, a rough, s...
In Search of Curly Fries, Like They

Have in Missouri
5 years ago | Food Trucks
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a hankering for

some grease. I would like it to come in the
form of a "brick" of Susie-Q french fries. I
don't want any of these wimpy curly fries
people talk about, looking like lost potato
eyelashes on the plate. None of th...
Jonathan Gold's 10 Best Dishes of

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Jonathan Gold's 10 Best Dishes of

2011

Roast marrowbones with prawn sambal
In a year when Los Angeles cooking came
together with a coherence it probably
hasn't seen since the mid-1980s, this dish
at Spice Table seemed to express
everything imp...
Crispy Pork Gang & Grill: In Thai

Town, You Gotta Have a Gimmick
5 years ago | Thai Cuisine
Well, yes, Crispy Pork Gang. A restaurant.

A Thai restaurant. In that Thai Town strip
mall that somebody should have thought
of a catchy name for by now, but anyway,
the one with Ganda, Ruen Pair and Red
Corner Asia in it, and a valet who will sta...
The World in Dumplings: Or, Not

Living By XLB Alone
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'd like to do a tour of the

world's cuisines through dumplings. Xiao
long bao may be my favorite food on
Earth, but one does not live by XLB alone.
So far I've got momo, gyoza, shui jiao,
samosa and piroshki on the list, even
thoug...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Dal Rae


The Dal Rae at Christmas freaking hell,
the Dal Rae at Christmas, a pulsing, meatscented wonderland of dark wood and
smoked mirrors and shrimp cocktails as
big as spaniel pups, Old-Fashioneds pul...
Night of the Broken Rice at Com Tam

Thuan Kieu
5 years ago | Vietnamese Cuisine
Com tam is pure Vietnamese soul food,

jagged shards of rice broken in the
threshing process, repurposed as lunch -com tam with a bit of scallion oil is
among the cheapest and most delicious
things you could eat. As with such former
poverty stapl...
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poverty stapl...
Churros for Hanukkah: Oil and

Pluralism
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: It's Hanukkah, and I want

to have a party, but I live in a small
apartment and hate frying things because
the smell never goes away. I thought I
would have a churros and spiked cider
party instead. Where is the best place to
get chu...
The Return of El Gallo Grill

When foodists talk about the deceased

restaurants of East Los Angeles, you will
always hear mention of Gallo's Grill,
which for a time gave the neighborhood a
glimpse at what a Mexican steakhouse
might be: warm, thick corn tortillas patted
to orde...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Coni'Seafood


Do you ever glance at Chowhound?
Because once you get past the dim sum
speculation, burger arguments and
bickering about Taiwanese beef noodle
soup, the site seems almost customdesigned to follow the uns...
The Vol. 94: McSweetbreads + The

Invasion of the Small Plates
5 years ago
The invasion of the small plates is not

nished, oh no. It is marching down our
streets and avenues, invading our towns
and villages, leaving behind nothing in its
wake but duck-slider crumbs, remnants
of Fiscalini bandaged cheddar and sticky
dro...
Chinese Dinner for Christmas

Dear Mr. Gold: My husband and I,

originally from Connecticut, are fairly
new to L.A., and have had a hard time
nding good Chinese food. This is our
rst year as a married couple and we're
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rst year as a married couple and we're

looking for a nice restaurant in which to
restart our tr...
Nick's Cafe: An Old-fashioned Diner

That's Newly Hip ... Sort Of
5 years ago | L.A. Restaurants
When poet Suzanne Lummis asked me

about "noir" restaurants for a literary
series she was curating, the rst place
that came to mind was Nick's Cafe, a
battered diner I hadn't been to since the
old railyard it faced out onto had been
upgraded to t...
Jonathan Gold Reviews a Beefsteak

at Vibiana

If a deranged chef held a sh knife to my
throat and demanded that I name the
greatest chunk of food writing ever put
into print, I'm pretty sure that after a bit
of wafing about Calvin Trillin and Col...
Where To Go For L.A.'s Version Of NYC

Halal Carts
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: New York City has the

legendary halal carts at 53rd Street and
Sixth Avenue. Please tell me Los Angeles
has something similar. --Joseph Saranglo,
via Facebook...
Bco Mercat: An Exam in Culinary

Poststructuralism
5 years ago
Some new small-plates restaurants are

content to serve you hamburgers and
fries. Others bring in inuences from
Singapore, Copenhagen or Tokyo. But the
menu at Bco Mercat, the new restaurant
from Joseph Centeno of Lazy Ox, reads
almost like...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Tsujita L.A.

Click here for Anne Fishbein's slideshow.

Last year was L.A.'s year of ramen, if
you're keeping score, the year when the
utility noodle bowl became a fetish object,
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utility noodle bowl became a fetish object,

and even casual eaters began to go on
about tonkotsu broth and avor bombs,
kotte...
Short Order: The Late Amy

Pressman's Burger Obsession Stays
Alive
5 years ago | Burgers
If you've been around the back of the

Farmers Market lately, you've probably
noticed an odd glass appendage, and the
funk of charred meat, and a waxing
throng whose average age seems at least
20 years younger than the one next door
at Du-Par's, a ...
The Most Authentic Borscht in L.A.

5 years ago | Russian Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: The most authentic

borscht in L.A. -- other than at Grandma's
kitchen? --Devin Saez, via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Reviews MB Post


May we get this out of the way? Because
whatever impression you take away from
MB Post, whether you are there for the
killer mojitos, the giant french fries or the
waitresses who look as if they just got o...
Maximiliano's: Congratulations,
Highland Park
5 years ago | Italian Cuisine
Congratulations, Highland Park! Because

you've nally transcended a soulcrushing abundance of taqueros, great
bars and really good regional Mexican
restaurants with a slightly befuddling
celebrity-chef-owned trattoria of your
very own. The conce...
Navigating a Cantonese Dinner Menu

at King Hua
When we non-Chinese visit one of the

San Gabriel Valley's handful of grand
Cantonese restaurants, such as King Hua
in Alhambra, we usually are there for
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in Alhambra, we usually are there for

morning dim sum, with its accessible,
crowd-pleasing array of dumplings and
snacks, or for a f...
Authentic Tamales, Fit to Serve Mom

5 years ago | Holidays
Dear Mr. Gold: My mom is coming to my

house for Christmas for the rst time ever
and I volunteered to cook, decorate, the
whole nine yards. She is Mexican and is
traditional on holidays, which means
every year she makes tamales. I never
learned o...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Le Comptoir


In the demimonde of post-aughts Los
Angeles, where the value of a meal out
may lie less in the dent it leaves on your
Visa card than in the discomfort involved
in obtaining a table, there are three levels
...
Neptune's Net: When You're in a Badass Seafood Mood

5 years ago | Seafood
When the weather gets cool, the surf gets

big and the trafc on PCH dies down,
Malibu once again belongs to us, free of
the tourist hordes in their rented Aveos.
And so we crank down the top, crank up
the Suicidal Tendencies and bomb up the
coast...
Late Night in Little Tokyo

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I was wondering if you had

any ideas for a place to eat after 10 p.m. in
Little Tokyo or downtown. We're meeting
a group of people for dinner after a
movie, and we wanted to try something
outside of the normal
sushi/ramen/izakaya st...
Cooks County: A Perfect First-date

Restaurant?
5 years ago
At the end of 2011, the year that the

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At the end of 2011, the year that the

gastropub nally wrestled formal dining
into a bathtub to drown, we pretty much
know what a good, new restaurant is
going to look like. There will be an open
kitchen, and noise, and a very decent
selection of...
Red Medicine: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
5 years ago | 99 Essentials
Red Medicine, whose co-owner

unmasked and ejected the L.A. Times
restaurant critic in his establishment's
earliest weeks, is still more discussed in
gossip columns than it is in food circles,
and a lot of people who couldn't pick
Wolfgang Pu...
Newport Tan Cang Seafood Restaurant: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
At Peter Luger, the ancient steakhouse in Brooklyn, the waiters used

to be famous for telling customers that they'd be glad to let them see
a menu, and they'd be back in a minute to see how they wanted their
steak. Newport Seafood is a little like...
Rivera: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

John Sedlar is a chef whose rsum could

occupy most of a novel; a mind spinning
off in a hundred directions at once,
leaving trails to follow, as well as a body
of work to be admired. There are at least
four separate menus at Rivera...
Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Most people know central Vietnamese cooking strictly through the

noodle soup bun bo Hue. But in the Kanh Hoa region, the
emblematic dish is nem nuong, a kind of bouncy pork meatball
impaled on a skewer, grilled over an open ame and served smoky,...
Musso & Frank Grill: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

If you walk into Musso expecting to have the same kind of steak you
had last week at Morton's, you probably have the wrong idea.
Because before the restaurant became a martini-fueled Hollywood
clubhouse, the place where Faulkner blew out his liver...
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Mozza: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Mozza has been sprawling so relentlessly that some of us have taken

to calling it the Mozza Industrial Complex. And every time you poke
your head into Nancy Silverton's outpost of the Batali-Bastianich
empire, there is new ground to surveil &mdash...
Mother Dough: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Are you the type of person who is offended when a pizzeria closes on
the rare days when its dough refuses to behave? Then Mother Dough
probably isn't for you. Bez Compani nurtures his re-spitting oven
with the ferocity of Hogwarts gamekeeper Hag...
Rustic Canyon: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Like so many other restaurants on the

Westside, the food at the wine bar Rustic
Canyon owes less to the standard bistro
playbook than it does to the kind of
cooking that French guys don't consider
cooking at all: basically a compendium of
wh...
Mo-Chica: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Mo-Chica is, at the moment, everybody's favorite example of the

redemptive qualities of Los Angeles: a simple lunch counter, opened
in the nonprot Mercado La Paloma south of downtown, which
propelled Peruvian-Japanese cooking into the rst rank...
Salt's Cure: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Are you looking for the restaurant of the future? Because I have the
feeling it is going to look a lot like Salt's Cure, which works the DIY
groove with uncanny nesse. If you want to know what's for dinner,
you click the daily Twitter link, whic...
Mezze: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Mezze, in the former Sona space up on La Cienega, is probably the

swankest of the new upscale parlors specializing in meze, Middle
Eastern small plates, with the former Zen austerity of the dining
room softened by designer Waldo Fernandez, the usu...
Melisse: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

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Melisse: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011
When people start talking about the death of ne dining in Los

Angeles, by which they mean the lack of caviar, pheasant consomm
and trufe-stuffed chicken for two, the exception that is often noted,
and the place where Westsiders come to...
Meals by Genet: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Among all the kitsch and incense of Fairfax Avenue's Little Ethiopia,
Meals by Genet stands out as an Ethiopian bistro, which is to say a
homey, soft-lit dining room that looks at least as French as it does
African. The menu is short: crisp-skinne...
LudoBites: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

A pop-up, you think. How ... 2008. Because here we are again,
walking through an industrial district with a bottle of Arbois in each
hand, a reservation that was harder to get than a spot in the
freshman class at Brown, and no actual idea of what ...
Sapp Coffee Shop: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Thai Town's boat-noodle wars show no signs of abating, and there

may be no end of Thai cafs in the neighborhood claiming to serve
the best, the most authentic version, but the homely virtues of Sapp
become more apparent by the year. Sapp's...
Mantee: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

There is something about Mantee that can occasionally inspire a

reasonable man to run screaming into the street: an overdecorated
stufness; a plague of houseplants; an overfondness for the Gipsy
Kings. It feels like being trapped for an hour wit...
Mayura: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Restaurants specializing in the cooking of Kerala are not thick on the

ground. And even if you are familiar with Southern Indian cooking, a
lot of the food here may be new to you: saucer-shaped rice-our
pancakes called appam; a complexly spiced ...
Marouch: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

When the food press gets to talking about the Middle Eastern food in
America, Los Angeles rarely enters the conversation alongside
Dearborn, New York or even Anaheim. But the concentration of
Lebanese-Armenian restaurants in Hollywood and Glendale...
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Lukshon: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
You can be forgiven for surmising that

something's up at Lukshon, right?
Because you are at a Sang Yoon
restaurant, nobody has tried to tackle you
on the way to your seat, and you are
drinking Singapore Slings or an oddball
Canary Islands wine cal...
Lucques: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

It's slightly embarrassing, but after all these years and all these
meals, it is still hard to describe exactly what denes a Suzanne Goin
dish, typically but not always a three-comma construction fashioned
from farmers market produce, perhaps gi...
Lou: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

"I want you to taste this," says Lou Amdur, handing you a glass of
sour, cloudy liquid that smells like yesterday's bread dough.
Although you pride yourself on your palate, and you will later have a
conversation about an obscure Loire grape that c...
Le Comptoir: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Le Comptoir is every chef's dream restaurant: a few counter seats, a

single menu each night, and the intimacy of a sushi bar although it
is a pop-up, huddled around the open kitchen of the sprawling
restaurant Tiara. An armful of fresh her...
Little Dom's: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Dark wood, deep booths and Sinatra;

Manhattans and "dago red"; spaghetti and
meatballs your instincts tell you South
Jersey, but chef Brandon Boudet grew up
in New Orleans, and Little Dom's seems
patterned after the neighborhood joints in
...
Lazy Ox Canteen: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Like many of the best restaurants of the moment, Lazy Ox is tinged

with aggression, leaping like ames from the open kitchen, in this
case served up by Joseph Centeno, a young, Texas-born chef with a
sweet smile, a working command of Mediterranea...
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sweet smile, a working command of Mediterranea...
Larkin's: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

For a place known for great banana pudding and happy Sunday
brunch, this Eagle Rock restaurant is oddly controversial, distrusted
by people expecting cheap soul food and snobs looking for haute
cuisine, by big fellas looking for Roscoe's-size port...
Langer's: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

By this point, it is a matter of conventional wisdom: Langer's serves

the best pastrami sandwich in America. No matter how many
doubting New Yorkers you drag here, no matter how many
Chowhound throwdowns between Langer's and Katz's there may be,
t...
La Casita Mexicana: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

When you sit down at La Casita, the spiritual home of Mexican

cooking in Los Angeles, you are brought a basket of warm chips
drizzled with jet-black mole poblano, a chile-laced red pepian and a
green pepian made from crushed pumpkin seeds: the den...
Kobawoo: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

After several years and many gallons of soju devoted to the subject, I
have determined that my favorite Korean dish is almost certainly
bossam, a combination plate of steamed pork belly, raw oysters,
special kimchi, raw garlic and a salty condimen...
Kiriko: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Kiriko may still be the great, undiscovered sushi bar in Los Angeles,
and Ken Namba's traditional yet creative sashimi surpasses most of
what is sold at three times the price. Namba smokes fresh Copper
River salmon over smoldering cherry wood, sli...
Sea Harbour: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

I am reasonably sure that when Jackie Chan dines at Sea Harbour, he

is whisked to a private room, plied with Bordeaux and fed the
supreme luxuries of the Hong Kong billionaire's table: that one, live
sh in the tank your waiter will never tell yo...
Jitlada: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

We know a woman who has made it her life's project to work
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We know a woman who has made it her life's project to work

through the typewritten addendum at the back of Jitlada's menu, 208
Southern Thai dishes almost mythical in their obscurity and their
erce chile heat. We wish her well: We can think of n...
Jar: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Suzanne Tracht's snazzy steakhouse reads like a blast from the Rat
Pack past: Hollywood Regency plus the Birth of the Cool, chey riffs
on the strip steak and the porterhouse, the hash brown and the
french fry that occasionally incorporate every ...
Ink.: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

I'm not sure what you do when you get up in the morning. I tend to
check the online reservation page at Michael Voltaggio's restaurant
Ink., in case it lets me know that a four-top might be available at 9:45
p.m. on a Tuesday 23 days from now. I'm...
Hungry Cat: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Does the appeal of the Hollywood ArcLight lie in its enormous

screens, the quality of its projection or in its proximity to Hungry
Cat, Suzanne Goin and David Lentz's seafood restaurant tted into
the ground oor of a condo building a fe...
Son of a Gun: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Whatever the current style in Los

Angeles restaurants ends up being
named, from the small-plate thing to the
xation on local, organic produce; the offcenter proteins to the international
palette of avors; and the resistance to
even mode...
Huckleberry: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

It's kind of a miracle to see the graciousness factory at work down at

Huckleberry the sweet smells, the pale walls, the way they keep the
lines moving and the tables cleared so that by the time you have
stood in line, picked out a sc...
Guelaguetza: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

If any restaurant has earned the right to kick its shoes off and chill
for a while, it is probably Guelaguetza, which introduced essential
Oaxacan cooking to Los Angeles 20 years ago, and is the place where
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Oaxacan cooking to Los Angeles 20 years ago, and is the place where
the governor of Oaxaca stops in for dinn...
Guisados: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
In Mexico City, tacos de guisado are the

essential units of street-food
consumption, thick tortillas splashed with
stew from a heated cazuela, strewn with a
bit of onion, and thrust at you even before
you remember how to pronounce
calabacita. Taco...
Sotto: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

First of all, Sotto is not really a pizzeria. I

thought I'd get that out of the way.
Because while there is an oven a
15,000-pound behemoth ballasted with
imported Vesuvian soil and chefs Steve
Samson and Zack Pollack come from
Ort...
The Gorbals: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
With the Pico Kosher Corridor, bustling

Israeli joints and the best delis in the
country, Los Angeles is not exactly
lacking in Jewish-identied places to eat.
But The Gorbals, Ilan Hall's restaurant in
the lobby of the old Alexandria Hotel,
may ...
Good Girl Dinette: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Tucked into a storefront below an old Masonic lodge, in the pierced

navel of the Highland Park art scene, Good Girl Dinette is so groovy
that sometimes it hurts to think about it, a queercentric, familyfriendly, vegan-tolerant storefront with a m...
Golden State: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Not everybody agrees about Golden State. Some people think the
cheeseburgers are the best in this part of Los Angeles; others merely
place them among the top ve. Arguments like these often require
ultrahopped suds, which Golden State has by the ...
Spago: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011
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Spago: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

The original Spago on Sunset was to New

American Cooking what Meet the Beatles
was to rock & roll: the one that changed
the rules. Designer pizza got its start in
that Sunset Strip dining room, as did
fusion cooking, the notion of the celebrity
ch...
Gjelina: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Want to make a grown woman blush? Suggest that the reason she
wants to go to this serene patio restaurant on Abbot Kinney is
because she wants to gaze deeply into a scruffy waiter's eyes. She
will object, of course, claiming that what she wants is...
Golden Deli: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Why is there still a line outside Golden Deli when very, very good
restaurants in the same strip mall are quiet as tombs? How has it
lasted nearly 25 years in a neighborhood where some of the
restaurant spaces turn over twice a year? Because Golde...
Fig: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

L.A. native Ray Garcia has emerged as

one of the most articulate spokesmen for
sustainable eating this year, putting
together food-literacy programs in local
high schools and teaching kids how to
grow and eat vegetables. He has a forager
on staff,...
Fab Hot Dogs: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

A steaming museum of American wiener culture, Fab Hot Dogs is

Joe Fabrocini's and Susie Speck Mayor's lovingly curated shrine to
the Hatch chile dogs of New Mexico, the slaw dogs of West Virginia,
the northern New Jerseystyle Italian hot do...
Father's Office: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Were Angelenos amused when Sang Yoon published a scholarly

dissertation on ketchup in the local paper this year? They were.
Yoon's reputation was largely built upon his refusal to allow the
sticky condiment into Father's Ofce, which was an unusu...
Eva: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011
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Eva: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

"We only wanted to be loved," howled PiL's John Lydon. And there is
almost nothing Eva's Mark Gold, a veteran of Joachim Splichal's
haute cuisine armies of the night, will not resort to if he thinks it
might make you love him, too. Fancy an all-yo...
Euro Pane Bakery: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Sumi Chang's Euro Pane Bakery is the center of civilized life in

Pasadena, and you probably could set your watch by the appearance
of its regulars. It's a place to nd excellent to superb scones and
baguettes and pains au chocolat, of course, but...
El Parian: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

At this point in my life, I could no more change my allegiance to El

Parian than I could my blind devotion to the Lakers. Because I've
been coming here since the early days of Showtime, long enough to
remember when the waitresses asked not if you ...
Street: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

If you were to poll foodistas about L.A.

kitchens of the 1980s, you would be likely
to come up with a lot of affection for City
Restaurant, where Susan Feniger and
Mary Sue Milliken explored the idea of
L.A. multiculturalism better than any
restau...
El Huarache Azteca: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Without anyone much noticing the transition, Highland Park has

become one of the best neighborhoods in Los Angeles to experience
regional Mexican cooking. Even the trucks and taco tables serve
food from parts of Mexico barely represented here a de...
Din Tai Fung: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Xiao long bao, Shanghai-style soup dumplings, are primary objects

of desire in the San Gabriel Valley, hermetically sealed orbs lled
with minced pork and potentially lethal doses of scalding juice.
Sometimes the soup dumplings are enriched with ...
Dae Bok: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

The next time somebody attempts to tell you that Los Angeles is
lacking in cosmopolitan pleasures, it is your civic duty, I think, to
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lacking in cosmopolitan pleasures, it is your civic duty, I think, to

point out that the city is big enough and diverse enough to support a
restaurant devoted to Korean blowsh stew....
Drago Centro: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Celestino Drago's grand restaurant,

opened in a banking complex at the depth
of the nancial crisis, has in the last few
years had to reinvent itself a dozen ways
in order to stay vital, and it is possible to
regard it as a wine bar, a center of ...
Cut: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

The rst thing you should know about Cut is that it is intended to be
one of the greatest steakhouses in the world, a Richard Meier space,
severe as an operating theater, whose pristine, exotically sourced
steaks, some of them from Japanese cows,...
Comme Ca: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Owner David Myers may be off chasing kaiseki chefs around the
more squalid corners of Kyoto, and the local brasserie boom seems
to have been buried in the tidal wave of gastropubs, but sleek,
theatrically lit Comme a still aims to be all t...
Ciro's: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

You can astral-project to Rajasthan if you like; I'll take the ironbarred, low-ceilinged dining room at this East L.A. institution, the
funk of frying meat, a plate of old-school chile verde and the tiny
dish of fresh, juicy avocado salsa that th...
Tacos Baja Ensenada: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Why is Tacos Baja Ensenada still on this list? Isn't it time to switch
allegiances to Ricky's, or Taco Nazo, to the Best Fish Taco in
Ensenada, or to any of the hundred other places that have learned
how to make this glorious dish? I don't know &m...
Church & State: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Everybody knows Church & State. It's that loud bistro decorated with
strings of Christmas lights year-round. Walter Manzke used to cook
there. It rules its street of luxury lofts, and it is nearly as hard as ever
to get a table on a Friday night, ...
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Chang's Garden: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Although the San Gabriel Valley abounds in Chinese restaurants of

every description, they tend to lean more toward authenticity than
toward polish there are 250 noodle shops but nowhere to explore
Chinese haute cuisine. Chang's Garden, alt...
Chichn Itz: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
You should probably be going to Mercado

La Paloma anyway, because it's as close to
a utopian Los Angeles as you're going to
nd, a cooperatively run marketplace
whose second oor is home to nonprots
and neighborhood tutoring facilities, and
it...
Chung King: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

I spend an alarming portion of my reviewing life trying to prove a

simple proposition: There must be a better Sichuan restaurant in the
Los Angeles area than Chung King. I have chased around the San
Gabriel Valley for years, looking for a crunchie...
Chego: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Looking for a good time on the Westside? Stop by the back room at
Chego sometime, where customers assemble their own takeout
packages with the ease and grace of Keystone Kops. You really
haven't lived until you've seen a young corporate attorney t...
Tasting Kitchen: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Even after a couple of years, the Tasting

Kitchen feels more like an art collective
than it does a proper restaurant, a place
where the odd discussions you have with
your neighbors at the communal table
seem as vital to the project as the ...
Casa Bianca: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Sam Martorana, who was behind the

ovens at Casa Bianca for more than 50
years, was such a presence at the red-
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years, was such a presence at the redchecked-tablecloth pizzeria that it was

hard to imagine it continuing after he
passed away. His pizza was idiosyncratic
to an extreme: th...
Campanile: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

The heart of regional cooking lies in the ability of its chefs not only
to work within the limitations imposed by the meager ingredients
available but also to exalt those limitations as the soul of the cuisine
itself. Rich regions eat cheeseburger...
Terroni: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
Isn't this the place with the foosball? If I

were associated with Terroni, I'd probably
be getting angry about now. Because
while the Italian restaurant may refuse to
put herbs in its olive oil, to allow
Parmesan to be sprinkled on its lingu...
Bottega Louie: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Lingering on a Saturday morning, swabbing at a poached-egg

raviolo with a chunk of fresh epi bread and contemplating the last
drops of freshly squeezed tomato juice, it is hard to believe that
Bottega Louie hasn't always existed, a modern restaura...
Tsujita L.A.: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Not long ago, I had barely heard of tsukemen, a Tokyo-born dish of

bare noodles, served with a superconcentrated dipping sauce of
reduced, sh-avored pork broth, which apparently is to regular
ramen what Intelligentsia is to Folgers. Los Angele...
Cacao: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Why isn't duck carnitas on every Mexican

menu in town? If you think about it, the
dish is almost inevitable duck meat
simmered in fat until it nearly collapses,
perfumed esh arranged atop crisply
fried sopes, a shotgun marriage of ...
Border Grill: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
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When Border Grill rst opened a quartercentury ago, its premise was simple:
classically trained chefs, with rst-rate
ingredients, cooking Mexican food. Not
riffs on Mexican food, or chey
reinterpretations of Mexican food, but the
real thing,...
Bludso's: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
If you were looking for an excuse to drive

down to Compton on a Saturday
afternoon, you could do worse than to
head to Bludso's, a pufng barbecue pit
whose dining room doubles as a church
on Sunday mornings, although its takeout
line is a pretty...
Vincenti: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
Valentino may be grander than Vincenti,

and Giorgio Baldi may draw a more
famous clientele, but Vincenti is the
spiritual center of ne Italian cooking in
Los Angeles, its hearth. And betting a
hearth, much of Nicola Mastronardi's
food comes fr...
Babita: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

In a neighborhood better known for its Vietnamese noodle shops,

across street from a Serbian Orthodox church, Babita isn't quite
where you would expect a great Mexican restaurant to be, and you
could drive by a hundred times without noticing it wa...
Attari: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Tehrangeles is an extensive commercial strip, two miles of kebab

shops, semiformal restaurants and cafs. Yet what keeps drawing me
back to Westwood is a modest Iranian sandwich shop. An Attari
sandwich is close to a perfect thing: a length...
Antojitos Carmen: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Have you ever encountered a Mexico

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Citystyle huarache de huitlacoche?
Because if you haven't, you're really
missing out: a footlong "sandal" of fried
corn dough, too hot to touch but too
compelling not to, layered with steaming
middens of b...
Angelini Osteria: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

It's time, I think, to stop trying to explain my indifference to Angelini

Osteria in the rst years of its existence, which may have lain more
in my reverence for Gino Angelini's skills with alta cucina, which this
is not, than with any inherent ...
Angeli Caffe:99 Essential Restaurants 2011

If you wanted a pure blast of Los Angeles in the 1980s, you could
listen to an X album. Or you could visit Angeli Caffe, the restaurant
home of food-media czar Evan Kleiman, whose menu of roast
chicken, tagliata and spaghetti alla checca has barel...
Animal: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
Would you like to go to Animal? I mean

right this second? You're probably out of
luck, because it's the most popular
restaurant in Los Angeles at the moment.
The seats are already lled with twice-aweek regulars, chefs in town for a taping,
fant...
Alcazar: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

When it's pretty late at night, and you are half-woozy on arak and
secondhand hookah smoke, and the fried mullet in front of you has
long since been transformed into skeletons yet you can't resist
swabbing bits of fried pita around the plate, hopi...
Akasha: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

We can all agree that Akasha is a crunchy Westside fever dream of a

restaurant, all recycled this and sustainably raised that, dark woods
guaranteed not to have even the address of the rainforest on their
BlackBerries and a very nice bowl of steam...
A-Frame: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
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2011
If restaurants were Jeopardy! categories,

A-Frame's menu could be "Things Locals
Eat on the Beach in Hawaii.'' Because
aside from the great beach-eats
imperative, there may not be much else
connecting beer-can chicken and kettle
corn dusted with t...
Waterloo & City: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
It may be a stretch to consider Waterloo &

City, a pool-shooting, darts-playing, aleswilling, Ramones-blasting bar
shoehorned into a rundown coffee shop,
to be much more than a gloried bar. The
place is ostensibly a gastropub, whatever
that has...
Elvirita's: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

In the great march of regional Mexican cooking across Los Angeles,

the cuisine of Puebla is usually reduced to a pair of dishes: mole
poblano, which has become a generic term referring to pretty much
any mole not made by Oaxacans, and cemitas. In ...
Spice Table: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
You might expect a restaurant from the

opening chef of Pizzeria Mozza to be
jammed from the moment it opened, and
you wouldn't be surprised to nd
quartinos of crisp Italian white wine.
Diligent ingredient sourcing would
practically be a given, a...
Jonathan Gold's 99 Essential L.A.

Restaurants 2011
See also Anne Fishbein's slideshow and

our Google map. What is an essential Los
Angeles restaurant? I was thinking about
that over lunch at Providence a couple of
months ago, contemplating a dish of
Santa Barbara sea urchin cosseted with
gently sc...
Providence: 99 Essential Restaurants
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Providence: 99 Essential Restaurants

2011
At this point in his career, Michael

Cimarusti has the chef thing down cold,
poised when he addresses environmental
forums and genial on TV, the rst chef in
town to embrace the new cocktailian
movement and an advocate for the
coherence of Los An...
Pollos a la Brasa: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

This Peruvian chicken shack is the kind of place you may have
thought was zoned out of existence, a kind of glassed-in shed set
down on a trafc island and nearly hidden by high drifts of
cordwood. The rst thing you notice about it is the wood ...
Playa: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

My rst taste of Playa, John Sedlar's

small-plates restaurant in the old Grace
space up on Beverly, was something
called Maize Cake Bombay Taj: a thickish,
palm-sized tortilla patted out from
freshly ground nixtamal, passed across a
griddle just ...
Picca: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

We are, I think, nearing the Peruvian

Moment in cooking, which is to say that
point where Peru's intricate interplay of
high-mountain produce and avors from
the sea, of pre-Columbian tradition,
European aesthetics and Asian technique,
are beginn...
Park's Barbecue: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

On the Lunar New Year, after we had worked our way through prime
rib-eye and brisket, beef tongue and skirt steak, tripe and special
pork belly that was not that day the prized Tokyo X, as well as a crisp
seafood pancake and the cold noodles calle...
Ray's: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

An event restaurant the second it opened its doors, Ray's is just past
Chris Burden's street-lamp installation at the L.A. County Museum of
Art, in a glowing minimalist rectangle that abuts the soaring
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Art, in a glowing minimalist rectangle that abuts the soaring

Ahmanson Gallery like a glass shoebox p...
Palate Food + Wine: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
A relaxed, butter-yellow space in

Glendale's car-dealer district, Palate is a
fever dream of a restaurant, a dining
room owing into a cocktail lounge, a
wine bar, laboratories for curing meats
and aging cheeses and a well-curated
wine shop that ...
Night + Market: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

You probably wouldn't expect to nd L.A.'s best Thai street-food

specialist on the Sunset Strip, and you probably wouldn't expect it to
be afliated with the relatively mainstream Talesai, to which it is
attached like a leering evil twin. But Kr...
Oinkster: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

If you haven't been to the Oinkster in a while, what you probably

should know is that Andre Guerrero has nally gured out the
pastrami, which was a little rubbery and underseasoned for the rst
several months of the restaurant's life but now i...
The Nickel: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

The last time I was at the Nickel, I asked for a bowl of plain, steamed
polenta. The waitress stood there, pencil unmoving, waiting for the
punch line of the joke. There was no joke polenta was what I
wanted but it didn't take long...
101 Noodle Express: 99 Essential

Restaurants 2011
Nine-coil large intestine and millet

porridge being what they are, Shandong
cooking may be a bit less accessible to the
average Angeleno than Chongqing fried
chicken or beef noodle soup. Chinese
gourmets consider Shandong to be one of
the four ess...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Sotto

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First of all, Sotto is not really a pizzeria. I
thought I'd get that out of the way.
Because while there is an oven, a 15,000pound behemoth ballasted with imported
Vesuvian soil, and chefs Steve Samson
an...
Your Counter Intelligence Preview: In

Which Mr. Gold Considers Sotto
Our wide-ranging restaurant critic

Jonathan Gold returns to the Westside to
take another bite out of Sotto.Sotto is a
different kind of Italian restaurant, a
shrine to the awesome heat of its oven, a
place where the hot, fresh bread can
come with ...
Sea Harbour: I Love The Smell of

Tendon in The Morning
In exotica-obsessed Los Angeles, it is

perhaps not unusual to dine on things like
spinach sauteed with minced foie gras,
steamed rice sheets with bitter melon,
fried ox tripe and tendon with noodle
rolls, dumplings stuffed with chestnut and
shrimp...
Beer Belly: From Death By Duck to

Lucky Charms Pancakes
5 years ago | Bars
We are in Koreatown. The customers are

Korean. The chef won this year's Korean
BBQ cookoff, with a dish of kimchibrined pork loin with Cismontane Double
IPA ssam-jang. But we are not eating
Korean food -- we are eating something
called Death by D...
Why Is It So Hard to Find a Decent

Risotto?
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I have a good

risotto? Half of the time I've had it in L.A.,
it has been sticky and overcooked. -Lorenzo Rossi, via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Night +
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Night +

Market

It is selsh, perhaps, to covet another
city's Thai restaurant; to wonder what it
might be like if a favorite kitchen were on
Melrose instead of in, say, Kitsilano. Los
Angeles probably has more regional...
Church and State: Still Stellar Under

Jeremy Berlin
5 years ago | Bistros
Everybody knows Church and State. It's

that loud bistro, decorated year-round
with strings of Christmas lights. Walter
Manzke used to cook there. The drinks
used to be good, too. Is it still there? That
part of downtown was pretty cool before
the ...
Shaanxi Gourmet: More Fun with

Handmade Noodles + Untranslated
Menus in the SGV
In New York, Xi'an Famous Foods, a tiny,

sticky-tabled Flushing basement dive,
sprouted into a Shaanxi-cooking empire,
helped along both by Voice critic Robert
Sietsema's advocacy and by Anthony
Bourdain's televised moans of pleasure.
And a sleek,...
Central Vietnamese in the O.C. ... or

Echo Park
5 years ago | Vietnamese Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: What's your favorite place

to eat Hue/Central Vietnam food in Los
Angeles? Also, do you ever venture down
to the O.C. for some eats? --Brian Tran,
via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Settebello

What's the Italian equivalent of barbecue? Neapolitan pizza, I'm

betting. Because proper Neapolitan pizza, fashioned from Caputo
tipo 00 our imported from Naples, crushed tomatoes from San
Marzano and cheese from the nest buffalos, is a man's ...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Omar's Xinxiang Restaurant

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5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I dearly miss the hand-pulled lagman noodles at the
long-shuttered Uzbekistan in Hollywood. The signicant chew and
the hearty accompanying lamb and vegetable sauce still haunt my
memories. I've yet to nd a replacement of the Cen...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Beijing Pie

House

Today, we examine xian bing, dough disks
about the size and weight of a
shufeboard puck, tawny brown, slightly
domed, mottled on the surface with a
pebbly pattern that resembles Chinese
characters from ...
Gjelina: Pretty Patio, Prettier Patrons

Want to make a grown woman blush?

Suggest that the reason she wants to go to
Gjelina, the serene patio restaurant on
Abbot Kinney, is because she wants to
gaze deeply into a scruffy waiter's eyes.
She will object, of course, claiming that
what she...
Noodles From The "-stan" Countries

Dear Mr. Gold: I dearly miss the handpulled lagman noodles at the longshuttered Uzbekistan in Hollywood. The
signicant chew and the hearty
accompanying lamb and vegetable sauce
still haunts my memories. I've yet to nd
a replacement of the Ce...
Settebello: Neapolitan Pizza, Nutella

Pizza + Italian Condoms!
5 years ago | Pizza
What's the Italian equivalent of barbecue?

Neapolitan pizza, I'm betting. Because
proper Neapolitan pizza, fashioned from
Caputo tipo 00 our imported from
Naples, crushed tomatoes from San
Marzano and cheese from the nest
buffalos, is a man's ...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Ink.

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Los Angeles is the land where the celebrity chef was born, where Q
ratings ruled, where journalists rst learned to ask, "What do you
cook on your night off?'' But L.A. has never seen a phenomenon like
Michael Voltaggio, whose snarling passion, a...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Book Club Eats

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm in a book club with some pretty amazing women.
All of us are mothers read: limited budget but willing to splurge on
something special. We read mostly ction, and a couple of books on
our calendar are set in foreign coun...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Mozza's

Whole Hog Dinners

Were we talking about pop-ups, just the
two of us? Because if you've been paying
attention to this space, the subject has
come up quite a bit lately: pop-ups within
bakeries; pop-ups within breakfast join...
More Ink for Michael Voltaggio's Ink

5 years ago
Los Angeles is the land where the

celebrity chef was born, where Q ratings
ruled, where journalists rst learned to
ask, "What do you cook on your night
off?'' But L.A. has never seen a
phenomenon like Michael Voltaggio,
whose snarling passion, a...
Where to have a Book Club Dinner + a

Caveat
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm in a book club with

some pretty amazing women. All of us are
mothers -- read: limited budget but
willing to splurge on something special.
We read mostly ction, and a couple of
books on our calendar are set in foreign
countries...
Jonathan Gold Recommends La Paella

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Is there anywhere in L.A. where I can nd angulas

Spanish baby eels? Anthony Pan, via Facebook Dear Mr. Pan:
Angulas? Really? Eels are slithering toward the endangered list, you
know. We probably should lay off the b...
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know. We probably should lay off the b...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Next Door by Josie

I saw the best chefs of my generation employed by gastropubs; Racer

5, wild game chili, dry-rubbed riblets with their calico slaw dragging
themselves through the steel seats at dawn looking for artisanal
grits, molasses-glazed bacon, with New Orle...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Guisados


Today's object of desire: chiles torreados,
which is to say chiles, sauteed over a high
heat until they blister and char, served in
a steaming, fragrant mass that both tinges
and overwhelms everything it ...
Next Door by Josie, In Free Verse

5 years ago
I saw the best chefs of my generation

employed by gastropubs; Racer 5, wild
game chili, dry-rubbed riblets with their
calico slaw dragging themselves through
the steel seats at dawn looking for
artisanal grits, molasses-glazed bacon,
with New Orle...
Want Angulas, Spanish Baby Eels?

Get the Fake Version
5 years ago | Spanish Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: Is there anywhere in L.A.

where I can nd angulas -- Spanish baby
eels? --Anthony Pan, via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Ramen Yamadaya

What could be more piggy than pork? Tonkotsu ramen, acionados

insist, and they may have a point. Tonkotsu broth is made by boiling
pork bones until they collapse under their own weight. Nobody but a
puritan would think of ordering tonkotsu ramen...
Jonathan Gold Recommends

Elvirita's Cemitas
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My brother called me last

night to say that his deployment is almost
over, and he can't wait to taste the cemitas
from Pal Cabron again. He's been talking
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them up to his friends, and has built them
up in his head as the perfect cure...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Picca


We are, I think, nearing the Peruvian
moment in cooking, that point where
Peru's intricate interplay of highmountain produce and avors from the
sea, of pre-Colombian tradition,
European aesthetics and ...
Ramen Yamadaya: An Umami Gun

Set to Stun
What could be more piggy than pork?

Tonkotsu ramen, acionados insist, and
they may have a point. Tonkotsu broth is
made by boiling pork bones until they
collapse under their own weight. Nobody
but a puritan would think of ordering
tonkotsu ramen...
I'm Back From the War: Now Where

Can I Get Cemitas?
Dear Mr. Gold: My brother called me last

night to say that his deployment is almost
over, and he can't wait to taste the cemitas
them up to his friends, and has built them
up in his head as the perfect cure...
Jonathan Gold's Favorite Condiments

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I know you have had a lot of wonderfully great meals.
But when you don't get a memorable meal, what condiment(s) do
you reach for rst to spruce it up a bit, besides the old S&P, of
course? OhmarGo, via Facebook Dear Mr. Go:...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Fat Spoon

Japanese curry, as usually constituted, features in some of the most

chef-proof restaurants in the world. The spicy, translucent goop
whose lineage traces from Africa, through resident Indian cooks,
through Portuguese traders whose boats w...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Saint Estephe
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Saint Estephe

Menu at Rivera

If you had gone to Saint Estphe 25 years
ago, pulled up to the valet in a Manhattan
Beach mall also home to an Olive Garden,
a Coco's and a Chili's, greeted the maitre
d' and been escorted to a ta...
Fat Spoon: Japanese Curry with A

Pedigree
Japanese curry, as usually constituted,

features in some of the most chef-proof
restaurants in the world. The spicy,
translucent goop -- whose lineage traces
from Africa, through resident Indian
cooks, through Portuguese traders whose
boats were p...
Mr. Gold's Favorite Condiments

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I know you have had a lot

of wonderfully great meals. But when you
don't get a memorable meal, what
condiment(s) do you reach for rst to
spruce it up a bit, besides the old S&P, of
course? --OhmarGo, via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold's Tuesday Home-Cooking Plans

5 years ago
Jonathan Gold Reviews Ink.Sack

For followers of Michael Voltaggio Top Chef champion, former

chef de cuisine at Bazaar, noted liquid-nitrogen enthusiast it may
be important to state what Ink.Sack, the new sandwich shop a few
doors down from his opening-in-Septemb...
Jonathan Gold Reviews L.A. Weekly

Pancake Breakfast

Last weekend, if the Twitter feeds can be
believed, was an important one in the
world of cuisine. The old school ew up
to Berkeley, where Chez Panisse was
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celebrating its 40th anniversary with a

series ...
Voltaggio's Ink.Sack: Avant-Garde

Lunch Packed by a Top Chef Champ
5 years ago
For followers of Michael Voltaggio -- Top

Chef champion, former chef de cuisine at
Bazaar, noted liquid-nitrogen enthusiast - it may be important to state what
Ink.Sack, the new sandwich shop a few
doors down from his opening-inSeptember restaur...
What Does a Restaurant Critic Cook

at Home?
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What do you cook at home

(has someone already asked you this?),
oh, say, on a Tuesday night? --Sarah Gim,
via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Frida

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm curious: Is there any place to get a decent
molcajete west of downtown and north of the 10? Bob Stevens, via
Facebook Dear Mr. Stevens: I always think of molcajete as strictly an
east-of-the-river thing, usually a subspec...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Soban


A couple of weeks ago at the annual
KBBQ Cook-off, for outstanding
Koreatown barbecue dishes, a woman
walked up to the judging table after the
winner had been chosen and asked if I'd
ever been to Soban, a...
Where to Get a Good Westside

Molcajete: The Entre, Not the Vessel
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm curious: Is there any

place to get a decent molcajete west of
downtown and north of the 10? --Bob
Stevens, via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Recommends Simpang Asia
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Jonathan Gold Recommends Simpang Asia
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: It is tragic that Indo Cafe has closed. Tragic. And I
have no idea why. Since I'm not about to hire a private detective, as
attractive as that may sound, where can you direct me for nasi
bungkus (a rice dish wrapped in a banana leaf...
Jonathan Gold Reviews LudoBites 7.0

We have been down this road before, you and I, six-point-oh times at
least. Ludovic Lefebvre cooks an exquisite dinner in a space not
designed to accommodate dinner. Reservations are difcult to get,
sometimes extraordinarily difcult. You feel ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Moko


Watermelon namul, dusted with chile,
cold and juicy and crisp? Luscious purple
eggplant, charred on the grill, slicked with
spicy-sweet gochujang? Lemon
cucumbers tossed with fresh ginger and
white nectar...
LudoBites 7.0: Distilled Christmas

Trees and Freedom
5 years ago | Pop-up Restaurants
We have been down this road before, you

and I, six-point-oh times at least. Ludovic
Lefebvre cooks an exquisite dinner in a
space not designed to accommodate
dinner. Reservations are difcult to get,
sometimes extraordinarily difcult. You
feel ...
A Replacement for Indo Cafe's Fried

Chicken and Nasi Bungkus
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: It is tragic that Indo Cafe

has closed. Tragic. And I have no idea
why. Since I'm not about to hire a private
detective, as attractive as that may sound,
where can you direct me for nasi bungkus
(a rice dish wrapped in a banana leaf...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Mother Dough

Am I the last person to discover the pizza at Mother Dough? Very

well, I am the last. Because I have been at parties where I was asked
about the pizzeria up to half a dozen times, and the smug Silver Lake
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about the pizzeria up to half a dozen times, and the smug Silver Lake
dudes, the ones always trying to make excu...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Mandarin House

5 years ago
Jajangmyun: black bean avor at the Korean-Chinese border Dear

Mr. Gold: In spite of this heat, I've got a hankering for some
jajangmyun. Any suggestions? Megan Akemi Cadena, via Facebook
Dear Ms. Cadena: Is there ever a wrong time for jaj...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Starry

Kitchen

Into the depths of California Plaza,
crushed beneath giant towers, jammed
into a space almost certainly congured
for fast food, Starry Kitchen is as
improbable as any restaurant in Los
Angeles, an illeg...
Mother Dough: Bringing Pizza

Bragging Rights to Silver Lake
5 years ago | Pizza
Am I the last person to discover the pizza

at Mother Dough? Very well, I am the last.
Because I have been at parties where I
was asked about the pizzeria up to half a
dozen times, and the smug Silver Lake
dudes, the ones always trying to make
excu...
Jajangmyun: The Divine Crankcase

Sludge of Korean-Chinese Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: In spite of this heat, I've

got a hankering for some jajangmyun.
Any suggestions? --Megan Akemi
Cadena, via Facebook
...
Jonathan Gold on Palestinian Chicken

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My colleagues and I are interested to know if

Palestinian chicken, as featured in a recent Curb Your Enthusiasm, is
really a dish. If so, is it something you have sampled or seen a recipe
for? B Dear B: It's not generally ref...
Jonathan Gold Reviews the Flying Pig Cafe

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You know the Flying Pig truck it's the one, run by a Cordon Bleu
chef, with the pork-belly buns, the duck tacos with mandarin
oranges, the sliders with banana mustard and the peanut-butter
carnitas. It's pink; it's cross-cultural; the line...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Wako

Donkasu

Korean pork again? Surely it's too soon!
Yet as the air grows still and hot, the days
melt into languor and the Dodgers swoon
toward the cellar, the pull of summer food
becomes impossibly strong y...
Palestinian Chicken Conflict: Only in

Curb Your Enthusiasm or Is It Real?
5 years ago | Poultry
Dear Mr. Gold: My colleagues and I are

interested to know if Palestinian chicken,
as featured in
last week's Curb Your
Enthusiasm, is really a dish. If so, is it
something you have sampled or seen a
recipe for?
--B...
Flying Pig Cafe: A Food Truck Gets Its

Own Parking Space
You know the Flying Pig truck -- it's the

one, run by a Cordon Bleu chef, with the
pork-belly buns, the duck tacos with
mandarin oranges, the sliders with
banana mustard and the peanut-butter
carnitas. It's pink; it's cross-cultural; the
lines are...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Glowfish Truck

5 years ago
Jonathan Gold Reviews Iota

Are you a teenage girl? Do you know a teenage girl? Because if so,
Iota may be your favorite place in the universe, a barn-size K-town
coffeehouse where K-pop booms from giant screens, the air is
permeated with caffeine, the walls pop with color, ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Palsaik
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Palsaik

Samgyeopsal

Today's obsession: sam-gyeopsal, fresh,
Korean-style pork belly, cut into thick
slabs, cooked on a hot griddle, sliced into
serving portions with sharp scissors and
folded into a bit of vegetation with bea...
Searching for Okonomiyaki:

Japanese
Pancakes
Dear Mr. Gold: Outside of Gaja in Lomita,

I've yet to nd decent okonomiyaki in Los
Angeles. Have you stumbled across any
respectable versions? Proximity to
downtown would be a huge plus. --Daniel
Dy, via Facebook...
Iota: K-Town Teen Heaven

5 years ago | Coffee
Are you a teenage girl? Do you know a

teenage girl? Because if so, Iota may be
your favorite place in the universe, a
barn-size K-town coffeehouse where Kpop booms from giant screens, the air is
permeated with caffeine, the walls pop
with color, ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Il Fico

Puglia, the sliver of Southern Italy often described as the heel of the
boot, is home to some of the most distinctive cooking in Italy, a plain,
solid, vegetable-intensive cuisine thrumming with the strong avors
of olives and garlic, rapini and ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Chimu


Hill Street, where it traces the eastern
edge of Bunker Hill, has always been an
uneasy line of demarcation in Los
Angeles, a few unglamorous blocks,
anked by an almost impassably steep
slope that marks...
Il Fico: Pugliese Cooking Comes to

L.A.
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Puglia, the sliver of Southern Italy often

described as the heel of the boot, is home
to some of the most distinctive cooking in
Italy, a plain, solid, vegetable-intensive
cuisine thrumming with the strong avors
of olives and garlic, rapini and ...
The New KFC: Korean Fried Chicken

Dear Mr. Gold: You seem to be writing

about a lot of Korean restaurants recently.
The new KFC is Korean Fried Chicken.
I've tried BonChon and Kyochon. While
both are good, I have to give the edge to
Kyochon, although BonChon gets points
for easy p...
10 Handy Rules For Tipping

5 years ago | Etiquette
1. Tip 20 percent. Every time. Pre-tax?

Post-tax? In practice the difference is no
more than a buck or two, unless you're
Joe Pytka. In which case there's a $10,000
wine tab, so it works out. But the idea that
a tip is optional, or variable, is a ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Picca

If you look at restaurants as movies, and sometimes its hard not to,
Picca is one of those places whose trailers seem to have been
running forever. Theres Mo-Chica, of course, where Ricardo Zarate
rst came up with his concept of mo...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Shin Sen Gumi

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm a raw vegan who eats nothing but purple foods
starting with the letter Q. Can you recommend a good steak house
for me? Robyn Brown, via Facebook Dear Ms. Brown: A lot of
quinoa is purple, or at least a passable purplish r...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Antojitos

Carmen

Citystyle huarache de huitlacoche?
Because if you haven't, at a favorite truck,
or at Huaraches Azteca, or especially at
Antojitos Carmen in Boyle Heights,
you're...
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First Bite: Picca Mixes Peruvian

Flavors With Sushi Aesthetic
5 years ago | Peruvian Cuisine
If you look at restaurants as movies, and

sometimes it's hard not to, Picca is one of
those places whose trailers seem to have
been running forever. There's Mo-Chica,
of course, where Ricardo Zarate rst
came up with his concept of modern
Peruvia...
Ask Mr. Gold: Yuzu Ramen + Purple

Foods
That Start With "Q"
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm a raw vegan who eats

nothing but purple foods starting with the
letter Q. Can you recommend a good
steakhouse for me? --Robyn Brown, via
Facebook...
Ask Mr. Gold: Seor Bayless + Where

To Eat Regional Mexican Food in L.A.
Dear Mr. Gold: Chef Rick Bayless has

continuously told the media that he
thinks L.A. is a "timid" food city and that
we do not have as good regional Mexican
cooking as what he can nd in Chicago.
He seems to think that we only have
"California" M...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Mon Land

5 years ago
Dear Mr Gold: My husband and I are about to celebrate our ninth

wedding anniversary. Do you have any suggestions for a place that is
incredibly romantic, where we can eat outside comfortably and
(here's the challenge) that is healthy without being...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Son of a Gun


The rst time I dropped by Son of a Gun,
which is Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo's
sh restaurant near the Beverly Center, I
was pretty sure that they were trying to
do something like an American version
of...
Ask Mr. Gold: Seeking Romantic,
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Ask Mr. Gold: Seeking Romantic,

Inexpensive, Healthy, Not Boring,
Wheat- and dairy-free Restaurant
(with aged Mezcal)
Dear Mr. Gold: My husband and I are

about to celebrate our ninth wedding
anniversary. Do you have any suggestions
for a place that is incredibly romantic,
where we can eat outside comfortably
and (here's the challenge) that is healthy
without bein...
Drinking to Digest
5 years ago
Jonathan Gold Reviews Eighth Street

Soondae

Do you remember the rst time a website
seemed to change your life? Because I've
been spending a lot of time lately on
Google Translate, which may not have
evolved from the sticks-and-rocks
Babelsh qui...
Ask Mr. Gold: Thoughts on Digestifs,

or Drinking to Digest
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What are your thoughts on

digestifs? I always want one, especially
after a rare, expensive meal, but tend to
regret it the next day. Is there a good rule
of thumb on drinking after eating a rich
meal? --Scott Vickers, via Facebook...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Lao Bian Dumpling

The storefront that houses Lao Bian Dumpling has had many faces
over the last few years, including Noodle Island, a favorite for its
Hainan chicken rice. Its transformation into Lao Bian Dumpling was
pretty recent. But even with the rapid turnover...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Umami

Burger
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To make a hamburger, if you happen to be
Nathan Myhrvold, you grind short rib
meat so that the bers of the meat are all
facing the same way, you carefully form
your patty so that the grain is vertically...
Jonathan Gold's Pico Picks

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Have you published a list of the 10 best places for L.A.
street food and/or "dives"? I'd like to tour them on bicycle, so if they
are concentrated in one area, that would be best and hopefully a
slightly more urban area like...
Ask Mr. Gold: Top 10 Pico Boulevard

Eats
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Have you published a list

of the 10 best places for L.A. street food
and/or "dives"? I'd like to tour them on
bicycle, so if they are concentrated in one
general area, that would be best -- and
hopefully a slightly more urban area l...
First Bite: The Chinese Revolving

Door at Lao Bian Dumpling
The storefront that houses Lao Bian

Dumpling has had many faces over the
last few years, including Noodle Island, a
favorite for its Hainan chicken rice. Its
transformation into Lao Bian Dumpling
was pretty recent. But even with the rapid
turnover...
Salt's Cure: Steak on a Budget

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I've had the steak at Jar, done the Campanile Kansas
City thing, spent a paycheck at Cut and spent way too much time
with Ruth and Morton, so tell me something I don't know: Where can
I nd a delicious $25 steak in L.A. with a low...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Noodle Boy


To say that the menu at Noodle Boy is
minimal is probably understating things.
You can get noodle soup. You can get
noodles without soup. You can get soup
without noodles. That's pretty much the
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without noodles. That's pretty much the

end of th...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Papaya King

When Americas hot dog traditions are discussed, the Talmudic

parsing of the Chicago dog and the Detroit Coney and the Rochester
white-hot, somebody will inevitably bring up the New York hot dog,
as if it were an entity conforming to a singl...
Joan Luther, Longtime Restaurant Publicist, Dies at 83

5 years ago | Food News
In the Pleiocene epoch of restaurants in Los Angeles, before Yelp,

before blogs, before even the Usenet groups, restaurant publicists
were a rare and exotic breed, neither hip as music publicists nor
sleekly professional as lm acks, but creatu...
Ask Mr. Gold: Steak on a Budget at

Salt's Cure
Dear Mr. Gold: I've had the steak at Jar,

done the Campanile Kansas City thing,
spent a paycheck at Cut and spent way
too much time with Ruth and Morton, so
tell me something I don't know: Where
can I nd a delicious $25 steak in L.A. with
a low...
First Bite: Papaya King Brings Latenight Hot Dogging to Hollywood

5 years ago
When America's hot dog traditions are

discussed, the Talmudic parsing of the
Chicago dog and the Detroit coney and
the Rochester white-hot, somebody will
inevitably bring up the New York hot dog,
as if it were an entity conforming to a
single, Pla...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Luggage Room

La Grande Orange, the Santa Monica-based bar-and-grill octopus,

has been poking its tentacles into all kinds of places lately, including
the majestic Anisette space in Santa Monica, where it has just
installed a gastropub called the Mist. Its ex...
Finding an Authentic Fake Restaurant in L.A.

5 years ago
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5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What's your favorite fake restaurant in Los Angeles?
(However you feel like dening it.) David Chow (via Facebook)
Dear Mr. Chow: What is a fake restaurant, exactly? Is it a place like
Happy Family, serving kung pao chicken ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Finding an Authentic

Fake Restaurant in L.A.
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What's your favorite fake

restaurant in Los Angeles? (However you
feel like dening it.) --David Chow (via
Facebook)...
First Bite: Luggage Room Unpacks in

Pasadena
La Grande Orange, the Santa Monicabased bar-and-grill octopus, has been

poking its tentacles into all kinds of
places lately, including the majestic
Anisette space in Santa Monica, where it
has just installed a gastropub called The
Mist. Its ex...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Spice Table


If you wanted to understand the precise
state of L.A. cooking at the moment, you
could take a look at the roasted
marrowbones at Spice Table downtown, a
dish that seems to express everything
important abo...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Mezze

The Middle Eastern moment in L.A. restaurants may be in full swing,

having gone from the occasional hit of charmoula or side of Israeli
couscous to entire high-end menus, from kebab dives to palaces of
cuisine. A new hotel restaurant, a fancy lunc...
Filling the New York-style Pizza Vacuum

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Have you discovered near-authentic New York thincrust pizza in the Los Angeles area? C Afe, Pasadena, via Facebook
Dear C: The words "authentic,'' "New York" and "pizza" in
conjunction mean nothing but trouble around here. T...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Steingarten
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Steingarten


We are, I think, living in the golden age of
beer in Los Angeles, an era when nearly
any malty craving, no matter how
recondite, can be satised. Are you partial
to monk-made Trappist ales? In some
parts...
First Bite: At Mezze, Middle East and

America Getting Along After All
5 years ago
The Middle Eastern moment in Los

Angeles restaurants may be in full swing,
having gone from the occasional hit of
charmoula or side of Israeli couscous to
entire high-end menus, from kebab dives
to palaces of cuisine. A new hotel
restaurant, a fan...
Ask Mr. Gold: Filling the New Yorkstyle Pizza Vacuum

5 years ago | Pizza
Dear Mr. Gold: Have you discovered nearauthentic New York thin-crust pizza in
the Los Angeles area? --C Afe, Pasadena,
via Facebook...
Nathan McCall: The Butcher of

Hillhurst Avenue
5 years ago | Butchery
I am sitting with friends at a Korean

restaurant, lunching on boiled monksh
and sweet wild-raspberry wine. My
cellphone rings in my pocket. From the
rhythm of the buzzing, I know exactly
what this is about. The goods have
arrived, beautiful stuf...
Nathan McCall: The Butcher of

Hillhurst Avenue
5 years ago | People
I am sitting with friends at a Korean

restaurant, lunching on boiled monksh
and sweet wild-raspberry wine. My
cellphone rings in my pocket. From the
rhythm of the buzzing, I know exactly
what this is about. The goods have
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Moore's Delicatessen

Everybody knows what a deli is supposed to be: an enormous dining

room, stinking of garlic, bolstered by corned beef and chicken in a
pot, with giant halvah displays teetering by the cash register. And
then there's Moore's Delicatessen, a sparklin...
Jonathan Gold Samples New York's

Best Eateries During Beard Weekend
Have you ever been to one of those

parties where everybody asks you what
you've been reading, or if you've seen any
good movies? Because if you're in New
York City anywhere around what has
become known as Beard Weekend, that
slip of time between t...
Ask Mr. Gold: A Slow Eater's

Sanctuary at Aroma Caf
5 years ago | Middle Eastern Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: I often nd myself in the

delightful company of very slow eaters.
What are some good places to linger over
a meal without incurring the passiveaggression of the waitstaff? --Nate Smith,
via Facebook...
First Bite: Smoked Salmon With

SpongeBob at Moore's Delicatessan
5 years ago | Delis
Everybody knows what a deli is supposed

to be: an enormous dining room, stinking
of garlic, bolstered by corned beef and
chicken in a pot, with giant halvah
displays teetering by the cash register.
And then there's Moore's Delicatessen, a
sparklin...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Eternal Dilemma of

LAX Food
Dear Mr. Gold: Do you have a lunch

recommendation near LAX? I'm not
opposed to In-N-Out, just looking for
other options. --Evan Cohen, via
Facebook...
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Jonathan Gold Judges Cochon 555's

Traveling Pork and Wine Bacchanalia

If food is the new rock & roll, and we have
every reason to believe that it is, Cochon
555 is the Porkapalooza of the medium, a
traveling circus of sustainability and a
locavore rodeo, a roadshow of wine,...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Ray's at LACMA

To get to Ray's, the new restaurant at the Los Angeles County

Museum of Art, you thread your way through Chris Burden's
streetlamp installation, past the outdoor Stark Bar and into a
glowing minimalist rectangle that abuts the soaring Ahmanson gal...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Noodle Guy


Kobe beef, which is to say American
Wagyu beef, changed the meaty face of
cuisine in the United States: a master race
of cattle, developed in Japan, whose meat
was tenderer, tastier and far more
marbled t...
Ask Mr. Gold: Finding Okonomiyaki in

Lomita
Dear Mr. Gold: I had okonomiyaki in

Hiroshima a few years ago. It's a standalone wonderful hangover food, and I'd
imagine it's even pretty great with highquality ingredients. Any
recommendations to nd this treat in Los
Angeles? --Scott Cody, v...
First Bite: Dining Artfully at Ray's

To get to Ray's, the new restaurant at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, you
thread your way through Chris Burden's
streetlamp installation, past the outdoor
Stark Bar and into a glowing minimalist
rectangle that abuts the soaring
Ahmanson gal...
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When it housed Test Kitchen, the dim, low-ceilinged restaurant

space below the old Orlando-Orsini had a kind of cheerful rec-room
vibe, like a pop-up jazz club where the artists just happen to wield
knives instead of saxophones. As Sotto, the new ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews the Tar Pit

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Last night I wanted to take my friend out for a
nightcap in a spot with yummy food and an older crowd. Well, older
than 20s her prerequisite. We wouldn't have arrived until midnight.
We were in Hollywood and could have drive...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Lukshon


It is a warm spring night, with a hint of
the Santa Anas in the air, and the least
likely place in Los Angeles to experience a
pastoral groove is probably the outside
seating area at Lukshon, in the alley...
First Bite: Sotto, or The Happiness of

Abattoir Jocks
When it housed Test Kitchen, the dim,

low-ceilinged restaurant space below the
old Orlando-Orsini had a kind of cheerful
rec-room vibe, like a pop-up jazz club
where the artists just happen to wield
knives instead of saxophones. As Sotto,
the new ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Maturity at Midnight at

The Tar Pit
5 years ago | Neighborhoods
Dear Mr. Gold: Last night I wanted to take

my friend out for a nightcap in a spot with
yummy food and an older crowd. Well,
older than 20s -- her prerequisite. We
wouldn't have arrived until midnight. We
were in Hollywood and could have driven
any...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Olive & Thyme

A ne restaurant, we all know, requires a chef to put it together; a

greasy spoon needs a gifted cook. But a good sandwich shop,
especially a good sandwich shop in a business district, can more
properly be the domain of a curator: somebody with a...
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properly be the domain of a curator: somebody with a...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Pacific Fish Center

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: After breaking up with a guy whose idea of ne dining
was Denny's (not kidding), I've met someone I like rather a lot. Based
on your recommendations, our rst date was at Newport Seafood.
(Spicy lobster on a plate the size of a pa...
Ask Mr. Gold: Big Plate Dating

Dear Mr. Gold: After breaking up with a

guy whose idea of ne dining was Denny's
(not kidding), I've met someone I like
rather a lot. Based on your
recommendations, our rst date was at
Newport Seafood. (Spicy lobster on a
plate the size of a pa...
First Bite: Olive & Thyme, or The

Sandwich Shop Done Right
A ne restaurant, we all know, requires a

chef to put it together; a greasy spoon
needs a gifted cook. But a good sandwich
shop, especially a good sandwich shop in
a business district, can more properly be
the domain of a curator: somebody with
a...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Nha Trang


It has come to my attention that some of
you think I have been paying too much
attention to noodle shops in San Gabriel.
And I realize, yes, I have been writing
quite a bit about San Gabriel noodle
shops ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Fig & Olive

In case you were wondering how the restaurant Fig & Olive got its
name, there are gs and olives on everything, even at this time of
year, when gs are as far out of season as pumpkins: gs with
gorgonzola on a soggy puff-pastry tart; gs in a...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Mo-Chica

5 years ago
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5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What's the big deal with quinoa? I couldn't even
pronounce it right when I rst saw it on the menu at Hugo's in Studio
City. Then I saw it at Trader Joe's, then everywhere. Where did it
come from and why is it so popular now? And,...
Jonathan Gold Reviews the Olive

Garden

There are certain protocols to April Fools'
pranks in the modern newsroom, and if
you've worked at newspapers long
enough, you've probably seen most of
them the urgent messages from
Heywood Jablom...
First Bite: Fig & Olive, and More Figs

and Olives
In case you were wondering how the

restaurant Fig & Olive got its name, there
are gs and olives on everything, even at
this time of year, when gs are as far out
of season as pumpkins: gs with
gorgonzola on a soggy puff-pastry tart;
gs in a...
From the Archives: Jonathan Gold's

"13 Ways of Looking at Nirvana" (Kurt
Cobain, RIP 17 Years Ago Today)
5 years ago | Goodbye
Today, on the 17th anniversary of Kurt

Cobain's untimely death, we reprint the
following reections from Jonathan Gold,
originally written seven years ago. 1. A
friend's East Village studio somewhere in
July 1989. Nirvana, who had slept on the
...
Ask Mr. Gold: What's The Big Deal

With Quinoa?
5 years ago | Peruvian Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: What's the big deal with

quinoa? I couldn't even pronounce it right
when I rst saw it on the menu at Hugo's
in Studio City. Then I saw it at Trader Joe's
and then I saw it everywhere. It has
probably been around forever, but has o...
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Jonathan Gold Reviews Son of a Gun

Whatever the current style in L.A. restaurants ends up being named,

all of it from the small-plate thing to the xation on local, organic
produce; the off-center proteins to the international palette of
avors; and the resistance to even...
Jonathan Gold on Kid-Friendly Restaurants

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Best kid-friendly burger joint? Best kid-friendly

brasserie? Best kid-friendly breakfast joint (besides Dinah's)? Best
kid-friendly noodle/pot-sticker joint? Michael (via Facebook) Dear
Michael: I would maintain that all burg...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Kid-Friendly

Restaurant
Dear Mr. Gold: Best kid-friendly burger

joint? Best kid-friendly brasserie? Best
kid-friendly breakfast joint (besides
Dinah's)? Best kid-friendly
noodle/potsticker joint? --Michael (via
Facebook)...
First Bite: Son of a Gun, or What

Would You Want To Change Anyway?
Whatever the current style in Los Angeles

restaurants ends up being named, all of it
-- from the small-plate thing to the
xation on local, organic produce; the offcenter proteins to the international
palette of avors; and the resistance to
ev...
A Nate Dogg Obituary, by Jonathan

Gold
5 years ago | Goodbye
Within the structure of a classic G-funk

track, a musical form as precise as a
Mozart string quintet, after the opening
skit, the establishment of the minimal
beat, the rapper's expository verse and
the drowsy one-ngered counterpoint, it
is at l...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Robata Jinya

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The most striking Japanese dish I've had
lately? It's hard to say, although at the
moment I am tending toward a dish of
warm tofu freshly made at table: a
beautifully weathered bowl, a few drops
of nigari...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Spice Table

You might expect a new restaurant from the opening chef of Pizzeria
Mozza to be jammed from the moment it opened, and you wouldn't
be surprised to nd quartinos of crisp Italian white wine. Diligent
ingredient sourcing would practically be a give...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Pho Filet

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My ancee and I are trying to eat everything on your
99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die list, but we noticed that a
couple of of the restaurants have closed down: Anisette Brasserie
and Pho Bac. Can you suggest restaurants to ...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Beijing Duck

House in San Gabriel

Was the Caesar salad at Chasen's better
than the Caesar at Musso and Frank? It's
too long ago to remember. Is Valerie's
version of crunch cake as good as the one
they used to serve at Blum's? Hard to
tell...
Ask Mr. Gold: Take Two Down, Pass

'em Around
5 years ago | French Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: My ancee and I are trying

to eat everything on your 99 Things to Eat
in L.A. Before You Die list, but we noticed
that a couple of of the restaurants have
closed down: Anisette Brasserie and Pho
Bac. Can you suggest restaurants to ...
First Bite: Spice Table in Little Tokyo

5 years ago | Asian Cuisine
You might expect a new restaurant from

the opening chef of Pizzeria Mozza to be
jammed from the moment it opened, and
you wouldn't be surprised to nd
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Diligent ingredient sourcing would
practically be a give...
Weird Science: Bad Hare Day

5 years ago
Enormous bunny rabbits, six times the

size of today's rabbits, roamed Minorca
three to ve million years ago, reports
Discovery News. Too big to hop, the wellmarbled creatures, ominously known as
N. rex, dragged their cottontails around
the Cata...
Your Royal Wedding Shopping PSA:

or, How To Recreate Roger Daltrey's
Bathtub of Baked Beans
5 years ago | Shopping
The upcoming Royal Wedding, as you

know, is the Big One; the Super Bowl, the
NBA Finals and the World Cup rolled into
one for that not insignicant segment of
the populace more interested in romance
than in watching grown men kick a ball.
We all ...
Jontahan Gold Reviews Frysmith

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Is there anywhere local that serves poutine? I have
seen pictures of the dish, which apparently includes fries, cheese
curds and gravy, but I have never seen it in a restaurant. Have you
ever tried poutine? It looks like a french fr...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Playa


The discovery of a new dish, wrote
Brillat-Savarin, does more for human
happiness than the discovery of a new
star. This week's splash of happiness is
the maize cake Bombay Taj as served at
Playa, John Se...
Ask Mr. Gold: Poutine in Los Angeles,

or The Endurance of Boy Food
5 years ago | Canadian Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: Is there anywhere local

that serves poutine? I have seen pictures
of the dish, which apparently includes
fries, cheese curds and gravy, but I have
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fries, cheese curds and gravy, but I have

never seen it in a restaurant. Have you
ever tried poutine? It looks like a french
fr...
Jonathan Gold on Saltenas

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Salteas are called that because they are the
empanada style of the province of Salta, squarely in Argentina. Sure,
they eat them elsewhere, but calling them Bolivian would be like
saying that Tex-Mex music is kinda from Ariz...
Jonathan Gold Reviews Lucky Noodle

King: Many Spicy Returns
Are you looking for dan dan mian?

Because everybody knows where to get
the best dan dan mian or at least they
did until Chuan Yu Noodle Town, the tiny,
sticky-table dive that specialized in the
stuff, abruptly shut down around the rst
of...
Ask Mr. Gold: In Search of Salteas,

Revisited
5 years ago | Argentine Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: Salteas are called that

because they are the empanada style of
the province of Salta, squarely in
Argentina. Sure, they eat them elsewhere,
but calling them Bolivian would be like
saying that Tex-Mex music is kinda from
Ariz...
L.A.'s Best Cocktails

We have, I think, nearly come to

agreement on what an essential
restaurant might be in Los Angeles, a
place that may have transcendent food or
occupy a niche in the social ecosystem,
but explains something to us about
ourselves. Our ideas on the s...
Ask Mr. Gold: Where to Eat Bugs in

L.A.
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: From what I read, raising

insects is far easier on the planet than
raising livestock. If I were in the mood to
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raising livestock. If I were in the mood to

kill two bugs with one stone, where would
I go to eat bugs in L.A.? --Betsy,
Montrose...
Sang Yoon's Lukshon Is His Most Fully Realized Concept Yet

We can be forgiven for surmising that something's up at Lukshon,

can't we? Because we are at a Sang Yoon restaurant, nobody has
tried to tackle us on the way to our (reserved!) table, and we are
drinking Singapore Slings or a Beaujolais-style Cana...
More Than Mere Doughnuts

5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a craving for a doughnut. I've had good
doughnuts in Los Angeles, but is there a truly great doughnut? I hate
that I can't hate on NYC doughnuts, but I had the tres leches donut at
Doughnut Plant, and that was dddd-licious! I...
Basque in Bakersfield
I have been accused of overpraising

Bakerseld, and perhaps it is true.
Dewar's, across the street from
Bakerseld High School, is still the best
old soda fountain in the state, and even if
it didn't make the world's best nut chews
littl...
Ask Mr. Gold: Mmmmm, Doughnuts!

5 years ago | Desserts
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a craving for a

doughnut. I've had good doughnuts in Los
Angeles, but is there a truly great
doughnut? I hate that I can't hate on NYC
doughnuts, but I had the tres leches donut
at Doughnut Plant, and that was ddddlicious! I...
First Bite: Lukshon, Sang Yoon's

Latest
We can be forgiven for surmising that

something's up at Lukshon, can't we?
Because we are at a Sang Yoon restaurant,
nobody has tried to tackle us on the way
to our (reserved!) table, and we are
drinking Singapore Slings or an
Beaujolais-style Can...
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Top 10 Aphrodisiac Foods for

Valentine's Day
10. Oysters. Briny, slippery; rufy frills

that quiver when you ick your tongue
across them . . . yes, oysters are an
excellent source of zinc. 9. Corn dogs.
Turgid, spurting, eshy missiles prepared
by nubile high school students wearing
enor...
In Search of Saltenas
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Over the holidays, I visited my parents in northern

Virginia, where there are numerous places to get delicious Bolivian
salteas. I've lived in Los Angeles for ve years and have never seen
or heard mention of these juicy, f...
Aburiya Toranoko: Lazy Ox's Cardenas Branches Out

The fetish object of the week? My money's on the uni goma tofu at
the new Aburiya Toranoko in Little Tokyo, which is to say a smallish
cube of rm, blackish tofu made from ground, toasted sesame seeds,
served in a shallow puddle of soy and topped...
Sun Ha Jang: Addicted to Quack

View more photos in Anne Fishbein's

slideshow, "Addicted to Quack at Sun Ha
Jang, Koreatown's Pleasure Palace of
Duck." When friends talk about the
restaurants they miss in Koreatown the
ones that never quite made the transition
when the n...
Ask Mr. Gold: In Search of Salteas,

or Discovering Bolivian-Style
Empanadas
5 years ago | Bolivian Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: Over the holidays, I visited

my parents in northern Virginia, where
there are numerous places to get
delicious Bolivian salteas. I've lived in
Los Angeles for ve years and have never
seen or heard mention of these juicy, f...
First Bite: Aburiya Toranoko, or Lazy

Ox's Cardenas Branches Out
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The fetish object of the week? My

money's on the uni goma tofu at the new
Aburiya Toranoko in Little Tokyo, which
is to say a smallish cube of rm, blackish
tofu made from ground, toasted sesame
seeds, served in a shallow puddle of soy
and topped...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Super Bowl Edition,

or Where To Get BBQ For The Game
5 years ago | BBQ
Dear Mr. Gold: Can you recommend

anywhere to get takeout food for Super
Bowl Sunday? Perhaps barbecue?
Thanks! --S. Goin, Los Angeles Dear Ms.
Goin: Barbecue is a ne idea, in fact
probably the best. My in-laws favor vast
trays of jalapeo...
Mas Malo: It's All About the Chips

I am sitting in Mas Malo's huge beaux arts dining room, a oor

beneath the whiskey-soaked revelry of the bar Seven Grand. I am on
the outside of a satisfying organic margarita, I am watching my
young son tackle an enormous burrito ahogado, trying...
A Tasting Milestone
5 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm turning 50 next month and I'd like to go
somewhere with an outstanding tasting menu. I'm willing to splurge,
but I am not a fancy girl and prefer somewhere that's not stuffy or
where I have to wear high heels. L.M., L.A. ...
Red Medicine

slideshow, "Red Medicine: Jordan Kahn's
Vietnamese Canteen." If you were to have
stumbled into Red Medicine this winter,
maybe late after a movie, maybe with a
reservation you booked two weeks early
on OpenTable...
First Bite: Chips, Chips Especial,

Menudo + Vegan Hangovers at Mas
Malo
I am sitting in Mas Malo's huge Beaux

Arts dining room, a oor beneath the
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Arts dining room, a oor beneath the

whiskey-soaked revelry of the bar Seven
Grand. I am on the outside of a satisfying
organic margarita, I am watching my
young son tackle an enormous burrito
ahogado, trying...
Ask Mr. Gold: Celebrate A Half

Century With A Tasting Menu
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm turning 50 next month

and I'd like to go somewhere with an
outstanding tasting menu. I'm willing to
splurge, but I am not a fancy girl and
prefer somewhere that's not stuffy or
where I have to wear high heels. --L.M.,
Los Angele...
Vertical: Having Your Food and Hearing, Too

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Do you have any recommendations for a restaurant

in the San Gabriel Valley where six people can have dinner and
actually, really hear each other talk? We need a variety of
suggestions to meet varying dietary needs (gluten-free optio...
Gaon: Suburban Korean

Another suburban Korean restaurant? When you put it that way, I

guess we are a little obsessed with the idea of gentried Korean food.
Everybody knows the cuisine is going to hit the mainstream at some
point, but nobody has quite gured out what...
Olympic Cheonggukjang: Bean and

Nothingness

slideshow, "Olympic Cheonggukjang:
Korean Soul Food That Will Take Your
Breath Away." If you are the kind of
person whose friends insist on telling you
about the Real Korean Food, you
probably have heard about O...
Ask Mr. Gold: Having Your Food &

Hearing It Too at Vertical Wine Bistro
Dear Mr. Gold: Do you have any

recommendations for a restaurant in the
San Gabriel Valley where six people can
have dinner and actually, really hear each
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have dinner and actually, really hear each

other talk?? We need a variety of
suggestions to meet varying dietary needs
(gluten-free opti...
First Bite: Simon King Cooks

Suburban Korean in Pasadena at
Gaon
Another suburban Korean restaurant?

When you put it that way, I guess we are a
little obsessed with the idea of gentried
Korean food. Everybody knows the
cuisine is going to hit the mainstream at
some point, but nobody has quite gured
out what...
The Frankfurt School

Poetry is walled up in graduate school. Painting is in permanent

decline. But the creative hot dog garnish seems to be in its golden
age at the moment, and whether your taste runs toward organic
Parsi pickles, uorescent Chicago relish or cheese-...
Car-Free Eating
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What's the best neighborhood in L.A. to live in if you
don't have a car? Purely within the gastronomical interest, of course.
Sophia Lee, via Facebook Dear Ms. Lee: Although my rst impulse
was to nominate San Gabriel or Mon...
Steerage: Smoke City Market


slideshow, "Smoke City Market: Barbeque,
Texas-style." If you have ever had the
misfortune of arguing about barbecue
with a Texan, you are no doubt familiar
with at least the idea of meat cookery in
its purest, ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Where To Eat & Live In

L.A. If You Don't Have A Car
Dear Mr. Gold: What's the best

neighborhood in L.A. to live in if you don't
have a car? Purely within the
gastronomical interest, of course. -Sophia Lee, via Facebook Dear Ms. Lee:
Although my rst impulse was to
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Although my rst impulse was to

nominate San Gabriel or Monterey...
First Bite: The Frankfurt School, or

Pasadena's New Dog Haus
6 years ago | Hot Dogs
Poetry is walled up in graduate school.

Painting is in permanent decline. But the
creative hot dog garnish seems to be in its
golden age at the moment, and whether
your taste runs toward organic Parsi
pickles, uorescent Chicago relish or
cheese-...
Many Unhappy Returns?

6 years ago
A Case of Mistaken Identity

In last week's First Bite column, which waxed purple over french
fries at the rather too new Farmshop, we misidentied the price of
the potatoes involved. We were erroneously brought a $4.50 serving
of french fries instead of the $10.50 fried pot...
Roy Choi's "Modern Picnic"


slideshow, "Asian-American avor at AFrame Tavern." If you want to understand
A-Frame, the ski chalet of a tavern that is
the latest restaurant from Kogi auteur
Roy Choi, you could do worse than to
examine the...
Ask Mr. Gold: Many Unhappy

Returns? When to Send a Dish Back
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Do you ever send food

back to the kitchen? If so, what's the
threshold of egregiousness that would
prompt you to do so? Does it matter what
company you're in? What I'm really
asking is: Would you ever send food back
while on a date?...
The Platonic Ideal

L.A.'s newest cult item? I nominate the French fries at the new
Farmshop in the Brentwood Country Mart, where they are arranged
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Farmshop in the Brentwood Country Mart, where they are arranged

like owers in an exquisite little vase, and they cost 10 dollars and 50
cents, which is a lot for a serving that is n...
Hunting Pheasant
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where do you suggest we go for a meal of pheasant?

In the Los Angeles area, please. The Melczers Dear Mr. and Mrs.
Melczer: It's odd several decades ago, pheasant was the ultimate in
luxury meats, probably because of ...
Restaurant or Butcher Shop?


slideshow, "Focus on Meat: Salt's Cure,
Restaurant or Butcher Shop?" In case you
were wondering, I too am slightly
confused by Salt's Cure, which is an odd
thing considering how much time I have
lately spent in ...
[Updated] First Bite: The Platonic

Ideal, or FarmShop's French Fries Are
What Fries Should Be
Update: Department of Corrections. In

this week's First Bite column, which
waxed rather purple over French fries at
the rather too new FarmShop, we
misidentied the price of the potatoes
involved. We were erroneously brought a
$4.50 serving of Fr...
Ask Mr. Gold: Hunting Pheasant, or

Celestino Drago's Your Man for the
Fancy Fowl
Dear Mr. Gold: Where do you suggest we

go for a meal of pheasant? In the Los
Angeles area, please. --The Melczers Dear
Mr. and Mrs. Melczer: It's odd -- several
decades ago, pheasant was the ultimate in
luxury meats, probably because of its
connot...
Top 10 Kinds of Bacon in My

Refrigerator This Morning
6 years ago | Bacon
10. Guanciale. Made by some guy in
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10. Guanciale. Made by some guy in

Colorado, or so says Rosario, the curedmeat impresario at Roma Deli in
Pasadena. A nice, gamy pig cheek,
anyway, suspiciously like the ones I used
to get from Salumi Biellese on 8th Avenue
in Manhattan...
Suehiro: Little Tokyo Lunch Special

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Can you recommend a good place for lunch in Little
Tokyo? I seem to be around there a lot lately. B. Mullins, L.A. Dear
Ms. Mullins: You mean other than Lazy Ox? Well, you should try
Daikokuya for ramen, of course, if not the...
Two Cheers for Anonymity

View various ways Jonathan Gold has

concealed his identity in Anne Fishbein's
slideshow, "Two Cheers for Anonymity:
The Many Mysterious Faces of Jonathan
Gold." Anonymity, it has long been held, is
the proper state of being for restaurant
critics,...
Ask Mr. Gold: Tokyo Lunch Special,

Going Old-School at Suehiro
Dear Mr. Gold: Can you recommend a

good place for lunch in Little Tokyo? I
seem to be around there a lot lately. --B.
Mullins, Los Angeles Dear Ms. Mullins:
You mean other than Lazy Ox? Well, you
should try Daikokuya for ramen, of
course, if not t...
An Evolved Cafe
Los Angeles, as is well-known, is where everybody eats Italian food

in restaurants, where trattorias open on every corner, and where it is
easier to nd well-made Sardinian atbread than a decent baguette.
Downtown Culver City has somehow become...
For a Great Friday Night Out, Try Tasting Kitchen

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a group of my best friends ying in from

Alabama, and we're all staying in Santa Monica. I never go to the
Westside for anything, so I am looking for some dinner
recommendations for Friday night. Any cuisine is ne; I would...
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The 10 Best Dishes of 2010


slideshow, "The 10 Best Dishes of 2010."
CAPPUCCINO When it comes to dinner,
some of us are game for anything. But in
the mornings, still reeling from the shock
of recent consciousness, we tend to stick
to what ...
First Bite: l'Epicerie, An Evolved Cafe

6 years ago | Cafes
Los Angeles, as is well-known, is where

everybody eats Italian food in restaurants,
where trattorias open on every corner,
and where it is easier to nd well-made
Sardinian atbread than a decent
baguette. Downtown Culver City has
somehow become...
Ask Mr. Gold: A Taste of Abbot Kinney

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a group of my best

friends ying in from Alabama, and we're
all staying in Santa Monica. I never go to
the Westside for anything, so I am looking
for some dinner recommendations for
Friday night. Any cuisine is ne, I would...
25 Years of Border Grill

Is it possible that the Border Grill has been open a full 25 years? It
must the anniversary party was this week. And is it possible that
owners Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, who worked the
marriage of Mexican cuisine and New America...
Pork, Glorious Pork

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I nd good carnitas? I'm thinking like the
kind I'd get off the taco trucks in Oakland we loved to go to El Ojo
de Agua. Relatively close to Pasadena would be nice. Nina K. Dear
Ms. K.: You are, alas, a few...
Fusion Without the Pretension


slideshow, "Daisy Mint: Aims to Please all
Lovers of Asian Food." The Los Angeles
area, it has been well-remarked, is the
capital of regional Asian cooking in
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capital of regional Asian cooking in

America, where scarcely a province of
China or Korea...
First Bite: 25 Years of Border Grill, or

a Revamped Ciudad
Is it possible that the Border Grill has

been open a full 25 years? It must -- the
anniversary party was this week. And is it
possible that owners Mary Sue Milliken
and Susan Feniger, who worked the
marriage of Mexican cuisine and New
American gri...
Ask Mr. Gold: Quelling That Carnitas

Craving at Cacao Mexicatessen
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I nd good

carnitas? I'm thinking like the kind I'd get
off the taco trucks in Oakland -- we loved
to go to El Ojo de Agua. Relatively close to
Pasadena would be nice. --Nina K. Dear
Ms. K.: You are, alas, a few years...
LudoBites 6.0
Actually, this should be Last Bite. Because writing about pop-up

restaurants sometimes feels like reviewing a play whose run will be
over as LudoBites 6.0's is before the reader has a chance to catch
one of the nal performances. ...
Rehearsal-Dinner Dining
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm getting married and in dire need of a legit
rehearsal-dinner spot. My ance and I would gladly eat anywhere
you recommend, but our families' tastes are a bit more conservative
than bossam or pig ear. Any ideas for a spo...
Huge Tree Bakery


slideshow, "Taiwanese Breakfast: The Tao
of You Tiao at Huge Tree Bakery." Back at
the dawn of time, when Jerry Brown was
the governor and Bad Company still ruled
the Billboard charts, my favorite
restaura...
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Ask Mr. Gold: Wedding Bell Bonding,

or Places to Eat For Pre-flight
Consideration
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm getting married and in

dire need of a legit rehearsal-dinner spot.
My ance and I would gladly eat
anywhere you recommend, but our
families' tastes are a bit more
conservative than bossam or pig ear. Any
ideas for a spo...
First Bite: Ludobites 6.0, or Curtain's

Closed Until Next Year, Maybe
6 years ago
Actually, this should be Last Bite. Because

writing about pop-up restaurants
sometimes feels like reviewing a play
whose run will be over -- as LudoBites
6.0's is -- before the reader has a chance
to catch one of the nal performances.
Were you o...
More Than $24 Spaghetti

In an era when chefs become famous for their foie gras cotton candy,
oxtail poutine or frog legs in begonia sauce, Scott Conant, the New
York chef who just opened Scarpetta in Beverly Hills, may be best
known for his $24 plate of spaghetti in toma...
Take a Dip
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently moved back to L.A. from the Bay Area to
pursue some kind of storytelling job. And what I want to know is
where I can nd a hot freshly carved turkey sandwich. San Francisco
has some amazing restaurants, but the thing tha...
You'd Better Like Lamb


slideshow, "You'd Better Like Lamb:
Omars Xinjiang Halal Restaurant." The
rst thing you should know about Omar's
Xinjiang Halal Restaurant is that it's
pretty far removed from what you might
think of as...
Ask Mr. Gold: Take a Dip, Or Finding a

Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Sandwich
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Dear Mr. Gold: I recently moved back to

L.A. from the Bay Area to pursue some
kind of storytelling job. And what I want
to know is where I can nd a hot freshly
carved turkey sandwich. San Francisco
has some amazing restaurants, but the
thing tha...
First Bite: Scarpetta, More Than $24

Spaghetti
In an era when chefs become famous for

their foie gras cotton candy, oxtail
poutine or frog legs in begonia sauce,
Scott Conant, the New York chef who just
opened Scarpetta in Beverly Hills, may be
best known for his $24 plate of spaghetti
in toma...
Yes, Georgio's!

slideshow, "Georgio's Cucina: Italian in
Studio City." When I was the New York
restaurant critic for Gourmet, I spent a
certain amount of time following a chef
named Gary Robins, who in the mid1990s had a reput...
Ask Mr. Gold: In Search of the

Doughnut-qua-doughnut
Dear Mr. Gold: My brother wants to open

a doughnut shop that makes the best
donut in Los Angeles. I believe he has the
passion and skill to do it. In the process of
research he has been seeking the best
donut in Los Angeles and I can't say he's...
Links and Locations to Jonathan

Gold's 99 Essential Restaurants 2010

slideshow, "99 Essential Restaurants
2010."When is a restaurant not a
restaurant? It's not a rhetorical question,
actually, not this year. I really don't know.
Because just as parts of Los Angeles have
become fa...
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Take the A-Frame

Where Roy Choi goes, people will follow this has been wellestablished. Because if the legions of the hungry are willing to follow
his Kogi trucks when they alight in deserted motel parking lots or
alongside Orange County topless clubs, it...
Ou Est Le Cassoulet a L.A.?

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My wife had a great cassoulet in Paris several years
ago. Is there a place in Southern California that has a real French
cassoulet? I know this is the time of year they make it. Jim Nakano,
Glendora Dear Mr. Nakano: The Donut...
Look, Up in the Sky!


slideshow, "Wolfgang Puck's WP24: Or
Look, Up in the Sky!" WP24 so named
because it is Wolfgang Puck's 24th
restaurant? Is it because the building sits
around the corner from Staples Center,
where Kobe Bryant we...
Ask Mr. Gold: Ou Est Le Cassoulet

L.A.?
6 years ago | French Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: My wife had a great

cassoulet in Paris several years ago. Is
there a place in Southern California that
has a real French cassoulet? I know this is
the time of year they make it. --Jim
Nakano, Glendora Dear Mr. Nakano: The
Donut Man!...
First Bite: Take the A-Frame, or Roy

Choi Turns Toward Hawaii
Where Roy Choi goes, people will follow - this has been well-established. Because
if the legions of the hungry are willing to
follow his Kogi trucks when they alight in
deserted motel parking lots or alongside
Orange County topless clubs, it stan...
Fun at The Royce with the Pasadena

Star-News
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We are no stranger to restaurant hype;

really we're not. We tend to generate a bit
of it ourselves. So I hope you will believe
us when we say that we have never quite
seen anything like the front page of
today's Pasadena Star-News, which was
entir...
A Food-Writing Misstep of Which I've

Been Guilty Myself, but Could We All
Agree To Stop Now, Please?
6 years ago | Food in the Media
There are many kinds of food in the

world, as Frances the Badger once said,
and they all taste different ways. Some of
these foods are more or less spherical in
nature. And many of these spheres, as we
all know, may reasonably be described as
ball...
A Movable Beast: L.A. Weekly's 99

Essential Restaurants

slideshow, "99 Essential Restaurants
2010."When is a restaurant not a
restaurant? It's not a rhetorical question,
actually, not this year. I really don't know.
Because just as parts of Los Angeles have
become fa...
Gastropub Sans the Pub

Before it became a reconstructionist Cuban restaurant, before it

moved to Melrose from Pasadena, Xiomara began as a sleekly
modern California bistro, rmly grounded in modern French
cooking. Now that Nuevo Latino cuisine has transformed into what...
Cooking With the Critic

6 years ago
Dan Dan Mian


slideshow, "Dan dan mian at Chuan Yu
Noodle Town: Controversial Sichuan
Street Food." Dan dan mian may be one of
the most controversial entries in the
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the most controversial entries in the

Chinese culinary canon, a simple
preparation, the classic Si...
First Bite: Gastropub Sans the Pub, or

Xiomara Reconsidered
Before it became a reconstructionist

Cuban restaurant, before it moved to
Melrose from Pasadena, Xiomara began
as a sleekly modern California bistro,
rmly grounded in modern French
cooking. Now that Nuevo Latino cuisine
has transformed into what...
Ask Mr. Gold: Cooking With the

Critic, Or The Top 10 Most Battered
Cookbooks in Jonathan Gold's
Kitchen
6 years ago | Cookbooks
Dear Mr. Gold: Do you always eat out? Do

you ever eat at home? Do you have any
cookbooks that you use a great deal? Just
curious. Maggs, Mar Vista Dear Maggs:
Actually, I cook kind of a lot. A weird
amount. I'm the guy who cooks red beans
a...
An Open Letter to Paula Deen

6 years ago | Food Personalities
Dear Paula Deen: When I heard Tuesday that you had been named
Grand Marshal of the 2011 Rose Parade, my reaction was not a pretty
one. And while I wasn't expecting the email response I gave Janette
Williams, the Pasadena Star-News reporter, to be ...
Kid-Friendly Tacos
6 years ago
New Location
The original Pal Cabron was one of those pop-culture miracles we

have come to expect in Los Angeles, a Huntington Park sandwich
shop specializing in overstuffed versions of Puebla's beloved
cemitas, run by a young Oaxacan woman, Bricia Lopez, and ...
Ode to the Slimy Hagfish

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slideshow, "Jae Bu Do: Koreatown's
Extreme Seafood Grill." Some restaurants
you leave smiling. Other restaurants you
leave burning with the fury of a thousand
suns. But after an evening at Jae Bu Do, a
seafood g...
Ask Mr. Gold: Kid-Friendly Tacos On

Four Wheels, No Later Than 7 p.m.
6 years ago | Kids in L.A.
Dear Mr. Gold: As a mother of two kids

young enough to still like noodles but old
enough to make fun of Justin Bieber, I
nd myself in search of a kid-friendly
taco truck. Good old-school tacos: no
fusion, no Kogi lines. Anywhere from
Venice to P...
First Bite: New Location, Same Old

Pal Cabron
The original Pal Cabron was one of those

pop-culture miracles we have come to
expect in Los Angeles, a Huntington Park
sandwich shop specializing in overstuffed
versions of Puebla's beloved cemitas, run
by a young Oaxacan woman, Bricia
Lopez, and ...
Seoul Octopus Day + The Relative

Joys of Octopus Heads
How many angels can dance on the head

of a pin? And how many octopus heads
are probably as many as you should eat in
a day? The answer to the rst question, of
course, belongs to the philosophers and
the theologians. The second, at least
accordin...
Best French Dip (Thick-Gravy

Division): Jolly Jug
6 years ago | Best of L.A.
Everybody knows who makes the best

French dip in town. It's Cole's, which
serves a chopped-and-channeled version
of the venerable sandwich in L.A.'s oldest
restaurant. Or it's Philippe's, the sawdustoored diner that also claims to have
invented...
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invented...
Shanghai Bamboo House: Ham w/

Yam
Of all the dishes I loved at Green Village, a

restaurant that seemed to move locations
more often than a Kogi truck, the one I
always tried to order was called
something like Doufu w/ Wild Greens, a
cold appetizer of minutely diced dried
bean curd...
Our Man in Tijuana

The ceilings are low, the expectations are high, and the Slayer-loud
salsa grooves are making the mezcal tremble in its glass. The wines
on the blackboard are all from Baja, mostly from the Guadalupe
Valley area, which may be the great wine area c...
Lasagna To Go?
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: This weekend, we're having some fellow parents over
for a playdate with our 2-year-olds, and then dinner. With all that 2year-old energy going on, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to buy
a lasagna, so I don't have to slave away...
Ask Mr. Gold: Lasagna to Go? Try the

"Cupcakes" from Heirloom L.A.
Dear Mr. Gold: This weekend, we're

having some fellow parents over for a
playdate with our 2-year-olds, and then
dinner. With all that 2-year-old energy
going on, I'm thinking it might be a good
idea to buy a lasagna, so I don't have to
slave away...
First Bite: Javier Plascencia, Our Man

in Tijuana
The ceilings are low, the expectations are

high, and the Slayer-loud salsa grooves
are making the mezcal tremble in its
glass. The wines on the blackboard are all
from Baja, mostly from the Guadalupe
Valley area, which may be the great wine
area c...
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[Updated, Again] San Gabriel Mayor

Arrested: Or, More Fun With Xiao
Long Bao
Update: Do we have breaking news on the

infamous soup-dumpling incident? I'm
afraid to say, we do not. The vinegar has
been long mopped from the oor, San
Gabriel mayor Albert Y.M. Huang's
resignation is yesterday's news, and the
lawyers still hu...
Best Simulacrum of a Simulacrum

(1938): Lawry's the Prime Rib
Like any good back lot, greater Los

Angeles may be most like itself where it
resembles anywhere else, from the
Pasadena backstreets that have spent a
century standing in for suburban
Connecticut, to the jungly corners of
Grifth Park, to the Span...
Monday Taco Report: El Super

Numero Uno, or Carnicera, Tacos +
They'll Make Your Keys
As you speed along Valley Boulevard

between Alhambra and downtown, you
may notice the signs for what seems like a
supremely condent establishment, El
Super Numero Uno, a meat specialist with
a high regard for its product. And as you
screech off ...
Best High-Art Patio: Michael's

There was a time when art in restaurants

signied more than the $3,000 ceramic
dildo for sale at the gift shop of Bazaar.
We have fond memories of the downtown
art bar dominated by John Chamberlain's
crumpled-automobile sculpture, the big
Jonatha...
Best Wartime Cookbook: M.F.K.

Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf
The late 1930s and early 1940s were kind

of a grim time in Southern California. The
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Great Depression hit Los Angeles as hard

as it hit practically anywhere in the
country, and the vast inux of penniless
retirees from cold states put an unusual
b...
Downtown Surprise
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm hoping you can recommend a place to hold a
surprise party. I'm nding this a bit hard to accomplish I live in
Ohio and I don't know L.A. that well. I'm considering Bottega Louie
and Church & State. There will be ...
Offal Time

slideshow, "Meat-on-Meat Crime at
Waterloo & City." It is a grand time to be
alive, fellow offalians, a year when a
young man with a dream in his heart and
a Lipitor in his pocket can gorge himself
silly on spar...
Best Noir Breakfast (1940s): Nick's

Caf
Before yuzu vinaigrettes, before acai

margaritas, before pigs whose lineage is
better-traced than the Queen of
England's, there was ham and eggs, which
so powerfully signied contentment in
Los Angeles that a Depression-era
political movement was...
Best Speakeasy: The Varnish

6 years ago | Bars
The Varnish isn't the obscurest of bars; far

from it. You'll nd no secret entrance,
obscure protocol or whiff of illegality; you
don't have to walk through a coat closet
or trip down the stairs off an alley. But
even on a block crowded with bars...
Ask Mr. Gold: Downtown Surprise, or

At the intersection of Bratwurst and
Dunkelweizen
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm hoping you can

recommend a place to hold a surprise
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party. I'm nding this a bit hard to

accomplish - I live in Ohio and I don't
know L.A. that well. I'm considering
Bottega Louie and Church & State. There
will be about 20 of u...
Best Jellied Consomm (1919): Musso

& Frank Grill
Musso & Frank Grill, although it is

perhaps most famous for serving steaks
and impeccable martinis to character
actors, is a rare conservatory of early20th-century American cooking, and if
the EPA cared as much about threatened
dishes as it does ...
Best Horsey Cuisine (1922): The

Derby
Is it the cheese bread? Is it the baconwrapped let mignons? Is it the thrilling

sensation you get when a waitress asks if
you want the Daily Double, minutes
before bringing you what looks like a
glass Big Gulp cup lled with bourbon? Is
it the...
Happy National Taco Day + 5 Very

Fine Tacos
6 years ago | Tacos
Is it National Taco Day today? We regret

to inform you, it is. There are e-cards for
it and everything. At Del Taco, National
Taco Day is probably as holy as the Feast
of the Epiphany, but with more tacos. At
Taco Bell - expect funny hats and line...
Best Chocolate Milk: Norwalk Dairy

As much as our daydreams may run

toward the coffee milk you nd in Rhode
Island and the root-beer milk popular in
the greater Wichita area, we have nothing
against chocolate milk, really we don't.
The sticky concoctions in most
supermarket dairy ...
Over the Weekend: Pavement, Sonic

Youth, No Age at the Hollywood Bowl,
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Youth, No Age at the Hollywood Bowl,

reviewed by Pulitzer-Prize winner
Jonathan Gold!
6 years ago | Last Night
Do the gods of programming have a sense

of humor? Because Thursday night, three
massive shows split the already slender
aging art-rock demographic with almost
surgical precision, with the Jon Spencer
Blues Explosion pulling in the postalcoholic n...
Test Run
Just the way we like it, really, a restaurant that doesn't really exist
stuffed like pureed huitlacoche into a favorite restaurant that does,
complete with a mystic mezcalero pushing liquor, Piedra Almas
Mezcal, that you couldn't buy even if you w...
All in the Family

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: We only have one night in town, but we were hoping
to do an izakaya crawl. Suggestions? Not in Torrance, please. If we've
drunk as much as we hope to drink, it's a bit far to drive. Lisa, San
Francisco Dear Lisa: I know that ...
Tinga: New-Wave Tacos


slideshow, "Tinga's New Wave Tacos." A
taco, it could be argued, is the basic unit
of consumption in Southern California,
the parcel of corn and spice and animal
whose masters line our boulevards, a
food whose r...
Ask Mr. Gold: All in the Family, or

Izakaya's Korean Brethren
Dear Mr. Gold: We only have one night in

town, but we were hoping to do an
izakaya crawl. Suggestions? Not in
Torrance, please. If we've drunk as much
as we hope to drink, it's a bit far to drive. -Lisa, San Francisco Dear Lisa: I know
that there...
First Bite: Test Run, or Supper

Liberation Front & Pablo Moix Invade
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Liberation Front & Pablo Moix Invade

Guelaguetza
Just the way we like it, really, a restaurant

that doesn't really exist stuffed like
pureed huitlacoche into a favorite
restaurant that does, complete with a
mystic mezcalero pushing liquor, Piedra
Almas Mezcal, that you couldn't buy even
if you w...
Red O: Back to Bayless


slideshow, "Red O: Bringing Mexican to
L.A., With Mixed Results." The rst thing
you will see if you happen by Red O is the
bouncer, or "door host," a tall, elegantly
dressed man with the build of an NFL
corner...
This Little Piggy Goes to Market

6 years ago
Obika: When Not in Rome ...

In Rome, Obik is a mozzarella bar on Piazza di Firenze, an oddly

modern place not far from the Pantheon that reluctantly serves as a
tourist canteen during the day and then as a frosty, rather exclusive
wine bar late at night. There has al...
First Bite: Obika's Mozzarella Bar, or

When Not In Rome
In Rome, Obika is a mozzarella bar on

Piazza di Firenze, an oddly modern place
not far from the Pantheon that reluctantly
serves as a tourist canteen during the day
and then as a frosty, rather exclusive wine
bar late at night. There has always be...
Ask Mr. Gold: In Search of the Best

Pork in the San Gabriel Valley
6 years ago | Pork
Dear Mr. Gold: On your recommendation,

I frequent Alexander's Prime Meats in San
Gabriel for beef, lamb and their great
sausages. But to me, the cuts of pork there
don't seem much better than what you
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can nd at the supermarket. Where can I

get h...
Top 10 Food Words We Love

1. Strozzapreti: Bulky, twisty, hand-rolled

pasta from central Italy whose name
translates as "priest strangler.'' Allegedly a
useful noodle in the arsenal of abused
altar boys...
Alcazar: An Old Friend

For most of the decade, there may have been no more pleasant place
in Los Angeles to eat Middle Eastern food than in Alcazar's shaded
patio, a balmy place scented with hookah smoke, garlic and the hot
sajj bread baking on its grill. The restaurant...
Langer's: the Last Supper

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I hope you are in good health. But if the end were
near, which restaurant would you let cater your funeral? (Hopefully
Chinese.) Richard Kurzer, L.A. Dear Mr. Kurzer: Preferably Chinese?
My corpse isn't cold yet, and you're a...
Time Capsule: The Yard


slideshow, "The Yard: Small, Happy Bar is
the Embodiment of the Westside & Comes
with 'Top Chef' Pedigree." If the new L.A.
restaurant has a secret blueprint, it
probably looks a lot like the Yard, a small,
happ...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Last Supper, Dim

Sum, Or... ?
Dear Mr. Gold: I hope you are in good

health. But if the end were near, which
restaurant would you let cater your
funeral? (Hopefully Chinese.) --Richard
Kurzer, L.A. Dear Mr. Kurzer: Preferably
Chinese? My corpse isn't cold yet, and
you're alread...
First Bite: Alcazar is Back, Serving

Crunchy Boreg in Encino
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For most of the decade, there may have

been no more pleasant place in Los
Angeles to eat Middle Eastern food than
in Alcazar's shaded patio, a balmy place
scented with hookah smoke, garlic, and
the hot sajj bread baking on its grill. The
restauran...
Half a Dozen of Each

Did we agree to stop calling them gastropubs? Very well, they're no

longer gastropubs. But what then do you call the small, food-serving
ale joints around town, differing from one another less in intent than
in degree of devotion to the hops-lover...
Beef Roll, or Soup Dumplings?

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My husband and I are taking a long weekend in Los
Angeles in a few days. We're going to 101 Noodle Express for the beef
roll. How are their dumplings? Should we skip them there and go to
Din Tai Fung instead for Xiao Long Bao? &mdas...
Daglas Drive-in: Hamburger Stand By

Me

slideshow, "Daglas Drive-in: Home of the
West Valley, Greco-American French Fry."
I was going to write about Korean grilledbeef intestines this week, really I was;
intestines so smoky and crunchy that if
somebo...
First Bite: Half a Dozen of Each, or

Mix & Match at The Six
Did we agree to stop calling them

gastropubs? Very well, they're no longer
gastropubs. But what then do you call the
small, food-serving ale joints around
town, differing from one another less in
intent than in degree of devotion to the
hops-lover...
Ask Mr. Gold: Beef Roll, or Soup

Dumplings? Why Argue? Have Both
Dear Mr. Gold: My husband and I are

taking a long weekend in Los Angeles in a
few days. We're going to 101 Noodle
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few days. We're going to 101 Noodle

Express for the beef roll. How are their
dumplings? Should we skip them there
and go to Din Tai Fung instead for Xiao
Long Bao? --Car...
Baek Hwa Jung: Kogi's Choice


slideshow, "Kogi's Choice: Roy Choi's
Favorite Korean Cafe, Baek Hwa Jung." If
you ask Kogi czar Roy Choi to name a
favorite restaurant, he tends to get shy on
you, occasionally praising the dining
room he visit...
Looks Fusion, Cooks Orthodox

If you've eaten around and in the San Gabriel Valley, you've probably
become accustomed to the markers of an overly ambitious Asianfusion restaurant: the couples picking listlessly at their sautedseafood salads, the bros pounding down ex...
Eating the Obvious

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a dear friend who spends a lot of time in
Beijing and loves Chinese food. Is there a place downtown or in
Chinatown that has excellent cuisine from that region? I want him to
have a good meal! B., Echo Park Dear B.: Th...
Ask Mr. Gold: Eating the Obvious, or

Chinese in Downtown
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a dear friend who

spends a lot of time in Beijing and loves
Chinese food. Is there a place downtown
or in Chinatown that has excellent cuisine
from that region? I want him to have a
good meal! --B., Echo Park Dear B.: There
a...
First Bite: Looks Fusion, Cooks

Orthodox, or Dip's Grill in Alhambra
If you've eaten around and in the San

Gabriel Valley, you've probably become
accustomed to the markers of an overly
ambitious Asian-fusion restaurant, the
couples picking listlessly at their sautedseafood salads, and bros pounding down
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ex...
Fried Cantonese
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Traditional Cantonese cuisine doesn't do much deepfrying, right? I mean, crispy-fried chicken with oyster sauce isn't
exactly typical. I'm way more familiar with Northern Chinese food,
since I lived in Beijing for a while, but it s...
Salt's Cure: Promising Start

Is it a bit early to consider Salt's Cure? I suspect it might be the

bare, meat-intensive bistro hasn't even started serving dinner yet.
The tiny deli counter is stocked with things like strong lamb-liver
pt and potted duck ...
Test Kitchen: Never-Ending

Experiment

slideshow, "Test Kitchen: A Club That
Features Food Instead of Music." The
buzz in L.A. dining, as we've said, belongs
to restaurants that don't technically exist:
the pop-ups, roving trucks, temporary
residenci...
Ask Mr. Gold: Fried Cantonese, A

Cuisine That's More Stir-Fry
Dear Mr. Gold: Traditional Cantonese

cuisine doesn't do much deep-frying,
right? I mean, crispy-fried chicken with
oyster sauce isn't exactly typical. I'm way
more familiar with Northern Chinese
food, since I lived in Beijing for a while,
but it s...
First Bite: Promising Start, Salt's

Cure
6 years ago | Bacon
Is it a bit early to consider Salt's Cure? I

suspect it might be -- the bare, meatintensive bistro hasn't even started
serving dinner yet. The tiny deli counter is
stocked with things like strong lamb-liver
pt and potted duck with ...
Tats and Prawns
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Tats and Prawns

The top-level Dining Deck of the new Santa Monica Place mall
seems almost custom-designed to make native Angelenos grumpy.
The redesign scooped out all that was pleasant about the old mall,
one of Frank Gehry's breakthrough projects, with all the ...
LudoWines
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What kind of wine should I bring to LudoBites? I was
thinking an Alsatian Riesling might be nice, but it's hard to nd a
bottle of the younger grand crus, and I can't afford the older ones. Do
you have any suggestions for wines I c...
Meat as Sculpture

slideshow, "Burger Porn: Drippy, Bloody &
Sticky." When I lived in New York not long
ago, it was a city without a hamburger, a
metropolis that made me yearn for an InN-Out Double-Double, for a Pie 'n Burger,
fo...
First Bite: Tats and Prawns, Xino by

the Bay
The top-level Dining Deck of the new

Santa Monica Place mall seems almost
custom-designed to make native
Angelenos grumpy. The redesign scooped
out all that was pleasant about the old
mall, one of Frank Gehry's breakthrough
projects, with all the ...
Ask Mr. Gold: LudoWines, What to

Drink on the Fly with the Lefebvres
6 years ago | Pop-up Restaurants
Dear Mr. Gold: What kind of wine should I

bring to LudoBites? I was thinking an
Alsatian Riesling might be nice, but it's
hard to nd a bottle of the younger grand
crus, and I can't afford the older ones. Do
you have any suggestions for wines I c...
Where There's Smoke, There's Fuego

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Could you recommend a rst-date restaurant in or

around Long Beach? I might be willing to venture farther, but I
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around Long Beach? I might be willing to venture farther, but I

would prefer to remain as close to the Belmont Shore area as
possible. Sherrick B., Long Beach Dear Mr. B.: The...
Maximum Intelligentsia
Is it possible to get a caffeine contact high? Because when you walk

into the newest Intelligentsia, in a stripped, high-ceilinged storefront
hard by the Foot Locker in Old Town Pasadena, you start to get
jittery even before you step up to the rec...
Dak Dak Galbi


slideshow, "Korean Barbecue at
Choonchun Dakgalbi." If the cattle-car
conditions and edgy vibe caused you to
ee last year's big Korean barbecue cookoff, you may have been pleased by the
relative mellowness of...
First Bite: Maximum Intelligentsia in

Pasadena
6 years ago | Coffee
And you thought the coffee and the

architecture and the hep baristas were
enough, right? Is it possible to get a
caffeine contact high? Because when you
walk into the newest Intelligentsia, in a
stripped, high-ceilinged storefront hard
by the Foot...
Ask Mr. Gold: Where There's Smoke,

There's Fuego
Dear Mr. Gold: Could you recommend a

rst-date restaurant in or around Long
Beach? I might be willing to venture
farther, but I would prefer to remain as
close to the Belmont Shores area as
possible. --Sherrick B., Long Beach Dear
Mr. B.: The Lon...
Quan Mien Trung: Not Your Mother's

Noodle Soup
When you've lost the address of a

barbecue joint, you look for a chugging
column of smoke. When you are having
trouble picking out Quan Mien Trung
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trouble picking out Quan Mien Trung

from the endless procession of mini-mall
restaurants that inhabit its corner of
Rosemead, you also f...
Rivera: Burrito on the Rocks, Salt

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Great Mexican food and yummy, salty margaritas: I
nd, in L.A., it is very hard to reconcile these two seemingly wellmatched priorities. Either the food stinks and the drinks rock, or vice
versa. Tons of great Mexican restaurants ...
There Will Always Be a Caramel Souffle

As the months turn, stone fruit ripens, and the Dodgers suffer
another round of midsummer blues, so too does LudoBites return to
Gram & Papa's, the garmento lunch counter that hosted the pop-up
restaurant's greatest success. Krissy Lefebvre roams ...
First Bite: There Will Always Be a

Caramel Souffl, or Ludobites 5.0
and Beyond
As the months turn, stone fruit ripens,

and the Dodgers suffer another round of
midsummer blues, so too does LudoBites
return to Gram & Papa's, the garmento
lunch counter that hosted the pop-up
restaurant's greatest success. Krissy
Lefebvre roams ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Burrito On the Rocks,

Salt
6 years ago | Food & Drink Pairings
Dear Mr. Gold: Great Mexican food and

yummy, salty margaritas: I nd, in L.A., it
is very hard to reconcile these two
seemingly well-matched priorities. Either
the food stinks and the drinks rock, or
vice versa. Tons of great Mexican
restaurants ...
A Word About the Chains

6 years ago
More Room for the Ripper

Joe Fabrocini is a scholar of the hot dog, an expert on the dozens of

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Joe Fabrocini is a scholar of the hot dog, an expert on the dozens of

traditions that make up the American frankfurter diaspora. When it
is imperative to explore the differences between a Carolina slaw dog
and a North Jersey Italian hot dog, a Bal...
Cold as a Kudzu Vine in Winter

Is there anything more refreshing than

naengmyon on a blistering summer day?
Because if anything can reduce ambient
body heat more efciently than a bowl of
the cold noodle soup at Koreatown's Yu
Chun Chic Naeng Myun, medical science
has yet to d...
First Bite: More Room For the Ripper - A New and Improved Fab Hot Dogs
6 years ago | Hot Dogs
Joe Fabrocini is a scholar of the hot dog,

an expert on the dozens of traditions that
make up the American frankfurter
diaspora. When it is imperative to explore
the differences between a Carolina slaw
dog and a North Jersey Italian hot dog, a
Bal...
Ask Mr. Gold: A Word About the

Chains (No)
6 years ago | Fast Food
Dear Mr. Gold: How do you feel about

chain restaurants in Los Angeles? Are
there any that you nd satisfying? Are
there lessons to be learned from large
corporate feeding troughs? --Daniela G.,
Los Angeles Dear Ms. G.: Do I go to chain
restaurant...
Best Bibimbap: Okay, Maybe Not the

Best, or The Happiness of Cham
Bibimbap was 2003's favorite Dish of the

Future, an amalgam of meat, various
vegetables and egg tossed together with
hot rice and Korean chile paste, an
innitely adaptable formula killed by
venal entrepreneurs, both in Los Angeles
and in Seoul, ...
Izakaya Fu-ga: the Accidental Bar

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The new Izakaya Fu-ga is one of those restaurants best stumbled

into by accident. If you are actively looking for it, you will circle the
block several times before you nd the hidden entrance. If you are
walking toward the more obvious pleasures...
Jinya: Ramen Freaks and Noodle

Geeks

slideshow, "Ramen Freaks and Noodle
Geeks: Get Schooled in the Finer Points of
Broth." Life is too eeting, as we have
noted, to squander much of it arguing
barbecue with Texans, beef noodles with
Taiwanese or ...
Hot Weather, Cold Noodles

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: So much for livable temperatures in L.A. Given this
sudden hideous heat wave, is there any place you'd suggest for cold
noodles, preferably with a just-because-I'm-a-white-girl-doesn'tmean-I-want-bland-food option? I'm assuming SGV...
First Bite: The Accidental Bar, or

Discovering Fu-ga in Little Tokyo
The new Fu-ga is one of those restaurants

best stumbled into by accident. If you are
actively looking for it, you will circle the
block several times before you nd the
hidden entrance. If you are walking
toward the more obvious pleasures of
Sueh...
Ask Mr. Gold: Hot Weather, Cold

Noodles
Dear Mr. Gold: So much for livable

temperatures in Los Angeles. Given this
sudden hideous heat wave, is there any
place you'd suggest for cold noodles,
preferably with a just-because-I'm-awhite-girl-doesn't-mean-I-want-blandfood option? I'm assu...
Best Bnh M: Buu Dien in Chinatown

We have, we think, followed the evolution

of the Vietnamese sandwiches called
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of the Vietnamese sandwiches called

bnh m throughout their evolution in
California, from the mingy sandwiches
stacked like cordwood at the earliest
delis, through the specialist phase, and ...
Pho Tacos?
A journey through Vietnam, I am told, is empty without a visit to Hoi

An, a port city in the middle of the country famous for the beauty of
its old town. And a visit to Hoi An is without meaning unless it
includes a bowl or three of cao...
Maison Akira: Tour de Fusion

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Are there still restaurants serving French-Japanese

food in Los Angeles, along the lines of the defunct Grill Lyon, C'est
Fan Fan or Caf Blanc? Besides the Chayas, of course. And I know
about Chinois. Kevin Dear Kevin...
Siam Sunset: The Thaiest Thai in Thai

Town

"Siam Sunset: The Thaiest Thai Food in
Thaitown" slideshow. It is one of the
paradoxes of Siam Sunset that while it
resembles any run-down motel coffee
shop in Arizona, it may also be the most
Thai of any restau...
First Bite: Pho Tacos? Yep, Pho Tacos

at Xoia in Echo Park
A journey through Vietnam, I am told, is

empty without a visit to Hoi An, a port
city in the middle of the country famous
for the beauty of its old town. And a visit
to Hoi An is without meaning unless it
includes a bowl or three of cao...
Ask Mr. Gold: Tour de Fusion, or

Maison Akira, a Blast From our
Franco-Japanese Past
Dear Mr. Gold: Are there still restaurants

serving French-Japanese food in Los
Angeles, along the lines of the defunct
Grill Lyon, C'est Fan Fan or Cafe Blanc.
Besides the Chayas, of course. And I know
about Chinois. --Kevin Dear Kevin: It
wasn't ...
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wasn't ...
Waterloo & City: Virtuosity and Beer

For the last several months, no soap opera in town has been quite so
compelling as that surrounding Waterloo & City, a restaurant named
for a London tube line, planned to ll the space vacated by a coffee
shop in a part of Culver City as yet unma...
Oh, To Eat in England

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I was married in Great Britain, and every year around
my anniversary I crave good old-fashioned British cuisine. I'm
talking a nice Yorkshire pudding or beef Wellington, and a really
good trie. Where in L.A. can I go to eat Britis...
La Cevicheria: Blood and Clams


slideshow, "Ceviche to Die For at La
Cevicheria." Have you tasted bloody
clams? Because they really are worth
eating chewy, plump things about the
size of a half-dollar, oozing dark juices
from inside th...
Ask Mr. Gold: Oh, To Eat in England;

or as Near as Los Angeles Will Allow
6 years ago | British Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: I was married in Great

Britain, and every year around my
anniversary I crave good old-fashioned
British cuisine. I'm talking a nice
Yorkshire pudding or beef Wellington,
and a really good trie. Where in L.A. can
I go to eat Britis...
Ask Mr. Gold: Celebrate Your 50th

With Michael Voltaggio, While You
Still Can
Dear Mr. Gold: In the downright

necessary category: Where in L.A. should
I go for my 50th birthday next month?
The family wants something "special.'' -Betsy, Montrose Dear Betsy: A
momentous occasion! And probably one
that should be celebrated wi...
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Guelaguetza
Maybe you've been running off to new restaurants all this week I
hear Xoia is pretty good. I've been one of the wretched minions
tearing himself out of bed at 6 every morning, brushing his teeth
with ale and hauling down to the local bar f...
Landmark Birthday
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: In the downright necessary category: Where in L.A.

should I go for my 50th birthday next month? The family wants
something "special.'' Betsy, Montrose Dear Betsy: A momentous
occasion! And probably one that should be celebrat...
Eva: Intimate Bistro, Epic Meals


slideshow, "Eva: Intimate Bistro Serves
Epic Meals at Regular Prices." We are, it
seems, in the middle of our fried-chicken
summer, the hot season of wings and
thighs and breasts, a year when the
tawny-crusted b...
Best Barbecue
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: So okay, not to be like everybody else who does this,
but ... it's my wife's birthday, and we gotta get a big bunch of
barbecue Southern American, not Southern Korean for a group
of about 10. There are a lot of barbe...
Mangiare in Famiglia
If you are enough of a meathead to have made the pilgrimage to

Panzano, home to Dario Cecchini, the mad butcher of Chianti, you
probably have at least entertained the thought of visiting Ofcina
della Bistecca, the weekend restaurant above the bu...
Darby's Last Stand

6 years ago
Weenies and Wings Fit for a Prince


slideshow, "Weenies and Wings Fit For a
Prince: Home-Style Muslim Food at Barn
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Prince: Home-Style Muslim Food at Barn

Rau." In a North Hollywood mini-mall,
sharing a parking lot with a Michoacanstyle taqueria and a Mexican supermarket
famous for its...
Ask Mr. Gold: Best BBQ, or Sunshine

on a Gloomy Day
6 years ago | BBQ
Dear Mr. Gold: So okay, not to be like

everybody else who does this, but... It's
my wife's birthday, and we gotta get a big
bunch of barbecue - Southern American,
not Southern Korean - for a group of
10ish. There are a lot of barbecue
restaurants ...
Shake 'n' Bake?

6 years ago
Selecao Brasileira
Anybody who has internalized the concept of Maximal Meat has

probably stopped by a Brazilian-style rodizio restaurant at one time
or another, an establishment that will serve you bits of barbecued
cow esh, sliced off of menacing-looking skewers,...
Our Way or the Autostrade


slideshow, "Terroni: No Substitutions,
Southern ItalianStyle." If I were
associated with Terroni, I'd probably be
getting pretty mad about now. Because
while the restaurants older locations are
famous in ...
Udon: The Second Best Japanese

Movie Ever Made
6 years ago | Film and TV
When I rst saw Udon, the 2006 lm

about a failed comedian who nds
happiness reviewing noodle shops back
in his home prefecture in Japan, I was
entranced enough by the endless,
steaming bowls of noodles to watch it two
times in a row on the ti...
Ask Mr. Gold: Shake n' Bake, or When
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Ask Mr. Gold: Shake n' Bake, or When

is it Cool to Press the Chef's Flesh?
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I was at a restaurant last

night, and when the chef made his rounds
after dinner, I sort of instinctively stuck
out my hand. He shook it but seemed to
hesitate. Is there a protocol about this?
Because I came down with a slight cold ...
After Topolobampo
As you cruise down Melrose toward the Haute-Skateboard District,

Red O looms up like a nightclub out of a post-apocalyptic gangster
movie, a severe bunker guarded by a phalanx of unsmiling bouncers,
an icy sea of blondes and once you get i...
Three Dog Night


slideshow, "Slaw Dogs." On the second
day of the Weekly's L.A. Weekend a
couple of weeks ago, three of the greatest
hot dog minds in Los Angeles gathered to
discuss the ins and outs of encased meats,
the many, m...
Ask Mr. Gold: Water and Oil, Meat

and Vegetarian Mixing it up at Lazy
Ox
Dear Mr. Gold: My co-worker's birthday is

Monday, and to celebrate she wants a
steak dinner. And she wants me to choose
the restaurant. Which is an unusual kind
of cruel, since I'm a vegetarian. Help?
Something on the east side of town is
preferre...
Best Pigs' Ear: The Lazy Ox Canteen

Pigs' ear is this year's most fashionable

meat, a staple not just in Sichuan cold
cases but in Thai restaurants and French
bistros, meaty taverns and chic wine bars.
If you are planning on opening a modern
gastropub without pigs' ear on the menu,
...
Mission 261 Returns: Once Smitten, Twice ... ?
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Mission 261 Returns: Once Smitten, Twice ... ?

When it opened, Mission 261 was among the most ambitious Chinese
restaurants ever to hit California, a sprawling, sweetly old-fashioned
seafood palace carved out of San Gabriel's old city hall. Some of the
banquet rooms were cavernous and featured...
Alone Again!
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a new child and haven't been out with the wife
in more than a year! Where to go? Paul, L.A. Dear Paul: If what
you're asking is "Where should we go on our rst night of freedom?,''
you should probably make a reservati...
Chego: Outside Inside


slideshow, "Outside Inside, or Kogi's Roy
Choi Goes all Strip Mall with Chego." If
you should nd yourself in Hilo around
noon, you could do worse than to stop by
Caf 100, an ancient lunch counter with ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Alone Again! The Kid is

Finally Old Enough for a Babysitter.
Where to Celebrate?
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a new child, and

haven't been out with the wife in more
than a year! Where to go? --Paul, Los
Angeles Dear Paul: If what you're asking
is "where should we go on our rst night
of freedom,'' you should probably make a
reserva...
No More Celestial Nights

If you keep up with the online food world in Los Angeles, you have
probably at one point stumbled across Starry Kitchen, the pan-Asian
proto-restaurant of Nguyen and "Kitchen Ninja'' Thi Tran, which
popped in and out of existence in the couple's l...
Stranded at (or Near) LAX?

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I am meeting a relative at

LAX on a night when the Encounter
restaurant is closed. Is there something
nearby that you can recommend? It could
be for drinks, some decent food, or
preferably both. Thomas, L.A. Dear
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preferably both. Thomas, L.A. Dear

Thomas: Some...
Ask Mr. Gold: Stranded At (Or Near)

LAX? Head To Mariscos Chente
Dear Mr. Gold: I am meeting a relative at

LAX on a night when the Encounter
restaurant is closed. Is there something
nearby that you can recommend? It could
be for drinks, some decent food, or
preferably both. --Thomas, Los Angeles
Dear Thomas: So...
The Thai Hamburger: From Jazz's

Lunchbox To Jitlada's Off-menu
For months, rumors have been rocketing

around Tweetertown about the
phenomenon referred to obliquely as a
"Thai hamburger,'' a gooey, off-menu
marvel available only to certain Jitlada
cognoscenti. Personally, I've never found
it necessary to stray...
Liberty, Equality, LudoBites


"Ludobites" slideshow. Gram & Papas is
thrumming on a chilly Tuesday night, its
narrow kitchen crammed elbow to elbow,
its few tables lled with musicians,
museum directors, lm people and
bloggers, who...
Jennifer Ferro: The Manager

Announcers come and announcers go.

Musical revolutions thrum into existence
and disappear. But to a not-insignicant
sliver of us, KCRW, the public radio
station that lubricates our days and
haunts our dreams, is L.A.'s permanent
sound track. On ...
First & Hope: Food to Be Ogled

Across the street from Disney Hall, shiny as the crooked grin on the
mug of a gin-sozzled dame, First & Hope is a maximalist's cool
evening out, a restaurant-slashsupper club with a Blue Velvety jazz
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evening out, a restaurant-slashsupper club with a Blue Velvety jazz

lounge at its heart, a bar that splits t...
Comme As You Are

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I've got eight to 10 people that I need to put
somewhere central, near the Grove area for a combination of
drinking and eating: Some will eat, some will drink and some will do
both. What I need is a exible hang. Tricia, Ven...
Gourmet Island: Sweetness and Light


slideshow, "Gourmet Island: Light and
Fresh, Modern Cantonese Cuisine." On
assignment in the San Gabriel Valley, a
New Yorkbased reporter once decided to
investigate the local Chinese food scene
by checki...
Ask Mr. Gold: Comme As You Are, or

The Flexi-hang, West Hollywood Style
Dear Mr. Gold: I've got 8 to 10 people that

I need to put somewhere central near the
Grove area for a combination of drinking
and eating: some will eat, some will drink,
and some will do both. What I need is a
exible hang. --Tricia, Venice ...
The Price of Love

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Hubby and I went on our rst date eight years ago
this Friday. We make more money now. We want a nicer place.
Romantic. Near Mount Washington. Ideas? Tina Dear Tina:
Romance and Mount Washington don't necessarily go together...
Pa-Ordinary People

slideshow, "Pa-Ord Noodle: When in Thai
Town, Eat Fire." We've talked about this
before, but the best way to go to a Thai
restaurant in Los Angeles may be in the
company of the composer Carl Stone, a
dude so in ...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Price of Love &

Where to Spend a Little More
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Where to Spend a Little More
6 years ago | Last Night
Dear Mr. Gold: Hubby and I went on our

rst date eight years ago this Friday. We
make more money now. We want a nicer
place. Romantic. Near Mount
Washington. Ideas? --Tina Dear Tina:
Romance and Mount Washington don't
necessarily go together. I m...
Los Alpes: an Icy Taste of Hell

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: You seem to spend an awful lot of time tweeting
about popsicles, many of them with avors I have never
contemplated in a popsicle before. While I know that the provenance
of these things is probably something of a state secret, I a...
Libra: Grill 'Er Up

You know the huge salad bars that take up most of the oor space at
Rio-style barbecue restaurants, installations whose single purpose is
to ll you up before you get to the all-you-can-eat skewers of grilled
meat? Libra is a little like that &m...
Beware the Dangerous Cemita


photo gallery, "The King of Mexican
Sandwiches: Beware the Dangerous
Cemita." Let no man interpret my regard
for pambazos as anything but reverence;
my fondness for tortas ahogadas as
anything but sincere. I eve...
Ask Mr. Gold: An Icy Taste of Hell,

and Other Paleta Flavors at Los Alpes
6 years ago | Ice Cream & Gelato
Dear Mr. Gold: You seem to spend an

awful lot of time tweeting about
popsicles, many of them with avors I
have never contemplated in a popsicle
before. While I know that the provenance
of these things is probably something of a
state secret, I a...
Fish for More: Marukai

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I buy nice, fresh sh in the Silver Lake/Los
Feliz/downtown area? I'm having a housewarming party. Deborah,
Los Feliz Dear Deborah: Do you really want to do seafood for a
party? You're almost always better off with...
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party? You're almost always better off with...
Mac's Headroom

slideshow, "The Future of Macaroni and
Cheese." Hamburger whisperers often
nd entente at Father's Ofce, at least
when they can nd a seat. Dumpling
freaks mostly agree on Din Tai Fung. Even
the gnarliest of...
Ask Mr. Gold: Fish For More, or When

Mrs. Paul's Just Doesn't Cut It
6 years ago | Seafood
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I buy nice fresh

sh in the Silverlake/Los Feliz/downtown
area? I'm having a housewarming party. -Deborah, Los Feliz Dear Deborah: Do
you really want to do seafood for a party?
You're almost always better off with
roaste...
Root Beer Milk: A Float In a Bottle

Is this a cry for help? Very well, it is a cry

for help. But Hildebrand Farms Dairy, a
small, family-owned operation outside
Junction City, Kansas, makes something
called Root Beer Milk - imagine a cold
glass of the richest, sweetest chocolate
mil...
Chitlins: Pasadena's Hog Killing

Dinners
6 years ago | Fundraisers
There are people who wait all year for the

Hog Killing dinners at Pasadena's Calvary
CME, a church fundraiser that sees a
fairly large number of pigs off to their
reward in heaven. It's kind of expensive,
but your $18 goes to a good cause, and
the...
Not Your Father's Rice Bowl: Roy Choi Is Back, With Chego
Roy Choi may be the Led Zeppelin of street food: the father of a
truck-based restaurant industry that hadn't existed just 18 months
ago; the chef who draws huge numbers of people to deserted parking
lots; the architect of a new, popular cuisine. H...
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lots; the architect of a new, popular cuisine. H...
Petros: Stuck in the Middle With You

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I should probably be sent to therapy for attempting

this in the rst place, but I'm going on a rst date with someone from
Orange County. Since I pack a passport when I have to go east of the
405, obviously there is no way I'd mee...
Forage: the Found and the Farro


"Forage: Silver Lake's Antirestaurant
Neighborhood Canteen" slideshow.
Sunset Boulevard, as it swings east from
Sunset Junction, may be the most evolved
shopping area in Los Angeles, a magical
few blocks of both...
Cuttle Bone: Cuttlefish, A Tasting

Menu + The Cuttlefish Mating Ritual
6 years ago | Food Oddities
If you've ever tried the Insalatina Tiepida

Di Polipo e Seppia Arrostita Con Carcio,
Asparagi e Fave at Vincenti Ristorante in
Brentwood, and we sincerely urge that
you make a reservation today, then you
are familiar with the exquisite tendernes...
Sol Food: Sun Eats Comet, Not KFC

If you think the Double Down

phenomenon is something, you should
note that according to MSNBC, the Sun you know, the blinding orb around which
you are revolving this very second - ate
an entire comet last weekend in full view
of a space observat...
Ask Mr Gold: Stuck in the Middle

With You
Dear Mr. Gold: I should probably be sent

to therapy for attempting this in the rst
place, but I'm going on a rst date with
someone from Orange County. Since I
pack a passport when I have to go east of
the 405, obviously there is no way I'd
mee...
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The LAT Food Section of the 70s &

80s: Four Women, A Food Section, A
Retrospective
6 years ago | Food in the Media
If a bright marketing executive invented

something like the L.A. Times food
section of the 1970s and 1980s, he or she
would be heralded as a genius - a fat
bundle of supermarket ads leavened with
recipes, interactive features and detailed
instruct...
Hump Day: Cooking Camels With

Anissa Helou
If you follow the blog of Anissa Helou and you should; nobody this side of Paula
Wolfert writes better about Middle
Eastern food, offal, or Middle Eastern
offal - you've read her missives on desert
trufes, Gaziantep katmer, and the exoticsoun...
District: It's Abou-Daoud Time

The rst thing anybody's going to tell you about District is to order
the duck-fat Yorkshire pudding, a half-dozen airy popovers, about
the size of ping-pong balls, snatched sizzling from the oven and
served in a napkin-covered basket. Popovers t...
WeHo Where To: Small, Cozy, Italian, French ...

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My best friend is in town, and I want to take her to
some nice places near her hotel in West Hollywood. But not too
pricey and the Sunset Strip looks like a nightmare. Can you
recommend a small, cozy place near Sunset and Do...
Delphine: Bouillabaisse and Vine


"Delphine: French Riviera-Themed
Cooking" slideshow. Four women sway
toward the lobby, tugging at tight, black
skirts, stilettos in boozy lockstep. A heel
catches on a crack in the oor. A glowing
slug of apple...
No Fat Chicks, S'il Vous Plait: Dining

with Mme. Giuliano at Petrossian
Boutique
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Boutique
6 years ago | Books
French women don't get fat, people say,

although they probably never met my
11th-grade French teacher, a daughter of
Normandie who could have taken Gorilla
Monsoon three falls out of ve. The
secret, at least as outlined by Merielle
Giuliano, the...
Ask Mr. Gold: Weho Whereto, or

Small, Cozy, Italian, French...
Dear Mr. Gold: My best friend is in town,

and I want to take her to some nice places
near her hotel in West Hollywood. But not
too pricey - and the Sunset Strip looks
like a nightmare. Can you recommend a
small, cozy place near Sunset and
Doheny? ...
10 Leg of Lamb Recipes I Briefly

Considered Making Yesterday
1. Julia Child's gigot a la moutarde. Bea

Arthur's favorite, sure. But powdered
ginger and pounded dried rosemary?
Even on Easter, this one requires a leap of
faith. 2. Chorizo-stuffed leg of lamb from
Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at
Lucques. The...
Middle Culver: Mezza, After Mosque or Movie

A pretty big percentage of the new places to eat in Culver City owe
their existence either to the sleek-restaurant boom downtown or to
the demand for halal food near the big mosque a couple of miles to
the west. Mezza is where the two waves meet, ...
If It's Tuesday ... It Must Be the Foundry

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I like to go out in the middle of the week, but I'm
afraid to walk into a dead, empty restaurant. In the harsh reality of a
slow night, it can feel like an odd, cheerless, hopeless encounter with
all that's wrong with the universe &...
Bon Marche

"Bon Marche" slideshow. Ventura
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"Bon Marche" slideshow. Ventura

Boulevard, as it passes through Studio
City and Sherman Oaks, may have the
highest concentration of restaurants in
L.A., block after block of eateries where
you can relax over pas...
Ask Mr. Gold: If It's Tuesday... It Must

Be The Foundry
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I like go out in the middle

of the week, but I'm afraid to walk into a
dead, empty restaurant. In the harsh
reality of a slow night it can feel like an
odd, cheerless, hopeless encounter with
all that's wrong with the universe ...
Dinner Party a L.A. Mode

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: A guy I've gone on a few dates with has invited me to
a small dinner party at his house. After getting over the initial nerves
of meeting his friends for the rst time, I offered to go early to help
with cooking, but he insisted th...
Sunnin: Westwood's Middle East


"Sunnin Lebanese Cafe" slideshow.
Warren Avenue, as it streams through
Dearborn, just west of downtown Detroit,
is the Main Street of Arab America, mile
after mile of Lebanese restaurants and
Iraqi kebab houses,...
Ask Mr. Gold: Dinner Party a La Mode,

B.Y.O.H.P. (Bring Your Own
Huckleberry Pie)
6 years ago | Baking
Dear Mr. Gold: A guy I've gone on a few

dates with has invited me to a small
dinner party at his house. After getting
over the initial nerves of meeting his
friends for the rst time, I offered to go
early to help with cooking but he insisted
tha...
I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing:

Neptune Eats Planet
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We've all felt hungry in the middle of the

night - hungry enough, perhaps, to power
through an entire pint of Hagen-Dazs, or
nish off the half-pizza left in the fridge.
But it's safe to assume that few of us have
ever been as voracious as ...
Ears to Good Friends: 5 of the Best

Pigs' Ears in Los Angeles
6 years ago | Food Trends
When did pig's ear begin to take over the

culinary universe? Was it Eric Frechon's
delicate curls of pig's ear on the best-ofhog plate at the Bristol in Paris? The
whole deep-fried ear April Bloomeld
introduced at the Spotted Pig in
Greenwich V...
Airing Your French Laundry

6 years ago
Top Pesto Chef!

Like most people who cook pasta a

couple of times a week, I have always
been slightly too proud of my ability to
make pesto, the raw basil slurry that is a
specialty of the Italian port city Genoa.
And while most of the time I succumb to
the conve...
Mashup! Or, the Art of the

Repurposed Condiment
6 years ago | Cooking
Angelenos have always hoarded takeout

condiments, keeping a jug of Phillip's
extra-hot to apply to their own barbecued
ribs, frying last night's Dos Arbolito's
roasted poblano salsa into tomorrow
morning's chilaquiles, spooning the
pureed ginger t...
Ask Mr. Gold: Airing Your French

Laundry
6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I know it's slightly out of

your territory, but my husband and I are
heading to Napa for our rst wedding
anniversary and we're wondering if we
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anniversary and we're wondering if we

should spend a million dollars and eat
dinner at The French Laundry? We love
food. We h...
Hog Heaven at The Gorbals

It is hard to overestimate the appeal of a

good hog in this town, the charismatic
pull of a whole roasted animal with crisp
skin and heat-singed ears, an apple
jammed gaily between its teeth. During
Thursday's Downtown Art Walk, a
celebration of g...
Buns on the Run at Pasadena's

PappaRich Coffeeshop
6 years ago | Bakeries
Critics of McDonald's sometimes claim

that its hamburgers are engineered for
addictiveness, that somewhere in the
chemical plants of New Jersey swarms of
lab-coated scientists tabulate human
response to carefully calibrated doses of
umami. But whe...
Straight Out of Sonoma: Dish, in Pasadena

Dish is a restaurant that would seem to have vanishingly small odds

of success. It is on an isolated, parking structuredominated block,
for one thing, where promising entrepreneurs are dashed against the
rocks of low foot trafc, and its g...
The Mexican Binge

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, My sister, who has lived for the last nearly two
decades in Japan, is coming to visit L.A. for the rst time in years.
What do you want to do? I ask. Two-word answer: "Mexican food.''
So, I'm thinking Moles La Tia, La Casita Mexica...
Tasty by Any Name


"Tasty Noodle" slideshow. Tasty Noodle
House is the prototypical Asian
restaurant stuck in a corner of the
prototypical San Gabriel mall, a few
glass-topped tables, a couple of at
screens tuned to the soaps, a...
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Thar She Blows: A Whale Omakase

Sting
Is there anything Oscar can't do? While in

Los Angeles for the ceremony, reports
The New York Times' Jennifer Steinhauer,
director Louie Psihoyos and "director of
clandestine operations" Charles
Hambleton, who won the award for their
dolphin doc T...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Mexican Binge

Dear Mr. Gold: My sister, who has lived

for the last nearly two decades in Japan, is
coming to visit LA for the rst time in
years. What do you want to do, I ask.
Two-word answer: "Mexican food.'' So,
I'm thinking Moles La Tia, La Casita
Mexicana...
The Dumpling Ground: Dim Sum in Koreatown?

6 years ago
Dear Mr Gold: Why does Koreatown lack any form of proper dim
sum? Are there secret dumpling hiding spots beyond the traditional
Korean dumpling houses I have found? Aaron Schmidt, Koreatown
Dear Mr. Schmidt: The Chinese cooking most popular...
Into the Abyss

Monday: The Cuban food that popped up

on nearly every page of Oscar Hijuelos'
Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love was
widely considered to be fantastic when
the novel came out 20 years ago, a
magical-realist symbol that bopped
through the book like mus...
Will Tweet for Food: Chicken Night at

The Foundry
When LudoBites auteur Ludovic Lefebvre

dropped by The Foundry last week and
discovered that chef Eric Greenspan
wasn't there, he tweeted that he should
have taken over the kitchen. @chefgreeny
invited @cheudo to come fry some
chicken on a Tuesda...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Dumpling Ground,
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Ask Mr. Gold: The Dumpling Ground,

or Dim Sum in Koreatown
Dear Mr. Gold: Why does Koreatown lack

any form of proper dim sum? Are there
secret dumpling hiding spots beyond the
traditional Korean dumpling houses I
have found? --Aaron Schmidt, Koreatown
Dear Mr. Schmidt: The Chinese cooking
most popular wit...
A Meditation on River Caf, An Elegy

for Rose Gray
6 years ago | L.A. Chefs
Before my rst trip to London, in the

summer when all of Brixton seemed
consumed by what seemed like a single,
endless, all-night rave, I asked thencolleague Colman Andrews, who seemed
to know everything about eating in
Europe, to recommend a fe...
How I Celebrated National Pig Day

"What did you do today, Daddy?"

squealed the children. "What did you do
to celebrate National Pig Day?'' "Why, the
same thing I do every day," I said. And you
know something? It was true! Yesterday
at Ford's Filling Station, a restaurant
whose spe...
99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You

Die
View more photos in Anne Fishbein's "99

Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die"
slideshow. The theme of this issue is
somewhat morbid. Well admit to that. We
were going to call it "99 Things to Eat in
L.A. Before You Move to San Diego," but
i...
99 Things To Eat in L.A. Before You

Die: San Nak Ji
On Thursday the Weekly will publish our

Restaurant Issue: 99 Things to Eat in L.A.
Before You Die. For the days leading up to
the issue, we'll be posting a few of
Jonathan Gold's items on the blog. Check
back each day as we count down. San Nak
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back each day as we count down. San Nak

Ji:...

Die: Huarache de Cabeza

back each day as we count down.
Huarache de...

Die: Sherry Yard's Kaiserschmarrn

back each day as we count down. Sherry
Yard...

Die: Bulgarini Goat's Milk Gelato
6 years ago

Bulgarini G...

Die: Urasawa's Fugu

Urasawa's F...
Best of the Oaxacans: A Mole Here, a Mole there ...

6 years ago
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6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have friends coming from NYC and they've been
asking about Oaxacan food. Oaxacan food? I'd like to nd a great
place, and what I mean by great is very good food and not a truck.
Sherry, Manhattan Beach Dear Sherry: ...
The Real McCoy: Hatfield's Revisited

The main dining room at Citrus lay at the heart of California cooking
in the mid-1980s, a clean, white space opening directly onto the
restaurant's vast open kitchen, where you imagined you could follow
the progress of your appetizer from garde ma...
The Longest Day: L.A. Street Food

Fest

"L.A. Street Food Fest" slideshow. In my
experience, you are either a festival guy
or you are not; you enjoy oating into
Coachella or SXSW, or you wait a few
days to check out the band you want to
hear at the ...
Ask Mr. Gold: A Mole Here, A Mole

There
Dear Mr. Gold: I have friends coming

from NYC and they've been asking about
Oaxacan food. Oaxacan food? I'd like to
nd a great place, and what I mean by
great is very good food and not a truck. -Sherry, Manhattan Beach Dear Sherry:
Los Angeles ...
I Fought the Slaw: The Slaw Dogs

Opens in Pasadena
Lake Avenue, as it thrusts up towards

Altadena, has long been where Pasadena
sequesters its fast-food restaurants, and
at the heart of it, you can nd nearly every
drive-thru window that has ever
sponsored a football broadcast. The street
has als...
The Gorbals: Stomp, the Restaurant


"Jewish-Glaswegian Inspiration at The
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"Jewish-Glaswegian Inspiration at The

Gorbals" photo gallery. The Gorbals,
perhaps, is a restaurant that should not be
seen by the light of day, when the boxy
tables look like a shop-class project, the
artfully ...
Found Restaurant: Forage in Silver Lake

Why, you may ask, was I picking kumquats at night in the driving
rain? Because I was headed for dinner at Forage, the newest
restaurant in Silver Lake, where I had heard diners were encouraged
to bring in homegrown fruits and vegetables to barter ...
What Would Pau Do? LA Paella Brings Spain to L.A.

6 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I love this giant melting pot we live in, but why do we
have so little representation of Spanish food? Am I missing
something? Matt Armendariz Dear Mr. Armendariz: Probably
because L.A.s best maker of charcuterie, La E...
Ask Mr. Gold: Spain in L.A., or What

Would Pau Do?
Dear Mr. Gold: I love this big giant melting

pot we live in, but why do we have such
little representation of Spanish food? Am
I missing something? --Matt Armendariz
Dear Mr. Armendariz: Probably because
L.A.'s best maker of charcuterie, La
Espano...
Don't Ask, Don't Tell: Aladdin

Nuthouse Nuts
6 years ago | Grocers
I am a regular patron of Aladdin

Nuthouse, one of the better Armenian nut
vendors in town, a place with a halfdozen kinds of melon seeds, delicious
sesame peanuts, and a way of roasting
hazelnuts and almonds that not only
brings out the full, rou...
Going Gluten-Free (Reluctantly) at

the Little Flower Candy Company
While announcements of gluten-free

desserts make up a surprisingly large
percentage of the contents of our in-box
every morning, the phenomenon has
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every morning, the phenomenon has

done little to stir Squid Ink's soul. Because
while we realize the presence of gluten
may be a prob...
One Art: Pesto Alla Genoese a la YouTube

I'm not sure what's come over me today. One moment, I'm ipping
around Google, looking for a basic pesto recipe, and two hours later,
I nd myself still in front of the screen, staring at a Genoese
instructional video for the 15th time in a row,...
McCall's Meat & Fish Co.: The Arrival

of the Rock Star Butcher
For years, people have been asking about

artisanal butcher shops, and for years,
our list has been pretty much the same:
Alexander's Prime Meats in San Gabriel
and Huntington Meats and Marconda
Meats in the Farmers Market at Third and
Fairfax, wit...
Ask Mr. Gold: Lapp Trance, or

Jusstoleipia the Cheese, Please
7 years ago | Cheese
Dear Mr. Gold: A friend of mine went back

to Wisconsin for the holidays and
returned with a bounty of cheesy treats. I
was introduced to juustoleipi and totally
fell in love with this funny, squeaky
cheese with its baked, sweet, caramelized
...
Xokolatl Thunder: Post-Reconquista

Cacao at Xokolatl Caf in El Sereno
7 years ago | Chocolate
There is no shortage of coffeehouses on

the Eastside, and places specializing in
the various Mexican forms of hot
chocolate are not uncommon - we
reviewed one of them, Cacao
Mexicatessen, just last week. And it must
be said, the new Xokolatl, a ch...
Bigmista Barbecue: Pig Candy +

Burnt Ends-A-Go-Go
7 years ago | BBQ
Am I the last person in Los Angeles to

have visited Bigmista's Barbecue at the
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have visited Bigmista's Barbecue at the

Atwater Farmers Market? Because I seem
to have been the only customer last week
not to realize that Bigmista's is best
visited within a few minutes after the
stand open...
Simply French: Bastide Is Back

Joe Pytka is different from you and me, a businessman whose name
appears on more telephone poles than AT&T, a bon vivant who
spends more on wine than Jay Leno spends on cars, and probably
the only director to draw performances out of both Michael ...
Munching the Unmentionable

7 years ago
Lapp Trance
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: A friend went back to Wisconsin for the holidays and
returned with a bounty of cheesy treats. I was introduced to
juustoleipi and totally fell in love with this funny, squeaky cheese
with its baked, sweet, caramelized crust. D...
Monet's Briskets: Bludsos

If the res are burning high and you turn

up at the right time of day, the barbecued
beef brisket at Bludso's can be as good as
barbecue gets an impressionist painting
of meat, a damp vapor you inhale so fast
and so unconsciously that you...
W Is for Brasserie
When food people visit New York, they may check out what David
Chang or Mario Batali are up to, contemplate a fancy French meal
and swing by the latest place given three stars by The New York
Times. But the place where they all end up, where the w...
Ask Mr. Gold: Munching the

Unmentionable. Where to Find the
Foodie's Equivalent of a Snuff Film. Or
Not
Dear Mr. Gold: Is there a food equivalent

to a snuff lm? I mean this quite literally.
Is there some kind of food that is
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Is there some kind of food that is

underground, illegal to the max, that is
only rumored even among the foodiest of
foodies? I suppose eating human esh
would...
Michelle Huneven's 'Blame' A Finalist

for National Book Critics Circle
Award: Fiction, Not Food Writing
7 years ago | Books
Blame, the third novel of longtime Weekly

contributor Michelle Huneven was
announced as a nalist for the 2009
National Book Critics Circle award in
ction. Squid Ink couldn't be happier.
Sure, Huneven has been writing for the
Weekly for what se...
Psst... About Bastide's Wine Cellar

Speaking of Joe Pytka's $50,000 case of

wine - we were just talking about Pytka's
wine, weren't we? - Bastide, temporarily
reincarnated as a lunch-only
bookstore/cafe until it reopens in
February, is quietly thinning its cellar at
something close ...
What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Sometimes it's late and the cocktails have

started to creep up on you and a doublechili-cheese at Tommy's is the thing. But
for us, slightly more often, a hard seat and
an order of fried morning glory are just
what we need after a night of seriou...
Lazy Ox Canteen: Where's bco?


"Lazy Ox Canteen" photo gallery. If you
are a man who enjoys a little Black
Sabbath with his dinner, the new Lazy Ox
Canteen may be just the place for you: a
new downtown restaurant where dinner
starts with "Par...
Off the Street: Antojitos Carmen comes in from the cold

Back when I used to spend my days as the Weekly's music editor

instead of its restaurant critic, my favorite time to see a band was in
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instead of its restaurant critic, my favorite time to see a band was in

the weeks just before it released its rst major record, after it had
scrubbed away some of the grime of the cl...
Pangs of Industry: Earthen

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm in the City of Industry. And I'm starving. Evan K.,
L.A. Dear Evan: There are worse places to be hungry than Industry.
But while the area has many decent restaurants, it's generally too far
to drive for a casual lu...
Duck Duck Taco: CACAO

MEXICATESSEN
Here is the topic for today's discussion:

Why isn't duck carnitas on every Mexican
menu in town? Because if you think about
it, the dish is almost inevitable duck
meat simmered in fat until it nearly
collapses, perfumed esh arranged atop...
Ask Mr. Gold: Pangs Of Industry.

Where to Eat in a City Without
Residents?
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm in the City of Industry.

And I'm starving. --Evan K., Los Angeles
Dear Evan: There are worse places to be
hungry than Industry. But while there are
a lot of decent restaurants in the area, it's
generally too far to drive for a c...
Balls to the Wall: New Orleans

Snoballs
7 years ago | Cheap Eats
New Orleans Sno Balls is exactly where it

should be, I guess, just around the corner
from the restaurant La Louisianne and
close to the tonier Creole precincts of the
southern Baldwin Hills. New Orleans
migrs crave snoballs like th...
Fig Out
The rst thing youll want to know about

Fig is that it serves bacon-wrapped
bacon, which is a warning shot red over
the heaving bow of S.S. Food. Fig is the
lobby-level bistro in the Fairmont
Miramar Hotel, a glassed-in space
overlooking...
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overlooking...
Oscar, Mr. Gold

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im going to the Oscars in March but not to the ball
afterward. Its been difcult nding a nice restaurant thats open past
10 p.m. on Sunday night. Where can a group of tuxedos and gowns
make reservations for d...
House Style
Coras, Bruce Marders lunch place in Santa Monica, is a nice place to

spend an afternoon: strong coffee, a leafy patio a block from the
beach and a relaxed style of California-lunchroom cooking that
admits both carnitas tacos and Ital...
Stop the Presses: Tomorrow's

National Pastrami Day!
7 years ago | Delis
Langer's, the Westlake institution often

considered the best delicatessen in
America, is celebrating National Pastrami
Day tomorrow, January 14. What this
means, I think, is that if you order a
pastrami sandwich, they'll serve you one.
Mavens ofte...
Ask Mr. Gold: Address To A Haggis

Dear Mr. Gold: I've only eaten haggis with

my dad in Scotland, and loved every bite.
Is there a proper, classic haggis (along
with neeps and tatties) in Los Angeles?
Never been to Tam O'Shanter (sort of
feels like "cheating"), but it's about time ...
Eat Like a Caveman, Party Like a

Rock Star
7 years ago | Books
Like many of you who pushed away from

the Christmas goose a little too late in the
game, I have become obsessed with the
feel-bad journalism that rolls around at
this time every January, a roll call of
groats, capon broth and certain death that
is...
Ask Mr. Gold: Where to Go After the

Academy Awards
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Academy Awards
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm going to the Oscars in

March but not to the ball afterward. It's
been difcult nding a nice restaurant
that's open past 10pm on Sunday night.
Where can a group of tuxedos and gowns
make reservations for dinner not
knowing whe...
Offal Wednesdays at Palate: Snout +

Comb
Palate Food + Wine, a restaurant towards

which we feel a great amount of affection,
just announced its new Offal Wednesdays,
in the spirit of its Tuesday Cirque de
Fromage - a concept of which we are no
less fond. Because while some people are
bec...
Think Pink: Nan Ru Peanuts, Better

Than Parrot Feed or Cat Videos
If you ran across a bowl of nan ru peanuts

at a party, you'd probably pass right by
them on the way to the bean dip. They're
unprepossessing little things, closer to
parrot feed than to the peanuts you nd at
the ballpark, and the shells are tint...
Good Head: Eating Barbacoa at Lilly's

Taqueria
For decades, Angelenos have been

making the 90-mile drive up to La Super
Rica, the Santa Barbara taco shack that is
invariably identied as Julia Child's
favorite Mexican restaurant. The food was
like nothing in Los Angeles. And while
many of us ...
Celebrating Centeno at the Lazy Ox Canteen

When food obsessives get to the future of restaurant food in L.A.,

sooner or later the discussion comes around to Josef Centeno, an
uncommonly gifted chef who seems always to wash up at the wrong
restaurant at the wrong time even those of ...
Northern Comfort: In Winter, Khao Soi Hits the Spot
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Northern Comfort: In Winter, Khao Soi Hits the Spot

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I just returned from a trip to Southeast Asia, and
while in northern Thailand, I discovered the yellow noodle dish with
chicken in curry and coconut milk, known as khao soi. Its the perfect
winter comfort food (spicy and crea...
Far From the Lebanese Crowd

View more photos in Anne Fishbein's "Far

From the Lebanese Crowd at Mantee"
photo gallery. Whatever sort of Lebanese
restaurant you may be thinking of at the
moment, Mantee is the other kind, a tiny,
stuffy caf near the eastern end of Vent...
Ask Mr. Gold: Northern Comfort. In

Winter, Khao Soi Hits the Spot
Dear Mr. Gold: I just returned from a trip

to Southeast Asia, and while in northern
Thailand, I discovered the yellow noodle
dish with chicken in curry and coconut
milk, known as khao soi. It's the perfect
winter comfort food (spicy and creamy,
sw...
Finding Macaroons
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I was a big fan of the delicate, light-as-air macaroons
they used to sell at the now-defunct Boule, on La Cienega. I always
thought they made a nice gift and loved dropping by and getting a
couple whenever I needed a sweet treat. Si...
As Pub Food Goes ... the Gorbals

Have you ever tried to catch dinner at The Gorbals? Because

something tells me that this is one restaurant trying hard not to be
found. For one thing, it closes at random hours, which means that
when you walk past the movie-star portraits in the e...
The Best Dishes of 2009


"Best Dishes of 2009" photo gallery. The
original Shu Feng Garden, jammed into
the usual mini-mall storefront in a corner
of Rowland Heights, has for years posed a
conundrum. Although it has been,
practically wi...
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practically wi...
Ask Mr. Gold: Finding Macaroons,

From Eye-Popping Colors to
Chocolate with Sea Salt
Dear Mr. Gold: I was a big fan of the

delicate, light-as-air macaroons they used
to sell at the now-defunct Boule, on La
Cienega. I always thought they made a
nice gift and loved dropping by and
getting a couple whenever I needed a
sweet treat. Si...
Nostalgia With a Twist: The Tar Pit, Mark Peels Latest

Do many restaurants these days seem to feature crab cakes, steak

tartare and deviled eggs? Is the age of shrimp Louie and braised pigs
ears still upon us? Are the kinds of places that used to hire DJs and
burly doormen now hiring Aperol-hap...
Carbonara Quest: Angelini Osteria

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: You would think, after all this time, that somebody
would make a decent spaghetti alla carbonara in this town, but
although I have run across good enough versions of trenette al
pesto, bucatini allAmatriciana, even tortellini...
Oregon Style: The Tasting Kitchen


"The Tasting Kitchen" photo gallery. The
Tasting Kitchen, a newish trattoria down
on Abbot Kinney, feels more like a project
art collective than a proper restaurant, a
place at once both strange and familiar,
wh...
Ask Mr. Gold: In Search of the Perfect

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara
Dear Mr. Gold: You would think, after all

this time, that somebody would make a
decent spaghetti alla carbonara in this
town, but although I have run across
good enough versions of trenette al pesto,
bucatini all'Amatriciana, even tortellini in
br...
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A Movable Feast: LudoBites 3.0 at Royal/T Caf

There are restaurants that food bloggers like. There are restaurants
that food bloggers adore. And then there is LudoBites, a pop-up
restaurant that sometimes seems as if it is run for the sole benet of
food bloggers, who cop scarce reservations...
No Bell? Jar, Then

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, The head honcho is coming to town, and wants to
treat me to the best brunch in Los Angeles. No scrimping. What
would you suggest? Miss Chiffonade, Silver Lake Dear Miss
Chiffonade: No scrimping? The usual suspects may ...
Drowning, Not Eating


"Drowning, Not Eating; L.A.'s Tortas
Ahogadas" photo gallery. Tortas cubanas
are almost as common as burritos in Los
Angeles. Mexico Citystyle pambazos rule
the world of street food. The muscular
cemita P...
Ask Mr. Gold: No Bell? Jar, Then. For

the Best Brunch in Town, No
Scrimping
Dear Mr. Gold: The head honcho is

coming to town, and wants to treat me to
the best brunch in Los Angeles. No
scrimping. What would you suggest? -Miss Chiffonade, Silver Lake Dear Miss
Chiffonade: No scrimping? The usual
suspects may not quite do...
GOING HAM FOR THE HOLIDAYS

7 years ago
EL PARIAN WILL GET YOUR GOAT

If you have spent much time in South and

Southeast L.A., around the boulevards
and crabbed side streets that are home to
much of the great northward ow, you
may have come to believe that practically
everything worth doing or eating
originated in...
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Ask Mr. Gold: This or That Little

Piggy. Going Ham for the Holidays?
7 years ago | Meat
Dear Mr. Gold: I'm never one to make a

signicant culinary move without your
counsel. Do you have any
recommendations for where I might buy a
delicious ham for the holidays?I know I
can have one shipped from across the
country, but wa...
Split Personality: The Many Faces of Palate

A restaurant, as anyone who has worked in one can tell you, is often
several restaurants at once, cheap and quirky midweek but an
insufferable tourist trap come Sunday, or buzzing with happiness at
Sunday lunch but slow and dreary at night. Eva&rs...
Where, Oh Where, for an Almond Croissant? (Oh! Susina)

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where do you think they make the best almond
croissants? @LocalLowdownLA, via Twitter Dear
@LocalLowdownLA: You would think an almond croissant would be
a no-brainer, but last week I had a damp, wadded specimen that
tasted li...
New Chong Qing: New Hot Pot Spot

View more photos in Anne Fishbein's New

Chong Qing photo gallery. Some of the
best cooking in the L.A. area happens in
mini-malls: Everybody whos lived here
more than a month or two knows that. If
you arent willing to dine in a resta...
Ask Mr Gold: Where, Oh Where, For

An Almond Croissant? Oh! Susina
Dear Mr. Gold: Where do you think they

make the best almond croissants? -@LocalLowdownLA, via Twitter Dear
@LocalLowdownLA: You would think
that an almond croissant would be a nobrainer, but I had a damp, wadded
specimen last week that tasted li...
Ask Mr Gold: Boiling or Roasting? A

Question of Degrees
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Question of Degrees
Dear Mr. Gold: Boiling versus roasting.

I'm too embarrassed to ask this out loud...
but technically, they're not opposites,
right? That's like saying frying is the
opposite of boiling. And why would one
be quicker to roast one's enemies rather
tha...
Pomp and Circumference: Bouchon Is a Corker of a

Restaurant
In this year of the grand restaurant, there has been nothing like
Bouchon, an enormous, luxurious dining room stretching halfway
across town; high ceilings, stenciled walls, gilt and pomp and owers
even by the standards of its neighborho...
A Question of Degrees: Boiling or Roasting?

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Boiling versus roasting. Im too embarrassed to ask

this out loud ... but technically, theyre not opposites, right? Thats
like saying frying is the opposite of boiling. And why would one be
quicker to roast one&r...
Fried in East L.A.: Antojitos Carmen

and the Breed Street Band of
Mexican Vendors

"Fried in East L.A." photo gallery. It is late,
and my family is asleep in the car, and I
am leaning against a chain-link fence on a
sleepy Eastside street. At the shuttered
bakery on the corner, some of the nig...
Choza Mama
Oh, Old Pasadena, dasher of hopes and destroyer of restaurants, a

hostile, trafc-choked terrordome where only the strongest survive,
where rents are breathtaking, where even the best-nanced
enterprises founder on the rocks. But out of the ashe...
Sunday Meal at Golden State: Burgers, Beers and Fries

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: We have friends in town from Seattle, and theyre
hungering for a really ne burger, excellent fries and a primo beer
selection. Is there such a place, one that offers all three under one
roof? A place thats open on Su...
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roof? A place thats open on Su...
Kiyokawa: So Sorry, So Good


Kiyokawa photo gallery. Kiyokawa is a
small sushi bar on the southern edge of
Beverly Hills, a couple of blocks south of
Wilshire and almost invisible among
modest boutiques and storefront ofces.
If you...
Ask Mr Gold: The Sunday Meal.

Burgers, Beers and Fries
Dear Mr. Gold: We have friends in town

from Seattle, and they're hungering for a
really ne burger, excellent fries and a
primo beer selection. (Is there such a
place, a place that offers all three under
one roof? A place that's open on Sunday?
-...
Point West: Mark Peels new Culver City digs

Some people eat out of vending machines at work. Some ofces

enjoy occasional visits from the Nom Nom Truck. But the
information gurus who labor in Culver Citys Media District, in the
old warehouses converted to vast, intricately architect...
Bollywood and Vine: Agra Caf

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Could you recommend some great Indian restaurants
in Los Angeles that visiting Londoners might like? Anarkali and the
Bombay Caf are just ne, but they seem a little bland compared to
what were used to at home. If yo...
Bistro LQ: Hare Today


"Hare Today, Wild Boar Sopes Tomorrow
at Bistro LQ" photo gallery. If I was forced
to choose a single favorite dish, it would
probably be lievre la royale, an old
French preparation of marinated hare st...
Ask Mr. Gold: Bollywood and Vine. LA

Indian Food Fit For An Englishman (Or
-Woman)
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-Woman)
7 years ago | Indian Cuisine
Dear Mr. Gold: Could you recommend

some great Indian restaurants in Los
Angeles that visiting Londoners might
like? Anarkali and the Bombay Cafe are
just ne, but they seem a little bland
compared to what we're used to at home.
If you have any id...
Philippe Is Not Your Daddy's Chinese

Philippe is a new-generation offshoot of Mr. Chow, which is to say it

serves the kind of Chinese food that would have passed muster in
London in the swingin 60s: cubes of Beijing chicken breast
burnished with syr...
Allston Yacht Club: Where to Take the rents in Echo Park

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My parents are coming to visit, very parenty parents,
and I was wondering if you have any idea where I might take them
for dinner in Echo Park or Highland Park on a Saturday night. I want
to show them my neighborhood, but Im ...
Indo Caf: Out of the Ashes


"Out Of The Ashes And Into The Urap At
Indo Cafe" photo gallery. Have you ever
tasted Indonesian urap? Because if you
havent, it may be difcult for me to
describe the version, which ranks among
the most...
Ask Mr. Gold: Where To Take Your

Parents in Echo Park? Why, the Yacht
Club, of Course
Dear Mr. Gold: My parents are coming to

visit, very parenty parents, and I was
wondering if you have any idea where I
might take them for dinner in Echo Park
or Highland Park on a Saturday night. I
want to show them my neighborhood, but
I'm thinki...
Truffled Lounge: Rockwells Architectural Comforts

How many lounges are there in Hollywood? You may as well ask
how many grains of sand lie along the shore? But Rockwell, the
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how many grains of sand lie along the shore? But Rockwell, the
sister of Los Feliz perennial Vermont, is actually a comfortable place
to spend an evening, a highly architected space hidd...
The Cook, the Eavesdropper, His Wife and Her Birthday

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: As I was having coffee at Europane the other day, I
could have sworn that I overheard somebody who sounds like you
tell a young couple that Church and State was a place they must go
as often as possible.My wifes birthda...
Billys: A Deli Grows in Glendale

View more photos in Anne Fishbein's "A

Deli Grows In Glendale, Or Maybe Billy's
Was There All Along" photo gallery. When
you are cruising the back streets of
downtown Glendale, escaping from trafc
or on your way to the mall, Billys Deli c...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Cook, the

Eavesdropper, His Wife and Her
Birthday. Church & State, Yes or No?
7 years ago | Bistros
Dear Mr. Gold: As I was having coffee at

EuroPane the other day, I could have
sworn that I overheard somebody who
sounds like you tell a young couple that
Church & State was a place they must go
as often as possible. My wife's birthday is
coming u...
Where Can a Girl With Attitude Take a Guy on a First Date?

7 years ago
Y Tu Umami, Tambien: Now in Los Feliz, too

Adam Fleischman, it is safe to say, is in touch with his inner food

geek, from his founding of the nerd-friendly wine bar Bottlerock to
the endless selection of Hungarian reds on the list at Vinoteque. The
original Umami Burger felt like the ultim...
What Is a Burrito? A Primer


"What is a Burrito?" photo gallery. I have
never been able to change a Taiwanese
womans mind when I tilt against her
favorite soy milk, and there is no arguing
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favorite soy milk, and there is no arguing

rigatoni with a certain kind of ItalianAmer...
Ask Mr. Gold: Where Can A Girl With

Attitude (& A Dog) Take A Guy On A
First Date?
Dear Mr. Gold: Christ. How one keeps up

an appetite is beyond me. So where
should I go for a date? I'm picking the
restaurant, of course, somewhere
between Santa Monica and Pasadena. It's
an actual date, so it has to be bearable if
the date is not...
Love, Shandong-Style: at 101 Noodle Express, a Beef Roll as

Big as Your Arm
If youve kept up with Chinese cooking in the San Gabriel Valley,

youve likely heard of the beef roll, a steroidal composition of fried
Chinese pancakes, cilantro and great stfuls of thinly sliced meat
wetted with sweet bean sauce a...
Consider the Oysterette


"Pleasures at Blue Point Oysterette"
photo gallery. When people ask about my
favorite restaurant in New York, after the
ritual banter about the game birds at
Daniel and a bread-crumb soup I once
had at Jean-Geor...
Play It Again, Jean: Casa Bianca Once More

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I used to like Casa Bianca before the lines stretched
halfway to China, but, I have to admit, its been a while. I know
good neon and checked tablecloths and everything, but is it still
worth a visit? Jean, Sier...
Ask Mr. Gold: Play It Again, Jean.

Casa Bianca Once More
Dear Mr. Gold: I used to like Casa Bianca

before the lines stretched halfway to
China, but I have to admit it's been a
while. I know - good neon and checked
tablecloths and everything, but is it still
worth a visit? --Jean, Sierra Madre Dear
Jean:...
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Jean:...
Crustacean Frustration: Whither the Vietnamese fried crab?

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: One of my co-workers asked me to ask you for a good
place to get Vietnamese fried crab. I said I would try. Jim, South
Pasadena Dear Jim: There is, of course, a famous Beverly Hills
restaurant famous for just this dish, and a...
JTYH Restaurant: Heavy Noodling II


"Heavy Noodling" photo gallery. Have you
encountered Shanxi knife-cut noodles?
Because if you havent, you should really
give them a try thick, irregular things,
frilled on one edge like the gills ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Crusty Crustacean

Dear Mr. Gold: One of my co-workers

asked me to ask you for a good place to
get Vietnamese fried crab. I said I would
try. --Jim, South Pasadena Dear Jim:
There is, of course, a Beverly Hills
restaurant famous for just this dish, and a
friend once...
New Guac City: Rosa Mexicano at L.A. Live

There is no gentle way to put this: From the moment it was

announced, Rosa Mexicano has been a blaring red ag hoisted over
the L.A. Live complex, a symbol of the tone-deafness of the taxsucking developers and zillionaire contractors behind the ...
Cube: Cornucopia Squared


"Cornucopia Squared at Cube" photo
gallery. Somebody at Cube is good at
shopping. I thought Id get that out of the
way. Somebody at Cube is very good at
shopping and not just the usual stuff,
the ...
Dark Surprise: Claud Beltran Gets all Noir on Us

Pasadena, while delightful in so many other ways, has never been

long on plausible adult restaurants, dining rooms where the cooking
was serious, the noise level was reasonable and the wine list
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was serious, the noise level was reasonable and the wine list
extended to more than a few dozen usual suspects. An...
Wo Knnen Wir Essen

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Two friends and I have been sharing our cultures with
one another via restaurants, and its been really fun. While Korean
restaurants are easy to nd, and Japanese restaurants are, too, its
my turn now, and as somebody...
Ask Mr. Gold: Sprechen Sie Hipster?

Dear Mr. Gold: Two friends and I have

been sharing our cultures with one
another via restaurants, and it's been
really fun. While Korean restaurants are
easy to nd, and Japanese restaurants are,
too, it's my turn now, and as somebody
whose ances...
Youre a Pig!

"You're a Pig!" photo gallery. Have you
ever had too much pork belly not a slab
of bacon or a braised Chinese version that
you are expected to share with a table of
10, but so much of the stuff, sliced t...
Ask Mr. Gold: Gray Anatomy Con

Queso
Dear Mr. Gold: I was wondering if you

have any recommendations for tacos de
sesos in Echo Park or surrounding
neighborhoods. It seems brains are more
difcult to come by than they were in the
past. --Nicole, Echo Park Dear Nicole:
Sesos aren't my...
Brainy Tacos
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I was wondering if you have any recommendations

for tacos de sesos in Echo Park or surrounding neighborhoods. It
seems brains are more difcult to come by than they were in the
past. Nicole, Echo Park Dear Nicole: Sesos aren...
All About Eva

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Are you comfortable? Is it delicious? If you get a chance, take a

look at the photographs on the walls theyre by Hans Gissinger, in
collaboration with the French chef Marc Meneau.&rsq...
Ask Mr. Gold: Sea Cucumber,

Anyone?
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Any recomendations for

the best place to try sea cucumber? Either
Asian and non-Asian preparations would
be ne. I was watching the Bitman/Batali
show "Spain... On The Road Again" and
the grilled sea cucumber they were eating
looke...
Zahle in the Valley: The Middle-Eastern Polish of Alcazar

Express
Since it opened a few years ago, Alcazar has been the go-to Lebanese
place in the Valley, a pleasantly scented patio with great chicken
kebabs, fried sh with tahini and oceans of specially imported arak, a
place that a Beirut-loving friend dubbe...
Sea Cucumber, Anyone?

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Any recommendations for the best place to try sea
cucumber? Either Asian or non-Asian preparations would be ne. I
was watching the Bitman/Batali show Spain ... on the Road Again,
and the grilled sea cucumber they were eating looke...
Street Cred
View more photos in the "Street Cred"

slideshow. When the rst Bush was in the
White House, gas was cheap and many of
us hadnt yet gured out how to turn on
our ovens, my friends and I used to treat
our parties almost as ethnographi...
Ask Mr. Gold: Popeye's and Jazz?

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: If you were heading to the

Bowl from the Westside, where would you
stop to put together a picnic of portable,
nger-friendly chicken? I'm thinking
Koreatown is too far out of the way. -Zora, Culver City Dear Zora: Koreatown
isn't ...
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The Tasting Kitchen: Catch It If You Can

Some of the best new places to eat in L.A. are less restaurants than
notes toward a restaurant, intricate sketches that may or may not
end up as permanent establishments with xed addresses, walk-in
refrigerators and menus that dont necess...
Hail the Conquering Chicken

View more photos in the "Dong Nguyen

and Savoy: Hail the Conquering Chicken"
slideshow. I am willing to go toe to toe on
the subject of what might properly go into
a Los Angeles burrito, and I can hold my
own when symposia on spaghetti
carbonara a...
Popeyes and Jazz

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: If you were heading to the Bowl from the Westside,
where would you stop to put together a picnic of portable, ngerfriendly chicken? Im thinking Koreatown is too far out of the way.
Zora, Culver City Dear Zora...
Jonathan Golds 99 Essential L.A.

Restaurants
View more photos in the "Guerrilla

Cuisine: Jonathan Golds Essential L.A.
Restaurants" slideshow. As surely as gs
ripen, basil bursts into fragrance and the
paleta vendors step up their rounds, so
too arises the question of what an essent...
Meat and the City

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: It seems like theres a lot going on in New York and in
San Francisco in terms of meat, but I havent heard of much out of
Los Angeles yet. Im a recent USC graduate working with an amazing
butcher in Brooklyn &mda...
Ask Mr. Gold: Meat and the City

Dear Mr. Gold: It seems like there's a lot

going on in New York and in San
Francisco in terms of meat, but I haven't
heard of much out of Los Angeles yet. I'm
a recent USC graduate working with an
amazing butcher in Brooklyn -- a rock
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amazing butcher in Brooklyn -- a rock

star butcher...
Cuban Corn on the Cob, con Clown

7 years ago
Of Cumin Bondage: Korean at Feng

Mao
View more photos in the "Of Cumin

Bondage" slideshow. Koreatown may be
best known as a land of fresh tofu,
bibimbap and owing soju, but the
neighborhood is also famous for its
embrace of foreign cuisines, from the
proliferation of Vietnamese noo...
Riva: Stuzzichini This, Stuzzichini That

As the small-plates menu continues its Shermans March through the

Westside, it was inevitable that at least a restaurant or two would tap
into the stuzzichini movement, a wave of cafs specializing in
crostini and cured meats and lit...
Ask Mr. Gold: Cuban Corn on the Cob,

Con Clown
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Okay, so I just got back

from New York, where I ate, for the rst
time in my life and hopefully not my last,
this Cuban corn on the cob on a stick with
cheese and spices and lime. Where in Los
Angeles can I nd this?...
Chili Johns: Coming Home

In parts of Europe, as generations of travelers have learned,

restaurants often close for several weeks in the summer, and while I
would wish to deprive no hard-working line cook of her three weeks
in a rental at in Elba, chiuso, closed, may be ...
To Beef or Not to Beef: Officina della

Bistecca
View more photos in the "To Beef or Not

to Beef" slideshow. Any food person who
has passed through Chianti in the past
decade has run across Dario Cecchini. It
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decade has run across Dario Cecchini. It

has become almost mandatory to stop by
his family butcher shop in Panzano to
pick up a ...
Kosher Credentials in the San Fernando Valley

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My son would like to go a kosher restaurant for his
birthday. Do you have any recommendations? Michael, Northridge
Dear Michael: The local universe of kosher dining is better than it
used to be, when nine-tenths of my ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Kosher Credentials; Nu,

Does It Have To Be Trayf?
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My son would like to go a

kosher restaurant for his birthday. Do you
have any recommendations? --Michael,
Northridge Dear Michael: The local
universe of kosher dining is better than it
used to be, when nine-tenths of my meals
with o...
Ludo Bites at Breadbar

View more photos in the Ludo Bites

slideshow. Picture a slice of Spanish
chorizo, then imagine that avor
transferred intact to a cool, cream soup
animal funk, smoked paprika and all. In
the bowl, arranged like building blocks,
are ...
GUELAGUETZA: Romance and Salsa

7 years ago
Le Saint Amour: Paris in Culver City

Los Angeles is at the moment blessed with a handful of fantasy

bistros, places that could hold their own in bistro-sated New York or
even Paris, like Anisette, Lou, Comme a and Church & State, which
are redening the form. And then there ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Romantic Mexican, In

Search of the Perfect Spot to Impress
his Gal
Dear Mr. Gold: Could you please

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Dear Mr. Gold: Could you please

recommend one or two outstanding
Mexican food restaurants in the L.A. area.
I am sick to death of El Cholo, and I have
what you could describe as a special date
coming up. Lovell, Los Angeles Dear
Lovell: Mexican re...
THE HEAT IS ON AT SUGAR SPICE CAFE

7 years ago
JOSIAH CITRIN'S SECOND (LOUNGE) ACT

Josiah Citrin is the rst dude of haute cuisine in Santa Monica, a

burly ex-surfer who earned two Michelin stars for the cooking at his
surprisingly rened Mlisse, a dark, plush dining room where
moguls graze on $210 tasting menus. M&eac...
FLORIA DEL RIO WILL GET YOUR

GOAT
View more photos in the "Eat Some

Goat!" slideshow. On hot Sunday
mornings when the asphalt turns to syrup
and the cats begin to pant, the pace is
easier than usual on the Eastside, the wait
at the bakeries briefer, El Mercado less
crowded, the ta...
Ask Mr. Gold: Japanese Curry Rice

and Everything Nice at Sugar Spice
Caf
Dear Mr. Gold:

I'm probably the last person on the block
to discover Japanese curry rice, but I'm
now ofcially hooked.
Silk Purse: AT CHURCH & STATE,

CHEF WALTER MANZKE
TRANSFORMS A PIGS EAR
View more photos in the Church & State

slideshow. Pigs ears are not hard to nd
in Los Angeles. Shanghai-style
restaurants tend to have them, boiled and
pressed into a kind of sliced terrine, and
Sichuan chefs supplement the ears with
thre...
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thre...
Ask Mr. Gold: The Quintessential

Experience for the Out-of-Towner
Dear Mr. Gold:

I was in Rome a few months ago and an
Italian friend took me out to a great
neighborhood pizzeria/ristorante
(Pizzeria San Marco). The place was off
the tourist trail, not in any guidebooks,
but packed with locals, the ess...
EATING, L.A. STYLE

7 years ago
Mozza 2Go: Pizza on the Run

7 years ago
For even the biggest fans among us, the superb quality of Mozzas
pizza must often take second place to its sheer unavailability: the
marriage of runny egg, wood-charred crackle and Matt Molinas own
guanciale rendered subsidiary to ou...
Meals On Wheels
If you noticed an unusual concentration of round spectacle frames

and Comme des Garons blazers downtown last week, you probably
ran into people in town for the Dwell on Design confab at the
Convention Center, which is sort of like Comicon ...
Celestino: First Date, Italian-Style

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: What would you recommend as a good rst-date

Italian restaurant more or less in the Pasadena area? Peter, Pasadena
Dear Peter: The good news is that Pasadena has a wealth of Italian
restaurants. The bad news is that most of ...
Snook Attack: La Chente

Have you ever encountered pescado

Zarandeado? Beacause it is as
intimidating as an entre can get, a vast,
smoking creature split open at the
backbone and opped open into a sort of
skeleton-punctuated mirror image of
itself, wisps of stea...
Ask Mr Gold: White Tablecloths,
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Ask Mr Gold: White Tablecloths,

Good Wine & That Golden Light
Dear Mr. Gold:

What would you recommend as a good
rst-date Italian restaurant more or less
in the Pasadena area?
Peter, Pasadena
Hey, Cabron! Clayudas, cemitas, cheladas and crushed

grasshoppers in Huntington Park
Pal Cabron is the latest outpost of the Guelaguetza empire, a gaudy

sandwich shop just off the main drag in Huntington Park, where the
walls are splashed with representations of the namesake mythic
dude: a slouching, beer-bellied guy perpetually w...
Eastside Bakeries After Dark

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im looking for a bakery/caf downtown, or better, in

Boyle Heights, thats open late and reasonably priced. It should be a
good, festive place for a group of friends to talk after a play. Serena
Dea...
Be Happy. Be Bottega Louie.

View more photos in the Bottega Louie

slideshow. Bottega Louie is the loudest
place in Los Angeles on a summer
evening, happy racket bouncing off the
triple-height ceilings, caroming off the
bare white walls and glancing off the
moldings, pinging ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Have Your Cake & Eat It

Late
Dear Mr. Gold:

I'm looking for a bakery/caf downtown,
or better, in Boyle Heights, that's open late
and reasonably priced. It should be a
good, festive place for a group of friends
to talk after a play.
Good Girl Dinette: Depression-Era Dining

Now that Eagle Rock has become stroller-ridden, Echo Park rents
approach Santa Monicas and Silver Lake has practically become a
new Beverly Hills, Highland Park is the center of the new bohemian
life in Los Angeles, a neighborhood with grea...
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life in Los Angeles, a neighborhood with grea...
The Green Village Preservation

Society

slideshow. Leeks with eel jam? Duck
soup? Yangzhou crabmeat spring roll
casserole? Braised pork knuckle with soy
sauce? If you have followed San Gabriel
Chinese restaurants over the last 15 years,
you have proba...
The Unmassacred Churro

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Maybe Ive missed something, but I havent found a
place in Los Angeles where I can enjoy airy, crispy churros that you
dip in hot, thick dark chocolate in the morning or for merienda cena.
And Im not talking abou...
Trader Vics Picks

When the Earth and I were young, Trader Vics was among the most
magical places in Los Angeles, a wonderland of teak and thatch in
the hot corner of the Beverly Hilton, a paradise of pupu platters,
Crab Rangoon and Meats From Our Chinese Ove...
Eating in Encino
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where would one go for lunch with a group after a
high school graduation I mean, besides the school cafeteria in
the Woodland Hills/Encino area? Its bad enough sitting through one
of these things when it&rsquo...
Nickel Diner: Heart Attack and Main

View more photos in the "Nickel Diner:

Not Your Father's Diner But It Still Might
Kill You" slideshow. The motto of the
Nickel Diner is probably Home of the
Maple Glaze Bacon Donut, a slogan
inscribed both on the home page of its
Web site and in t...
Is San Diego a Restaurant-Impaired City?

7 years ago
Wolfgang Pucks Bar & Grill Export at L.A. Live
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Wolfgang Pucks Bar & Grill Export at L.A. Live

At the heart of the L.A. Live complex, facing out down the mall
toward Staples Center, the vast Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill sometimes
feels like an experiment in sensory overload, all sound-stage lighting
and gleaming refractive surfaces, strobing v...
At El Montes Birrieria La Barca

Jalisco, spicy transcendence comes
in a molcajete
View more photos in the "La Barca:

Maddening Charred Meat, Garlic and Hot
Tortillas" slideshow. To get to Birrieria La
Barca Jalisco, you pull off of Valley
Boulevard and take a hike past the backs
of dusty bridal boutiques and discountclothing s...
Ask Mr. Gold: Is San Diego a Food-Impaired City?

7 years ago | Beer
Dear Mr. Gold: My friend Oliver says you would know where to get
lunch in San Diego! Can you recommend a cool place? Merci! Gaelle,
Montreal ...
Conservative Tongues Wagging, Pig Ears Pricked Over

Supreme Court Justice Nominee's Food Preferences -- Or Why
Sonia Sotomayor Now Has the Full Support of Our PulitzerPrize-Winning Restaurant Critic
Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo picked up conservatives going

nuts over Sonia Sotomayor's eating habits: "A conservative source
really did draw a connection between Sonia Sotomayor's
gastronomical preferences -- traditional Puerto Rican cuisin...
The Return of Ludo Bites: And on the

Third Night, Ludo Created ...
On the third night of Ludo Bites, the

restaurant ran out of food. And I dont
mean it sold out of a dish or two, or that it
closed a bit early it ran out of pretty
much everything, so that when we
dropped by (with reservations) after...
Where to Buy Your Summer BBQ Protein

7 years ago
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7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Ive probably been to a dozen barbecues at friends

houses in the last month, and the routine of burgers and overdone
chicken is getting a little old. Any suggestions for my own barbecue?
And please dont point me ...
Mo-Chica: The Best Peruvian Ceviche

Might Be in a Warehouse South of
Downtown
View more photos in the "Mo-Chica: Best

Peruvian Ceviche - Soft, Tart, Brutally
Spicy" slideshow. The rst time I visited
Lima, not long after the capture of
guerrilla leader Abimael Guzmn, the
capital was still naked of tourists and
busi...
Advance First Bite: The Return of Ludo Bites -- And on the

Third Night, Ludo Created ... A Dinner Miracle. Chef Runs Out
of Food, but the Kitchen Show Goes On
7 years ago | Restaurant Openings & Closings
On the third night of Ludo Bites, the restaurant ran out of food. And I
don't mean it sold out of a dish or two, or that it closed a bit early -it ran out of pretty much everything.
Ask Mr. Gold About ... Barbecue Suggestions Beyond Burgers

and Overdone Chicken
7 years ago | BBQ
I've probably been to a dozen barbecues at friends' houses in the last

month, and the routine of burgers and overdone chicken is getting a
little old. Any suggestions for my own barbecue? And please don't
point me towards any of your beloved or...
First Bite: S'laked Thirst -- Fine Wine and the Return of Don
Dickman at Barbrix
7 years ago
When the L.A. Weekly ofces were located in Silver Lake what seems
like a millennium ago, the area could not have been more of a
culinary wasteland -- the only place within walking distance was
what may have been the single worst Mexican restaura...
Where to Eat ... PIZZA Now

7 years ago
ANGELI CAFFE Angeli crystallized the afnity of Angelenos for

casual Italian cooking the spaghetti alla checca, garlicky roast
chicken and minimally garnished pizza that a Sienese teenager might
eat for dinner at the trattoria down the bl...
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S'lake'd Thirst: Fine Wine and the Return of Don Dickman at

Barbrix
When the L.A. Weekly ofces were located in Silver Lake what seems
like a millennium ago, the area could not have been more of a
culinary wasteland the only place within walking distance was
what may have been the single worst Mexican res...
Sin Carne: Looking for Mexican Vegetarian Cooking

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Would you happen to have a Mexican restaurant

recommendation for the unemployed vegetarian librarians budget?
Gracias, Emily, Silver Lake Dear Emily: If you were vegan, you
probably would ...
Craft of a Top Chef: Lost and Found at

Tom Colicchio's L.A. Spinoff Show
Craftbar

"Craftbar: Maximum--la-Carte"
slideshow. One of the most pleasant
meals Ive eaten this year was a spring
lunch at Craftbar, the small-plates bistro
tucked into the front bar area of the
restaurant...
Ask Mr. Gold: Sin Carne, Looking for

Mexican Vegetarian Cooking
Dear Mr. Gold: Would you happen to

have a Mexican restaurant
recommendation for the unemployed
vegetarian librarian's budget? Gracias,
Emily, Silver Lake ...
Tavern, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne's Westward

Expansion
Brentwoods new Tavern is the kind of place the Westside has needed
for years, a big, comfortable space that functions as a gathering
place for the gentry without locking out the less well-heeled. The
airy complex incorporates a takeout coun...
Battle Burrito, L.A. vs. S.F.

7 years ago
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7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a friend in town from Berkeley who loves
burritos. What do you suggest? Im thinking of ignoring her habit
and forcing her to go for mole at La Tia instead, but she seems set in
her ways. Erica, L.A. Dear ...
Golden State's Beer Warriors, All

Hopped Up
View more photos in the "Golden State's

Beer Warriors: Burgers and Beer Floats"
slideshow. Might your idea of dessert be
expansive enough to include a beer oat?
Because if you are open-minded about
these things, it really can be a mind-bl...
Praise the Lard: Manteca, CA ... Home

of Healthy Schools
When your town is named after the

Spanish word for lard (the result of a
proofreading error, it turns out), you have
to try harder.
Ask Mr. Gold: Battle Burrito -- L.A. vs.

S.F.
7 years ago | Burritos
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a friend in town

from Berkeley who loves burritos. What
do you suggest? I'm thinking of ignoring
her habit and forcing her to go to for mole
at La Tia instead, but she seems set in her
ways. --Erica, Los Angeles ...
Birdland: Oprah and KFC Infiltrate

Pho Shop Golden Deli
How far-reaching was yesterday's

Kentucky Fried Chicken / Oprah.com
coupon promotion? At the San Gabriel
Vietnamese noodleshop Golden Deli, in
proximity to the best fried spring rolls
this side of Ho Chi Minh City, we spotted
employees huddled at ...
The Moviegoer: The Incredibly Useful Westside Tavern

Where there are movies, necessarily there must be dinner nearby, or

at least a place to grab a microbrew to go with your half-digested
Claude Chabrol. And so, an escalator ride away from the Landmark
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Claude Chabrol. And so, an escalator ride away from the Landmark
dodecaplex, ground zero for subtitled cinema in...
How to Fry Right: Tonkatsu, Picking the Right Pig for the Job
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I lovetonkatsu, the little fried pork cutlets that they
serve in Japanese restaurants, but I can never quite gure out how to
make them in my apartment kitchen it always turns out too
rubbery, or too hard, or not really cru...
The Gathering: Guatemalteca's

Newest Snack and Chat
View more photos of Guatemalteca

pastries in the "Pastry Gazing at
Guatemalteca" slideshow. If youve
driven down Beverly Boulevard in the last
30 years, you may have noticed the line
that forms outside Guatemalteca on
weekends,...
Ask Mr. Gold: Pimp My Rib -- Caught

Red-Handed
7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can you get really

good Chinese barbecued spareribs? I'm in
Silver Lake, but I'm willing to travel. -Susanna, Silver Lake...
Slurpees: Seeking the Bliss Factor at the Pacific Oyster Wine

Competition
Some people claim that the rst ush of golden poppies marks the
onset of a California spring. Others put it at the appearance of the
rst really good asparagus in the farmers market, or bee swarms, or
baseball season. But to me, spring doesn&r...
Pimp My Rib: Caught Red-handed

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can you get really good Chinese barbecued
spareribs? Im in Silver Lake, but Im willing to travel. Susanna,
Silver Lake Dear Susanna: There are a few schools of Chinese
spareribs, most of them good. I&rsquo...
Pork in the Time of Swine Flu: Mexico

City's Pig Cuisine, Snout to Hoof
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View more photos in the pig cuisine

slideshow. Toasted corn has its place.
Chiles are indispensable. The
indescribable scent of achiote is key. But
well-made carnitas may be at the center
of the genius of the Mexican kitchen, a
process evol...
LA People 2009: Spokesmen Bicycle Oven's Josef and

Adam Bray-Ali
There has never been a city so jaded about personal transportation

as Los Angeles, a place where Lamborghinis clot valet stands,
customized Harleys are as common as Camrys, and the streets
thrum with more 64 Impalas the cars that bo...
LA People 2009: Vujachick Sasha

Watch Blogger Emily Ho
Have you ever seen Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern Are Dead, the Tom Stoppard
play that recasts Hamlet from the point of
view of the Danes two school chums,
their exits coinciding with their entrances
in the Shakespeare play? The Web site
sash...
LA People 2009: Brains and Beauty

Dr. Carol Miller
Its an amazing sight, Dr. Carol Miller in

her laboratory, an intent, bespectacled
woman bent over a bit of partially
dissected lobe, neatly labeled containers
of human brains towering at one side of
her, a worn brain schematic, which she
co...
Ask Mr. Gold ... About Dutch Babies

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, When I was growing up in the Midwest, I was very
fond of what they used to call German pancakes or Dutch babies,
puffy pancakes, as big as Mylar balloons, that were usually served
with powdered sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. It...
Steaked Out: Argentine Food Beyond the Parrillada

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Do local Argentines eat anything but steak? Because
when I was in Buenos Aires last year, there were sh restaurants and
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trattorias and fusion restaurants, plus a lot of chic chef-owned
bistros, but in Los Angeles it all seems like...
Sacred Cow: Carl's Jr., Padma

Lakshmi and a Drive-Thru Journey
Into the Pornography of Meat
Padma Lakshmi, barely wearing a gauzy

off-white dress, clutching a plastic bag
presumably bursting with ripe fruit, glides
through an outdoor farmers market,
moving at a pace with which insomniac
cable-watchers may remember Bo Derek
emerging from ...
Big Beauty: Woodfired Pizza and Sam Marvin's Take on

American-Italian at Bottega Louie, Downtown's Huge New
Downtown Food Emporium
For months, aesthetes staggering out of 7 Grand under the weight of

one too many Sazeracs have been wondering what lay behind the
fancy paper covering the windows of Bottega Louie across the street,
a former bank converted into a majestic food hal...
FIRST BITE: Big Beauty -- Woodfired Pizza and Sam Marvin's

Take on American-Italian at Bottega Louie, Downtown's Huge
New Downtown Food Emporium
7 years ago | Grocers
For months, aesthetes staggering out of 7 Grand under the weight of

one too many Sazeracs have been wondering what lay behind the
fancy paper covering the windows of Bottega Louie across the street,
a former bank converted into a majestic food hal...
Ask Mr. Gold About ... Dutch Babies.

Marion Cunningham's Hot and High
and Mighty German Pancakes
7 years ago | Breakfast
Dear Mr. Gold, When I was growing

up in the Midwest, I was very fond of
what they used to call German pancakes
or Dutch babies, puffy pancakes, as big as
Mylar balloons, that were usually served
wit...
Ask Mr. Gold: Steaked Out -- Is There Anything in LA's

Argentine Restaurants to Eat Besides Parrillada?
7 years ago
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trattorias and fusion restaurants, plus a lot of chic, chef-owned
bistros, but in Los Angeles it all seems lik...
Reservoir of Flavor: Chef Gloria Felix Opens the Newest of

Silver Lake's Grown-Up Restaurants
When the takeout shack Nettys opened in the late 1980s, it was in
retrospect the rst bowshot in the gentrication of Silver Lake, the
rst acknowledgment that the community might include residents
who knew about things like blackened ch...
Thin-Skinned: The Crisp Pleasures of Duck House

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, I wandered by the San Gabriel Beijing duck place Lu
Din Gee yesterday and noticed that it had been replaced by a Sichuan
restaurant. Any idea where to get good duck now? Titus Levi, L.A.
Dear Mr. Levi, Lu Din Gee isnt ...
In the Midnight Hour: Late-Night

Goat Supper at Bulrocho
View more photos in the "Goat Soup at

Bulrocho" slideshow. New Yorkers
consider it a sign of a superior civilization
that its bars stay open until 4 a.m.
Cosmopolitan Spaniards consider it
barbaric to eat dinner before 10 or 11. But
while i...
The Return of Ask Mr. Gold: Looking for Beijing Duck -- Lu Din
Gee Is Now Duck House
7 years ago
Editor's Note: The debut of Squid Ink, LA Weekly's new food blog,
also marks the return of Ask Mr. Gold, which went on hiatus at the
beginning of this year. Our Pulitzer-prize-winning critic Jonathan
Gold is available once more to take your questi...
This Week's Counter Intelligence:

Dom's and Subs -- Little Dom's Big
Easy Secret
Have you ever tasted the fried potatoes at

Little Dom's? Because they're really pretty
extraordinary: little new potatoes boiled
to a point just short of squishiness, then
whacked with a heavy object, popped into
the deep fryer until they resemble...
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the deep fryer until they resemble...
First Bite: Susan Feniger's Street

When it opened in the 1980s, City Restaurant felt a lot like the future
of Los Angeles cuisine: a restaurant that absorbed the inuences of
both the local Asian communities and the exotic places to which a
reasonably hip Angeleno might be expecte...
Dom's and Subs: Po' Boys and

Meatballs, Little Dom's Big Easy
Secret
View more photos in the Little Dom's

slideshow. Have you ever tasted the fried
potatoes at Little Doms? Because theyre
really pretty extraordinary: little new
potatoes boiled to a point just short of
squishiness, then whacked ...
Back on the Street: Susan Feniger's World Cuisine

When it opened in the 1980s, City Restaurant felt a lot like the future
of Los Angeles cuisine: a restaurant that absorbed the inuences of
both the local Asian communities and the exotic places to which a
reasonably hip Angeleno might be expecte...
Triumphal Disguise: Recast as Lunasia, the Suckling Pig Still

Crackles
Triumphal Palace burst onto the dim sum scene with unprecedented
vengeance several years ago, a take-no-prisoners noncart operation
that instantly drew both Alhambra locals and bao-seeking
Westsiders for its giant siu mai, its tiny baked pork buns...
Rivera, John Sedlars return to the

kitchen
View more photos in the "Tequila Sunrise:

Rivera's Spanish Cuisine" slideshow. Is it
possible to begin a restaurant review with
a tracking shot? Because the entrance to
the new Rivera seems to require one,
following the stroll from the park...
Huckleberry Hounds: The Brunch Crush at Zoe Nathan's New

Cafe
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You could put a brunch sign up over a cell-phone store in Santa

Monica and a line would probably curl down the block. But Sunday
mornings at Huckleberry, the new bakery/caf from Rustic Canyon
pastry chef Zoe Nathan, come peri...
Celestino Drago's New City Cuisine:

Gravity of Centro
View more photos in the Drago Centro

slideshow. The most glamorous urban
view in the city, a backdrop that Gene
Kelly might have danced against, that
Georgia OKeeffe might have painted
before she moved out to the desert,
belongs to D...
The Fifth Element: The Umami Burger Challenge

Behold the Umami Burger, the namesake creation of the snazzy new
burger hut on La Brea, a sandwich that rises high enough to put a
mere In-N-Out 4x4 to shrinking shame. The restaurant is dedicated
to the concept of umami, the savory, meaty ...
The Morning After: At Koreatown's

Bon Juk and Mountain, Porridge Is
the Cure

Mountain slideshow. The origins of
French cuisine have been well-rehearsed,
and much has been written about the love
of chiles as an endorphic response to
both oppressive tropical heat and
oppressive Hima...
Where to Drink Now: The New Cocktailian's Guide

Click here for Jonathan Gold's "The New Cocktailians" feature and
view more photos in Anne Fishbein's cocktail slideshow.
BAHOOKA One of the last of the original generation of tiki joints,
which some assert are L.A.s real contr...
The New Cocktailians

Click here for Jonathan Gold's "Where to

Drink Now" cocktail guide and view more
photos in Anne Fishbein's cocktail
slideshow. It is nearing one a.m., and the
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slideshow. It is nearing one a.m., and the

music has started to fade, and the quarrel
that seemed so important over dinner has
alre...
Dumpling Quest: The XLB Factor Beyond Din Tai Fung

7 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Whats the next step up for fans of Din Tai Fung? Im
taking some friends out Saturday and they are die-hard dumpling
fans. Erica, L.A. Dear Erica: If by next step, you mean splendid
doughy Chinese things in addit...
Bamboodles: Packing a Rod


"Packing a Rod" slideshow. You may
have huddled around the display kitchen
at Din Tai Fung to check out dumplings in
the making, or watched the noodle
fabrication at the old Chinatown
Mandarin Deli....
The Curious Palate: A Quizzical Lunch Spot

The Ubiquitous Octopus? You mean the Palavering Pachyderm.

Right the Uxorious Unicorn. Every so often, a restaurant comes
along with a name so unresonant that it its from consciousness
wit...
Riva in Santa Monica: Fraiche's

Thierry Perez and Jason Travi
Translate the Modern Bistro Into
Italian
View more photos in Anne Fishbein's Riva

slideshow. The Santa Monica
Promenade, exhibit A in any serious study
of local urban renewal, is a pretty good
place to nd an art book, a handmade toy
or a pair of jeans that doesnt quite sh...
Market Forces: Fig at the Fairmont Miramar

The food scene in Santa Monica is famously governed by the

rhythms of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, the Wednesdaymorning institution that has become a weekly Woodstock of lettuces,
blood oranges and beets. Fig, the new loungy bistro in the Fai...
Eating for the Adrenaline Rush at
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Eating for the Adrenaline Rush at

Hengyang and Hunan Chilli Kings,
plus Yunnan Garden
View more photos in the "Adrenaline

Junkie Cuisine" slideshow. The action in
San Gabriel Valley restaurants at the
moment is in northern Chinese cooking,
kitchens serving the rough, plain dishes
of the vast areas north and east of Bei...
In the Wurst Way: Downtown's

Wurstkuche Serves Up Bohemia on a
Toasted Roll
View more photographs in the

Wurstkche slideshow. There may be no
more universal pleasure in the world of
meat than a well-made sausage plucked
straight from the re, lmed with a
bubbling mantle of grease, and thrust at
you when it...
Provecho: Luxury Tacos With Grandma Wisdom

Of the many high-end Mexican restaurants to open downtown in the

last few months, Provecho is the most recognizable as, well, a
Mexican restaurant. This isnt to say that your grandmother would
mistake it for El Torito or anything. There are...
The Korean Taco Justice League: Kogi

Rolls Into L.A.
View a full gallery of Kogi photos in the

"Taco Truck 2.0" slideshow. Off a
deserted Rosemead side street, in a huge
parking lot backing up to the San
Bernardino Freeway, the Glendon
advertises itself as the rst boutique hotel
in the San ...
L.A.'s Original Fusion Dude Opens the Mexican Rivera

It would be hard to overestimate the inuence of John Rivera Sedlar

on the Los Angeles restaurant scene. Twenty-ve years ago at St.
Estephe, not coincidentally the rst New American restaurant in the
South Bay, he was the original fusion chef,...
Scandinavian Three-Way: Conny Andersson's AK in Venice
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Scandinavian Three-Way: Conny Andersson's AK in Venice

Abbot Kinney, the founder of Venice, was one of the freakiest city
fathers in history, a dude who got business advice from ghosts, and
loved orgies as much as he loathed Houdini. The Venice
thoroughfare named for him is a bit more conventional the...
Moles La Tia: Beyond the Magnificent

Seven
View more photos of Moles La Tia in the

"Getting Sauced in East L.A." slideshow.
Have you ever had a great Oaxacan mole
negro? Its a remarkable substance, really,
the thick, ink-black essence of up to 80
spices and aromatics, c...
Kris Morningstar's New Casa: Guac y Roll

Since the crumbling City of Nightrooming houses were torn down to

make way for the Music Center more than 40 years ago, Bunker Hill
famously has been a Sahara of cuisine, occasionally punctuated by
outlets of one chain restaurant or another but ne...
Praise Cheeses: Jimmy Shaw's

Loteria Grill Spices Up Hollywood
View more photos of these dishes in the

Loteria slideshow. It is easy enough to
nd chicharrones de pollo in Los Angeles,
bits of chicken fried until they resemble
the emblematic fried pigskin.
Chicharrones of sh, rabbit and squid are
fa...
Air Apparent: Jose Andrs' Bazaar

No restaurant in years has opened with quite as much fanfare as

Bazaar by Jos Andrs in the new SLS hotel, an opera set of a smallplates restaurant designed by Philippe Starck, incorporating a Moss
boutique featuring $1,500 sconces...
Noodle Island: That Slurping Sound

View more photos of these dishes in the

Noodle Island slideshow. Noodle Island
is the most genteel noodle shop in the San
Gabriel Valley, a mini-mall storefront
transformed into a fortress of calm, made
over with thickets of bamboo a...
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over with thickets of bamboo a...
The 10 Best Dishes of 2008

View photographs in the "10 Best Dishes

of 2008" slideshow. Bok Jiri There is an
exquisite rite built around the eating of
fugu in Japan, heightened by danger and
avored with death, although restaurant
blowsh may be safer than res...
Milk's Chocolate Milk Shake: Better Than Yours

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I nd a good chocolate milk shake I

mean a really good chocolate milk shake? I like the In-N-Out shake
just ne, but there has to be something better out there. Rob,
Westdale Dear Rob: I miss the Fi...
Wrap and Roll at Nem Nuong Kanh

Hoa
For photographs of these Vietnamese

dishes, view Anne Fishbein's Nem Nuong
Hoa slideshow. Brian Bullen, the guy in
charge of the lm ads here, is an eater
with a fairly specic obsession. If I write
about an Alhambra Chinese restaurant,
h...
"Man Bites World" Writer Running Out of Cuisines, Asks Mr.

Gold
8 years ago
Drago Centro: Celestino's Grand Gesture, Downtown's Big

Opening
If you have been following Los Angeles restaurants for a while, you
may be as familiar with Celestino Dragos cooking as you are with
your own. The original Celestino was renowned for its fresh pasta in
the 1980s, and his Il Pastaio brought ...
The Year in Reading Food

You know that scene in Annie Hall, when

Diane Keaton tells Woody Allen, as the
two are dividing their library after the
breakup, that all the books on death and
dying are his? When I look over at the
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dying are his? When I look over at the

nightstand, taking quick inventory of
what I&rs...
A Merry Old Soul: Cedd Moses' Remaking of Cole's PE Buffet,

Philippe's French-Dip Rival
Coles PE Buffet was heaven itself at one time, a dank basement bar
across the street from the old Pacic Stock Exchange habituated by
old businessmen, the occasional artist and barely solvent drunks
who had been rotting their livers there ...
Animal's Bacon-Chocolate Crunch Bar and Squiggly Thai

Sweets: Last Bites
8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im planning a unique culinary tour of Los Angeles

with my boyfriend and wanted to see if you could help me. I have
already gured out a restaurant for appetizers and drinks and I was
thinking we would do dinner at Opaque, a....
Pho Town: Noodle Stories From South

El Monte
View more photographs of Garvey

Avenue pho specialties in Anne Fishbein's
slideshow. Garvey Avenue, as it crosses
the Rio Hondo into South El Monte, is
where Asian redevelopment once went to
die in the San Gabriel Valley, where the
creaky t...
Looking for a Hot 3-Way: Chili, Cincinnati-style at Chili John's

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im originally from Cincinnati, where a bevy of chili

parlors (Skyline, Gold Star, Camp Washington) serves chili with
spaghetti (referred to as a 3-way). Of course, the coney (a hot dog
with chili and cheese) is also a staple,...
Getting Fraiche in Italian: Thierry Perez and Jason Travi's New

Riva
At Frache, sommelier Thierry Perez and chef Jason Travi reinvented

the Los Angeles wine bar as a casual-destination restaurant, a busy,
open dining room where the bottles came from Southern France and
the food hewed closer to decent bistro ...
Between the Lines

8 years ago
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8 years ago
Supersuckers: Masan's Tenacious

Tentacles and Fiery Monkfish
For photographs, view Anne Fishbein's

slideshow "Live Octopus, Shrimp and
Urchins: Masan Restaurant's Writhing
Seafood." Korean restaurants, at least the
best ones in Los Angeles, tend to
specialize in a single type of food,
whether tofu or...
Every Reuben Is a Work of Art's

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My favorite sandwich by far is the Reuben, but so far
Ive been unimpressed by L.A.s offerings. Ive even been served
Reubens made with coleslaw instead of sauerkraut, which I nd
offensive. Im originally ...
Full of Beans: Vermont Serves Up Cassoulet

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Theres nally a nip in the air, and Im starting to think
about cassoulet, a dish with some ballast. Any ideas? Gregory,
Brentwood Dear Gregory: Cassoulet, the southwestern French
standard of meat and white bean...
XIV: Royal Tease

In the Rococo period of the Sunset Strip, when half the Vo-Tech
dropouts in the Midwest moved to Los Angeles with visions of
becoming the next Faster Pussycat or Pretty Boy Floyd, the Coconut
Teaszer was where dreams went to die, where fantasies o...
Farm Aid: Auntie Em's ProduceDriven Dreams

For photographs of Auntie Em's, view the

slideshow here. Auntie Ems may be the
grooviest place in Eagle Rock on Saturday
afternoons, a converted bungalow a few
blocks from Occidental College, crowded
with punk moms, rogue artists, Ni...
Jonathan Gold's 99 Essential LA

Restaurants
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For more photos, view Anne Fishbein's

slideshow of "Fierce Chefs and Fiery
Kitchens." If there were such a thing as a
Los Angeles cuisine, I suspect it would
probably be a lot like what they serve at
Houstons, which is to say the mar...
Political Palates: Obama's Taste for Kine Grindz

8 years ago
Local Eccentric: Jason Michaud lands his own place in Silver

Lake
Chef Jason Michaud sometimes seems to be involved in half the new

restaurants in Los Angeles, diving into each just long enough to
install his artfully unpolished brand of Mediterranean cooking. If
youve had an artichoke croquette, socca ca...
Sorry, Fugu: Japan's blowfish may be

exquisite, but Korea's take at Dae
Bok packs a garlicky punch
For photographs of Dae Bok, view Anne

Fishbein's slideshow here. In the farthest
reaches of Koreatown, on a side street in a
part of town where Spanish-language
signs outnumber Korean ones at least 20
or 30 to one, Dae Bok is about as intim...
Lofty Ideals: Bistro Ambitions at

Steven Arroyo's Church & State
For photographs of Church & State, view

slideshow here. If you paid attention to
art in Los Angeles a couple of decades
ago, you probably spent a fair amount of
time on the outer reaches of Industrial
Street, where the exhibition space LACE...
The Nickel on Main: Downtown, Sunny Side Up

A puff of toaster smoke, a mug of strong joe, a glass of carrot juice,

doughnut holes encrusted with crushed bacon even given the
gentrication of downtown, the Nickel is an apparition of a diner, a
few steps from what used to be consider...
I'll Take Your Stinking Bishop: The Search for L.A.'s Funkiest
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I'll Take Your Stinking Bishop: The Search for L.A.'s Funkiest
Cheese
8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Please recommend a great cheese that smells even
more like dirty feet than limburger cheese. Im looking particularly
for that sweaty, stinky, between-the-toes-after-workout aroma. Jon
Jr. Dear Jon Jr.: Im not su...
The Hits and Many Misses of

Michelin's Latest Survey of L.A.
Cuisine
The night before the announcement of

this years Michelin stars, I was at Changs
Garden in Arcadia, an elegant Hangzhouinuenced restaurant headed by chef
Henry Chang, whose restrained, earthy
style became known to the local Chinese...
Must-Stops on a Spicy-Food Marathon

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im not sure if youve ever seen my blog,

foodmarathon.blogspot.com/. I want to follow last weekends
Koreatown food marathon with a Spiciest Food Marathon. Ive been
thinking about Orochon, El Super Taco, Ky...
Koreatown 1.0: A Food Diary

For years, I had contemplated what my

rst dinner in Seoul might be like,
whether Id splash out on a meal of
barbecue or nd the bindaeduk that
would put all other mung-bean pancakes
to shame, discover a radically new radish
kimchi or ste...
Chicken-Fried Steak: Follow the Gravy Trail

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I know Im not in Texas any more, but I still need my
chicken-fried steak every so often. Any suggestions? Dave, West
Hollywood Dear Dave: For at least a couple of decades, my ready
answer for the chicken-fried s...
Octavio Becerra's Fine Palate

If you wanted to know why Palate Food +

Wine is the restaurant worlds favorite
new place to eat in Los Angeles this fall,
above even spots opened by such
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above even spots opened by such

boldface names as Gordon Ramsay,
Laurent Tourondel and Kazunori Nozawa,
you could look...
Philippe the Original Keeps Dipping

Everybody comes through Philippe the Original: movie stars and

guys whove managed to scrounge 11 cents for coffee, politicians and
city workers, families who drive once a year from Visalia to see a
Dodgers game, travelers alighting at Union...
Lawry's the Prime Rib: Give 'em Red Meat

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Twenty-ve colleagues from Seoul are coming to

town in a couple of weeks, and I need a place to feed them. We are
not a rich organization, but I want them to be impressed. Sam, Los
Angeles Dear Sam: Koreatown, of cours...
Best Ramen: Daikokuya

Yes, we know about the old standards and the new, the austere
Tokyo-based chain with branches in local Japanese supermarkets,
and the impeccably credentialed noodle czars. We like the options at
Shin Sen Gumi, where you can dictate the rmness of...
Best Gelato: Bulgarini Gelato

Leo Bulgarini is the wrong guy to mouth off to the day after his
beloved AS Roma squad drops a game to Genoa or Inter Milan, and I
suspect he cheered the bankruptcy of AIG as cosmic revenge for its
sponsorship of the hated Manchester U. His gelati...
Best Hot Dog: L.A. Street Dog at Fab's

Los Angeles, as has been amply proven, is a melting pot of world hot
dog culture, a city where it is possible to nd persuasive versions of
Chicago hot dogs, New York street dogs, Okinawan-Jewish-Mexican
hot dogs, Dodger Dogs, Chinese hot dogs, W...
Best Bagel: Brooklyn Bagel Bakery

First-timers at the Brooklyn Bagel Bakery, a squat factory in a part of

town now better known for burritos and Filipino sinigiang, are often
put off by the display in the cramped retail vestibule, glass cases full
of blueberry bagels and strawberr...
Best Autocratic Sushi: Hiko Sushi

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There are famously two schools of Los Angeles sushi at the moment,
one of them, like Matsuhisa, looking to the global future of sushi; the
other toward the past. Some of the traditionalists, led by Kazunori
Nozawa, of Sushi Nozawa, take their sh...
Best Stinky Food: Jitlada

Sometimes, were in the mood for something delicate, turbot

steamed in lemon leaves perhaps, or thinly sliced East Coast uke in
a nage of verbena and freshly picked chervil. Were a fan of delicately
scented soufes that vanish into...
Best Steak: Cut

Mastro, Arnie Mortons, Wolfgangs, BLT Steak, Ruths Chris, the Palm
the city is awash in expense-account steak, empurpled slabs of
rare, prime beef seared on 1,000-degree grills, and ideally
accompanied by a bottle of C...
Best Shrimp Louie: Grill on the Alley

Shrimp Louie, a goopy seafood salad dressed with a pinkly sweet

mixture of mayonnaise and sugary bottled chile sauce, was the
height of chic before World War I, a big-city dish served in every
restaurant of distinction between Seattle and San Dieg...
Best Roast Chicken: Grill Masters

Angelenos are spoiled for choice when it comes to roast chicken,

from the smoky Peruvian-style chickens at Lolas or Pollos a la Brasa
to the garlicky Armenian birds at Marouch and Carousel, the soft,
savory hens at Brentwoods Reddi-C...
Best Fried Chicken: Kyochon

I often f ind myself drawn to the peppery fried chicken at Berthas, a

soul-food caf not far from Watts, and the crackly skinned fried
chicken with fermented tofu at Mission 261 may be the best dish in
that formidable Cantonese resta...
Best Pizza: Pizzeria Mozza

It is almost impossible to have a civil discussion about pizza in this

city of immigrants, because there may be no foodstuff so intimately
linked to ones sense of identity. People who grew up in New York
usually plump for Vitos or Mu...
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Best Cupcakes: Oinkster

We are living in an age not just of cupcakes but of cupcakes with

publicists, exquisitely art-directed confections whose geometric
decoration owes less to Betty Crocker than to Josef Albers. Cupcake
manufacture seems to occupy the midlife-crisis P...
Best Cobb Salad: The Polo Lounge

The Cobb salad was invented at the old Hollywood Brown Derby
when owner Bob Cobb, faced with either an overfull refrigerator or a
starlet with troublesome bridgework, chopped the elements of a
standard chefs salad into chunks no larger than...
Best Cheesesteak: Philly West Bar & Grill

Despite the downtown sushi restaurant that has reimagined the

cheesesteak as an egg roll stufng, and the close approximations of
cheesesteaks assembled at both Vietnamese banh mi parlors and a
Jewish delicatessen in the deep Valley, the basic fo...
Best Burger: Comme a

There are a lot of things to admire about

Comme a. The selection of ripe cheese is
among the best in the city, and the braised
beef shoulder is exemplary. I love the
mussels steamed in cream and Pernod,
the hand-chopped steak tartare and w...
Chai Thung: Isaan Also Rises

Its almost mind-bending, a good nam

kaow tod, the rustic Thai salad of deepfried rice grains and wetly pink Thai
spam, citrus and slivered herbs, a
kaleidoscopic whirl of crunchiness and
chewiness, sweetness and animal
pungen...
Petaling Their Wares: Desert Rose Opens Up

Angelenos have always been suckers for programmatic architecture,

eager to eat chili in a chili bowl or munch on doughnuts under a 40foot cruller, drink beer inside a bucket or consume fried chicken
inside an abstracted KFC container. The giant m...
Gills Gone Wild: Why Free-Swimming Salmon Is Best

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Gills Gone Wild: Why Free-Swimming Salmon Is Best
8 years ago
A Proper Brasserie: Alain Giraud's

Anisette
There may be nothing quite as satisfying

on a quiet Wednesday afternoon as a late
lunch at Anisette brasserie, the chard and
nectarines from a morning at the farmers
market tucked safely in the trunk of your
car, your breakfast caffeine just start...
Get Stuffed on Arepas

8 years ago
Feel the Buzz at Szechwan Best

The rst time I walked into Szechwan

Best, a cozy spot near an Alhambra
movie-theater complex, the opening
ceremony for the Beijing Olympics was
playing on a big at-screen TV legions
of bright acrobats, a torch-bearing
gymnast ying ar...
Kitchen 24: Bar Crawler's Banquet

Its a hot Sunday noon, the Hollywood farmers market is shoulderto-shoulder, and the swell of the heirloom-tomato-crazed crowd
spills over into ... not Kitchen 24, actually, where, despite its location
just around the corner from the market...
Green Highlights: A Planet-Friendly Palate

8 years ago
Rocking the Rhetoric at the DNC:

Coachella for C-Span Junkies
8 years ago
What I Ate on My Summer Vacation

1. Southern Utah is an area of more rock

formations than people, where the
microwaved cinnamon roll at the Holiday
Inn Express may be as good as its going
to get all day. So it is not extravagant to
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to get all day. So it is not extravagant to

suggest that Moms Caf may ...
Is There Anything Jonathan Gold Won't Eat?

8 years ago
Animal: Boys in the Hood

Fairfax Avenue, as it slumps from Canters

Delicatessen toward the Silent Movie
Theatre, is a testosterone-soaked patch of
turf that might as well be called the Dude
District, a strip of dive bars, gear shops
and expensively retrotted stor...
Until the Green Door Opens Again, Where to Find Fish

Beignets
8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: We went to Green Village on Valley Boulevard today

only to discover that it was padlocked, with an eviction notice on the
door. Is there another Shanghai place anywhere near as good? And
where can we get those amazing sh beignets?...
Dog Days of Summer: Seeking

Sausage Satori
These are the trailing days of summer,

when dusk crowds into the afternoon and
tourists head back to France, Dodger fans
begin to contemplate their teams annual
slide, and the end of peach season is nigh.
A million backyard grills char 5 mi...
Tierra Mia Explores Coffee for the Latino Palate

Were all used to the third-wave coffeehouses by now, the postStarbucks cafs like La Mill or Caffe Luxxe, where beans come not
just from Guatemala but from obscurely located ncas, where
baristas command more machiner...
Palate Food & Wine: Charcuterie That's a Cut Above

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:My husband and I just returned from a trip to

Vancouver, where we ate excellent dim sum, although I couldnt
persuade him to try poutine. But we also ate at a restaurant called
Salt that was basically a bar with a snacky charcu...
Earlez Grille: Hot Dog Thrillers
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Earlez Grille: Hot Dog Thrillers

Across the street from the enormous West

Angeles Cathedral, next to a future
Exposition Line stop and close by a
Muslim school and humming ofce
complexes, Earlez Grille is a major
crossroads of the Crenshaw Strip, popular
with politicians, poets...
Crudo Bar & Ristorante: Getting Raw on the Strip

A summer lunch at Crudo can feel a bit like an afternoon in Italy

the hot, still air; the beads of condensation trickling down your glass
of cold Vernaccia; the barked music of Italian conversation all
around you. (The place is already pop...
Kamiyama: The Way California Rolls

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My British girlfriend is coming to visit the U.S. in a

couple weeks, and she has requested American-style sushi. Weve
been teaching English in Japan for the past few years, so weve had
our ll of good, simple nigiri a...
Fab the Ripper: Every Hot Dog Has Its

Day
When I lived in Manhattan, where public

transportation is king and parking is as
valuable as gold, friends would
sometimes joke that the only reason I
bothered to keep a car in the city was for
my trips to Rutts Hut, a sprawling hotdog sta...
Rush Street: A Man's World

Downtown Culver City is newly rich in restaurants designed to

appeal to the feminine sensibility: places with big salads, places with
dreamboat chefs and dainty organic produce, places with wine bars,
and places where you could safely take your yo...
Piadina Lover Left Flatless

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have fond memories of childhood summers in a

small town named Cervia, on the Adriatic coast in the EmiliaRomagna region. And I have clear memories of walking to piadina
stands for a taste of that distinct atbread, which I loved...
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Akasha, More Than Sustainable

Having worked through its dark ages and

its well-documented renaissance, the
Culver City restaurant scene is entering
its mannerist phase, an era of sleek
surfaces and exaggerated details,
theatrical settings and food that coolly
dees nature. En...
Chef Govind Armstrong Turns Table 8 Into 8 Oz. Burger Bar

It is a truth universally acknowledged: A chef in possession of a good

fortune must be in want of a hamburger stand or pizzeria or
something. However little-known the feelings or views of such a chef
may be on his running a restaurant in his neigh...
'Stan and Deliver: A Substitute for Uzbek Cuisine

8 years ago
Getting Stuffed at Arturo's Puffy

Taco
My friend Julie is one of those kitchen

samurai you sometimes hear about, a
woman who spends her year itting from
hotel room to hotel room, imposing her
will on corporate-owned restaurants in
every corner of the world. The nature of
the job can ...
Winning Ticket: Guilty Pleasures of Loteria Grill's Chicharron

de Queso
If you are a fan of Mexican food, crunch and extremely well-done

cheese, the chicharron de queso at Lotera Grill may be a dish you
have waited for your entire life. Paper-thin sheets of toasted cheese
are peeled straight off the griddle an...
Canadian Club: Dusty's Draws in Poutine Heads

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently heard about the Quebec regional dish
poutine and am dying to try it. I have had great French fries and
cheese curds in Wausau, Wisconsin, but the two together with gravy
or poutine sauce sounds like heaven. Ty H., ...
Circus Maximalist: Monique King's
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Circus Maximalist: Monique King's

Nine Thirty at the W
The Nine Thirty restaurant might be the

last place you would expect to nd a
culinary epiphany in Los Angeles,
jammed into the back of the Westwood W
Hotel, adjacent to a bottle-service bar,
past at least two velvet-rope gauntlets of
bouncers who...
Katsu Sushi: Your Moment of Zen

Before there was Matsuhisa, before there was Nozawa, there was
Katsu Michite, the acknowledged sushi master of Los Angeles, whose
former art-lled Los Feliz sushi bar was one of the dening
restaurants of the 1980s, almost as noticeable for the ...
American Flatbread: The Anti-Steak of California's Central

Coast Wine Country
8 years ago
Dog Day Afternoon: Bites of Chicago

in L.A.
My father was obsessed with hot dogs, to

the point of distraction, and although he
could discuss Bellow, Shostakovich or
Jerome Kern for hours, he was happiest, I
think, expounding on the great
frankfurters of his youth: the taut,
garlicky specime...
Sushi Czar Kazunori Nozawa's Sugarfish: Built for Speed

Kazunori Nozawa is well-known as the sushi tyrant of Studio City,

the chef who made his reputation almost as much for what he
refused to serve (California rolls; spicy tuna) as for his inuential
aesthetic of warm rice and lightly sauced sh, fo...
The Colombian Hot Dog Migrates to L.A.

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: When I visited Miami recently, I kept hearing about
something called a Colombian hot dog, which was dressed with
strange condiments nobody could quite describe. Fruit and
mayonnaise? Something like that. Is there such a thing as a C...
Stick Figures: Cumin-Dusted Xinjiang
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Stick Figures: Cumin-Dusted Xinjiang

Barbecue, at San Gabriel's 818
Xinjiang barbecue is one of the most

compelling snacks in the world, thin
skewers of charred lamb snatched
bubbling from the grill, crusted with
cumin and dried chiles, dusted with salt
and Sichuan pepper, spurting hot grease
when the burning es...
Downtown's Brazilian Caf Wood Spoon

It may be a little strange to start a review by praising a restaurants

tap water, but Wood Spoons really is the best in town: triple-ltered,
no doubt, served sharply cool, and avored with whole cinnamon
sticks, which give the wat...
Dim Sum When the Sun Goes Down

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Many years ago, there was an all-night dim sum caf
in Bostons Chinatown called the Bo Shek Caf. When I went to
Brandeis, we used to go get cheap dim sum up until 4 a.m., when
they would close for an hour to cl...
King Hua's Dim Sum: Breakfast, la

Cart
Its 107 degrees in the San Gabriel Valley

sun, a blasting heat with a sulfurous,
hydrocarbon edge, and the sweating
hordes packed inside the lobby of the new
King Hua huddle under the one vent in
the room that even promises a bit of cool,
j...
That Sucking Sound: The Gross and Greasy Glory of Roasted

Marrowbones
8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Recently, we went on a trip to New York City and had
a wonderful dish of roasted marrowbones, parsley and sea salt at
Prune restaurant in the East Village. We loved it and we still
reminisce about the dish. Were willing to dr...
The Parisian Room: Alain Giraud's Anisette Brasserie

Alain Giraud may be one of the least-known great chefs in America.

He was overshadowed by Michel Richard during his seven-year term
as chef-de-cuisine at Citrus, and his brilliant turn at Lavande, a
grand, Provenal-style restaurant above t...
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grand, Provenal-style restaurant above t...
Tiara Cafe: Fashionably Fred

Fred Eric is the house madman of Los

Angeles cooking, the screaming id, the
chef who has been most likely to succeed
since the 1980s. He worked with Joachim
Splichal at the dawn of the hypertechnical
era of Los Angeles cuisine, ran what were
argua...
Let There Be Meat

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And God
said, let there be bacon, and there was bacon. And God saw the
bacon, that it was good, and God divided the bacon from that which
was not bacon. And the Food Dudes, having brought for...
Fideua: The Poor Man's Paella

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where in L.A. can I get deua? I dont want paella.
Growing up Cuban I have eaten plenty of rice, and there is
something special about the sauce gooping up with the vermicelli
although dont get me wrong. Paella...
Renu Nakorn: Spicy Thai Hot Spot

Reopens
Its practically a shrine, Renu Nakorn, the

site of nearly everybodys rst regionalThai restaurant epiphany, a storefront in
an improbably remote Norwalk strip mall
that just happened to feature catsh larb
instead of mint-leaf chi...
Three Drunken Goats and the Reign of Spain

The march of the wine bars continues, small plates and boutique
vintages, glasses of Bourguiel and Bierzo sneaking into
neighborhoods where Sonoma Chardonnay may have been exotic
just a few months ago. Perhaps the largest wine bar to open in the l...
Soothing That Chacarero Craving at Tienda Rincon Chileno

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, I have been craving a chacarero since I stumbled

across this the best sandwich on Earth next to Filenes Basement
in Chicago several years ago. Please tell me I can nd this
somewhere in Los Angeles so I can i...
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somewhere in Los Angeles so I can i...
Chunju Han-il Kwan Draws Hungry

Night Crawlers With Its Budae Jjigae
A spitting cauldron of superheated liquid

on a tabletop burner, ejecting droplets of
orange goo and puffs of sulfurous steam,
the budae jjigae at the Koreatown
restaurant Chunju Han-il Kwan is
alarming in aspect. Leaves of cabbage
careen across th...
Looking for Curry Laksa: Penang in West Covina

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Last time, I wrote to you regarding my endless search
for eel dishes; this time Im looking for a bowl of curry laksa, as
described by Madhur Jaffrey in a recent issue of Financial Times. I
live close to the Asian restaurants ...
Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood

Six years ago, I ew to England with the express purpose of getting

thrown out of Gordon Ramsays restaurant on Royal Hospital Road,
which with its three Michelin stars was ofcially the best restaurant
in London. Even then, before he had ...
Regional HQ for Spicy BBQ

If you have ever poked your head into a

restaurant serving northern Thai cooking,
you have probably encountered nam prik
oom, a slippery mash made from roasted
hot chiles pounded in a mortar, a blackecked green substance customarily
scooped up ...
Octavio Becerra Goes Solo With Palate Food + Wine

Chef Octavio Becerra has been a loyal accomplice to Joachim

Splichal since the Smiths were still playing live working in the
kitchen at both Patina and Max au Triangle, opening the Pinot
Bistros in Sherman Oaks and Las Vegas, helping to de...
Pretenders: Mock Duck

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, While living in Minneapolis, my wife developed an

addiction to the mock-duck dishes especially the curry varieties
available at the many Vietnamese restaurants there. In our eight
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available at the many Vietnamese restaurants there. In our eight

years here in Southern California, I...
a Star Is Reborn
Some restaurants emerge fully formed, rough edges smoothed by

architects and restaurant consultants, menus run through focus
groups, wine lists put into place by sommeliers who may never have
set foot into the ZIP code. Lot 1 is the other kind of ...
Eat, Like, a Pig

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im looking to purchase a whole suckling pig, and

although I found some online vendors, I cant seem to nd a local
source in Los Angeles. Considering how many Chinese and Filipinos
there are in this city, I am bafed ...
Mayura's Flavors of Kerala

Jammed into a strip mall, sharing a

parking lot with a doughnut parlor, a
kebab house and a check-cashing
emporium, Mayura may be the last place
you would expect to nd a ne Indian
restaurant. But just up the road from the
Culver City hamburger...
Frangela
If you are promiscuous with the talkradio dial, you may have heard Frangela
coming at you on KTLK-AM 1150, a blast
of common sense amid the pasty drone of
their sub-Limbaugh competitors; a pair of
musical, nely meshed African-American
voices, p...
Where to Eat Now

8 years ago
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/Westlake Ciudad Glistening oysters at

happy hour. Fatally strong mojitos. Peruvian-style ceviches and
Bolivian-style tamales, Caribbean paella and a classic pescado
Veracruzana, Bahia-style moqueqas and a fritanga that woul...
Heavy on the Starch at Lola's

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I want chicken and rice and French fries for lunch.
Leon, Pasadena Dear Leon: We could go to Oinkster if you want.
They have good chicken and French fries, and the purple yam shakes
you like. But I dont think they have...
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you like. But I dont think they have...
Noriyuki Sugie guest stars at Breadbar

If star DJs can jet from city to city, rocking essentially the same
house in cities from Berlin to Dubai to Los Angeles, there is no
reason why chefs, crates lled with sh and knives, cant do the
same. Breadbar, the high-end bakery/sandw...
All Hopped Up at The New Father's

Office
It is undeniably pleasant, the new Fathers

Ofce Los Angeles, a gastronomically
inclined bar tted into the eastern ank of
the old Helms Bakery building, crowded
with people who know the difference
between a lager and a double IPA, at...
Brix @ 1601: The Newest Home of Rock-Star Sommelier

Caitlin Stansbury
Caitlin Stansbury is one of L.A.s rock-star sommeliers, a whip-thin

woman with the haunted eyes of a lead guitarist and the ability to
make Greek ross and South African syrahs seem like the most
desirable liquids in the world. Her w...
Fried Chicken Wonderland

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, About 30 years ago I used to eat at Bills Chicken on
Lake and Washington in Pasadena. Bill served nothing but chicken
(and butter-soggy corn on the cob), thrown into a brown paper bag
with a couple slices of white bread. The ...
Fry Daddy: Well-Oiled at the

Thousand Cranes Tempura Bar
Los Angeles Little Tokyo neighborhood

has often been considered the cradle of
real Japanese cooking in America
birthplace of the California roll, base to
century-old confectionery shops, the
nurturer of sushi restaurants during
deca...
Relighting the Fire: The Return of Renu Nakorn

While the expense-account crowd spent most of this year awaiting
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While the expense-account crowd spent most of this year awaiting

overblown East Coast imports, the Thai-food cognoscenti paced
anxiously outside a gentrifying Norwalk minimall instead, worrying
as the crumbling surfaces were rebuilt in stuccoed pa...
Heads and Tails: Salt-Baked Shrimp

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Mon Kee Chinese Seafood in Chinatown closed in, I
believe, 2005. I have been in deep mourning for its rock-salt shrimp
ever since and have not been able to nd a duplicate. It appeared
that the preparation of the giant heads-on shr...
Keep On (Taco) Trucking

The best thing I had to eat last week was a

massive carnitas huarache, from the
Gorditas Lupitas truck on Eagle Rock
Boulevard near Avenue 34. I ate it while
leaning against a warehouse wall in
Glassell Park, washed it down with a
bottle of...
Cook's Tortas, Westside espresso, Eastside spice

Shoehorned into a former Hawaiian barbecue place, near where

Monterey Park runs smack into East L.A., Cooks is a new paradigm
of an Eastside restaurant, a spare, modern tortas caf, with the
chalkboard menu, the sleek pastries and th...
Fishing for Ceviche: Los Balcones

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Would it be possible to tell me some of your favorite

ceviches? I prefer pescado to shrimp. Im a little apprehensive about
how fresh/safe the ceviche is in cheapo places, but if you know a
safe, cheap place, that would be ide...
NYC's BLT Steak

Here they come, the New York restaurateurs, installing clones of

their agships in expensive dining rooms in the meat of the
Westside: Craft, Simon, Bond Street, City Bakery, STK, even Nobu.
Not the least of these is Laurent Tourondels BLT...
Syrian Brunch Sundays at Sham

The Syrian restaurant Sham comes alive

on Sundays at noon, still early enough to
catch crunchy, spice-crusted disks of
warm zaatar bread from the Arab brunch
menu, but late enough to make a lunch of
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menu, but late enough to make a lunch of

shish kebabs and lamby lake kebabs a
poss...
Yung Love at China Cafe

8 years ago
El Sinaloense: Let He Who Is Without

Sinaloa
When you pull into the parking lot behind

El Sinaloense, a small, crowded Mexican
restaurant toward the southern edge of
Huntington Park, the rst thing you will
notice is the sheer number of customized
trucks. Gleaming, dark-windowed beasts,
pic...
La Mill After Dark

I confess: Im kind of crushed out on La Mill. I know the coffee shrine

is more bourgeois than a lot of Silverlakistas might prefer, and
although Adrian Vasquezs croissants are beyond excellent, for a lot
of people they dont come ...
The Eternal Search for Chinese on the Westside

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My wife and I are having a hard time nding quality
Chinese (especially dim sum) and Vietnamese restaurants on our
side of town. For Asian food, the Westside seems like a wasteland.
Any suggestions? Eric A., Mar Vista Dear E...
Khun Dom: Undercover Thai

From the window of a car, Khun Dom

may look like the least-promising Thai
restaurant in Los Angeles, a weary, faded
building in a liquor-store parking lot, with
bars on the windows and painted-out
grafti on the walls that you have
probably spent...
La Grande Orange
In Phoenix, the original La Grande Orange, a bistro-ish place with a

knack for deviled eggs and spicy cheeseburgers, is often described as
a California-style restaurant. But transplanted into the expensively
retrotted Santa Fe depot just south o...
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Getting Baked Alaska

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I have a food question. Do you know of a nice

restaurant that serves baked Alaska? Thank you! Andrea Dear
Andrea: Baked Alaska, broiled meringue mountains bearing
payloads of ice cream and cake, were almost ubiquitous on retr...
Square Meals at the Waffle

Wafes are kind of a big thing in Hollywood. Roscoes has been

serving Harlem-style chicken and wafes to R&B stars since well
before Marvin Gaye got it on, and the Belgian wafes at the Farmers
Market have nourished generations of script...
Finding Happiness in a Slice of

Ibrico Ham at Bar Pintxo
Ibrico ham, the latest obsession of the

food world, is the well-aged product of
cosseted Spanish pigs, at its best handsliced, arranged on a plate, and eaten
plain with the ngers, preferably while
one is sipping on a cold glass of no ...
Not Hot: Where's the Fresh Pita?

8 years ago
Jamn, Jamn
Ibrico ham, the latest obsession of the food world, is the well-aged
product of cosseted Spanish pigs, at its best hand-sliced, arranged on
a plate, and eaten plain with the ngers, preferably while one is
sipping on a cold glass of no ...
A Week in the Life of Jonathan Gold's

Stomach
TuesdayWhen you have lunch at Caf

Pinot with one of the Four Masters of
Jameson Whiskey, certain rules apply.
The wine list will be gently but rmly
removed from your hands, and you will
drink this mans Irish whiskey with your
duck...
Akasha: Lord of the Rings

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Akasha: Lord of the Rings
The best restaurant in Culver City? Half a dozen could claw for the
title. But although eco-friendliness is a hallmark of the new
downtown scene, the greenest restaurant is not in doubt. You could
take the entire executive board of Heal the Bay to...
A French Wrinkle: Prune Danish

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:Where can I nd a good prune Danish in Los Angeles?

I occasionally yearn for them, and my boyfriend is tired of my
complaints. Ive Googled, Chowhounded and yelped, and yet ...
nothing.Not Pruned Since Paris Dear...
La Mill: The Latest Buzz

Whipped McGrath Farms Tahitian squash

soup with coffee-chile crme frache and
whole-wheat croutons? Hand-chopped
arctic char tartare turned out like a
terrine with quatre pices? Spicy
chocolate-chipotle mousse with avocado
pu...
The Mian Event, at Malan in Hacienda Heights

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: For the rst time in my life, I ate the Chinese version
of zhajiang mian. I had only eaten the Korean version of that oniony,
black beany concoction before. But what my aunt made me the
other night was amazing (her family is...
Nightlife Nobu
Nobu Matsuhisa is the most inuential Japanese chef in the United

States, the father of a strange, original cuisine equally rooted in the
sushi kitchen, the informal izakaya, and the seafood preparations of
cosmopolitan Lima, where he rst made ...
Ciudad: The Great Leap Backward

There is something magic about a leap

year, a year divisible by four. In
November, you get to vote against the evil
of your choice. In midsummer, tiny
gymnasts spend two weeks on TV. In
June, if you believe the Phil
Jackson/Lakers Leap Year Theory...
Daisy Mint: Fusion ...

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Sometimes you will do anything for a slightly better bowl of pho:

take a class in Vietnamese cooking, drive to Garden Grove, or book a
trip to Hanoi. And sometimes you want it the easy way. Daisy Mint is
a sweet new pan-Asian cafe near Pasadena Ci...
Ship Shape Sandwich

8 years ago
Dear Mr Gold: I need a good patty melt, man. Like an old-school,

East Coast, sit-at-Woolworth's-with-your-grandfather-while-hechain-smokes-and-talks-about-the-war kind of sandwich. I like
Paty's in Toluca Lake well enough, but I know that there i...
The New Du-par's: Over Easy

In Los Angeles, you can nd French toast

of every description: diner French toast
made with wheat bread and a smear of
yolk, upscale French toast made with
stale croissants, pillowy French toast
made with thick-sliced challah bread,
Italian Frenc...
Little Flower Candy Company Cafe

If you are a person who thinks more of human happiness than the
state of her teeth, you probably have a bag of Little Flower caramels
stashed in your desk right now: chewy, buttery, melty lozenges
avored with vanilla, lemon or French sea salt, s...
Safe Bets for Brunch

8 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Every year my boyfriend and I bet on the Oscar
results ... loser takes the winner to the brunch of his or her choice.
This year I won big and I want to choose a brunch with amazing food
in a wonderful setting. Price is no object,...
Park's Barbecue: Prime Time

Every self-respecting Korean-barbecue

enthusiast has at least a small portfolio of
restaurants to be pulled out for the
appropriate occasions: Tahoe Galbi for
dinner with the parents, Sa Rit Gol for
gourmet evenings, Castle for a boozy
night out w...
At Nigerian Eatery Saaris, America Is

Turning to Fufu!
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Turning to Fufu!
Saaris is a cheerful Nigerian restaurant at

the southern end of Inglewood's Market
Street district, a storefront across the
street from the big post ofce, three steps
down, with African art on the walls. CNN
blares from the television set mounte...
Citrus at Social: The Best Fries of Your Life

The rst thing you should probably know about Citrus at Social,
Jeffrey Chodorow's just-retooled restaurant dropped into the former
Hollywood Athletic Club, is that the French fries are cooked in
claried butter. Let me repeat that: French fries...
Dining Out After the Oscars

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Not everyone who attends the Oscars can go to the
studio parties or the Governors Ball. But after the three-hour show,
while looking fabulous, where can we go to dine at 9 p.m. on a
Sunday night? Been to The Ivy too many times. Some...
Breaking Free: L.A. Wine Culture

The magic of wine is this: Even at a

restaurant you don't particularly care for,
say a Venice wine bar populated with
trust-fund dudes and winking navel rings,
rubbery scallops and cured-meat platters
that wouldn't be out of place at the Olive
Gar...
Where to Eat Now: New to the List

9 years ago
The following are excerpts from reviews by Jonathan Gold that have
appeared in L.A. Weekly and have been recently added to our online
dining guide. To read about Jonathan Gold's 99 Essential L.A.
Restaurants for 2007 (and the Google map of the 99)...
Restaurants for Wine Lovers

A.O.C. The cheese-and-charcuterie-intensive inspiration for

basically all of the new generation of wine bars, Suzanne Goin's
A.O.C. is the kind of place you drop into for a glass of Cassis and
maybe a bit of octopus, then a glass of Sancerre ...
I Yam What I Yam: Mr. Pizza Factory

Have you ever seen the Grand Prix pizza
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Have you ever seen the Grand Prix pizza

at Mr. Pizza Factory, a gleaming new
pizzeria in Koreatown? Because even in a
culinary crossroads such as Los Angeles,
the Grand Prix is a remarkable object.
This weighty, doughy construction,
swirled like a...
Joachim Splichal's Paperfish

Like a powerful army with connections at the farmers' market,

Joachim Splichal's conquering forces continue to march through
Southern California, installing the chef's brand of glossy modern
cuisine in every corner of the land. And here is his new...
Fat Tuesday Temptations

9 years ago
Meet the Antipress: La Mill Coffee

When you order a cup of aged Sumatran peaberry at the new La Mill
in Silver Lake, a coffee sommelier comes out to your table to explain
the nuances of the brew, setting down a willowy carafe encased in
tight, zippered neoprene and leaving an elect...
New Pork City: Eating Everything but

the Squeal
The hippest dish among New York City

chef dudes at the moment is probably still
the pig's ear at the West Village gastropub
Spotted Pig, a huge, veiny appendage,
carefully deep-fried to a deep bronze,
presented naked and sputtering and
unadorned o...
Where to Find Beef Wellington

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: How could you mention the new book on Syrian
Jewish cooking in your column and not name the author? Jonathan
Roberts, Hollywood Dear Mr. Roberts: You, sir, are correct. The book
in question was almost certainly Aromas of Alep...
The Chosen Pancake

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently gave my wife a book on the Jewish foods of
Aleppo, Syria. Do we have any good ethnic Jewish food in the L.A.
area? Mark Brownstein Dear Mr. Brownstein: Ethnic Jewish food in
Los Angeles? There seems to be practical...
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Los Angeles? There seems to be practical...
Hunan Seafood: Top Catch

Is there a contest for the best steamed sh

head in the San Gabriel Valley? Because if
there is, the example at the new Hunan
Seafood might win the prize a
mammoth, silvery head, jaws agape, eyes
frosted in death, a half-inch of chopped
c...
Burmese Underground
In the crook of a Sepulveda curve, just

down the street from Titos Tacos,
Jasmine Market is an unassuming takeout
joint next to an old Radio Shack, a place
you would whiz by if road construction
hadnt immobilized southbound trafc i...
Where to Find L.A.'s Best Prosciutto

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Even from my own experience, I know there are
innumerable types of prosciutto. But, in your opinion, where in L.A.
can I get the best, or at least some of the best? Robert S., Los
Angeles Dear Robert: There are actually not a...
Double Dumplings
If you are of a certain bent, you have probably spent many mornings
milling around the parking lot outside the original Din Tai Fung,
checking off too many items on the clipboard menu issued with your
queue number, waiting for your shot at a steam...
Where to Get Good Carpaccio

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Having recently married a vegetarian, Im now

suffering from serious beef withdrawals. Please recommend a
restaurant that serves a satisfying beef carpaccio. Rosalee Hite,
North Hills Dear Ms. Hite: You married a vegeta...
Tirupathi Bhimas Gets Regional

Atop a newish mini-mall in Artesias Little

India, Tirupathi Bhimas is a glowing ying
saucer of a restaurant, a circular secondstory dining room ringed by windows that
look out toward other new mini-malls
sari emporia and jewelry ...
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sari emporia and jewelry ...
Green Parties
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My friends and I were thinking of going to Chinatown

for a festive dinner. Can you recommend a place that has at least a
few vegetarian dishes and is more like a restaurant than a cafeteria?
Jennifer A., Hollywood Dear Jennif...
Top 10 Dishes of 2007

Porchetta In Umbria and southern

Tuscany, porchetta is less a foodstuff than
a sacrament entire pigs stuffed with
garlic and wild fennel, roasted in special
high-heat ovens, and sold on weekends
from behind the counters in bars, on
outdoor...
Where To Eat Now

9 years ago
Mode: Fashionably Late-Night

On a deserted Fashion District block, a few steps from a dime-adance joint and anchoring what will probably be yet another new
condo strip, Mode is a cheerful beacon in the dark, a new 24-hour
brasserie for those of us who urgently need oysters a...
Upper Cut: Pacific Dining Car Steak

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im wondering if you know of any steak-house

restaurants between Monterey Park and downtown L.A. My friend
usually likes to go to the Venice Room in Monterey Park, but Im
looking for something new. Warren, Monter...
A Son of the Golden Deli Dynasty

Makes a Comeback with Vietnam
Of all the well-documented marvels of

the San Gabriel Valley, perhaps none has
inspired as much devotion as the
Vietnamese noodle shop Golden Deli,
which has overowed its mini-mall
parking lot since the 1980s. Its a stickytable joint wit...
I Can has Cheezburger?
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I Can has Cheezburger?

The cheeseburger paradigm has shifted a

lot of times over the last several years,
and I have been privileged to taste most
of the contestants, from the Kobe-beef
slider at Cut, to Hungry Cats pug burger,
to the burger at Manhattans d...
Emperor Taste Seafood

Nothing excites a veteran San Gabriel Valley eater like a cheap-eats

ad in the local Chinese papers and a string of red good-luck lanterns
hung outside the entrance to a new restaurant especially the kind
of big-budget Cantonese banquet re...
When Bad Meals Happen at Good Places

9 years ago
NYC-Style Pizzaiolos Rated, Slice Against Slice

Discussions of the virtues of the artisanal pies at places like Mozza,

Antica Pizzeria and Caioti are often conducted with the sort of
donnish decorum you might associate with cheese plates and tiny
little glasses of sherry; the best slice joints,...
A New Breed of Dog

With the opening of a 24-hour downtown brasserie, a Joachim

Splichal sh restaurant in the old Maple Drive space, a grand sushi
bar in the Eurochow space, a Japanese chain alighting in Century
City and a major expansion of R23, this is probably t...
Van Nuys: A Great Undiscovered Restaurant Neighborhood

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently moved to Van Nuys and cannot seem to nd
a gourmet restaurant anywhere! What I mean by gourmet is the
quality of the food. Any great ideas? Sara, Van Nuys Dear Sara:
Nobody would accuse Van Nuys of h...
N.W.A: A Hard Act to Follow

9 years ago
This article was originally published on

May 5, 1989. August 88: Eazy E props his
Air Jordans up on a desk, stares at the
ceiling, and leaves the room whenever the
beeper on his belt goes off, which is often.
He answers most of the reporter...
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Michelin Tires
If you were a Frenchman entrusted with the task of assembling an

ideal Los Angeles dining guide, you might y in experienced,
disinterested inspectors to scour the mainstream restaurant scene,
supplemented perhaps by a team of locals familiar wit...
Comfort Food in Comfort

The smell of paint was still heavy in the air last week, the grand
entrance still resembled a construction site, and work guys in
overalls clambered up and down the faade. But years after the
announced expansion, years of squeezing in like...
Frache Idea
9 years ago
My Taco: Frying High

Have you ever seen a plate of carne asada fries? If done properly, the
dish is an awesome assemblage, a totem of unspeakable desires a
football-size construction of guacamole, gobs of melted cheese and a
mound of French fries that seems to...
Terroni: That's Italian!

The strangest thing about Terroni may be the name of the restaurant,
a pejorative term for southern Italians slung mostly by hooligans in
the North, a rough word meaning peasant but with strong
overtones of mud people t...
Burrito's Kings
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I know this probably disqualies me from the human
race, but I am beyond tired of the kind of burritos you get at taco
stands. Im not quite looking for the burritos I enjoyed as a boy in
rural Pennsylvania, but there has to ...
Ribbed for Her Pleasure

You may have visited barbecue stands built around tall chimneys,
barbecue stands surrounded by dozens of barrel smokers, and
barbecue stands so rickety that they seemed to be held up by the
inch-thick patina of petried smoke on the walls. The ol...
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Dining la Cart at Whole Foods

I was not surprised to nd myself in a tapas bar yesterday,

contemplating a glass of 98 Clos des Mouches premier cru white
Burgundy while swabbing a sliced baguette through a runny smear
of triple-crme Brillat-Savarin cheese. But i...
Where to Find Frozen Custard

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Yogurt seems to be all the rage these days, but when I
was in Las Vegas recently, I ate at a custard shop near the
Stratosphere called Luv-It Frozen Custard, and I liked it a lot. I also
like Vegas, but I dont want to have to...
Where to Eat Now

9 years ago
Click here for LA Weekly's full, searchable database of restaurants.

Downtown L.A./Chinatown/WestlakeKim Chuy The basic deal at this
noodle shop is, of course, the noodles: slippery rice noodles or
rmer, square-cut egg noodles, submerged in brot...
White Gold
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I stopped by Drago the other day and spoke with the
head honcho about the upcoming white-trufe season. He said he
got his rst shipment, but he was biding his time. You can never
trust the rst shipment, he said. W...
Transcendent, Transitory Tapas

Imagine an unsweetened bowl of oatmeal, tinted leprechaun green

with pured parsley, avored with garlic, swimming with the black,
elongated, frankly unattractive bodies of fried escargot. The slippery
texture of the oatmeal mimics what we...
Cereal Thrillers
In Chicago a few years ago, as the nations food press frothed about
the citys role at the front of the molecular gastronomy movement,
the excitement among 10-year-olds was about the Wacker Drive
restaurant Cereality, which specialize...
A Federal Case
Most Los Angeles Mexican restaurants once seemed to be more or

less the same, bastions of enchilada dinners and soggy chiles
rellenos, Mexican pizza and a carnitas plate if you were lucky. I
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rellenos, Mexican pizza and a carnitas plate if you were lucky. I

once proposed a law that would revoke the ...
Foodie Floor Show

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Theres a Mexican restaurant in New York Citys

Sutton Place neighborhood called Rosa Mexicano that has long been
popular for preparing guacamole at your table. Though Ive been a
food fanatic in L.A. for the bette...
Globavore or Locavore
Twenty-ve years ago, Michaels, the Santa Monica restaurant that

helped jump-start California cuisine, was famous for the exotic
sourcing of its ingredients. The birthplaces of many of those
ingredients were listed right there on the menu....
Valentino for the Rest of Us

Valentino has long been L.A.s ultimate special-occasion Italian

restaurant, a bells-and-whistles place where you reserve a table
weeks in advance when youre approaching an anniversary,
promotion to partner or a birthday divisible by ...
Blind Tasting
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I was watching CSI the other night, and a ridiculous
murder took place in a restaurant where everyone eats in pitch dark
and the waiters are blind. I hear that this is a real restaurant called
Opaque, and its not in Las Vegas...
Salad Lovers, Get to the Point

There can be beauty even in a quick-serve ofce-building canteen

Josiah Citrin and Rafael Lunetta taught us that at Lemon Moon. But
even in downtown Culver City, a neighborhood as thick with great
sandwich shops as practically anywhere ou...
Tired of Thai
9 years ago
Remembering Casa Biancas Sam Martorana

The rst time I stepped into Casa Bianca, I knew it was the pizza
parlor I had always hoped to nd in California, perfumed with a
whomp of garlic, alive with the roar of customers who had been
clustering around the checkered tablecloths for deca...
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Where to Eat Now

9 years ago
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/Westlake E3rd Steakhouse Someday,

when each of us is forced by redevelopment-agency storm troopers
to eat supper in atmospheric Coldplay-soaked downtown fusion
restaurants at 1 a.m., we may grow a little nostalgic for the d...
Kumo: On a Roll
The southwest corner of Kings Road and Melrose is where good

restaurants go to die, the original address of Ma Maison damning
future occupiers like a curse on a tribal burying ground; Tulipe, Jozu
and Citrine falling like so many swatted spiders. ...
Happy Meals
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently got a new job in Culver City. Im curious to
know if youve found affordable places in Culver City for lunch.
Other than fast food, I havent found anything that has cost less than
$10. Michael De...
Larkin's Soul Revival

Blink and youll miss Larkins, a converted house in a newly

refurbished corner of Eagle Rock, just a few yards from where you
rush down the enormous slope heading off the Foothill Freeway, at
the back of a corner lot where you would e...
Counter Intelligence
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/Westlake Ebisu How many izakaya are

there in Los Angeles? How many grains of sand lie upon Zuma
Beach? Ebisu, named after the nightlife-intensive Tokyo
neighborhood, is the newest restaurant from the people behind the
splen...
Stop the Music!

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I need your help. In my experience, a good number of

restaurants play music that is too loud to allow one to converse
while dining, let alone savor the food. I have a number of times asked
to have the music turned down, or at least ...
Best Whey Out

A platter of the right kinds of cheese, accompanied by the

appropriate condiments, could probably start a party all on its own,
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appropriate condiments, could probably start a party all on its own,

the splendid ooze of ripe raw-milk Epoisse tangoing with a owery
El Porfaio, a creamy Fourme dAmbert knocking ...
Best Emergency Protein

9 years ago | Longform
L.A.s Chinese and Vietnamese communities are riddled with artisan

jerky shops, places where you can get not just a half dozen kinds of
beef jerky, including one blown out to resemble sawdust, but pork
jerky, chicken jerky and a yellowish cu...
Best Fizz
Most wine merchants realize that they are basically in the service
industry, there to atter your exquisite taste, talk the talk, maybe at
the outside to nudge you toward an Oregon Chardonnay instead of
the Napa stuff youve been drinking s...
Best Soup Dumpling

Xiao long bao, Shanghai-style soup dumplings, are primary objects

of desire in the San Gabriel Valley, hermetically sealed demi-orbs
lled with minced pork and potentially lethal doses of scalding-hot
juice. Sometimes the soup dumplings will be e...
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

It is still dark when I wake up, and I pad down the stairs to put
together one last breakfast of biscuits, eggs and juice before the rest
of the family gets out of bed. The biscuits are made with cultured
Vermont butter and the soft, ne our I ...
Fresh Fish and Frog at Hong Yei

There are a lot of new Sichuan restaurants in Los Angeles real

ones, staffed by chefs from Chungking or Chengdu, most of them
with splendid cold-appetizer cases, decent dan dan mien, and food of
a numbingly hot complexity most of...
Brooklyn Bagel's Hole Foods

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: As a native New Yorker, I have yet to nd a decent

bagel west of the Hudson River. Most of the so-called bagels here
dont deserve to be called by that name. Is there anywhere in L.A.
that sells something approaching a New Yo...
Frache Airs
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In the new Culver City, where the creative arts are to the citys job
base what automobiles are to Detroit, Mediterranean-inuenced
restaurants multiply like limited-edition giclee prints, and there is
probably not a garage or a warehouse d...
Magical Mystery Tour

To the small, food-obsessed population of Angelenos who know the

difference between a sliver Jabugo ham and a chunk of mere jamon
serrano, Bastide is the Montrachet-slinging equivalent of Willy
Wonkas chocolate factory, with Space Jam auteu...
Red Scare at Boiling Crab

In the 18 hours and 43 minutes since my last meal at Boiling Crab, I

have taken three showers, washed my hands thirty-seven times,
soaked in the juice of four lemons and scrubbed twice with a
stainless-steel bar. I have brushed my teeth six times,...
The Missing Rice Table

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Whenever we are in Amsterdam, we always try to

take in an Indonesian rijsttafel or rice table. Do you know any
Indonesian restaurants in L.A. that serve this? I know there are
Indonesian deli/fast-food places around, b...
Where To Eat Now

9 years ago
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/Westlake ADCB?Ciudad Glistening

oysters at happy hour. Fatally strong mojitos. Peruvian-style
ceviches and Bolivian-style tamales, Caribbean paella and a classic
pescado Veracruzana, Bahia-style moqueqas and a fritanga that...
Bollinis Pizzeria
At the bottom tip of Monterey Park, in a neighborhood better known

for its tacos than for anything Chinese, Bollinis is an unlikely bastion
of real Neapolitan pizza, a narrow storefront serving as a
rudimentary support mechanism for the mag...
Neat, With a Twist

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I nd a decent plate of the feta, mushroom
and grainladen treat known as Neatloaf? I dont just want it by itself
either. I want it with piping-hot veggie-gravy-smothered mashed
potatoes! I went to art school...
Close to the Flames
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Close to the Flames
Even the quickest glance into Flame, the slick Iranian restaurant on
the Tehrangeles stretch of Westwood Boulevard, reveals the shiny
clay sphere at its heart, a giant tiled eyeball, its pupil shooting re,
constantly tended by men who prod the b...
Flying High at Takami

The rst thing you should know about Takami, a new Japanese-ish
restaurant on top of the 811 Wilshire building downtown, is that it
offers a splendid view of the rooftop pool at the Standard, which
means, if you are so inclined, that you can spy ...
All in the Familia

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I heard somewhere that you visit four or ve

restaurants for every one that ends up in a column. I realize that
most of the rejected places are probably pretty bad, but you must be
holding something back. What restaurants are you k...
Mac Daddy: Las Nuevas and Cemitas

Poblanas Elvirita
This column was supposed to be about

Las Nuevas, the popular sandwich shop
in the Calle Primero district of East L.A.
The shop is marked with a battered old
TORTAS sign outlined in neon, and a
notice in the window reads El Rey...
Lenchita's: Corn Star

For some people, discussions of

Lenchitas begin with the massive
weekend lines: Pacoimas minivan set,
Dodger-lidded four-generation families,
hot CSUN kids out for a Saturdaymorning bowl of albondigas a vague,
undifferentiat...
Good to Go
Less a restaurant than a sleekly upscale deli, a source for fashionable

cured meats, exotic trufed cheeses from the Veneto, impeccable
meatball sandwiches, Kobe-beef pastrami, and a pistachio cookie
than which there is no other, Po...
Case Sensitivity
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Case Sensitivity
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Im not a wine person. It does a number on my

stomach, especially if its empty. In most cases, Ill take a cheap
North American beer or respectable gin martini over a bottle of vino.
But aside from a sore belly, w...
Northern Light
Twenty-ve years ago, back when most

Northern-style Chinese cooking was still
being prepared by Cantonese guys who
couldnt have found Tianjin on a map, the
original Mandarin Deli was a revelation, a
Chinatown dive that introduced Los
Angel...
Tandoor at Heart
A collaboration between an American chef, a chef newly arrived

from India and the Mumbai-based restaurant chain Gaylord,
Tanzore is a new attempt to reinvent the modern restaurant as a
place with a tandoor oven at its heart. Sleek and modern in th...
Hearts On Fire
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: A Peruvian-born co-worker is jonesing for

anticuchos, marinated and grilled beef heart. She has been to
Peruvian restaurants all over the city but has yet to nd the dish on
the menu. Do you know of any place serving this? A...
Where To Eat Now

9 years ago
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/Westlake Izayoi Izayois mastermind is

chef Junichi Shiode, the whiz who used to run Sushi Ryo, one of
those rare secret addresses beloved by chefs seeking a cuisine that
many customers didnt even know it serve...
Where to Eat Now

9 years ago
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/Westlake Capperi Restorante Little

Tokyos Capperi, where almost all of the customers are Japanese,
may be the most orthodox old-style Italian restaurant in Los
Angeles, a living museum of the sights and smells that m...
Pig Love
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Like most sensible people, Im obsessed with all
things pig. My birthday is coming up and Id love to have 12 people
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things pig. My birthday is coming up and Id love to have 12 people

sit around a table at a place that worships the animal as much as I
do. I did Normans last year ...
Flame War
The kua kling Phat Tha Lung at Jitlada

may be the spiciest food you can eat in
Los Angeles at the moment, a sweet, thick
brown curry tossed in a wok with
shredded beef, a turmeric-rich endorphin
bomb that is traditionally one of the
hottest mouthf...
Chop Shop
Former Mayor Richard Riordan may be famous for his custodianship

of the Original Pantry, the gritty 24-hour chophouse that has been
feeding Los Angeles since the Depression, but you are more likely to
run into His Honor at a place like Valentino o...
Get Stuffed
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I nd Chicago-style deep-dish pizza? My

favorite in Chicago, Lou Malnati, does mail order, but I dont exactly
trust it this time of year. And dont tell me Zelos. Its good, but its not
th...
Bird Is the Word

I pan-fried 75 pieces of chicken the other

day, legs and thighs from sustainably
raised chickens that I had brined in salted
buttermilk, dusted with our and fresh
herbs, and sizzled in the unholy brew of
lard, butter and country-ham drippings
pr...
Soup Opera
Even if you have never heard of Bae Yeon

Jung, an hour or so at her BYJ Restaurant
may make you as familiar with the former
Korean sitcom star as any veteran couch
potato in Seoul. Her portrait, eyebrows
raised, head cocked in a pose that sold a
m...
Praise the Lard

9 years ago
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9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Since you have already managed to turn the
restaurant section of the Weekly into something resembling the Los
Angeles Review of Lard, where do you nd good lard in Los Angeles?
Not that sour stuff in the red cartons, but something ...
The Big Idea

The historian Isaiah Berlin once famously divided writers into foxes,
who it around among experiences, and hedgehogs, who are
devoted to a single organizing principle. Among chefs in Los
Angeles, perhaps in the world, Nancy Silverton is the most...
Slab City
Weve talked about lardo before, I think,

the traditional cold cut from the ancient
Colonnata quarries innorthern Tuscany:
slabs of pure, white hog lard cured for
months in special cofn-shaped basins
hewn from marble. You see lardo pretty ...
La Carte Gogo
When the original Craft opened in Manhattans Gramercy Park

neighborhood, it was a fantasy restaurant, put together by a man,
Gramercy Tavern chef Tom Colicchio, who actually called his
cookbook Think Like a Chef, a place where customers wer...
Pressed Success
9 years ago
Pressed Success Where to nd the best Cuban sandwich Dear Mr.

Gold: I was wondering where I would be able to nd a delicious
Cubano sandwich and some strong Cuban espresso. Ellis Song, Los
Angeles Dear Mr. Song: Cuban sandwiches, those di...
House of International Pancake

9 years ago
House of International Pancake Where to nd Yemenite atbread

Dear Mr. Gold: An Israeli friend bet me that I could not nd any
decent Yemenite Jewish food in L.A., in particular the local version of
atbread, known as melawach. Can you help me...
A Swish Best Served Cold

9 years ago
A Swish Best Served Cold Hot and bothered over red wine protocol
Dear Mr. Gold: So Im in Axe last night, ordering what surely would
be a delicious $16 glass of Zin from Turley Vineyards, one of my
faves. Its served to me at room temp...
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Al Langer: The Counterman

{mosimage}When I am showing rst-time

visitors around Los Angeles, I like to take
them for a pastrami sandwich at Langers,
the old-line Jewish delicatessen across
the street from MacArthur Park. By the
time they get to the place, either fr...
Small Talk
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Recently Ive developed a craving for sliders. Ive tried
them at Hamburger Hamlet, the Counter, the Arsenal and French 75.
So far Ive liked the Counters best. Help me with my research: Who
do you think has...
Garbanzos!
When Wolfgang Puck decided to stop

serving foie gras in his restaurants earlier
this year, many of us thought it would
leave a yawning gap. Other American
chefs, especially in Chicago, had taken
foie gras off their menus, but in most
cases it wasn...
99 Essential Restaurants: The

Metropolitan Palate
{mosimage} If you frequent a certain kind

of restaurant, it may seem that every Los
Angeles meal includes dandelion greens
and pork belly, a broth of Spanish chorizo,
and three kinds of Oltrepo Pavese by the
glass. If your tastes swing in other di...
99 Essential - List Only

Abode A theme park of ostentatious sustainability, Abode is a

loungey place where the neo-Balinese decorations are wrought from
recycled wood, the menu pays at least lip service to farmers-market
produce, house-made charcuterie and ecologically co...
Get On Your Grill

I scream, you scream, we all scream . . . for grilled cheese. And for
those of us who are nostalgic for Mozzarella Monday at Jar, for
whom Thursday Grilled Cheese Nights at Campanile do not come
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whom Thursday Grilled Cheese Nights at Campanile do not come

often enough, there is now Meltdown, a shiny, fast-f...
Beyond Kebabs
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:I miss the soul-warming homemade Afghan food in

Fremont up in the Bay Area and the amazing Afghan haute cuisine at
Helmand in Boston. Does L.A. have any good options?Mailan
CaoDear Mailan Cao:The Los Angeles area was once fair...
Magnum Opus
Opus occupies huge, awkward quarters

tted into the Wiltern building 17 years
ago for Mario Tamayos Atlas, a supper
club with pan-Latin food that probably
wasnt much better than what your
aunties served at bridge parties in the
1950...
West Hollywood Ho!

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:Any suggestions as to what Troubadour-adjacent

dinery might be good to take the Meat Puppets out to dinner? Allow
me to treat you to some serious Belgian beverages at Lucky
Baldwins in the near future.Dave Shulman, The ...
The Chili Chemist

This is probably the moment where I

should evaluate Hoffmans chilis, to note
that the Roasted Garlic Beef has at least
three levels of garlickiness; that the
Tecate chili, made with beer, is heavily
seasoned with cinnamon; that the
Durango,...
Getting Frache
Again we are in Culver City, where new, vaguely Mediterraneaninuenced restaurants multiply like roly-poly bugs after a rain. And
again, we are in the presence of stripped brick, an open kitchen, an
ambitious wine list rich in Rhones, and women ...
Hen Party
{mosimage}Veiled in steam like an idol

from a 1930s serial, samgyetang, chickenginseng soup, ranks rst among the
massive roster of Korean morning-after
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massive roster of Korean morning-after

tonics: broth, salt, a tiny hen stuffed with
glutinous rice and aromatics, whose
health-givi...
The Patina of Youth

For devotees of clean, precise, market-oriented global cooking, it can

be argued that the heyday of Patina may have been as important a
crucible of Los Angeles dining as Spago was a decade earlier. Patina
was the laboratory where a generation of y...
Yeast From the East

9 years ago
Hot Fusion
There is the classic Chinois model of fusion cuisine, which is to say

Asian avors and techniques introduced within the context of
European cuisine. There is the Matsuhisa model, which introduces
Western avors into Japanese structures. And then...
Grade A-Won
Like its more rice-intensive counterpart

bi bim bap, hwe dup bap is an interactive
creature that doesnt really come into
existence until you mix it together, tossing
and stirring, sluicing the salad with as
much sweet, hot chile paste as yo...
Wine n' Burger

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:I have a burger-loving friend coming to visit, and Im

at a loss to nd him a great burger in L.A. Fathers Ofce has a great
burger, but I dont like the roll it comes on or the scrum; there are too
many Tommy&rs...
Hot-Pot Pocket
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:My boyfriend has been craving what he calls Korean
hot pot. He said they crack a raw egg on top and it comes with all
sorts of little sides of kimchi and other goodies. His birthday is
coming up soon, and I would like t...
Sadao City
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Sadao City
Down the street from the big Serbian

temple, not far from Vietnamese noodle
shops, a Taiwanese restaurant where the
waitresses dress like Navajos, and the
most rened Mexican restaurant in the
San Gabriel Valley, the CambodianChinese restaurant ...
Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro

Arvizu
Los Angeles, if you look at it a certain way,

is the second-largest city in Mexico, with
a bigger Mexican population than
Guadalajara, Veracruz or Puebla, and
arguably a cultural presence within
Mexico second only to Mexico City as
well. But until...
Dave Naz
One of the most disturbing images to

appear on the Internet this year may have
been Dave Nazs snapshot of his
girlfriend, Orianna Small, still groggy
from anesthesia, with her freshly
extracted wisdom teeth arranged into a
loose mound on her...
Alex Weiser
I dont know Alex Weiser, but the farmers-market legend has spent
more time in my kitchen than the teakettle these past few years.
Summer sees Weiser Family Farms tomatoes, superpungent
Charentais melons and obscure Persian melons; in fall, t...
A Bite at the Apple

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:I grew up in New York eating terric, oily, foldable
pizza everywhere I went. I have now lived in Pasadena for 30 years,
and Id never go back to N.Y. But I miss the pizza. Is there any pizza
in Los Angeles that comes close to...
Where To Eat Now

9 years ago
Downtown L.A./Chinatown/WestlakeChop Suey Caf From 1935

until it faded away 50-odd years later, the Far East Caf was a
mainstay of the Little Tokyo neighborhood, with battered wooden
booths, tall ceilings and a neon Chop Sue...
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Shell Game
Imagine the bliss: a dozen glistening

oysters marking the perimeter of a heavy
plate of ice, dewy brine gathering in the
cups of their deep shells, the black-edged
anges of the naked animals still inching
at the approach of a fork. These are v...
Studies in Chocolate
You have tasted pea soup, Im pretty sure of that. You may have
tasted fresh pea soup lightened with mascarpone. But I suspect you
have never tasted the pea soup on the menu at the new Santa
Monica restaurant Abode, which is dotted with clot...
Raw Sensuality
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I am hoping you can let me know of a restaurant that
is risqu, inexpensive .?.?. and serves delicious sushi. Im celebrating
a birthday and could use a really sexy night out. The naughty-sushi
place on Sunset is too pr...
Sole Food
{mosimage} Half of Highland Park bellies

up to the counter at El Huarache Azteca
#1 on weekend afternoons, guzzling
housemade horchata, tepache and
watermelon drink out of foam cups the
size of oil cans; hovering over the few
oilcloth-covered tabl...
Do Fries Go With That Ube Shake?

{mosimage} There are a lot of ways to

cook a French fry. You could sizzle a
basketful of precooked frozen fries in hot
oil, which can sometimes produce a
spectacular result as at Coras in Santa
Monica and even, reputedly, at the Nap...
Vietnamese Tabletop Barbecue

9 years ago
The Taste of Things to Come
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The Taste of Things to Come
Under the awning of a decaying mini-mall last Saturday, past the

samples cart, around the shuttered barbecue stand and tailing out
into the sunbaked parking lot, hundreds of people patiently waited
for a peek at the new Bulgarini, hungry for the f...
Where To Eat Now

9 years ago
The Artful Diner

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My girlfriend is an artist, and shes working hard to

teach her love of art to children. She has a birthday coming up, and
Ive been racking my brain for a great romantic dinner location that
would complement her artisti...
Bottle Opener
Buenos Aires? 14th arrondissement Paris? The San Lorenzo district

of Rome? Its hard to pinpoint exactly what the view from this
bistros picture window calls to mind, but the panorama of trees,
century-old buildings and whooshing Gold...
Low and Slow

Have you ever tasted the pozole at La

Casita Mexicana? Its wild stuff, that
pozole, a dark broth deeply scented with
meat and chiles and unpronounceable
herbs, juicy shreds of pork, and uffy
kernels of blue hominy whose ragged
edges are c...
Omakase Warrior
Have you been here before? the waiter

at Hiko Sushi asked as I hovered near the
back door. Because if you havent, I need
to explain some rules. He furtively
glanced over his shoulder. First are
you...
Swede Spot
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:Friends once told me about a traditional Easter pastry

they loved in Sweden I forget all the details, but the phrase
marzipan-sweetened cream has for some reason lodged in my
head. Do you know what Im tal...
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Squared Roots
Square bowls? Square spoons? Square layout? A cubical log cabin

constructed from girders of herbed feta and olive-oil-slicked
watermelon? In the former location of Merida, the beloved, longdefunct Old Pasadena patio restaurant famous both for its...
The $11,000 Coffee Pot

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: A couple of weeks ago, the L.A. Times wrote about an
$11,000 machine that supposedly made the best coffee in the world.
Have you ever tasted it? Is it better? Is it better enough to drive
across town for? Im a Peets gi...
Red Menace
{mosimage}Id like to begin this weeks

column by pointing out that while I enjoy
a certain level of heat in my food, Im not
a chilehead, not a real one anyway. A
roasted habanero is delicious in its place,
and I enjoy the more ...
Brings All the Boys to the Yard

The rst thing you should know about Milk, Bret Thompsons new
dairy-intensive caf in the Art Deco space that used to house
Richard Tylers atelier, is that it doesnt actually serve milk, at least
not cold, frothy and u...
Dessert Wasteland
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently moved to L.A., and Ive been searching for a
good dessert spot. Im not just looking for a bakery or coffee shop
type of place. You may be familiar with the San Diego dessert
restaurant/bar/caf Extraor...
Crullers That Bloom in Spring

{mosimage} Have you ever seen a

strawberry doughnut from the Donut
Man? It is an iceberg of a doughnut, a
attened demisphere big enough to use as
a Pilates cushion, split in two and lled to
order with what must be an entire basket
of fresh str...
Good, Better, Best
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Good, Better, Best

9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:Whats the best Armenian restaurant in town? An

Armenian co-worker says Carousel is that really the gold
standard?Sharan, MalibuDear Sharan:I am writing this still full
from a meal at Phoenicia, the Lebanese-Arme...
Alba-cado Groove
Someday, when each of us is forced by redevelopment-agency storm

troopers to eat supper in atmospheric Coldplay-soaked downtown
fusion restaurants at 1 a.m., we may grow a little nostalgic for the
days when late-night dining downtown meant the Pan...
Alive With Pleasure!

Newport Seafood is an insanely popular

Vietnamese-style Chinese restaurant in
the same San Gabriel mini-mall as Golden
Deli and the puzzlingly named Sichuan
dive Noodl House. The lines go out the
door, and the tables are lled with big
groups of ...
Yuca Mountain
Cholesterol fans, there is a new mountain

to climb, a peak that may soar above chili
fries and the In-N-Out 4x4, above even a
sizzling slab of Jars nest llet and a
pork pump from one of the
Shanghainese restaurants that co...
Angel Food
First, there was Angeli. Then, a couple of decades later, came nearby
Angelini, which was a little confusing but okay Angelini was, of
course, the name of the chef. Now, just a block or two down from
Angeli is the chic new AllAngelo...
Digest to Impress
9 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold,My dads in town, and he and his wife are famously
anti-L.A. They want to take me to a special-occasion restaurant,
someplace youd never go to or couldnt afford on your own. Any
suggest...
Do You Copy?
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If you are in the habit of visiting Vietnamese noodle houses in the

San Gabriel Valley, the newish pho parlor Saigon Flavor, down near
the Great Mall of China, may seem awfully familiar. The photo-mural
of the rushing waterfall seems like somethin...
A Little Italy
9 years ago
Mood Indigo
I have spent too much time in downtown

lounges over the last few months, supping
on martinis and crab cakes alongside the
antique turbines at Edison, martinis and
crab cakes in the converted loading dock
at Royal Clayton, martinis and crab cakes
a...
Fusion with Vision

Tuna tartare? Yep. Sweet braised short ribs? You bet. Hamachi
carpaccio? Of course, with ponzu gele and citrus dust. On paper, as
well as in the sleek re-and-water motif of its design, its extreme
feng shui and its Thai-basil mojitos, Ce...
Sweetheart Deal
The ne arts are ve in number, the

19th-century chef Carme once wrote,
painting, sculpture, poetry, music and
architecture whose main branch is
pastry. In the 1820s, pastry was the rock
& roll of the m...
Naked Pasta
10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: At the Spotted Pig, a restaurant in the West Village
unfortunately better known for Jay-Z sightings than for the food,
which is really good, you can get something called gnudi, which to
my untutored eye look a lot like herbed ricott...
It Takes a Village
In London, you can usually tell a so-called gastropub from an

ordinary sort of pub by the presence of a wine list, a menu that
includes foodstuffs that dont happen to be fried sausages or offalstuffed pies (not to mention the existence of ...
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Haggis the Horrible

10 years ago
Seeking Chichen Itzas Hot Spots

Chichen Itzas habanero salsa is a mindaltering substance, a thin golden liquid

with a faint citrusy scent and just
spectacular heat, a presence that starts off
with a slightly acid tingle at your lips and
travels the way a sizzling fuse mi...
The 20 Best L.A. Italian Restaurants

Imagine your rst trip to Italy, the

stumbling journey through the airport,
the long train ride into Rome, the jetlagged taxi ride to your hotel. After a
quick shower, you realize that the lunch
hour is drawing to a close, so you walk a
block or...
Italian L.a.
Numero Uno If you want to know why Vincenti may be the single
best Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, you could do worse than to try
a plate of burrata and prosciutto, a dish that sounds so dull on paper
that I almost stopped my daughter from orde...
Where to Eat Now

10 years ago
Baran Does every big restaurant in the kebab-intensive blocks of

Westwoods Tehrangeles have the same menu? Is there a zoning
ordinance that mandates barg kebabs and the insanely sour pickles
called torshi, skewered chicken and...
Godmothersand Spicy Meatballs

Marios Italian Deliis a happiness explosion, a 45-year-old market as

crowded as a Wilshire bus, heroic dives for the Take-a-Number
machine, and subs, mammoth subs, stuffed with mortadella or spicy
sopressata, eggplant parm or meatballs...
list of restaurants
THE ITALIAN AMERICANSWhen the Moon Hits Your EyeDid

Micelis invent Hollywoods idea of what an Italian restaurant should
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Micelis invent Hollywoods idea of what an Italian restaurant should

be, or did Hollywood invent Micelis? Owned by the same family
since 1949, Micelis is an ancient, ba...
A Real Pickle
10 years ago
Chili Con Carney's

Los Angeles was once famous for

restaurants and cafs where you could eat
inside buildings that resembled bull
terriers or windmills or the front range of
the San Gabriels. Dining rooms were
tricked out to resemble medieval palaces
or tropi...
Fungilicious
A trufe is a terrible thing to waste. White trufes, the early fall ones
from Alba, sure: Pay two hundred clams, shave it over some
tagliatelle, done. Youd have to be a dunce to ruin a white trufe,
which is pungent enough to stop traff...
Tails, You Win

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: One of my favorite dishes is braised oxtail. Given how
delicious oxtail is, its a wonder that I rarely see it on any menus. It
seems to be an unsung meat in this country, which is a real shame. It
probably suffers from bad PR...
Noodles With Attitude

Japanese pop culture has a lot to be

snobbish about, from mochi ice cream to
Gwen Stefanis latest clothing line, Iron
Chef to tentacle porn, J-pop to noise
metal, and from T-shirts that double as
ne art to Suntorys World Executive ...
Veal Oscar
10 years ago
Super Du-par's
Until its Farmers Market agship closed a couple of years ago, Dupars was the last of Southern Californias quality-obsessed coffee
shop chains, vendors of Midwestern-style coffee, vivid-yellow
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shop chains, vendors of Midwestern-style coffee, vivid-yellow

chicken pot pies and date-nut bread sm...
Waiting for Shwarma

If you want to receive more hate stares

per second than a Wal-Mart executive at
an L.A. Conservancy meeting, you might
try ordering the last bit of shwarma at
Arax Falafel on a Saturday afternoon,
having the nal shreds of extremely welldone mea...
Hot From the Kitchen

A great dim sum meal is the closest that

restaurant-going comes to a fever dream,
an endless pageant of tin trays, ceramic
plates and stainless-steel baskets, circles
of bamboo and deep ceramic vessels,
processions of boiled vegetables,
simmered v...
What a Pair!
When its 3 a.m. in Hollywood and you want a chiliburger, you head
for Tommys. If you need a bowl of noodles, Sanamluang. But when
that very particular hunger kicks in and only a plate of fried
morning-glory stems will do, it is Ruen ...
Bowled Over
10 years ago
The New California Pizza Kitchen

Reasonable minds in Los Angeles may

differ on matters concerning child
rearing, the Lakers and the precise
theological leanings of the One True God.
Zionists hang out with Palestinians,
Republicans yearn after libertine lefties,
and Thai menus are...
Fo' Schnitzel
10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I am starting to worry that with Schatzi on Main

closing and no other high-prole Austrian restaurant left, Austrians
and friends of Austrian cooking will have to completely forget about
schnitzels and pork roast with dumplings, le...
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Carte Blanche
The discovery of a new dish, said Brillat-Savarin, does more for

the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star. And with
apologies to our ne neighbors at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
the discovery o...
Where To Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles?Highland Park LA99 Haru Ulala Los

Angeles is in the middle of an izakaya renaissance, an explosion of
intimate, beer-soaked taverns ipping out beakers of sake, small
plates of tofu and braised seaweed, and small,...
Eat Like a King

First comes the concept, in this case a swank 1920s supper club
realized by rearranging the bones of a hotel dining room that by all
accounts actually did start life in the 1920s as a luxurious supper
club, and then hiring a bona de chef, here E...
Boozy Breakfasts
10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently saw Fargo and was inspired to wonder
whether there was a pancakes house in Los Angeles that also has a
full bar. Or, rather, vice versa a bar that has pancakes and/or other
breakfast delights (served...
All Too Hunan

Like a lot of Angelenos, I learned to eat

Hunanese food at Charming Garden, an
elegant dining room that was part of the
churning second wave of Monterey Park
Chinese restaurants, strategically
positioned across the atrium from
Empress Pavilion, wh...
The Royal Treatment

A blast of Coltrane, a agon of Fat Tire ale, a atiron steak with

roasted cauliower and a Sichuan peppercorn sauce Royal
Claytons, a tavern just a whiskey bottles toss from the Los Angeles
River, is home to all kinds of ameniti...
Heres the Scoop

10 years ago
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10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I read your rave about Bulgarini Gelato, and I rushed
over to the Pacic Asia Museum, and what did I nd? Thats right: no
gelato. Where, pray tell, do I nd this miraculous stuff? Or do I have
to wait for the Pasadena Pink...
Straight to the Duck Heart

Duck-Heart Cassoulet Bistro K is a

restaurant out of a daydream, with a
kitchen that ranks among the best in
greater L.A. Its run by the gifted and
accomplished French chef Laurent
Quenioux, where you can indeed must
bring y...
Hot-Wired
10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, One of the highlights of a recent trip to Peru was the
standard morning cup of caf con leche a little bit of a thick coffee
base, hot milk and a spoonful of raw sugar. They were some of the
most perfect cups of coffe...
Velvet Goldmine
In the new downtown Los Angeles, you are never more than a few
steps from a shot of Pravda, a DJ or a plate of tuna tartare the only
things that seem to be multiplying faster than $800,000 condos in
crumbling warehouse buildings are the hy...
Red Hots
If you are looking for a proper

representation of hellre, the grill at
Dinos Burgers may be as close as you will
get, a sulfurous, smoke-belching
landscape of re and ashes, sputtering
gouts of orange ame, and stacks of
chickens, dyed ...
Electric Meals
If you have ever dreamed of dining in a media womb, uWink Media

Bistro, in one of the endless Warner Center malls, may be your idea
of a perfect restaurant. Every at surface is a video screen, and every
resonant space echoes like the inside of C...
Get Your Goat

10 years ago
Where in Los Angeles can one get goat meat? I grew up eating West
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Where in Los Angeles can one get goat meat? I grew up eating West
Indian goat curries in NYC, but I havent found the L.A. source.
Jessica Gadsden Dear Jessica: Pretty much every Jamaican
restaurant serves something like the curried g...
Flesh and Bone

Have you ever tasted Kobe beef? Not the

admittedly decent Idaho-raised
wagyu/Angus cow, but the real stuff, the
$200-a-pound steaks imported from
Japan? A whole llet of Japanese beef, as
wrapped in ninja-black cloth and carried
around by the bee...
Return of the Hairy Crab

The new Green Village is the fanciest

Shanghainese restaurant in town, a gently
lit warren of white tablecloths and private
dining rooms in the old second-oor
Kings Palace space in a sleek San Gabriel
mall, all braised sea cucumber and ol...
Sideways at Vertical
Vertical is probably the swankest wine bar in Old Town Pasadena, a

high-design joint jutting from a hidden courtyard on Raymonds
restaurant row, all subdued lighting and gleaming surfaces and
hidden corners, with sleek DJ music and bottles ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Chocolate Chip Cookies

10 years ago
Dear Mr.Gold: Every time I drive past the old Famous Amos building
on Sunset in Hollywood, I get nostalgic. As a kid in the mid-1970s I
thought Famous Amos were the best cookies I had ever had: the
balance of crispiness and molten chocolate, the s...
Dining With the Stars

In Manhattan, fall is the season when the

big restaurant openings traditionally
happen, when the megalithic new
canteens in the Meatpacking District open
for business, the latest whims of Food
Networkblessed chefs are realized in
granite, s...
Believe the Hype

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The rst patrons of Pizzeria Mozza paced the sidewalk outside the
restaurant like they had been waiting in line for three days to get the
rst shot at a PlayStation 3. Because never in decades of restaurantgoing in Los Angeles have I ever exper...
Ask Mr. Gold: Takoyaki

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I recently read an article about takoyaki, a kind of

octopus dumpling. It sounds like takoyaki is all the rage in Japan,
and soon in California. Do you know if and where I can nd them in
Los Angeles now? Nina Rubin Dear Ms....
Shanghaied Again
When Green Village took up residence in San Gabriel several years

ago, its directness of avor and use of vegetables set it apart from
most of the Shanghai-style restaurants in town, which largely
concentrated on the heavier, sweeter end of the e...
Ask Mr. Gold: Beef Stroganoff

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: When my brother and sister and I were 50 years
younger, our parents would take us out to the old and now
unfortunately long-gone steak houses of Los Angeles. There was not
a menu that didnt include beef stroganoff. Nowadays t...
Hot Choclo
A good pastel de choclo is magnicent to

see, an enormous concoction, bubbling in
its earthenware vessel, browned and
smoking and yellow as a van Gogh
sunower beneath its fragile, sugary
crust. When you plunge a spoon into the
mass, an almost v...
Where To Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles Coles P.E. Buffet. Seventy-ve years before

anybody thought to dress a squab salad with raspberry vinegar, Los
Angeles was known across the country for French-dipped
sandwiches, sliced roast meat layered on a French ro...
Ask Mr. Gold: Conch Fritters

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: In the two years I lived in Miami, I got hooked on a
South Florida specialty conch fritters. Now that Im in L.A., I cant
help but miss them. Is there anywhere around here to nd a good
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help but miss them. Is there anywhere around here to nd a good

conch fritter? Ka...
Flavor Zone
Does every big restaurant in the kebab-intensive blocks of

Westwoods Tehrangeles have the same menu? Is there a zoning
ordinance that mandates barg kebabs and the insanely sour pickles
called torshi, skewered chicken and the t...
Mish-Mash
If you have no idea what a Bulgarian

restaurant is supposed to look like,
Danube might be exactly what you have
in mind, a narrow Westwood storefront
equipped with banquettes that are slightly
too large for the room, a scattering of folk
artifacts...
Ask Mr. Gold: Favorite Cookbooks

10 years ago
When the Bao Breaks

The waitresses at Arcadias northernChinese Noodle House tend to be

comfortably bilingual, as long as your
concept of bilingual encompasses
speaking both Mandarin and Cantonese.
In Arcadia, perhaps the most traditional
of the ...
Groovy Noodles
How many new izakaya are there in Los Angeles? How many grains
of sand lie upon Zuma Beach? Ebisu, named after the nightlifeintensive Tokyo neighborhood, is the newest restaurant from the
people behind the splendid noodle shop Daikokuya, which in...
Where To Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles/Highland Park ?LA99? Ciudad. Cuchifritos

at happy hour. Fatally strong mojitos. Peruvian-style ceviches and
Bolivian-style tamales, Caribbean paella and a classic pescado
Veracruzana, Bahia-style moqueqas and a fritanga that w...
Showing Pinkberry
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Showing Pinkberry
Have you ever been to Pinkberry on a

balmy Saturday? Its really a scene. Lines
spill down the block and through the kind
of crowd-control stanchions you may
have seen at Disneyland, while a bigshouldered security guard regulates
admission ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Duck Fat

10 years ago
Bar Wares
The similarity between the Spanish tapas bar and the Japanese
izakaya has been long noted both are places where the cooking is
subsidiary to the drinking, where immoderate consumption is both
encouraged and facilitated, and where the porti...
Ask Mr. Gold: Asht-e-resht

10 years ago
First Bite: Some Pig

If you approach Colorado Boulevard just right, on the blocks west of

Eagle Rock Boulevard, you will be hit with the smell of wood smoke,
a formidable, fragrant blast drifting from the peaked-roof dining
room that until recently was a branch of the...
Hello, Thali
Dinner at Rajdhani can resemble the

Sorcerers Apprentice sequence from
Disneys Fantasia sometimes, a parade of
waiters and waitresses stopping by your
table in bewildering succession, ladling
drips of this and drops of ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Pot Stickers

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold:Pot stickers where? James, Pacic Palisades Dear

James:A pork-lled northern Chinese pot sticker is a wondrous
thing, softly pliant above and glossy-crisp below, maddeningly
fragrant, trickling juice at the merest to...
Glass Action
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Glass Action
The tables at Bottle Rock are the size of phonograph records, and the
wobbly metal stools seem perpetually on the verge of collapse. The
location, tucked behind a parking structure, is obscure, even if it is
just a step or two from Culver City&rsq...
Pleasures of the Flesh

Buenos Aires is one of the great culinary

destinations in the world, home to superb
seafood restaurants, to century-old
trattorias that are probably more
authentic to the ideals of Campanian
cuisine than many places youd nd in
Naples, and...
Dangerous Denizens of the Deep

Best Leviathan Mama Voulas. O, the

leviathan, the kraken, the wily giant squid,
a violent, oozy beast that overturns great
ships, or so the legend goes, wrestles the
life out of sperm whales in the murky
depths, swallows up whole schools of...
Ask Mr. Gold: Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Ive been looking for a good spaghetti aglio e olio, a
seemingly simple dish that is almost always overblown when you get
it here. I want the real thing: spaghetti with enough garlic to strip the
chrome off a trailer hitch and...
First Bite: Bon Appetit

Dinner at Canele, a new Southern French restaurant in the old

Osteria Nonni space in Atwater, can feel a lot like crashing a dinner
party, with oddly minimalist dcor, people you probably know and
friendly but puzzled waitresses who aren&rs...
Ask Mr. Gold: Salvadoran Pupusas

10 years ago
Home Is Where the Flat Iron Steak Is

Larchmont Grill wants to be loved, really it does, a comfortable

restaurant on the ground oor of an old transitional Victorian, with
earnest postcollege waitresses, real iced tea and an affordable (main
courses under $20) menu that is as worn in...
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courses under $20) menu that is as worn in...
Bring the Funk

The last time I went to Izayoi, a sleekly

modern izakaya on the edge of Little
Tokyo, my party was seated in a front
dining room not quite wide enough for a
stout man to stand in sideways. The
particularly delicious morsels of grilled
yellowtail c...
All in the Famima!!

Behold Famima!!, a chain of clean, welllighted convenience stores in the nicer

parts of town: chilled regiments of bottled
Japanese teas and shiny otillas of
imported canned coffee, puried water
from every part of the world, Pocky and
Pretz, ...
The Italian Job

Some people with whom I am acquainted consider the Hollywood

trattoria La Buca to be one of the great Italian restaurants in Los
Angeles, a place to nd perfect gnocchi, crisp-crusted pizza and
pasta made with the care that only an Italian grandm...
Ask Mr. Gold: Taiwanese Shabu Shabu

10 years ago
BLD It and They Will Come

Every generation of L.A. restaurateurs has

had its own idea of what a useful
restaurant might be, from Musso and
Frank through Swingers. The late coffee
shop Ships was a useful restaurant, with
quality-obsessed American food served
24 hours...
Ask Mr. Gold: Pambazo

10 years ago
All That Glitters

A glowing, blue apparition thrusting out of the lower slopes of the
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A glowing, blue apparition thrusting out of the lower slopes of the

Verdugos like the prow of a party barge, Minx is a look back to the
world of 80s Los Angeles restaurants, where the women were
women, the men sometimes were too, and we all...
Claws and Effect

Initial reports on the new Macau Street

have focused on the fried duck chins, the
grilled chicken knees and the waiters in
yellow pirate blouses who could double
as extras in a dinner-theater production
of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Also
the...
Wok Out
Some weeks it seems as if a new, way-northern Chinese restaurant is

opening every 20 minutes in the San Gabriel Valley places notable
for their lamb, their extensive use of cumin and their cumin lamb.
Mei Jia Deli, shoehorned between a Tai...
Ask Mr. Gold: Izayaka

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Dear Mr. Gold: Trying to save money these days is a
top priority. And Ive been hearing about izakaya, Japanese pubs
with small plates and cold beer. This could be just what the
economist ordered: a Metro to Little Tokyo, a me...
L.A. Simonized
Simon L.A., the new restaurant in the

Sotel across the Beverly Center, is not a
bad place to experience a giant shellsh
platter, a carefully composed beet salad
with goat cheese or a $48 bone-in ribeye
steak with glazed cippoline onions,
espec...
Where to Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles?Highland Park LA99 Kagaya. Shabu shabu

is pretty basic: a slice of prime meat swished through bubbling broth
for a second or two, just until the pink becomes frosted with white. If
youve done it right &mdash...
Ask Mr. Gold: Cracklin

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I nd cracklin in Los
Angeles? Carl Ferry Dear Mr. Ferry: My arteries begin to constrict at
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Angeles? Carl Ferry Dear Mr. Ferry: My arteries begin to constrict at

the thought of the pork rinds fried in giant iron kettles of bubbling
lard at the Jazz and Heritage ...
Happy Meals
Why do we love Jollibee? Is it the happy plastic mascot outside that

looks like Big Boy crossed with an apple maggot? Could it be the
goopy cheeseburgers, the fried chicken or the violet, boba-laden
milkshakes made with the purple yam called ube? ...
O-lou . . . Ah
A mile south of the more glamorous

precincts of North Hollywoods Thaitown,
in a mini-mall populated by tattooed
young men with shaved heads and 16inch biceps, Sri Siam may be one of the
least promising restaurants on the planet
a d...
Where to Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles?Highland Park LA99 Kagaya. Shabu shabu

is pretty basic: a slice of prime meat swished through bubbling broth
for a second or two, just until the pink becomes frosted with white. If
youve done it right &mdash...
Ask Mr. Gold: Birthday Dinner

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Dear Mr Gold: When my parents say they want to
take me out for a nice dinner for my birthday, I take their offer
seriously. But I feel woefully unequipped for the task of choosing the
restaurant. I do not want to go somewhere where ...
Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Cheese Balls

The Liberty Grill smells like money, or at least as much like money as
you can expect from a restaurant that serves deep-fried mac-ncheese balls. The bronze plaques boasting a roster of investors in the
renovated building are a sure...
Thoroughly Modern Wilson

In Italy as in China, styles of cooking can

shift substantially in the space of just a
few minutes on the highway. Lunch in the
Marchese town of Visso will be
completely different from lunch in
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completely different from lunch in

Norcia, just to the south; breakfast in
Shanghai will...
Where to Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles?Highland Park Hoan Kiem. After gallery

openings on nearby Chung King Road, a certain percentage of the art
crowd drifts down to this one-dish restaurant, a specialist in pho ga,
Vietnamese chicken-noodle soup. When you order, ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Polish Cooking

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I cant seem to nd anywhere serving real Polish

dishes in Los Angeles. I would appreciate your help. Rod Roderick,
Northridge Dear Mr. Roderick: Los Angeles isnt exactly Chicago or
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, when it...
Simon Says
Simons newest steak house, Simon L.A. across the street from the
Beverly Center in the Sotel space that has been underutilized since
Patrick Terrail briey relaunched Ma Maison there a decade ago is
a handsome, airy place...
Where to Eat Now

10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles?Highland Park Nick & Stefs. Joachim

Splichals downtown steak house pushes the genres envelope. The
dcor is sedate enough?? banquettes wear bankers gray but
annexed to the din...
Buzz Bin
We have all become familiar with the idea of the Italianate wine bar
in the past year or so, intimate, themed places with a few dozen
inexpensive wines, nibbles of meat and cheese, and a cheery, relaxed
vibe. Bin 8945, which just opened in the rag...
Ask Mr. Gold: Australian Cuisine

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Yesterday I went to Outback Steakhouse for a casual

lunch with my girlfriend. Ive always liked the faux-Australian
atmosphere, even if it is a tad on the hokey side. Where else can you
see boomerangs nailed to walls and get t...
Kiss Their Grits

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There are many ways to enjoy bacon at

Square One Dining, which, if it didnt have
so many vegetarian-friendly options on
its menu, might almost be a baconspecialty restaurant. There are bowls of
stone-ground grits avored with Cheddar
and ...
'80s Redux
From 1935 until it faded away 50-odd years later, the Far East Caf
was a mainstay of the Little Tokyo neighborhood, with battered
wooden booths, tall ceilings and a neon Chop Suey sign outside as
grand as anything out ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Tacos al Pastor

10 years ago
Cool Hunting
When it is 109 degrees in Pasadena, when

the live oaks droop and the front range of
the San Gabriels burns with a terrible
heat, there is no better place to be in the
city than the shaded courtyard of the
Pacic Asia Museum, among the
Japanese st...
Ask Mr. Gold: Croque Monsieurs

10 years ago
Beautiful Game
The upper-west level of Pasadenas Paseo Colorado complex is a

catalog of mild modern sins, a promenade of cigar stores, wine bars
and tea shops, crystal-laden boutiques and holistic-massage parlors,
overlaid by a thin lm of hot suburban l...
Home of the Porno Burrito

Todays subject: the potato taco or, to be

more specic, the wonderment of
civilization that is the potato taco at El
Atacor #11, a taquera chains grungy
outpost on the fringes of Glassell Park.
You have, no doubt, tasted a p...
Allez les Bleus
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Allez les Bleus
10 years ago | A Considerable Town
I was nishing my second glass of vieille prune last Sunday at Balzar,

an old brasserie around the corner from the Sorbonne, sleepy from a
long lunch of pigs feet and Sancerre rouge, when the Rue des coles
lled with a motley surg...
Ask Mr. Gold: Doner Kebabs

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: When I was a younger man I took a series of trips to
Great Britain. After a night in the pub, invariably I would be as
hungry as a man could get after drinking for six hours. Staggering, I
would ask the nearest bobby for directions ...
Super Swank
Social Hollywood rst local effort from Manhattan/South Beach

restaurant czar Jeffery Chodorow is pretty velvet-rope-intensive
even for Hollywood, a clipboard guy passing you on to a protomaitre d, who clears your way to the guy with acce...
Red Dawn
With the demise of the Beijing duck

restaurant Quanjude and the Taiwanese
makeover of the Islamic-Chinese
restaurant Tung Lai Shun, the Sichuan
restaurant Chung King may be the
premier San Gabriel Valley destination for
traveling food people at th...
Cold Stone Greenery

A line outside a restaurant in downtown Culver City is nothing new

these days. You could probably put a Sunday Brunch sign outside a
shoe store on Culver Boulevard and see a queue begin to curl down
the block. But the line outside Te...
Ask Mr. Gold: Gumbo

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I know youve written about the best gumbo in Los
Angeles. But every time I drive down Crenshaw Boulevard looking
for the restaurant, I come up short. This isnt a sad thing particularly
I do usually end up getti...
King of Beers
Tell me what you want to try, said Sam

Samaniego, gesturing toward his bank of
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Samaniego, gesturing toward his bank of

beer-lled refrigerators. Then Ill tell you
what youre going to drink instead. I
asked, I think, for something hoppy and
Belg...
99 Essential L.A. Restaurants

What does the Weekly mean by 99

Essential L.A. Restaurants? It isnt
necessarily a list of the very best
restaurants in Los Angeles; that would
almost certainly include LOrangerie,
which has been the most rigorously Fren...
Lunch in This Town

Eight of us nurse BLT salads, carne asada

plates and Wagyu-beef burgers at Coras
on a sunny farmers-market Wednesday,
ying high on coffee and eavesdropping
on the Midwestern tourists who have
gotten lost on the way to the pier. The...
Certifiable
The most beautiful farm I have ever seen

is probably Willow Creek Farm, a small
piggery at the southern end of the
Baraboo Hills in central Wisconsin, a
green, lush patch of rolling slopes and
leafy trees tucked into a narrow valley.
The pigs, sle...
Ask Mr. Gold: Manhattan Clam Chowder

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: One of my favorite experiences with my dad was

driving to a pier in Freeport, Long Island, on a cold winter day and
having the best Manhattan clam chowder ever. Most places in
Southern California serve the New Englandstyle cl...
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Judging from its menu, 12 Dishes of Basho yet another mini-mall

storefront in San Gabriel was probably the most ambitious
Sichuan restaurant ever to open in the Los Angeles area, a rened
kitchen specializing in the haute cuisine ...
Where to Eat Now

10 years ago
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10 years ago
Downtown Los Angeles?Highland Park LA99 Chichn Itz. Chichn

Itz, a small counter restaurant in a communal mercado south of
downtown, is the most serious Yucatecan restaurant in town at the
moment, its men...
Ask Mr. Gold: Chocolate Pretzels

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Another NYC food craving: I apologize. I know youve
written about mail-ordering chocolate-covered pretzels at Li-Lac in
Greenwich Village, one of my favorite things in the universe. Mail
order is good e-tail is anothe...
First Bite: Cute Food

In restaurants as in actresses, forced quirkiness can be an

unforgivable aw. But some restaurants, like the comfortable,
modern Hatelds near Hollywood, cant help themselves. Instead of
merlot and Chianti, there is a weirdly wonde...
First Bite: Small World

Is it a restaurant? Is it a lounge? Is it a place to pose by the bar in a

pair of artfully ripped Rogans, nursing a glass of Viognier and a
skewer of vegetable shashlik while you wait for prime time at Shag?
Will you ever nd the actual squid...
Ask Mr. Gold: Spaghetti Carbonara

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Spaghetti carbonara, of course, is the best food in the
world, all that is holy in the universe cheese, eggs, bacon, pasta
combined into a single, perfect dish. In Rome, you can nd decent
spaghetti carbonara anywhe...
The Great Carnitas Plate

When I have not been eating for work in

the last few months, or making sorrel and
knobby ngerling potatoes into healthful
soups that my 11-year-old refuses to eat, I
have been spending a lot of time at
Tonnys, a small Mexican caf ...
Clear Concept
From the week it opened last year, New

Concept was celebrated as a beacon of
Chinese cuisine in Los Angeles, an elegant
Monterey Park restaurant with actual
mainland ownership and a chef, Chen
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mainland ownership and a chef, Chen

Chen Liang, who had reinvented the
possibilities of Ch...
Ask Mr. Gold: Grits

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Lately, a friend and I have been hankering for some
grits with imagination. Thus far our search has been lackadaisical;
less a search than a leisurely treasure hunt that took us to Brite Spot
in Echo Park and Roscoes on Pico....
First Bite: Crowning Glory

Do you remember the famous Robert Mapplethorpe photographs of

his muse Lisa Lyons, a sweetly feminine bodybuilder with the
musculature of a Michelangelo god? Tiara is a little like that, its walls
a sinewy pink, its Japanese lichen trees dripping ...
First Bite: Cult of Multiculti

If California cuisine has taught us anything over the past 30 years, it

is that almost anything tastes good when you put it on a pizza. Duck
sausage and goat cheese? Sure. The makings of a BLT? Why not.
Tandoori chicken? Go for it. So it is no sur...
Ask Mr. Gold: Cheesecake

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, I am trying to ply a beau with something sweet; my

sources tell me he loves cheesecake. Where can I pick up the best
slice? E.C., Los Angeles Dear E.C.: I am awfully partial to the
cheesecake at the Palm in West Hollywood. It...
Mole Minimalism
Oaxacan bakeries and travel agencies and

butcher shops line Pico Boulevard in the
recently solidied Oaxacan neighborhood
that has somehow begun to be called the
Byzantine Latino District, as if the
hundreds of Korean businesses in the
area barel...
First Bite: The Right Stuff

There is a certain kind of medium-priced grown-up restaurant that

is spreading over the landscape like kudzu: urban, comfortable
dining rooms, often with outdoor terraces, lubricated with recorded
bebop and reasonably priced Spanish reds, understa...
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Ask Mr. Gold: Live-Poultry Markets

10 years ago
Station Identification
It was not so long ago that downtown

Culver City was the closest thing to a
slum in the entire Westside. Peppered
with thrift shops and sad hamburger
stands, shuttered movie theaters and
empty parking lots, it was dominated by
an abandoned hotel a...
Ask Mr. Gold: Fiery Ramen

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: In your column a few weeks ago, you alluded to the
ramen in a South Bay supermarket whose noodles are served hot
enough to char your lips into ash, a charming thought, Im sure. Im
not a ramen completist o...
Magic Beans
Feijoada, South Americas cassoulet, is the

improbable national dish of Brazil a
bowl of black beans and various gelatinrich animal parts with the ability to glue
your lips together at the distance of 10
paces and the approximate mo...
First Bite: Bridge

Would you recommend Barolo with the swordsh? Pinot Grigio?

Something like Chardonnay? The dude shuts the massive wine list
with a sigh and looks up at the glowing Pilates balls hanging from
the ceiling as if the answer is conta...
Where To Eat Now

10 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold: Lap Ped Thoke

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Is there anywhere to get that great Burmese

fermented-tea-leaf salad in Los Angeles? I read about one place in
Whittier. Anywhere else? David Ury, Los Angeles Dear Mr. Ury: Lap
ped thoke, the famous salad made with Burmese tea leave...
The Roti Less Traveled
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The Roti Less Traveled

New Yorkers longing for Malaysian

cooking have always tended to head to
one of the Penang restaurants out in
Flushing or in Manhattans Chinatown,
folksy Malaysian-Chinese diners where
the avors are perhaps scrubbed down
more assiduously t...
Lists
10 years ago | Lists
JONATHAN GOLD (author of Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in

the Real Los Angeles) Monologue of a Dog by Wislawa Szymborska
(Harcourt). Fragments of time pinned wriggling like live butteries
under glass; easy philosophical conversation compres...
10 Best Dishes of 2005

1. Frozen ham foam. The menu at Bastide, Los Angeles best French
restaurant, famously veered from the Provenal stylings of Alain
Giraud to the Alain Passardinuenced avant-garde cooking of
Ludovic Lefebvre, before retreating...
Ask Mr. Gold: Chachiang Mein

10 years ago
Let Them Eat Cakes

10 years ago
Live, from Koreatown

O-Dae San is the grandest sh restaurant

in Koreatown, a high-ceilinged modern
space with acres of glass and marble, and
a sushi bar running the length of the
dining room. The list of sojus and sakes is
long. The private dining rooms are
sumptuou...
The Gamine Gourmet

Wolfgang Puck gets on television a lot

more. Michael Cimarusti gets the street
cred. Evan Kleiman has written more
cookbooks. Joachim Splichal has like a
zillion restaurants to her mere three:
Lucques, A.O.C. and Hungry Cat. But
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Lucques, A.O.C. and Hungry Cat. But

Suzanne Goin is Lo...
Generation Chef
Fred Eric is the unbridled id of cooking in

Los Angeles, the madman bellowing in
the tearoom, the boy most likely to
exceed. His patrons include indie-rock
managers and punk-rock magnates,
Beastie Boys and riot grrls. The inventor
of the Tacone, E...
Morning Glory
Euro Pane Bakery may be the center of civilized life in Pasadena: a

place to buy excellent-to-superb scones and baguettes and pains au
chocolat, of course, but also the heart of a certain sort of society, the
chemistry professors, theology student...
Green Goddess
Los Angeles is a city where people are

obsessed with their gardens, where
conversations at a party are as likely to
touch on horticulture as they are on sex,
where houses explode with wisteria in the
spring and bougainvillea in the summer,
and the...
Feeling L.A.
Vic the Brick Jacobs is ILL. Not ill, but

Ill, as in black is white and up is down and
the Lakers are going to the NBA nals this
year because sometimes wishing can
make it so. No matter that they have an
interi...
One Hot Restaurant

The current aesthetic of Los Angeles

restaurant design suggests that certain of
its architects might spend more than a
little time in front of their Xboxes, playing
Halo 2 and the Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion
until their eyes start to bleed. Their re...
The Boiling Point

10 years ago
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10 years ago
Boiled sh, boiled-milk ice cream, boiled sea cucumbers? Whatever

gets your water rolling ... Ambala Dhaba. On a stretch of Westwood
Boulevard thick with student coffeehouses and Iranian hair salons,
Ambala Dhaba is an outpost of the ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Salt-and-Pepper Squid

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: When I used to live in San Francisco a million years
ago, a night at the clubs would often wind up at a Chinatown place
that I knew only as the Coca-Cola Restaurant, for the giant CocaCola sign that decorated its exterior. I don&rs...
Jaguar Express
Brazilian cooking is incredibly diverse,

ranging from the jungly cassava-based
cooking of Minas Gerais to the spicy,
tropical seafood dishes of Bahia, from the
weirdly heavy bean dishes of Rio to the
cosmopolitan restaurants in skyscraperchoked S...
Ask Mr. Gold: Pizza Dough

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My daughter likes to watch the Food Network,

especially when Rachel Ray is on, but also when the Italian women,
none of whom I can tell apart, have their shows. And this daughter
has recently become obsessed with pizza dough, which ...
Ask Mr. Gold: Korean Barbecue

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I love Korean barbecue, especially all those side
dishes and the bowl of cold noodles afterward, but Soot Bull Jeep is
not exactly the most relaxing place to spend an evening, what with
the smoke and the din, and it has gotten a lit...
Market Research
Gardenas new Marukai Supermarket is

among the great food resources in Los
Angeles, one of those places where every
aisle reveals another vegetable you cant
wait to cook, a bottle of litchi soda you
want to taste, a gadget you want to...
The $14 Burger

It is a truth universally acknowledged,

that a single man in possession of a good
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that a single man in possession of a good

fortune must be in want of a $14
hamburger. And not just a hamburger:
Frequently, there must also be cheese.
There is a new wind blowing down
Hollywood Boulevard, a ...
Ask Mr. Gold: What is Pig Candy?

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: I overheard a couple of my foodie co-workers talking

about pig candy the other day, but when I asked what it was, they
gave me one of those weird looks and walked away. Am I missing
anything? Is pig candy more l...
The Great White Duck

A Nanjing duck is cold and ghostly white,

a seemingly goose-eshed fowl that has
been pressed, cooked and brined until the
meat rms, becomes scented with mild
spice, and is fatless. When you press your
nger into it, the esh springs back alm...
Ask Mr. Gold: Corn Dogs at Disneyland

10 years ago
Ramen Holiday
Reasonable minds can differ on the

relative merits of one hamburger stand or
another. Some guys become surreally
attached to their favorite sushi bar, but it
is often possible to have a rational
discussion with them on the succulence
of Sasabune&r...
Wake Me Up Before You Go Go

10 years ago
Where would we be without coffee? These places are good to the last
drop . . . Cha Cha Cha. It is hard to imagine a better introduction to
Los Angeles than brunch on the thatched-roof patio at the original
Cha Cha Cha at the eastern end of Melrose...
Ask Mr. Gold: What the Devil is Fennel Pollen?

10 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold: Cuban Sandwiches
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Ask Mr. Gold: Cuban Sandwiches

10 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: Where can I get a great Cuban sandwich in L.A.?
Mitch, Los Angeles Dear Mitch: The Cuban sandwich is one of the
most astonishing concoctions on Earth, a split length of buttered
Cuban bread, stuffed with ham, roast pork, Swiss chees...
Let's Roll
There may be northern Chinese cafs

more anonymous-looking than 101
Noodle Express, but I havent found them
yet: a bleak mini-mall storefront
adjoining a bowling alley, a photocopied
menu taped in the window, a troupe of
waitresses w...
The Devil's Own Steak House

Do I love The Lodge for its double-sted

Tanqueray martinis or for the thick-cut
pepper bacon put out like peanuts at the
bar? For the big chunks of blue cheese in
the house chopped salad or for the onion
rings as golden as the bangles on a
Brahm...
Ask Mr. Gold: Hishi-mochi

11 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold: My friend is giving a Hinamatsuri, Japanese Doll Day,

party for her little daughter on March 3. Id like to bring hishi-mochi
for dessert. I wonder whether you might suggest somewhere in Los
Angeles that would be likely to hav...
Ask Mr. Gold: Cinammon and Spice

11 years ago
Super Fry
11 years ago
Because food just tastes better fried, heres a list of places serving
everything from fried chicken to golden bhaturas. Antequera de
Oaxaca. Antequera de Oaxaca specializes in botanas bar munchies,
more or less. The botanas are asse...
Swimming to Peru
Nobu Matsuhisa, it is well known, was the

rst famous sushi crossover artist,
marrying classical Japanese techniques
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marrying classical Japanese techniques

with the pungent avors he had learned
to love as a young sushi chef in Peru. On
the one hand, he inected traditional
sushi wi...
Dining
t is the coldest night of the year, the winds have started to blow, and I
am driving along Olympic Boulevard in East Los Angeles,
ravenously hungry, looking for one of the itinerant ame-throwing
taco carts that sprout in that neighborhood around...
Quest for Fire: Out of the Flames

It is the coldest night of the year, the

winds have started to blow, and I am
driving along Olympic Boulevard in East
Los Angeles, ravenously hungry, looking
for one of the itinerant ame-throwing
taco carts that sprout in that
neighborhood aroun...
Where to Eat Now: New to the List

11 years ago
Agra. Balti, in theory at least, is a kind of Kashmiri curry with roots in

the Islamic cuisine of northern Pakistan, cooked and served in
handled metal pots that resemble miniature woks. In practice, the
word balti has come to mean almost any er...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
South of South of the Border

11 years ago
Cali Viejo. Come here for the picada, and come hungry: This is one
huge ceramic platter heaped with grilled lengths of thumb-width
Colombian chorizo, peppery nubs of fried beef, pungent blood
sausage, crisp chunks of fried pork, and the pec...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Once, many years ago, I stumbled upon an ice cream
parlor in New Yorks Chinatown and on a whim ordered lychee ice
cream. It was fantastic, but to this day, Ive never stumbled across it
again. Are there ice cream parlor...
Old-School Bean & Cheese
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Old-School Bean & Cheese
They are a stolid bunch, Los Angeles

burrito lovers, neatly queued at burrito
shrines at noon, pulling homemade
burritos out of lunch buckets,
occasionally attending to late-night
cravings as faithfully as worshipers
attending midnight mass. A tac...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Capital News
The always-evolving San Gabriel Valley

teems with noodleshops of every
description, new Mongolian hotpot
emporia and restaurants featuring the
hearty cooking of Chinas far north. There
are elegant Chinese superstores selling
more kinds of i...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, A friend of mine is having a 40th-birthday party and

she wants Cuban food. Do you know of a place that is authentic,
yummy and relatively cheap? It would be essentially to go or
catered, so no ambiance required. Melani...
Eat Healthy, Floss Regularly

11 years ago
Gingergrass. Gingergrass, a sleek Vietnamese bistro in Silver Lake, is

the polar opposite of a place like Golden Deli, citied where the San
Gabriel noodle shop is rustic, timid where the food at the other roars
with avor. There is pho, but it&...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Dear Mr. Gold, Please tell me youve been to Shalimar in San

Francisco. Then please tell me about a place just like it in L.A. Is it
Indian or Pakistani? I dont know, but theres good stuff in there
whole cardamom pods a...
Hare Today
Bistro K is almost too civilized on a busy

Thursday night a tiny, candlelit dining
room with Ray Charles on the stereo,
fresh owers on linen tablecloths, couples
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fresh owers on linen tablecloths, couples

bent over glasses of Beaujolais. Dinnerparty groups of well-fed Pasadenans...
Send a Salami...
Photo by Anne FishbeinThis time of year, even we stay home and

cook. Los Angeles, of course, is a wonderland of local organic
produce, a hub of farmers markets and sustainably raised meat, of
boutique gourmet shops and supermarkets represen...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Id like a sub sandwich. A grinder. A hoagie. Anything long

and football-shaped stuffed with meat and cheese. Hot or cold is
ne, but preferably hot. And melty. My ance and I have been
searching the city for a year and a half, b...
The Firebird
Photos by Anne FishbeinThe signature attraction at the new Red

Corner Asia is a phenomenon known as Volcano Chicken, a
rotisserie-cooked creation brought to the table trailing liquid
streamers of re, rising from the ames like a phoenix, whole ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Maximum Dosa
Photo by Anne FishbeinA decent dosa, the thin, burnished crepe

from India that spreads across the table like an unfolded parachute,
may have more surface area than any food item on Earth. Broad as
knotted carpets or the ineld at Dodger Stadium, ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Power Puff
Photos by Anne Fishbein A warm, vanilla-scented cream puff from

Beard Papa Sweets Caf is the thinking foodies latest object of
desire, a rustic orb, tawny in color, about the size and heft of a
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desire, a rustic orb, tawny in color, about the size and heft of a
regulation baseball, obtainable only a...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Sunshine State
Photos by Anne Fishbein As it courses through North Hollywood,

Sherman Way may be the most aggressively multiculti strip of
multiculti Los Angeles, a riot of signs in a dozen different alphabets;
teenagers of every possible ethnicity with buzzcuts...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Layover, With Cheese

Photos by Anne FishbeinThey ock to Shulas 347, the business-ier

crowd, the sallow men who inhabit every airline lounge in the
country and know their way around an airline bottle of Tanqueray, a
no-iron Brooks Brothers polo shirt,...
Two Little Piggies

Photo by Anne FishbeinI have tasted suckling pig whose skin was so
crisp that it shattered in the mouth like spun sugar, and suckling pig
so tender that the waiter ostentatiously carved it into serving
portions with the blunt edge of a plate. I ha...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: For years, Ive been going to the Vietnamese noodle shop
Pho 79, in the mall right behind Ocean Seafood. Now, all of a sudden,
the restaurant is called Pho 97, although they still have the same
pictures on the walls, the same revie...
Marineland: Michael Cimarusti's Providence

During the course of dinner at Providence, you might taste Japanese

kanpachi seasoned with soy and a powder made from dehydrated
tortilla masa, white Mexican shrimp nestled in a blob of cauliower
cream with caviar that comes straight from Joel R...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
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11 years ago
Question: I love living in Pasadena. I love my little bungalow, I love

the good bookstores, I love riding the Gold Line to work, and I love
the way the mountains pop into loveliness precisely 45 minutes
before sunset. What I dont love is th...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: When I meet with colleagues at conferences out of town, it

has become my custom to hand out locally made sweets as kind of
an icebreaker, a custom which Im sure is much appreciated. But Im
getting kind of tired of relying o...
Lima and Vine

Photos by Anne FishbeinCamarones a la piedra, a warm shrimp

ceviche popular on the tropical northern coast of Peru, is a
formidable plate of seafood. Shrimp, tinted a violent taxicab-yellow
with pured amarillo chiles and propped up with cy...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Go! Go! Giant Robot!

Photos by Anne FishbeinIn the great zine explosion of the mid-90s,

the pre-Web proliferation of self-published magazines about politics
and culture and every conceivable permutation of punk rock, the
Westside journal Giant Robot may have be...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Its Thursday today. In Rome, Thursday means gnocchi. I

would like Thursday to mean gnocchi in Los Angeles, too, but the
gummy little things that go by that name here are barely worth
mentioning. Surely one of the approximately 15,...
I Am Arak
Photos by Anne FishbeinAlcazar, a shaded terrace of music, grilled

mullet and waiters who transfer bright coals of tobacco to brass
hookahs with specially designed tongs, could be coastal Lebanon,
really it could. Enormous kebab plates are rushed ...
Sex and the Steak House

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Photo by Anne Fishbein Have you seen the shrimp cocktail at

Sterling, the new steak house around the corner from the ArcLight?
Freaking amazing, Im telling you a school of banana-size
creatures at $3.50 a pop, tted onto an urn of ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Where in heavens name can you nd sopapillas in this

town? When I ask my friends, they all assume Im talking about
sopes, but I dont want those attened taco things, I want dessert.
Annie, La Crescenta Answe...
Alligator Tales
It is late autumn afternoon and the light has started to fade. A greatwinged raptor circles lazily above bruise-purple Machado Lake. At
the swampy perimeter, all tule and water primrose and sedge, 10,000
tiny ies disappear down the throats of a...
The Porterhouse Rules

Time hasnt exactly stopped in the San Gabriel Valley, but we can slip
through the looking glass into a sort of vast, living history museum
of old-fashioned food and drinks. Compared to their Gilded Age
forebears, these restaurants and bars ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Around this time of year, my grandmother used to go out

into her garden and denude her tomato plants with the tenacity of
locusts: big or small, ripe or not. The ones that were hard enough to
bounce, she sliced and cooked in bacon grease...
Griddle Me This
Photo by Anne FishbeinOkonomiyaki may be the homeliest food in

creation, a squat, unlovely, vaguely circular mess of batter, cabbage
and egg, slicked with a tarry black substance made from catsup and
Worcestershire sauce, inscribed with mayonnaise...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: When I go up to San Francisco, I always try to stop by the

Swan Oyster Depot on Polk Street for their delicious Crab Louie. I
know Crab Louie is probably not as cool as the cold cracked crab,
which is good too, but I cant help mys...
Ask Mr. Gold
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Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: I went to art school near the Japanese East Village in

Manhattan, that little stretch of Ninth Street brimming with sake
bars and noodle shops. The crowning jewel was a narrow takoyaki
stand with an okonomiyaki/yakisoba plate ready to be...
Hail Seitan
Photos by Anne FishbeinI suspect that at least half of the people who
read the Weekly know more about macrobiotic cooking than I do,
that they can recite the ve elements and seven principles of the diet
backward and forward, and are able to rank...
Flat Land
Photos by Anne FishbeinDim sum restaurants may provide more

variety, and buffet lines more tonnage, but there may be no meal in
America that commands more acreage than breakfast at the Original
Pancake House, a massive if two-dimensional feast tha...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Wild Palms
Photos by Anne FishbeinThere may be more chaotic restaurants on a

Saturday night, but the new Palms Thai is as loud as they come, a tall
box of a dining room, the approximate shape and resonance of a
speaker cabinet, lined with ranks of long, stra...
Coffee Shop, Interrupted

Photos by Anne FishbeinEvery Angeleno has a secret backdoor

shortcut to the airport, and Panns is smack on the route of at least
two-thirds of them. Its a grand 50s coffee shop smack on the
triangle formed by the intersection ...
Ask Mr. Gold

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11 years ago
Question: Maybe my kids have been watching too much Fear Factor
in fact, I know that they have but my oldest keeps professing a
desire to eat insects. Slimy insects. Rather than have her rooting
around in the yard for tomato worms ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: In Taipei last year, I ate the most delicious sausages almost
everywhere. They were sweet, a little thicker than hot dogs, and were
usually served with a spoonful of fresh chopped garlic quite an
experience! I assume that there&r...
Cow Patties
Top photo by Anne Fishbein Toward the deserted end of the deserted
Nebraska panhandle, an endless, yawning territory of tallgrass and
strange animals, like a landscape from Carl Sandburgs Rootabaga
Stories, the town of Harrison appears like...
The Manhattan Project

Photo by Anne FishbeinEverybody knows that Manhattan is the

capital of French cooking in America, a borough home to roughly
ve times as many rst-rate grand restaurants, cafs and brasseries
as the rest of the United States put toge...
Hot On the Enchilada Belt

Photo by Anne Fishbein When we hit Needles the other day, the
temperature had just begun to slacken from its 125-degree high, but
an hour after dusk the thermometer outside the motel lobby still
read a balmy 122, and the cold water out of the tap ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Its the peak of corn season again, and Im suddenly

hungry for some corn chowder. Where should I go? Isabelle E.,
Sherman Oaks Answer: Toribio Prado, the chef behind the Cha Cha
Cha empire, came up with the denitive...
Any Given Sundae

Photos by Anne FishbeinThe stilt-walkers prance on Hollywood

Boulevard, juggling plates and glittering Indian clubs, catching
basketballs when they are tossed to them from the street, bending
double to kiss a baby or rufe the hair of a toddler. ...
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Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: In 1976, friends took me to Josenas in Venice, where I

had a dish I still think about: beefsteak Jalisco-style. Shredded beef
in chile-avored reddish broth, chopped white onions and soft corn
tortillas. Fragrant, simple, satis...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: When I was looking for burritos in Queens, New York, last
year, I noticed that Roosevelt Avenue, under the tracks of the 7 train,
had more restaurants serving Ecuadorean food than anything else.
Im not sure what I was expecting fr...
Great Balls o Rice!

Photos by Anne Fishbein China, of course, enjoys the greatest food in

the world, a cuisine capable of such subtlety and regional variety
that French or Italian menus seem as one-dimensional as
Hamburger Helper. A good Chinese chef can render pork ...
The Six Dollar Man

We meet our hero, a spokesdude for Carls Jr., in the bread aisle of a
supermarket, where he silently gapes at the hundreds of different
loaves crammed together like so many bright, bewildering foreignlanguage manga at a Japanese newsstand....
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Jonathan Golds 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants - Part 3

Renu Nakorn Renu Nakorns northern and Isaan-style Thai food is

spicy, but what makes it wonderful is the fresh play of tastes, a fugue
of herbs, meatiness and citrus that is quite unlike anything at your
corner Thai caf. There&rsquo...
Raw Power
Photos by Anne FishbeinI remember the moment I stopped eating

sushi as if it were yesterday, a chilly, sunny March afternoon back in
1992, in a mini-mall near Wilshire and Wilton. I had just visited
Ginza Sushiko for the rst time, a glowing 10-s...
Jonathan Golds 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants

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Photos by Anne FishbeinLos Angeles is a different kind of restaurant

town, a city where the arty-looking guy across the room may
actually be Dennis Hopper, where the presence of Ashton Kutcher
may mean more than the presence of Wolfgang Puck behin...
Jonathan Golds 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants - Part 2

The Hungry Cat The Hungry Cat is the restaurant a lot of us in Los
Angeles have been waiting for, a local answer to Swan Oyster Depot
in San Francisco or New Yorks Pearl Oyster Bar, a place to drop into
for a dozen oysters or a bowl of shri...
Ironic Chef America

Photos by Anne FishbeinAt Nook, a newish bistro in the badlands

west of the Nuart, tiny bowls of boiled peanuts show up at the
beginning of the meal where you might expect bread and butter, and
there is no getting over the shock of the things &mda...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Pie n Burger or Apple Pan? Wynn, Culver City Answer:

You dont think Im going to fall into that trap, do you? I choose
whichever one of the two I happen to be closer to at the time. They
are the two grea...
God Damn, Hes Toothless

Photos by Anne Fishbein You need no teeth to eat our beef, the
barbecue chain Mr. Jims used to advertise. In a spot of bad timing, I
had all of my wisdom teeth out last week, but the last Mr. Jims
closed down more than ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: With the approaching summer, I am already dreaming

about a good bowl of cold noodles on a hot day. I have found some
decent restaurants, but I am still always searching for the perfect
cold noodles to hit the spot. Smiles, Su Oh, ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Frankly, I dont remember ever having sweater weather so

late in Los Angeles. Global warming, I know, I know, but for a while
in early May, it felt like the Ice Age was coming back, complete with
the woolly mammoths. Anyway, now th...
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Bean There
Photos by Anne FishbeinUmenohana, which shares the rst oor of

a Beverly Hills parking structure with the newest location of Duttons
Books, is spacious almost to the point of innity, long, curving halls
forking off into paneled tatami r...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Italian restaurants are all well and good, but what Im
looking for is an old-fashioned Italian-American restaurant, with the
red sauce and the plastic grapes and the three-generation families
eating pasta on Sunday nights. Any ide...
What the Doctor Orders

Photo by Anne Fishbein In the course of his long and distinguished

career, Dr. Seymour Benzer invented gene mapping, came within a
hairsbreadth of inventing the transistor, and jump-started the hard
science of molecules and behavior. The genes gov...
Bosnias Big Mac

Photos by Anne FishbeinTodays subject is pljeskavica. Pljeskavica is

a thin, Balkan hamburger, as big and round as a phonograph record,
avored with salt and onions and peppers and briey cooked over a
hot charcoal re, a chewy meat patt...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Onion rings. Where? Gus, Northridge Answer: I was once

under the impression that the best onion rings in Los Angeles were
the ones that Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger used to serve
with the baseball steak at the old City Rest...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Okay, I get it. The Vietnamese sandwich is a cross-cultural

miracle, a conqueror of worlds, an emperor of the lunch hour. They
taste pretty good, Ill give you that. But do I really have to drive all
the way to Rosemead? For a sand...
Kuku Puffs
Photos by Anne FishbeinAttari Sandwich Shop is a pleasant lunch

spot hidden around the corner from Westwoods Iranian strip, a
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spot hidden around the corner from Westwoods Iranian strip, a

short distance from the biggest concentration of bakeries and
bookstores and boutiques of Iranian Los Angeles, in ...
Designer Duck
The concept of a one-specialty restaurant is well-known in the

Chinese San Gabriel Valley: Din Tai Fung for steamed dumplings;
Little Sheep for Mongolian hot pot; Dai Ho for spicy beef-noodle
soup. If you want soy milk, you go to Yung Ho. If you h...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: The more cosmically minded of my foodie friends, the

ones who used to go on about kambocha tea, sh extracts and raw
clumps of hemp seed, have lately been going on about konjac. But
even the most direct questioning and direct qu...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: Im going on a rst date and thought you might have a few
good suggestions. I am open to checking out anywhere, really.
Katrina, Los Angeles Answer: For a rst date, you probably couldnt
do better than Hungry Cat in...
Have a Cow
Photo by Anne FishbeinFogo de Chao is less a restaurant than a

sizzling theme park of meat, a quarter-acre of sword-wielding
gauchos, smoldering logs and soaring walls perforated with bottles
of the heartier red wines. It is a land of razor-sharp ...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: I must have exquisitely tuned neuroreceptors, because I

am never happier than in the moments immediately after I have
consumed roasted habanero peppers, a bowl of four-alarm Texas
chili or the kind of North Indian curry that seems t...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
Question: We drink coffee in Los Angeles, lots of it. Im drinking

some right now. In fact, Los Angeles is a better coffee town than New
York, and is almost certainly a better coffee town than other United
States cities I could name. We drin...
Scenes from a Mall

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Photo by Anne Fishbein The Hong Kong Plaza Food Court is located
in a yawning, empty space the size of a grand hotel ballroom
attached to a Chinese supermarket, a vast expanse of worn carpet, a
few scattered tables, and a large-screen television i...
Chocolate City
Photos by Anne Fishbein1985 was the year of tiramisu; 1994 was the
year of the blood-orange sorbet; and 2002 was the year you started
nding breakfast cereal incorporated into expense-account desserts.
But last year was probably the year of hot c...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
QUESTION: I just got back from Spain, and it was a veritable

cephalopod-fest: grilled octopus, sauted octopus, stewed octopus
everywhere, giant tentacles in sh shops everywhere you walk.
Squid, I can nd here, but octopus is another mat...
Can Do
Photo by Anne FishbeinWhen my friend Barry e-mailed me about a

special dinner he had set up at Yi Cuisine, a multi-course
extravaganza in which every course involved Spam, my response
was probably not as grateful as it might have been. While I hav...
To Be Real
11 years ago
The Life Aquatic

Photos by Anne FishbeinLos Angeles has its virtues as a restaurant

town, this much cannot be denied. Within the metro area are
concentrations of restaurants from every part of Asia that dwarf
anything of their type in North America, Latin restaura...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
QUESTION: My husband and I are from Washington, D.C., which has

a number of delicious Cajun restaurants. We crave a really good
crawsh touffe, gumbo and those naughty, but oh-so-tasty,
beignets. Where can we nd that, short of h...
The Revolutionary: Ludovic Lefebvre at Bastide

Ludovic Lefebvre may be the perfect chef for the media-saturated

world of Los Angeles kitchens, a young, great-looking Burgundian
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world of Los Angeles kitchens, a young, great-looking Burgundian

guy with a classical background, avant-garde inclinations and a
serious ingredient fetish, as comfo...
Ask Mr. Gold

11 years ago
The Big Pull

Photos by Anne FishbeinMalan Noodles is like a fast-food restaurant

from another galaxy, a blank, gleaming space festooned with posters
bearing its abstracted red-bowl logo and marked every few feet with
signs reading Warning: Hot Soup.&rdq...
Noodle Nirvana
Photo by Anne FishbeinKrua Thai rocks on a Saturday evening, a

mini-mall noodle shop on North Hollywoods Thai strip, washed
with blaring music, illuminated with glowing neon rings, uorescent
bulbs and the glare from backlit photographs of...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Where can we nd good Belgian food? Were feeling

kind of Euro today. Susie, Pasadena ANSWER: Ah, Belgium, the
hungry mans land of enchantment, where the mussels are sold by
the kilo, the portions of steak tartare ar...
Morocco A Go-Go
Photos by Anne FishbeinIf your idea of a Moroccan meal includes

belly-dancing, silk pillows and the sensuous wail of the oud, the
Fairfax-district restaurant Chameau may not be for you. Instead of
exotic ululations (or even rai ballads), there is ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION:I tried calling the consulate as if I was searching for a

lost loved one. I contacted the Singapore Society. Alas, I cant nd
chili crab, an irresistible ery dish that I ate in an empty parking-lotcum-restaurant in Singapore wh...
Rock in Total Retrograde!

12 years ago
The Gringo Killer

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Photo by Anne FishbeinAs bouillabaisse is the specialty of Marseilles

and paella the most famous dish of Valencia, jalea is the great
specialty of Limas industrial port suburb Callao, a fry-up reinforced
with tubers and oniony salsa that se...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Fufu. Fufu. Fu-fufu-fu . . . fufu. Say it soft, and it sounds

like praying. Say it loud, and theres music playing. But say it around
here and youll get absolutely no response at all. Where, pray tell,
may I nd some of thi...
The G Spot (Sans the Pleasure)

Photo by Anne FishbeinKate, a food-writer friend of mine in New

York, is a connoisseur of restaurant disasters, of overenthusiastically
ambed lobsters that scorch the ceiling, of salads garnished with
crawling grasshoppers, of Pellegrino...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Fire and Rice

Photos by Anne FishbeinOf the thousands of East Asian restaurants

that have disappeared from Los Angeles in the 20 years Ive been
writing this column, one of the most mourned has been Agung, an
Indonesian caf in a Hollywood mini-mal...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Pho the Soul

Photos by Anne Fishbein The Los Angeles area is rich in restaurants

that provide a reasonable facsimile of the Vietnamese restaurant
experience, with abundant tripe and long-simmered pho and subtle
variations on noodle dishes that eat up seven or ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Id really like to know where I can order a killer plate of

simple proletarian, generic, everyday, average pad Thai. Maybe with
shrimp or tofu. Not all of us are Atkins lovers. I want a hot, steaming
piled-up plate of slightly swee...
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Into the Deep

Photos by Anne Fishbein Zelo may be the great, undiscovered Los

Angeles pizza restaurant, an obscure storefront in a part of Arcadia
that I have always thought of as Greater Monrovia, tucked into a
strip of insurance brokers, mortgage-renance co...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Orris Takes Root

Photos by Anne Fishbein Tucked into the same complex as a shabushabu parlor, a pricey sushi bar and the local outlet of the boba chain
Lollicup, Orris is the newest citizen of Sawtelles Japanese-restaurant
row, with a long sushi-bar-like c...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I know all of the Chinese restaurants you like are 15

miles farther than Im willing to drive, but just this once, can you
recommend a really great place for dim sum that isnt all the way out
in San Gabriel? Jerry, Sa...
Lost in Translation
Photo by Anne Fishbein Here we are back in Thaitown, that stubby,

narrow stretch of East Hollywood that sports the highest
concentration of Thai businesses in the Americas. And here we are
again in a cramped Thaitown mini-mall, this one anchored b...
Like White on Rice

Photo by Anne Fishbein "It is said," conjectures cookbook writer

Shizuo Tsuji, "that it takes 20 years to acquire enough experience to
make truly perfect rice." A block or two from Juniors Delicatessen,
squeezed into an unlikely storefront ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION:I know were all supposed to have moved on to bitter
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QUESTION:I know were all supposed to have moved on to bitter

melon or Mongolian squid pot or fake dog meat or something, but
Ive been feeling a little nostalgic for good old moo shoo pork. Maybe
its the melancholy of the seaso...
Best Dishes of 2004

Photos by Anne Fishbein Hanger steak with wasabi relish. Many

crimes have been committed in the name of "fusion cuisine, and not
a few of them in Los Angeles. But this cross of classical California
technique with Eastern avors at Bea...
Sweat, Semen and a Scream

12 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: With Christmas comes tamales, eets of tamales, barrels

of tamales tamales without surcease, without end. My sister, who is
a much better person than I am, frankly, spends an entire day, maybe
two, wrapping and steaming, steamin...
The Ladle From Shanghai

Photo by Anne Fishbein The San Gabriel Valley at the moment is

crowded with restaurants serving the cooking of Shanghai and
eastern China with kitchen staffs recently emigrated from China
itself, bastions of the regions mellow brown sauces ...
The King Crab and I

Photo by Anne Fishbein Japanese restaurants have always been

noted for their tendency to specialize, one in grilled chicken and one
in fried pork cutlets, one in ramen and one in udon, one in eel and
another in herring. A friend once visited a spe...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: As long as were on the subject of pies and we are on

the subject of pies, are we not? have you happened to come across
a chicken pot pie remotely as good as the ones they used to serve at
Ships. Ive t...
Nueva York
Photos by Anne Fishbein York Boulevard, as it shoots through the

heart of Highland Park, has always been rich in Mexican restaurants:
the Cal-Mex restaurant near the police museum whose potent
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the Cal-Mex restaurant near the police museum whose potent

margaritas were praised by Joseph Wambaugh, the gentle...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Tiresome, I know, but I need to know where I can nd

the best banana cream pie. My marriage may depend on it. Lucy,
Alhambra ANSWER: There are two schools of thought when it
comes to banana cream pie in Los Angeles. The ve...
Fight Club
Photo by Anne Fishbein Two men walk into a bar. Or rather, 102 men
walk into a bar, with room for maybe 50 of them, with its television
perversely set to Animal Planet instead of the Lakers game, with an
ambiance rather like alumni night at the Si...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Anything new in the world of dim sum? Empress and

Sea Harbour and 888 are swell, mind you, but Im getting a little
burned out on them. And dont tell me to go to Mission 261. I like to
think of myself as having an open mind,...
The World According to Ku

Photo by Anne Fishbein ON A STRETCH OF TEMPLE CITY

Boulevard crowded with fancy cake parlors and Chinese bridal
boutiques, the busiest corner at lunchtime belongs to the Chinese
noodle shop Dai Ho, its sidewalk thronged with people waiting for
one...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: A most esteemed and lately protein-minded associate of

Turkish-Philly extraction recently made a Proustian stumble on
sojouk, the spicy sausage and a childhood staple, in the rough-andready deli case at Jons market. With all respect to ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Im throwing myself a birthday party. Just because. And

I want to do it in a restaurant, because I just cant face another round
of Two-Buck Chuck, Zankou chicken, and that forlorn strawberry
whipped cream cake from Phoenix B...
Turkey Among Friends

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Photo by Mark Hunter I may be the only person I know who actually
looks forward to cooking big Thanksgiving dinners, to peeling sacks
of potatoes, rinsing black grit from mountains of leeks, listening to
the soft pop-pop of cranberries simmering i...
Shades of Violet
Photo by Anne Fishbein In some cities, there are entire districts

devoted to restaurants like Violet, pleasant, mainstream bistros
whose virtues are most often summarized by their ratios of price to
quality. But in Los Angeles, where two people ca...
In the Soup
In the wet dark of a late San Gabriel night, when 10,000 chairs
balance upright legs atop 3,000 Chinese restaurant tables, when the
sweet smells of burnt soy and toasted garlic fade into oor soap and
rotting sh, when the giant parking lots emp...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: What is your opinion on turkeys? Everybody is talking

about those super-special Slow Food turkeys, but they run about
$60 to $70. Is it worth it? Do I need to custom-order one? Or should
I just pick up the usual Butterball and to hell wi...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I was driving down Sunset the other day, looking (as
usual) for cheap parking near the ArcLight, when I passed a giant
sign heralding the Hollywood glamour of Schwabs. Schwabs?
Wasnt that a drugstore over on one of t...
The Last Burger Stand

Photo by Anne Fishbein ACROSS THE STREET FROM Hamburger

Marys and cater-cornered from the ultramodern City Hall, Irvs
Burgers is a patch of unreconstructed California in the epicenter of
sleek West Hollywood a bright Coca-Col...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Hi Concept
Photo by Anne Fishbein HI THAI NOODLE IS THE NEWEST

restaurant in Thai Town, a bright, noisy shotgun marriage between a
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restaurant in Thai Town, a bright, noisy shotgun marriage between a

fast-food restaurant and a stylish caf, a collegiate hangout and a
serious noodle shop, staffed with a crew of young wo...
Serbian Americana
Photo by Anne Fishbein AT FIRST AND MAYBE EVEN second glance,

Metro Caf might be one of the least promising restaurants in Los
Angeles, a faux-50s diner attached to a stucco chain motel in Culver
City; its sign a glowing replica, it...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Last week you wrote about what sounded like some
really good mozzarella. I like mozzarella I come from the part of
New Jersey where mozzarella is more a delicious milk-soaked
sponge than the art-gum erasers that seem to be called...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Beyond Urban Rustic

Photo by Anne Fishbein IF YOURE WONDERING what the

excitement is about at Gino Angelinis sleek new La Terza, you could
do worse than to look at the little pre-appetizer brought out along
with the wine list one night in late September. ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I realize you get asked this kind of thing a lot, but I
really, really like carnitas, especially the crunchy kind, and I really,
really dont want to drive all the way to Downey, or Pacoima, or
wherever the hell youre tellin...
Chicken Stew for the Soul

Photo by Anne Fishbein Ethiopias bread, injera, is notoriously

difcult to make, a thin, oppy sheet that is as big as a yard sail and
as tart as lemons. There are recipes for Ethiopian stews whose lists
of ingredients stretch on for more...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: Vietnamese food is good. Wine is good. Vietnamese food

with wine is just excellent in Paris, Tan Dihn has one of the best
wine lists in the city, although the food may be less Vietnamese than
a fantasia on Vietnamese themes. Mang...
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a fantasia on Vietnamese themes. Mang...
Oaxacan Snack Attack

Photo by Anne Fishbein Antequera de Oaxaca is probably not the

most serious Oaxacan restaurant in Los Angeles. Guelaguetza since
its earliest days has been practically a museum of the cuisine, a
reliquary of the regions famous moles, fermen...
Oaxacan Snack Attack

Antequera de Oaxaca is probably not the most serious Oaxacan

restaurant in Los Angeles. Guelaguetza since its earliest days has
been practically a museum of the cuisine, a reliquary of the regions
famous moles, fermented beverages and snack...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Heavenly Creatures
Photo by Anne Fishbein Since I started loitering in San Gabriel 15

years ago, the plaza at the southeast corner of Las Tunas and
Mission has always been my favorite mini-mall in Los Angeles, home
at various times to a Malaysian restaurant, a Japan...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Hot Rod
Thai Town, that culinary paradise in East Hollywood, is home to

late-night noodle shops and curry-minded nightclubs, hot-pot
specialists and chicken parlors, formal restaurants with long menus
and dessert shops that feature a stew or two almost as...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: As a recent Chicago migr of unusual taste and

renement, I cannot help but notice that your fair city is entirely
bereft of establishments in which to purchase a decent Chicago-style
hot dog, surely the primary test of c...
The Art of Faux Paws

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Photo by Anne Fishbein Often, the art of cookery is to present a

great ingredient at its best, like a late-summer peach whose
peachiness is amplied, made even more delicious in a juicy, runny
tart baked by Euro Panes Sumi Chang. And somet...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I know you are probably sick of preening exNew

Yorkers proclaiming the superiority of their citys cuisine, but I used
to practically live on the soup dumplings at Joes Shanghai back in
the day, both the restaurant do...
America Childless
Top photo by James Scherer On television, Nancy Silverton and Julia

Child prepare a brioche tart, a pretty thing with caramelized peaches.
Silverton pulls the tart from the oven. Child guides her fork into the
tart and mists up, her jaw working, h...
Love, From Los Angeles

Photo by Anne Fishbein On a hot summer morning, there may be no

urban pleasure more satisfying than leaning against a palm tree in
MacArthur Park, the faded urban paradise that is gradually being
restored to the sleek, mysterious beauty recognizab...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: So: Thai desserts. Which I like in theory and everything,

but then I end up with bars of translucent green jelly that smell like
Mr. Zogs Sex Wax, disturbing little hamburger patties made from
coconut and taro, numbingly sweet Thai tacos...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Good to the Bone

Photo by Anne Fishbein PHILLIPS HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED to

be the nest Los Angeles barbecue stand for almost 15 years now, a
dim, battered, table-free chamber hidden off an urban parking lot, a
grease-smeared takeout window with the ambianc...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: You would think, in a city with almost as many Middle

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QUESTION: You would think, in a city with almost as many Middle

Eastern bakeries as Jack in the Box drive-thrus, there would be
someplace to get decent baklawa. (Baklawa, I insist, not baklava: ww-w-w-w baklawa. Theres all the diff...
Kingston
Photo of Anne Fishbein NATRALIART IS ONE OF THE NODES of

Jamaican culture in Los Angeles, a high-ceilinged restaurant on a
faded corner of Washington where the background reggae pounds
out of Peavey speakers on the dining-room oor, the big telev...
My Big Fat Greek Dinner

Photo by Anne Fishbein Mama Voulas is a new Greek restaurant in a

classic Westside mini-mall, sandwiched between a kosher Iranian
kebab shop and a Japanese teriyaki joint, hard by a Oaxacan
restaurant and the drive-thru lane of a Burger Kin...
Post-Puck Generation
Photo by Raul Vega The rst time I went to Manhattan with some
money in my pocket, I made a reservation at a restaurant reputed to
be the best in New York at the time, a place with four stars from The
New York Times, a celebrity clientele, and an...
Don't Call It a Comeback

Photo by Anne Fishbein In Culver Citys arts district, tted into an

old commercial laundry in the Helms Bakery complex, not far from
Sony, Beacon caf is possibly the most visible new restaurant in
town, as brightly lit at night as ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: A friend from Australia is dying for a good Indonesian

murtabak Malaysian will also be okay. (Californians look for
Mexican food when theyre homesick abroad, but Aussies do
Indonesian instead.) We will go anywhere! ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Question: When I lived in New York, I would sometimes schlep out

to Jay & Lloyds, what I think may be the best delicatessen in the ve
boroughs, for its version of the Catskills classic RPG: roast pork on
garlic bread with duck sauce. Jay ...
From Hollywood to Bollywood

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Photo by Anne Fishbein The last few months have seen any number
of spectacular new places to eat in Los Angeles, from the dazzling
new restaurant of Floridian fusionist Norman Van Aken to a new
dumpling place in Alhambra, from great new East L.A. ...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: When I was in Bangkok, a lot of the restaurants served a

dish of plain rice topped with mustard greens and what tasted like a
stewed ham hock it was like the food I grew up on back in Texas,
only Thai. Have you run across anythin...
Beyond Coffee and Cigarettes
SIGNUP
LOGIN
Photo by Anne Fishbein In Mexican cities, every neighborhood

worth its frijoles has at least one cafeteria basically a caf. A
cafeteria is a multifunctional institution, open from morning until
late at night, serving caf co...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I returned from a weeklong business trip in Japan truly

loving one dish: yakisoba. Something about the curry avor and
savory noodles tapped directly into the spaghetti section of my
Western-trained taste buds. With so man...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Office Space
Photo by Anne Fishbein No institution in the culinary world is less

lovable than the ofce-building cafeteria, that entrept of damp
salads, soggy mufns and nipple-topped Arrowhead water priced
like splits of ne champagne. The co...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: You said in a recent review that the pancakes at the

Griddle Cafe are not the best pancakes in Los Angeles. Pray tell,
where are the best pancakes in L.A.? (Mmmmmm, pancakes . . . !)
Nancy, Glendale ANSWER: The inevitable answer t...
Very Asia
Photo by Anne Fishbein In that peculiar corner of Palms where

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Photo by Anne Fishbein In that peculiar corner of Palms where

National Boulevard runs at right angles to itself, next door to a minimart locally famous for its offer of a free smoothie to anyone
presenting a ticket stub from The Passion of the Ch...
Green With Envy

Photo by Anne Fishbein If you grew up in California in the 80s,

chances are pretty good that you rst experienced New Mexican
food not in a roadhouse outside Taos, but in the restaurants of John
Sedlar and Mark Miller: mythical creations o...
Ask Mr. Gold
SIGNUP
LOGIN
12 years ago
QUESTION: I grew up on the ice cream at the old Wil Wrights on

Beverly Drive, and I adored the enormous banana splits at Poppys.
When provoked, I can work up a tear or two for the Zoo at Farrells,
or even the malteds at the ol...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
The Breakfast Club

Photo by Anne Fishbein THE GRIDDLE IS LOUD on a Sunday

morning, really loud: clattering pans, a hundred shouted
conversations, amplied rock & roll bouncing off the high ceilings at
such volume and with such distortion that it is hard to tell whe...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I notice that you have been spending time lately

addressing such pointless topics as pork noodle soup, gourmet
hamburgers and so-called burritos that dont even have any beans in
them. When are you going to get back t...
A Life in 10 Cars
1. 1954 Studebaker Commander station wagon. My parents are eating

popcorn at the old Centinela Drive-In. I doze, in feetie pajamas
between them. My mothers water breaks. Six years later, I nally
catch the last half-hour of Babes in Toyland...
Where To Eat Now: Drive Thru

12 years ago
Donut Hole. La Puente may not be on the way to anything in

particular, but it is home to the renowned Donut Hole, a drive-thru
doughnut shop anchored by a giant hemi-doughnut at either end, a
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doughnut shop anchored by a giant hemi-doughnut at either end, a

1947 architectural triumph. From a couple of blocks awa...
Wedge Issues
Photo by Anne Fishbein The rst trick a professional deli man

masters is probably the Wedge, which is to say the sleight of hand by
which the meat and bread of an ordinarily overstuffed sandwich are
manipulated to resemble the most generous sandw...
Ask Mr. Gold

SIGNUP
12 years ago
best carneLOGIN
QUESTION: Where can you nd the
asada burritos in Los
Angeles? It seems there are countless options for a delicious, meaty
burrito in San Diego with price tags that make a burrito taste that
much better, but the search here has not yie...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: I moved to L.A. last summer, and despite the wealth of

Asian restaurants in town, I cant seem to nd a good Vietnamese
place. Im looking for authentic pho, not Korean-ized pho (which Ive
had and thought was terrible...
Lost in Tampopo
Photo by Anne Fishbein THEN poke the pork. There probably

hasnt been a review of a ramen restaurant in the last 18 years that
hasnt referenced the movie Tampopo, more or less The Passion of
the Christ for people ...
Revenge of the NSW

12 years ago
Young, Dumb and Full of Cumin

Photo by Anne Fishbein On a cool evening, Little Sheep is fragrant

with cumin, drenched with cumin, so cumin-intensive that cuminavored water vapor trickles down the inside of the restaurants
windows and the dining room is dotted with li...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Builders Emporium
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Builders Emporium
Photo by Anne Fishbein When I was a small child in Los Angeles, a

vanished paradise where the freeways owed like swift water and
the Dodgers won the pennant every year, the single most wonderful
restaurant in the universe was a place called Wood...
Beauty in Chaos
The Taiwanese noodle shop is a peculiar animal, devoted to noodles,

thick soups and a never-ending selection of small refrigerated
appetizers. There will usually be a deep-fried item or two, and a
fairly comprehensive roster of boba drinks. (Boba ...
SIGNUP
Ask Mr. Gold
LOGIN
12 years ago
QUESTION: I HAVE A DATE THIS SATURDAY WITH A LADY FROM

PERU. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW OF ANY GOOD PERUVIAN
RESTAURANTS IN THE HOLLYWOOD AREA. THANKS FOR YOUR
TIME. Kenn, Los Angeles ANSWER: See that rectangular Chiclet
directly to...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
Wines on Target
Photo by Anne Fishbein Making wine is an impressive thing to do

a hundred luxurious chateaux in the Napa Valley speak to the Robb
Report prestige of putting ones name on a nice bottle of something
red. But sommeliers, the guys who put...
Thirteen Ways of Looking at Nirvana

12 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: The French dip is often written about in Los Angeles as

if it were a religion or something, as if we were so damned lucky to
live in a city clever enough to have invented such a wonderful
sandwich. Yet outside the terms of the so-called ...
A Slab of Crab
Photo by Anne Fishbein The best single bite of anything Ive tasted
all year was probably the crab sushi at Sushi Tenn, over on the
Japanese-restaurant strip of Sawtelle. Crab sushi tends to be fairly
circumscribed in Los Angeles, usually se...
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circumscribed in Los Angeles, usually se...
Ask Mr. Gold

12 years ago
QUESTION: After reading your review of Sapp, we felt like our secret
had been discovered. It is like so many good, friendly places we
found in Thailand. But where, oh where, is there a place that excels
in the rich and satisfying noodle stew of no...
It Takes Two To Fritanga

Photo by Anne Fishbein Behold, the fritanga plate in all its

SIGNUP
magnicence, a crunchy tower of protein and shaved
green bananas
LOGIN
reaching almost halfway to heaven. You will nd the well-marinated

Nicaraguan-style carne asada on the plate, in long h...
The Great White Shark...Casserole

Photo by Anne Fishbein Of the scores of redevelopment projects

south of downtown Los Angeles, my favorite may be Mercado La
Paloma, a cavernous old warehouse rehabbed by a nonprot
cooperative into a dusty, dimly lit fantasy of a Mexican street m...
Among the Believers

Photo by Anne Fishbein The Iranian community in Los Angeles is a

massive entity, with miles of Farsi-language signs on nightclubs and
supermarkets and accountancy rms, bookstores and boutiques, law
rms and Mercedes repair shops. The Iranian mu...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Ive always admired your taste in food. Could you

suggest the tastiest, spiciest, most intense food experience within,
say, 20 miles of the corner of La Cienega and Sunset? Jeff,
Hollywood ANSWER: I have answered this questi...
Number Wonton
Photo by Anne Fishbein What do we mean when we talk about

wonton? Are wonton the fried trapezoids in sickly pink syrup that we
may have eaten as children? Are they the oppy things that Sichuan
restaurants douse in chile oil, or the doughy sinker...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
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Monster Burrito
Photo by Anne Fishbein Where trafc begins to thin and the

Westside starts to atten out into the Ballona Wetlands, at the
intersection of Culver and Inglewood boulevards is a small Mexican
neighborhood unto itself a clump of businesses ...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
SIGNUP
Maria Had a Little Lamb
LOGIN
Photo by Anne Fishbein El Borrego de Oro is a caf hard by the

doughnut shop in an Eastside mini-mall, a cramped storefront
dominated by a giant juicing machine, and a dining room, if you can
call it that, jammed into a narrow, L-shaped spa...
Koreatown's Top 40
Photos by Raul Vegaand Anthony Allen Twenty-odd years ago, I

lived in a neighborhood that was then called Wilshire Center, in a
large apartment, probably grand in its day, with Palladian windows,
an oddly placed stairwell, and carpet that hadn&rsq...
Mr. Baguette Takes on Mr. Lee

Photos by Anne Fishbein Henry Ford applied the concept of the

assembly line to automobile manufacture; August Escofer to the
vast hotel banquet kitchen. The McDonald brothers broke American
diner cooking down into a set of simple, easily replica...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Youve hinted at authentic Sichuan restaurants in

Monterey Park. Could you please provide more information about
these? I am looking for some good ones. Thanks. Ingrid Mok
ANSWER: There is almost a Sichuan-restaurant neighbo...
Keep on Trucking
Photo by Anne Fishbein For a long time now, the busiest Eastside
taqueras have planted lunch wagons in their parking lots out back
on weekends, doubling the rate of taco production on busy
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on weekends, doubling the rate of taco production on busy

Saturdays and getting use out of the trucks that l...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: When I was in Honolulu a few weeks ago, I had my

mind blown by something called loco moco, a weird and lling
breakfast dish that must have weighed in at 2,600 calories at least. I
hadnt been expecting anything more profound than...
Two Guys Walk Into a Bar . . .

SIGNUP
LOGIN
Photo by Anne Fishbein My friend Robert Sietsema, co-founder of

the Organ Meat Society and editor of the food zine Down the Hatch,
is well known for his insistence that the best food in New York City is
always at least 20 minutes and two bus trans...
Mission Accomplished
Photo by Anne Fishbein Mission 261, the latest dim sum megalopolis
in San Gabriel, may be the most ambitious Chinese restaurant ever
to open in the United States: a mammoth Cantonese banquet hall
tted into a sprawling adobe complex built a hundr...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: On the Sawtelle Boulevard strip, near the two Giant

Robot stores and pretty much in the middle of the Westsides Little
Tokyo, there is a sort of ordinary-looking sushi bar on the east side
of the street that always has a line. Alw...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: I think I may need a primer here. Ive tried to get a

simple meal of steamed tilapia from the live tank, with soup and a
side of Chinese broccoli, for several weeks in a row. I cannot
remember the names of all the places Ive...
What To Eat Now: The Year's Best Dishes

1 Suckling pig. Or rather, a small but not insignicant portion of a

suckling pig no larger than a house cat, brined and roasted and
roasted and brined until its skin is as thin and crisp as the burnt wisp
of sugar that tops a really good cr&egra...
Ask Mr. Gold
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Ask Mr. Gold
13 years ago
QUESTION: I am blessed with a wonderful roommate. For her

birthday, I would like to take her and her friends to a mildly
affordable authentic Greek restaurant, but Im not sure where to go
in the Hollywood area. My roommate was a resident of...
Eazy Does It
13 years ago
Beauty and the Boat Noodles

SIGNUP
Photo by Anne Fishbein There is nothing at rst
glance to distinguish
LOGIN in Thai Town,
Sapp Coffee Shop from any of the other restaurants
neither an unusually inviting steam table nor a concentration in
game, neither a late-night rock & roll crowd n...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Im trying to nd a restaurant to go to for Thanksgiving

dinner. Could you recommend a restaurant or two that does a
traditional but interesting Thanksgiving menu? Liz Barrett
ANSWER: Traditional? The Tick Tock is long gone...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Chicken Madness
Photo by Anne Fishbein Mexican-American chefs roast a mean

chicken; anyone who has spent 15 minutes in Huntington Park can
tell you that. Armenian roast chickens spit and sizzle across
Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley; Tuscan roast chickens d...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: I know Jessica Simpson wont touch Buffalo wings

because she doesnt eat buffalo, but I do, dammit. Eat Buffalo wings, I
mean. Where can I nd them without darkening the door of my local
Hooters, a practice that has traditio...
Drive, He Said
13 years ago
Photo by Debra DiPaolo Paella for eight may be a dinner party, but
supper for 30 is a battle royal. And while I have endured more than
my share of mass feeds, frying 200 pieces of chicken or 300 latkes in
an afternoon, peeling and chopping vegetab...
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Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Its fun to crawl East L.A. looking for taco stands. But is
it possible to get great carnitas in a restaurant where you can
actually sit down, hear some music and maybe get a margarita or
two? Ive tried to take dates to El G...
Variations in the Key of Taco

Photo by Anne Fishbein Los Angeles is littered with taco stands of

every imaginable genus: taco stands with stone-authentic replicas of
Sinaloan cooking and soul-food taco stands, Yucatecan
taco stands
SIGNUP
and Colima-style taco stands, taco stands wit...LOGIN
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Congee, or rice porridge, has always struck me as the

nest of breakfasts: nutritious, light and utterly absorptive, which,
after the kind of nights out Ive been having lately, strikes me as a
redemptive virtue, indeed. Yet the T...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Question: A Somali friend of mine is jonesin for some good goat. I

think she might be open to various forms (even birria!). Could you
suggest two or three excellent spots? Thanks. Titus Levi, Los
Angeles Answer: I was just thinking a...
Dhaba Dhaba Do
Photo by Anne Fishbein On a stretch of Westwood Boulevard thick

with student coffeehouses and Iranian hair salons, Ambala Dhaba is
an outpost of the Punjab, a branch of a restaurant noted on Artesias
Little India strip for its ery goat cu...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: My husband and I lived in Taiwan for a year and we

really miss the food, especially the breakfasts. There was a hot soy
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really miss the food, especially the breakfasts. There was a hot soy
milk soup that you would eat along with a special little omelet and
steamed dumplings. Where can we nd this kind of...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: For years I have purchased lahmajunes at the Armenian

bakery near the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Kenmore
Street, but was crushed to nd they have gone out of business. Any
suggestions as to where else I might nd these wonder...
Fajita pitas, Octopus Tacos, and the Birth of California Cuisine

SIGNUP
1 When Michaels opens in 1979, there are otherLOGIN

serious dining rooms
in Los Angeles, including Ma Maison and the newish, ultraluxe

LOrangerie, which bestrides La Cienega like a Louis Quinze bank
lobby. Only a year before, my high school...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Ive eaten a dish at Persian restaurants that seems to be

basically a thin, crunchy cake of fried white rice with a delicious
green stew on top. What is this dish, and where can I nd it on the
west side of town? Emmy, West...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Help out a homesick expat. In Singapore and Malaysia

we love eating buttery rotis with a bowl of dal (often with chunks of
meat) for breakfast. Where in the Southland can we nd such
comestibles? Patrick, Santa Monica ANSW...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Enough of the blood sausage, carnitas, kid and tripe.

This is summer, after all, and Im in the mood for something light and
a little profound. Im looking specically for a restaurant that serves
jin thoke, that beautifully...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Its your fault, you know. Philips BBQ got my entire
family addicted to Friday-evening drives down to Leimert for pork
ribs with hot sauce. I hold you personally responsible for the shakes
I get on Sundays when Philip...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
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13 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: A few months ago, you mentioned a source for great

merguez sausage. But what Ive been looking for is boudin noir, the
black stuff, the real ooze. Because lately, Ive been in the mood for a
little type-O negative, if you kno...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
SIGNUP
QUESTION: At Indian street festivals, there is often

a guy or two
LOGIN
slung around
wandering around with a big cooler
his shoulders,
selling what seems to be a thick kind of Indian ice cream formed into
the shape of tall, inverted cones and jammed ont...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Question: Im going to be spending a certain amount of time at the

convention center next week, and I was wondering: Where do I go to
eat? I am so, so over the Pantry. Zack, Emeryville Answer: I agree.
If the cooking at the Pan...
Salty Prose: Judy Rodgers and the Art of the Cookbook

13 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
question: Can you tell me where in this city I can nd tripe? And I
dont mean menudo, tripe tacos, or that Vietnamese tripe that looks
like bathing caps, but good, old-fashioned tripe. Theres got to be
some place out there that does...
Picnic at the Temple

13 years ago | Travel
Coldwater Canyon Boulevard is drab and endless as it courses

through North Hollywood, lined with cheap liquor stores, auto body
shops and the bland apartment buildings that local architects call
dingbats. But at the upper end of the street, right ...
Fish and Fox Tales

Photo by Anne Fishbein The famous baked sh at Phong Dinh is a

monster of an animal, a thick-skinned Vietnamese catsh barely shy
of a yard, blackened and smoking, the twin prongs of its signature
mustachio charred into crumbling Salvador Dali c...
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Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
question: Where can I nd good albondigas? I mean, really, really

good albondigas, the kind my Nana used to make? Im pretty sure
you never tasted my Nanas albondigas, but trust me you would
have liked them. Rafael, Ma...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
question: Where are those crunchy yet at the same time juicy
carnitas I have been looking for? Lares on PicoSIGNUP
Boulevard does a
pretty good job, but Im hoping youll lead me to
the real deal!
LOGIN
Jordan Altadena ...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
QUESTION: Like Johnny Cash (and Trent Reznor, I suppose), I am

very much in a mood to hurt myself today, just to see if I can feel. But
Im afraid of the sight of blood, especially my own, so I was hoping
chile peppers might do the trick. An...
Ask Mr. Gold

13 years ago
Q: With the world ending and everything, I am in sore need of

comfort food. Does anybody still make old-fashioned rice pudding?
Janice Hollis Pacic Palisades A: Leaving aside the variations
glazed with passion fruit or crusted with a cara...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: My friends George and Em have some friends who went to

Bastide. They tried to order the $60 dinner, and were told that only
the $90 menu would give the full Bastide experience. So they agreed.
Then trufes were brought to the table, and they w...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: Where can I nd a barbecue beef brisket in L.A. that doesnt need

to be cut with a hacksaw? Robert Lu A: Having spent a fair amount
of time cruising around Texas looking for the next brisket down the
road, I feel your pain. Really...
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Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: I will be arriving back home in L.A. after a yearlong stint in Japan.

I wonder what my life will be like after having had the pleasure of
dining at authentic Japanese revolving sushi restaurants. Do these
exist in L.A. or will I have to suffer ...
The Power of Bao

SIGNUP
LOGIN
Photos by Anne Fishbein Like the offshore winds, or the ZIP codes of
independent lm producers, the locus of Los Angeles dim sum is

forever moving east. Herein, a few of our favorites. Sea Harbor. As
much as it pains me to admit it, the Ca...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: A friend told me about a joint that serves grilled split chickens

with a red marinade on top of French fries, on the north side of the
street toward downtown. Not Pollo a la Brasa. Any idea what and
where it is? Jeff Fischer A: My rst ...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: Ever since the demise of the much-missed Ships, Ive been

wondering: Where can I nd that chicken potpie Ive been dreaming
of for so long? Im talking about thick chunks of chicken, creamy
lling, and pastry crust ab...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: I just moved here from New Jersey and Ive been searching
frantically for a taste of back home good cannolis, like the ones my
mom makes. Rosanna, Beverly Hills A: I myself once saw a glimpse
of nirvana in a cannoli, althou...
Ask Mr. Gold
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Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: Ive been nostalgic for old-fashioned carnitas. Any suggestions? A:

Porkys has been pumping out carnitas on the Whittier Boulevard
strip for as long as anyone can remember not subtle, heart-healthy
carnitas, but the hard, c...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: I just got back from Cairo, where I tried several versions of a sour
green soup called miloukia. Ever run across this in Los Angeles? D.
Berkowitz, Hollywood A: Miloukia, the name of a Middle Eastern
herb as well as the soup made out of ...
SIGNUP
Ask Mr. Gold
LOGIN
14 years ago
Q: Where have you been going for dim sum lately? Y. Ramirez,
Silver Lake A: Seaworld, a palace of ziggurats and chandeliers and
sh tanks, is neither the best nor the worst Cantonese seafood
restaurant in town, but the dim sum has been gre...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: I recently ate wonderful carne seca in Tucson, but have looked for
the dish in vain in Los Angeles. Have you found any Mexican
restaurants with a good version of it? Ian Barnard A: There are
versions of carne seca from all over Mexico in...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q:Do you know any Chinese restaurants in L.A. that serve bitter
melon (ku gua)? It's the weirdest-looking of all vegetables and, as the
name suggests, profoundly bitter - a vegetable that seems to make
its own vinegar. It's an acquired taste - ind...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Q: Ive been to Yabu and the little noodle shop in the Mitsuya
supermarket on Centinela at Venice Boulevard, but I am still in
search of the ultimate soba joint. C. Evans A: Soba may be the
ultimate Japanese noodle: moistly crunchy gr...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Question:Its Halloween today got any Faustian bargains? Answer:
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Question:Its Halloween today got any Faustian bargains? Answer:

Chipotle Mexican Grill is a newish mega-chain of burrito outlets
popping up in malls and plexes all over the country. The fauxindustrial architecture comes from...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Question: Some of us are vegetarians who go to a wide variety of

restaurants, because we live in the real world with non-vegetarian
friends. My favorites include Nyala Restaurant, Sante Brea and Real
Food Daily. Can you offer any other suggestions...
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Ask Mr. Gold
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14 years ago
Question: The Westside has plenty of places to get breakfast, but

theyre pretty fancy, with fancy prices. My family is looking for a
really good, plain old coffee-shop breakfast, like Raes only better,
preferably with shredde...
The Deli Counter

Photo by Anne Fishbein AFTER EXPLORING THE DELIS OF NEW

YORK, CHICAGO AND OTHER U.S. cities, Gourmet magazine
restaurant critic and L.A. Weekly Counter Intelligence columnist
JONATHAN GOLD concludes that his own hometown, Los Angeles,
has the most...
Ask Mr. Gold

14 years ago
Question: I am faced with the unexpected arrival of friends who have

asked me, an insular San Fernando Valley resident, to nd a place
where six of us can meet for brunch on Sunday. They will be staying
in midtown. --Bernice Lieberman Answer: It ...
Driving While Hungry

Photos by Anne Fishbein THE CARHOP IS DEFUNCT. THE LAST

DRIVE-IN THEATER has been shuttered. The drive-in church in
Garden Grove brought its act indoors long ago. As far as I know,
drive-in shoe repair, drive-in psychics and drive-in art museums a...
Chile Scenes of Summer

Chung Kings fried chicken with hot peppers is the red of silk
pajamas, the red of recrackers, the red of the Chinese ag, a knoll of
crunchy dark-meat cubes subsumed under a blizzard of fried chiles.
If Chuck Jones had ever decided to dr...
Original Sinaloa
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Original Sinaloa
When executed properly, machaca, a sort of red-brown heap of fried

beef jerky, is one of the great dried-beef dishes of the world, an
intense distillation of the avors of the Mexican West, all salt and
smoke and heat, with a slight marine smack ...
Pho West, Young Man

In some parts of Los Angeles, Vietnamese noodle shops are as thick

on the ground here as they are in Hanoi, and a bowl of pho, the
SIGNUP
northern Vietnamese dish of slithery rice noodles,
fragrant beef
broth and leafy herbs, is as easy to nd as a BigLOGIN
...
Silver Clouds
ON THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 11, I WAS standing next to the

Brooklyn Bridge when the rst tower fell, close enough to feel the
shockwave, to absorb the burnt-plastic reek that had already begun
to make its way across the river, to hear the terribl...
O Brodard, Where Art Thou?

San Gabriel may be the center of Shanghainese cooking in the Los

Angeles area, and Monterey Park the location of grand Cantonese
restaurants. Alhambra is home to Noodleville, that section of Valley
Boulevard crowded with multi-ethnic Asian noodle ...
A Neighborhood Just West of Downtown

May 7, 1992 -- It is 8 oclock, and the light has started to fade as I sit
on the oor of my apartment staring at the spot where the rain not
so much dripped as oozed from the doorjamb a couple of months
ago, swelling the wood and leaving...
Changing Lanes
Photo by Anne Fishbein The rst time I visited Mr. Ts Bowl was
probably sometime back in the earliest 90s, on a warm Saturday
morning in late spring. Mr. Ts, you understand, was less a bowling
alley than an enormous Highland ...
Eat, Like, a Pig

Even for Koreatown, L.A. Toad was a mysterious restaurant, a Seoulstyle snack shop whose untranslated menu was written on the
chopstick wrappers, a place with as many different kinds of
pancakes as an IHOP, boiled pork innards garnished with raw ...
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pancakes as an IHOP, boiled pork innards garnished with raw ...
Highway 6 Revisited
A 10-minute taxi ride from downtown Phnom Penh, out past the
colonial mansions of the international district and over the squat
Japanese Friendship Bridge on the national Highway 6, the biggest
concentration of restaurants in Cambodia lies along t...
The 17th Level

SIGNUP
If you grew up in Los Angeles, at least part of your
life probably
revolved around Farmers Market, the intimate LOGIN
expanse of fruit stalls
between Du-pars and the Magees wooden mule that kicks when the
attendant grinds the horseradish, th...
Next Stop, Green Village

Braised meats are doing better box ofce than even Russell Crowe at
the moment, from the tripe at Osteria Angelini to the veal cheeks at
Spago, the carnitas at Border Grill to the pork-belly appetizer at Jar.
Braising is a gentle way to cook the ...
Hey, Babita
A decade or so ago, when culture- page editors were still trying to

come to that part of Los Angeles that didnt happen to be contiguous
with Beverly Hills, a little before television commentators learned to
curl their lips into a sneer when...
Eat, Memory
A couple of Januarys ago, my wife brought a bag of blobby, yellow

fruit home to the Manhattan apartment where we were then living,
cradling the fragrant parcel as if it were a rare gift from a distant
land. I would have recognized this fruit even ...
5 Good Streets
1. Pico Boulevard starts near a giant Coca-Cola bottle and ends up at

a surng beach, is a main thoroughfare of Central Americans,
Koreans, Africans and Iranian Jews, and yet theres almost always a
place to park. You know how at some partie...
Five Places To Eat Shrimp and Drink Heavily on a Sunday

Afternoon
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Afternoon
1. San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant. Steamed live Dungeness

crabs served with mallets. Deep-fried carp. Beer sold from an icelled bin. And shrimp fajitas fried hard with garlic, peppers and
onions, which you eat while you watc...
5 Web Sites To Read, Hands Trembling, At 3 A.M.

1. debka.com. We start where the media stop. Only half of the

ultraspooky stuff on this Israel-based intelligence e-zine, beloved by
end-of-days fundamentalists, among others, will turn out to be true.
The problem is guring out which...
10 Insects To Look for In 2002
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LOGIN
1. Africanized honeybees. Now swarming in a location near you. 2.

Tomato worms. Big, green and scary as hell, able to smell fear in an
Early Girl from a distance of 2,000 yards and reduce a Big Boy to
scarlet ooze in a matter of seconds. There is ...
And Then There Was Beef

Golden Deli, you may not need to be told, is one of the best
Vietnamese noodle shops in Southern California, a well-worn citadel
of banh hoi and pho in a busy San Gabriel mini-mall, a restaurant so
popular that its customers wait up to an hour for...
Spicy With Spicy

The aftermath of a dinner at Huas Garden is like a Francis Bacon

painting splashed across the tabletop in shades of red -- gory
puddles of scarlet juice alive with Sichuan peppercorns, scraps of
scallions, chewed bits of gristle, pounded ri...
Will the Real Taipan Please Stand Up, Please Stand Up?
Taipan is one of those Chinese restaurants that you could walk by a

hundred times without slowing down, a nice, clean-lined cafe
plopped down among the convenience stores and fast-food outlets
in an Arcadia mini-mall. The restaurants name, ...
A Mantu for All Seasons

Poised between Resedas Persian commercial strip to the south and a

smallish Chinese community to the north, Afghan House lies in what
amounts to an Afghan mini-mall tucked behind a busy Burger King
drive-thru. To one side of the restaurant i...
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Engineering 101
Photo by Anne Fishbein Those of us who crave great Chinese

dumplings on weekend mornings long ago learned to bow to the
tyranny of the masses, joining the throngs milling around Empress
Pavilion or the foyer of Yung Ho, edging out Mercedes sedans ...
The City So Nice They Named It Twice

15 years ago | A Considerable Town
It is surprising how ordinary everything seems on the day after the

catastrophe in New York, although each movement is articulated as
if it were blocked out in a play. We walk through daily routines trying
to believe that careful attention to deta...
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The Comeback
Above a sleek Thai supermarket and behind a soaring Buddhist

shrine, concert strobes ashing, vibrating with the sounds of 12piece rock bands on the huge stage, the L.A. Food Court at Thailand
Plaza was the single greatest monument to Thai cooki...
Notes on the Taco Gap

It is possible, at ruinous expense, to nd sushi in Los Angeles whose

construction rises well above the Tokyo norm. The pizza at Alto
Palato compares very nicely with much of the pizza you nd in
Rome. Koreatown is home to any number of restaura...
The Seamless Dream

Sasha Carrillo Hot Dog on a Stick In a ne restaurant, service can be

almost a mystical thing: glasses relled, silver adjusted, tablecloths
crumbed so subtly that it is easy to forget there is a third party
involved, vague yearnings for red win...
Cinnamon, Cloves and Cardamom

A proper Indian biryani is one of the nest rice dishes of the world, a
vast, smoking mound of seasoned basmati rice cooked with meat or
vegetables. Pakistani cooks sometimes make great biryanis,
superheated and fragrant with spice, although the ...
L.A. to N.Y.
Photo by Anne Fishbein If you have lived in Los Angeles more than a
couple of years, you may remember the sort of Los Angeles stories
that used to be a staple of national (and British) magazines, the
colorful journals of writers parachuting into t...
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colorful journals of writers parachuting into t...
Yayo Lives
For a long time, everybody I knew went to Dos Arbolitos, a tiny

converted hamburger stand in a supermarket parking lot on the San
Fernando Valleys northern plain that was the source of some of the
most directly delicious Mexican cooking in ...
Hainan Chicken
Photo by Anne Fishbein Hainan is by all accounts Chinas answer to

SIGNUP
Hawaii, a warm, lush island with beaches of ne,
white sand, a
tropical wonderland famous for the
of its mangoes,
succulenceLOGIN
abundant pineapples, and the delicate avor of ...
Wiener Take All

16 years ago
Canary Canary is an Iranian sandwich shop on Westwoods Iranian

strip, a house of kebabs in the most kebab-intensive neighborhood
in California. (As W.C. Fields once said of the garlic-packing town of
Gilroy, you could marinate a steak just ...
Pig Out
16 years ago
Antojitos Denises In Los Angeles, good carnitas are common, great

carnitas rare. Denises is a small, sweet taco stand whose customer
base consists largely of people waiting for the MTA at the bus stop
right in front. A caricature of ...
Super Bowls
16 years ago
Heavy Noodling Heavy Noodling specializes in the sort of strands

100 generations of Chinese chefs have regarded with horror: thick,
clumsy noodles that run somewhere between spaetzle and
pappardelle, self-consciously rustic things that taste mainl...
Ah, Chiu Chow!

16 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein 888 Did I say Chiu Chow? My rst meal at
888 which included a garlicky terrine of beef shank; crunchy, tofuskin-wrapped dumplings of fresh crabmeat and taro (crab balls); a
soft, fragrant lamb stew (seasonal); and ...
Restaurants That Are Older Than Your Mom

16 years ago
Ciros Some denitions: 1) A auta is a corn tortilla wrapped around

a meat lling and fried crisp. Stylistically, autas can range from the
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a meat lling and fried crisp. Stylistically, autas can range from the
greasy things your college dorm used to serve, to the giant, tasteless,
alto-ute-size roll-ups...
From Formosa With Love

Chicken Garden Chicken Garden is a nearly elegant, bare-bones sort

of place with soft lights and framed calligraphy. Everybody seems to
be nibbling off-the-menu Taiwanese hors doeuvres, things like
smoked beef strips, or small fried sh wi...
The Great Outdoors

16 years ago
SIGNUP
LOGIN to operate
Cha Cha Chicken Although Cha Cha
Chicken seems
mostly as a takeout stand, the patio off to the side is a pleasant place
on a hot night, dotted with thatched palapas, enhanced by owers
growing out of old tomato-juice cans, ocean breeze...
More Than Enough

16 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein Chinese banquets are extremely ne things,

exquisitely choreographed successions of tastes and textures that
are greater than each dish on its own, long-form essays in freshness
and style that tend to play themselves out on...
Shafted!
16 years ago
Agung Agung has all the stuff that would be standard if Indonesian
food were as common as Thai: good, clumpy fried rice with scallions
and ham; delicious bakmi noodles, a sort of spicy Indonesian chow
mein, fried with dark soy, shrimp and plenty o...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood

16 years ago
All India Cafe The conceit here is dishes from each of the regions of
India -- tandoori meats from the north and masala dosa from the
south, salads and Bombay-style uttapam -- ltered through the softfocus lens of the All India kitchen and washe...
Supersize It!
16 years ago
China Islamic Restaurant Almost as soon as you walk into the

restaurant, youll be asked if you want sesame bread (you do), a thick
disk of atbread made to order, the size of a Chicago-style pizza,
crust baked to a shattering crispness tha...
L.A. When It Sizzles

16 years ago
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16 years ago
Alameda Swap Meet The big food stall under the awning closest to
the main building here is a full-on Mexican restaurant without the
walls, featuring grilled chicken, carne asada and steam-table dishes:
chile verde, chicken mole and a really good, ...
Holy Moles
16 years ago
Alegria The best food here revolves around the extraordinary mole
sauce: sharp, thick, sweetly complex, with top notes of smoke, clove
and citrus, lashed with dried-chile heat, black enough to darken the
brightest Pepsodent smile. (It takes two da...
Heart and Seoul
SIGNUP
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Let Kansas City have its fried chicken, San Francisco its cioppino.
Los Angeles is a world center of kimchi, the odiferous fermented
vegetables that make up so much of the Korean table: briny bits of
turnip, chile-sluiced cabbages, bittersweet dai...
Mary Had a Little Lamb

16 years ago
Agung has all the stuff that would be standard if Indonesian food
were as common as Thai: clumpy fried rice with scallions and ham;
delicious bakmi noodles, a sort of spicy Indonesian chow mein, fried
with dark soy, shrimp and plenty of cabbage; t...
Balls to the Wall

16 years ago
Cafe Brasil Mostly, youll nd grilled animals at Cafe Brasil: pork

chops, lamb chops, steak, shrimp and sh, all profoundly salty and
resonant with garlic, charred at the edges, fragrant with citrus and a
little overcooked. With all this ...
Brain Food
16 years ago
Little Malaysia Little Malaysia seems to concentrate on the Nonya

cooking of Pinang, an island off Malaysias west coast: hot and spicy,
liberal with such root spices as ginger and turmeric, tending more
toward clean sweet-and-sour avors t...
Big Ass Mound o Starch

16 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein Bambi Bakery This may be the loudest place
in Hollywood on Saturday mornings, with taped marimba music
bouncing off the walls, sticky toddlers caroming off glass bakery
cases, counterpeople barking orders into microphones, a...
Gills & All
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Gills & All

16 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein Boca del Rio This place may lack the
elaborate chilpacholes, the exotic jungly stews, the strange
licoricelike herbs youll nd in Veracruz, but mostly it delivers the
goods: uffy, garlicky rice; pungent fresh salsa...
Eatin em for Breakfast

16 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein BRUDDAHS The Spam-fueled Hawaiian

aesthetic of Pacic Rim cuisine contrasts fairly radically with
Wolfgang Pucks, especially at the old-line Gardena caf Bruddahs.
And the breakfast dish known as...
SIGNUP
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The Matter at Hand

17 years ago
AlisaChao Nue Mention the words northern cooking at Alisa, and

suddenly another restaurant -- Chao Nue -- unfolds, complete with
its own menu. The ordering strategy is to come with a lot of people
and essentially ask for everything on that second ...
Welcome to La La Land
17 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein La Abeja Other restaurants may be more

ambitious, but La Abeja, from the green-sauced enchilada plates to
the soft tacos of stewed tongue, tastes like Los Angeles. The chips are
warm and oddly heavy; the oily, brick-red sals...
Just for the El of It

17 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein El Amanecer Salvadoreo Consider the

pupusa (generally served at Salvadoran specialty restaurants, of
which there are hundreds in Central Los Angeles): a dense, griddlebaked corn thing lled with goodies, a UFO-shap...
My Favorite Things, Part 3

17 years ago
Corn chowder The Ivy is a New Yorker's perfect dream of Los

Angeles, splashed with sunlight, decorated with amusing American
kitsch, populated with lunching actresses, agents and New York
magazine editors in town to take the pulse of the city. Cor...
My Favorite Things, Part 2

17 years ago
My Favorite Things
17 years ago
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17 years ago
Chili burger Los Angeles, it goes without saying, is the world capital
of stuff with chili on it: oozing chili dogs, stinking chili burgers,
suppurating chili tamales, and chili fries hot enough to melt a plastic
spoon. The odiferous tidal ...
Fried and Convicted

17 years ago
Photo by Anna FishbeinBahooka There are sh in this Polynesian

restaurant's foyer, sh tanks surrounding three sides of each booth,
sh swimming inside the glass-topped bar and, on the menu, sh
puffs, which go better with a Monsoon or a Jet P...
SIGNUP
I Dough
LOGIN
Meat just is: Grilled, braised or boiled; ground, attened or eaten

whole, it remains itself. Seafood may be forced into many guises, but
in the end, too, it is just sh, an animal to be consumed. Vegetables
are vegetables; fruits, fruits. But p...
Monterey Park After Dark

17 years ago
Charming Garden Charming Garden is a clean, bright place, spare of

ornament, with fresh tablecloths and formal service. It is also the
most serious Hunan-style restaurant in Southern California. And
smoked pomfret, bronzed and gleaming, at this sp...
Shafted!
17 years ago
Agung has all the stuff that would be standard if Indonesian food
were as common as Thai: good, clumpy fried rice with scallions and
ham; delicious bakmi noodles, a sort of spicy Indonesian chow mein,
fried with dark soy, shrimp and plenty ...
Korean Comfort Food

Gook Soo is more than just a noodle Tokyo has its share of noodle
shops; so do, one must concede, Taipei, Singapore and Seoul. But Los
Angeles may have a bigger variety of Asian noodles than any city in
the world, bowls of pho and skeins of soba, ...
The Clove That Dares Not Speak Its Name

17 years ago
Photo by Anne FishbeinCarlito's Gardel The most famous dish here

must be the baked-garlic appetizer, a naked halved bulb on a plate,
ready to pulp onto the house's quite decent bread. There's also
melted provolone cheese, laced with tomatoes and p...
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You Take Manhattan

17 years ago
Aladdin Falafel Aladdin's falafel is a small miracle, tastier than its

Greenwich Village counterparts, an oblate pingpong ball of ground
chickpeas whose thick, tawny crust gives way -- crunch! -- to a
dense interior, mildly spiced, barely greasy, ...
The Matter at Hand

17 years ago
Casa Bianca Of all the neighborhood pizza parlors out there, each
of them touted as the best in the Southland, one of them actually has
to be the best. And Im pretty sure that the CasaSIGNUP
Bianca Pizza Pie is it.
LOGIN
Especially the sausage p...
Remembrance of Meals Past

Pork arm. J.Z.Y., the rst American satellite of a venerable Beijing

teahouse, can seem a little like a Chinese version of the Polo Lounge,
a vermillion teahouse frequented by Hong Kong movie stars and
women wearing chunks of jade the size...
Subs 'n' Such

17 years ago
Ba Le Banh mi are more or less Vietnamese hoagies, meat and

vegetables daubed with mayonnaise, crammed into a lightly toasted
French roll and wrapped in a neatly folded sheet of butcher's tissue.
The king of banh mi is the combination sandwich usu...
The Best of Counter Intelligence

17 years ago
All India Caf This place is at its best when you bring the fewest
preconceptions to the table, when the food least resembles its
regional roots. The restaurant's signature dish is probably the
"frankie," a Bombay street snack that the West...
Have It Their Way

Photo by Anne FishbeinFRENCH CHEFS HERE, MOST OF THEM

ANYWAY, ARE resigned to nourishing their best customers on
custom-ordered egg-white omelets, sauceless chicken and swordsh
broiled dry. The Zone Diet has forced the city's Italian chefs to de...
Looks Like Chicken, Tastes Like Chicken . . .

17 years ago
Charming Garden Charming Garden is a clean, bright place, spare of

ornament, with fresh tablecloths and formal service. It is also the
most serious Hunan-style restaurant in Southern California. At
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most serious Hunan-style restaurant in Southern California. At

lunchtime, here comes the waitress, slinging a tr...
Yo Quiero Tacos
17 years ago
Art by Dave Shulman La Luz del Da The last place you'd expect to
nd a real Mexican joint is among the maraca vendors and
befuddled German tourists of Olvera Street, but there it is (and has
been for decades), La Luz del Da, servi...
Return of the Mole People

Seven years ago, when the rst Tlapazola Grill SIGNUP

opened on the site of
a former Santa Monica New Age coffee

shop inLOGIN
Santa Monica,
Oaxacan food was as exotic in Los Angeles as the cooking of
northern Sumatra; it was a faraway cuisine, one of rumor a...
Man, Eating Animals

17 years ago
The Arsenal Good steak houses are basically of two kinds: the ones
that pass along the $15-plus per pound they pay for prime meat
wholesale, and the ones that use less expensive grades but make up
for it with low prices, friendly service, strong o...
Bun There, Done That

17 years ago
photo by Kathleen ClarkEVEN IN LOS ANGELES . . . WHERE IT IS

possible to eat not only wood-red goat-cheese pizza with duck
sausage and sun-dried fennel, but also reasonably authentic Meridastyle cochinita pibil and properly made Cambodian cat...
I, the Jury
17 years ago
Kim Chuy The basic deal at a Chiu Chow -- Thai-Chinese, that is -noodle shop is, of course, Chiu Chow noodles: slippery rice noodles
the width of your little nger, or rmer, square-cut egg noodles that
resemble bouncy linguine, submerged in b...
Spamming the Globe

Photo by Anne FishbeinWE CAN BE PROUD OF MANY THINGS, WE

AMERIcans, from the Declaration of Independence to Elliot Carter's
string quartets, from quantum physics to the interstate highway
system, from Martha Stewart to the . . . Spamburger. Which ...
Stool Sample
17 years ago
The Apple Pan Here is the homey plaid wallpaper; the worn wooden
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The Apple Pan Here is the homey plaid wallpaper; the worn wooden
walls; the clean, warm funk of frying meat. Here is Coca-Cola poured
into paper cones snug in plastic holders. Here are the long, thick
French fries that are customarily served with ...
Mad Cow
17 years ago
wholesale, and the ones that use less expensive grades but make up
for it with low prices, friendly service, strong o...
Marine Land
SIGNUP
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Photo by Anne FishbeinENSENADA HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WORLD

CAPITAL of Lost Weekends: popular with sport sherman who
measure out their afternoons in spent cases of Corona, the center of
the universe for acionados of stuffed armadillos and illegal f...
Good, Better, Wurst

17 years ago
Ensenada has always been a world capital of Lost Weekends:

popular with sport sherman who measure out their afternoons in
spent cases of Corona, the center of the universe for acionados of
stuffed armadillos and illegal reworks, a major cros...
Slither
17 years ago
Chus Mandarin Cuisine There is a photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger

in the window of Chus Mandarin Cuisine. Arnold has one arm
around Frank Chus shoulders, one beefy hand upon a pillow of
dough. He has presumably just watched Mr. ...
In Search of Lost Tortas

Photo by Anne FishbeinPONCE DE LEON HAD HIS FOUNTAIN OF

YOUTH, Ahab his whale, Columbus his islands of spice. Dr. Leakey
spent half of his life looking for a bone or two. I once met a botanist
who had searched the Andes foothills nearly 50 years f...
Reds
17 years ago
Slippery When Wet

17 years ago
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chile verde, chicken mole and a really good, ...
Roll 'Em
17 years ago
Burrito King If your idea of an "authentic" burrito involves liquidy

beans or brains or tongue or pig's stomach, allow me to recommend
the currently more popular car-wash stand kitty-corner to Burrito
King. Otherwise, the burritos at Burrito King ...
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream

17 years ago
Agung Agung, near downtown, has become theSIGNUP

one place to go when
LOGIN
coffee and
you want avocado in your coffee. Iced
the creamy fruit go
pretty well together, especially when blended into the uffy
consistency of a malted. (If Tuscan peasants had stu...
Pig Deal
Photo by Anne Fishbein I'VE PROBABLY BEEN GOING TO LA

ABEJA FOR about a dozen years now, long enough to see the owner's
kids grow up and propel themselves into college, long enough to see
the kids who come by the old-fashioned wooden cigar counter...
It Must Be Jelly . . .
17 years ago
Borobudur Garden Borobudur Garden might be an Indonesian

greasy spoon, but it's a great greasy spoon, focused and satisfying,
with crisp shreds of fried tripe that sing of dark soy and garlic; with
meltingly tender beef rendang, redolent of a doze...
The Egg and I

17 years ago
Du-par's The Studio City Du-par's is a clubhouse for gaffers in the

early morning and high school kids late at night, screenwriters
pounding on PowerBooks, young moms with strollers, gray-haired
couples holding hands -- practically everybody in th...
Pigskin Follies
17 years ago
Antojitos Denise's In Los Angeles, good carnitas are common, great

carnitas rare. Denise's is a small, sweet taco stand whose customer
base consists largely of people waiting for the MTA at the bus stop
right in front. A caricature of Denise is pa...
Road Trip
17 years ago
Art by Dave Shulman Authentic Texas Barbecue The proprietors
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Art by Dave Shulman Authentic Texas Barbecue The proprietors

here y in all their barbecued meats from Clark's Outpost in Tioga,
Texas, a well-regarded pit just south of the Oklahoma border.
Barbecued hot links, though -- garlicky, sliced Polish ...
Love Me Tandoor
Photo by Anne FishbeinAS MUCH AS I LIKE THE MORE REFINED

SORT OF Indian cuisine, I nd myself drawn these days to the brute
glory of Pakistani cooking instead. Where some Indian curries can
be as delicate as buttery wings, Pakistani curries pra...
Catfishing in America
17 years ago
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Gagnier's Creole Kitchen Gagnier's chicken creole is a spicy, longcooked stew imbued with the creole trinity of onions, garlic and
sauted bell peppers, and dominated by the high, sweet note of
tomatoes cooked down almost to caramel. The j...
Duck, Duck, Goose...

17 years ago
Photo by Anne Fishbein 888 This terrically elegant restaurant

specializes in Chiu Chow seafood, the cooking of the ethnic Chinese
who migrated from China to Southeast Asia dozens of generations
ago: crunchy "crab balls," i.e. tofu-skin-wrapped d...
In with the Old

Photo by Cynthia Wiggins The rst few times I ate at Chasens, as a

culture brat weaned on punk rock and California cuisine, I felt so
smugly toward the restaurant that, looking back on myself from a
distance of 15 years and perhaps 5,000 se...
One Potato, Two Potato . . .

17 years ago
Benita's Fritas Benita's, a small takeout stand in the true American

tradition of overspecialization, serves Belgian fries and only Belgian
fries -- no mussels, no burgers, no shakes. Benita's fries them twice,
the rst time in coolish oil, which...
Too Damned Far

17 years ago
Golden Triangle The national dish of Burma is a garbanzo-ourthickened sh chowder called moh hin gha, shot through with
noodles, and Golden Triangle does a fantastic catsh version. There
is also lap pad thoke, which has a dollop of chewy dri...
Burn, Baby, Burn
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Burn, Baby, Burn

17 years ago
Al-Watan If you have a taste for meaty northern Indian cooking,

Pakistani cooking is probably everything you like and more so,
spicier than Punjabi and meatier, more deeply inected by the
avors of ginger, cardamom and wood smoke. First among P...
Fava Knows Best

Photo by Anne FishbeinFALAFEL IS OFTEN TASTIER. BABA

GHANOUSH IS EASIER to get at Trader Joe's. Most Arabic-speaking
people would rather have a kebab or three. But foul, the dried-fava
stew variously transliterated as ful, f'ul or fool, is the bas...
SIGNUP
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Curry With the Singe on Top

17 years ago
Curry House Japanese curry tastes more like the sort of "African"
gravies you nd in the Portuguese colony Macao than like anything
you might run across in Britain -- or, for that matter, India. At the
same time, it's characteristically Japanese:...
Flavors of the Near East

17 years ago
Caroussel At Caroussel, eggplant salad is extremely simple, chopped

with onion, tomato and green pepper, doused with lemon, garlic and
olive oil, but delicious, the sort of earthy dish you might expect to be
served in a country restaurant somewher...
Hot Sauce
Photo by Anne FishbeinTHE WESTSIDE, OR AT LEAST THE

CENTINELA corridor, has so many decent Oaxacan restaurants that
the cuisine has become something of a Los Angeles tourist
attraction, a new, clean, ineffably exotic kind of cooking that happens
t...
Culver City Cuisine

17 years ago
Caf Brasil Mostly, you'll nd grilled animals at Caf Brasil: pork

chops, lamb chops, steak, shrimp and sh, all profoundly salty and
resonant with garlic, charred at the edges, fragrant with citrus and a
little overcooked. Even t...
Raw Power
17 years ago
Bu San When you land a sushi-bar seat at Bu San, the chef will ask
whether you trust him to choose the sushi. Your answer should be
yes. You will probably start with three hulking slabs of tuna sashimi,
then cured salmon in sheets as big as an ent...
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then cured salmon in sheets as big as an ent...
Tioga, We've Got a Problem

Photo by Anne FishbeinLOS ANGELES COUNTY IS RICH IN

REGIONAL KOREAN restaurants, regional Mexican restaurants and
regional Japanese restaurants, in various avors of southern
American restaurants and Chinese restaurants of astonishing
specicity...
Sheep Thrills
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17 years ago
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the only Chinese
China Islamic China Islamic may be
restaurant I've
ever seen where Pakistani customers sometimes outnumber the East

Asians. As soon as you sit down, you are asked if you want sesame
bread (you do), a thick, crisp disk of atbread...
Ahoy, Amigos!
17 years ago
walls, featuring grilled chicken, carne asada and pretty good steamtable dishes: chile verde, chicken mole and a r...
The Falafel Truth

Photo by Anne FishbeinCONSIDER THE FALAFEL, THE MIDDLE

EAST'S FAVORITE grease bomb, a drippy, screaming-orange post
card from culinary cultures that would really rather be remembered
for kebabs, seasoned rice and sheep's brains garnished with saut...
Leg Show
17 years ago
El Colmao About the best thing at this Cuban restaurant is arroz con
pollo: a big, fragrant bowl of rice, stained Easter-chick yellow with
achiote, and studded with pimientos and the meat of at least a
quarter-chicken. Chicken is also available sa...
A Steak Through My Heart

17 years ago
wholesale and the ones that use less-expensive grades but make up
for it with low prices, friendly service, strong ol...
Regular Joe's
Photo by Anne FishbeinAS MUCH AS I LIKE KHMER

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Photo by Anne FishbeinAS MUCH AS I LIKE KHMER

RESTAURANTS, AS MUCH time as I have spent stalking the aisles at
Acres of Books or wincing through Iron Maiden shows at the arena,
a visit to Long Beach sometimes seems like a thinly veiled excuse to
s...
You Need No Teef . . .

17 years ago
Cupid's It is a beautiful thing to see a Cupid's dog assembled, to

observe the counterman aligning buns four, ve, six at a time in a
special ridged tray, to witness the quick ick of his wrists as he lays
in the hot dogs, smears each with yello...
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Dumpling Chic
LOGIN
Photo by Anne FishbeinNO MATTER HOW ASSIDUOUSLY YOU

MAY FOLLOW the Chinese restaurant scene in the San Gabriel
Valley, it is astonishing how easy it is to nd a place that serves not
just an unusual dish or two, but a whole new cuisine, a down-ho...
With a Name Like . . .

17 years ago
Heavy Noodling Heavy Noodling specializes in the sort of strands

100 generations of Chinese chefs have regarded with horror: thick,
clumsy noodles that run somewhere between spaetzle and
pappardelle, self-consciously rustic things that taste mainl...
Tacos Alfresco
18 years ago
Antojitos Denise's Denise's is a small, sweet taco stand whose

customer base consists largely of people waiting at the bus stop right
in front. A caricature of Denise is painted on one wall, and if you
poke your head into the takeout window, occas...
Gruel and Unusual

Photo by Anne FishbeinTHE BEST RESTAURANT IN TOWN? WHO

KNOWS? AND reasonable minds may disagree on which restaurant
offers the best value per dollar spent. But Lu's Garden is hands down
the fastest restaurant in Los Angeles County, a Taiwanese por...
Wraparound
Photo by Anne Fishbein LOS ANGELES, IT IS WELL KNOWN, IS

THE WORLD capital of the burrito. Like the giant bowls of spaghetti
and meatballs prepared a century ago by immigrants translating
Italian poverty cooking into the bright, vulgar language of...
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Dough Boy
Photo by Anne FishbeinWHEN THE SECRET HISTORY OF

CALIFORNIA PIZZA IS nally written, a greasy volume inscribed in
arugula, white trufe oil and ripe goat cheese, the name popping up
at every inconvenient moment, like a hard-boiled egg inadverten...
Chacun Son Goo

Photo by Anne FishbeinIF YOU SPENT MUCH TIME DATING IN

LOS ANGELES in the '70s, you probably ended up at least once at La
Fondue Bourguignonne, a small, fondue-intensive
Westwood
SIGNUP
restaurant tucked away at the top of a long ight
of stairs. Post-h...
LOGIN
The Big Chill

18 years ago
Chili John's (chili) This is wonderful chili, dense and comforting, lean
and hearty, with a cumin wallop and a subtle, smoky heat that creeps
up on you like the rst day of a Santa Ana wind, avoring your
breath for half a day even if you don't ...
Automatic Rounds
Photo by Anne FishbeinLa Habra, which is somwhere east of

Norwalk and south of Hacienda Heights, is a distant, freewayless
area that can most charitably be called "Whittier-adjacent." But
when the wind is from the east, you can smell Krispy Kreme ...
Hand Jobs
18 years ago

Doge Food
Photo by Anne Fishbein"The happiest place on Earth," the bartender

burbles when he answers the phone. He sounds as if he means it.
And when you are in a particular frame of mind, or a few Buds into
the wind, the Venice Room may actually be the hap...
Cook Your Own Damn Dinner!

18 years ago
El Chamizal The basic unit of currency at El Chamizal is the

parrillada, a squat iron brazier shimmering from the heat of the
charcoal within, brought to your table piled high with thin grilled
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charcoal within, brought to your table piled high with thin grilled
steaks, pork chops marinated in chile, hunks of chori...
Pioneer Boulevard
Illustration by Peter Hamlin There is nothing quite like Pioneer

Boulevard on a clear Saturday afternoon, a fragrant Indian welter of
sari merchants and jewelry artists, snack shops and bhangrablasting boutiques, Bollywood posters and signs that ...
Swish
Photo by Anne FishbeinMost of us think of shabu

shabu as a
SIGNUP
distinctly Japanese food, saturated with a dozen
levels of ritual and a
LOGIN
rigid politesse, avored with spare condiments and the Japanese
habit of nding the greatest possible pleasure in ...
The Cuisine That Came In From the Cold

18 years ago
Carlito's Gardel The most famous dish here must be the baked-garlic
appetizer, a naked, halved bulb on a plate, ready to pulp onto the
house's quite decent bread. There's also melted provolone cheese,
laced with tomatoes and pungent Argentine oreg...
Carne Knowledge
Photo by Anne Fishbein Gallo's Grill is the kind of sweet Mexican

steak house you've always dreamed of nding in East Los Angeles, a
tiled patio furnished with oversize wooden tables, shaded from the
sky by a canopy, and decorated with citrus tre...
Caribbean Cruise
18 years ago
Cha Cha Chicken Cha Cha Chicken is Caribbean poultry with

attitude: a luscious, crisp-skinned bird gritty with spices and painted
with dense, black sauce, slightly sweet and intricately spiced -- not
precisely a beginner's bird. The pepper heat st...
Double Bubble
Photo by Anne FishbeinBehold the Sichuan hot pot, a pint or so of

scarlet liquid frothing in a chang dish, spitting up bloody geysers,
roiling and bubbling around bits of meat and tofu like a sulfurous
brimstone pool. You have tasted hot Asian f...
I Eat Your Skin

18 years ago
Antojitos Denise's In a land dominated by carne asada, Denise's is

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Antojitos Denise's In a land dominated by carne asada, Denise's is

where to go for pork, a bagful of one of three or four different kinds
of house-made chicharrones (fried pork rinds), the pickled pigskin
called cueritos, or a pound or two of roas...
Loco Moco and Other Delights

Photo by Anne FishbeinIn a year when the biggest story in the local
restaurant scene has been the emergence of health-department
letter grades, certain gastrosurfers of my acquaintance see a "C''
grade as an emblem of authenticity in restaurants, ...
Authentic Caf?
SIGNUP
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comes in many
Photo by Anne FishbeinAuthenticity
avors in Los
Angeles, from the goat stew at places that seem plucked straight out
of the Guadalajara suburbs to French dip sandwiches assembled the
same way since 1903, from the quivering cubes of...
Do the Continental
18 years ago
Bay Cities Bay Cities makes a decent turkey sandwich, a loud, greasy
meatball sandwich, and a very respectable hero with Parma
prosciutto, ripe tomatoes and cheese, but the sandwich of choice
here is a monster called the Godmother, which includes ...
Raw Power
Photo by Anne FishbeinThere are, of course, many sushi experiences

available in the greater Los Angeles area: sushi served by reggae
singers and sushi served by tap dancers, sushi bars that specialize in
recracker rolls and sushi bars that refus...
Dear Diary
Photo by Anne Fishbein Heres what I did last week. SUNDAY:

Everybody but me, it appears, adores the crisp-skinned roast
chicken at the Cuban restaurant Versailles, loves the soupy black
beans, the avocado salad, the mounds of bright-yellow ...
American Pie
18 years ago
Apple Pan My family have been Apple Pan regulars at least since
Lew Alcindor played freshman ball. The top and bottom buns of an
Apple Pan burger are both crisped and slightly oily, crunchy at the
edges, working toward a near-complete softness at ...
Seeing Red
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18 years ago
Ashoka the Great Ashoka is where to come for tandoori dishes:

skinless chicken legs and sh kebabs and minced-lamb sausages
marinated in yogurt and spices, ash-cooked in an ultrahot clay
oven and served sizzling in a bed of onions on a heated s...
Bright Lights, Pig City

The vast Cantonese banquet halls process thousands of customers a

day. Gleaming Hong Kong-style cafs are as numerous as the red
beans in a Chinese milk shake. Intimate seafood restaurants steam
tankersful of live prawns each week. Still, t...
Frank Discussion
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`If you grew up eating hot dogs in the swinging San Fernando Valley
'70s, your family probably had allegiances to the Hot Dog Show or
Flooky's or the Wiener Factory, which were as inarguable, as
inevitable, as the question of Orthodox, Conservativ...
Heavy Rotation
18 years ago
Green Field Churrascaria What to do at the Brazilian steak house

Green Field is grab a plate and wander through the long buffet
station, picking up fresh hearts of palm, marinated chickpeas, fresh
asparagus, nubs of garlic-fried chicken. Then come...
All the Little Live Things

18 years ago
Bahooka This Polynesian restaurant is the kind of place you'd expect

to nd near a scruffy tropical seaport, all rusted nautical gear, stolen
street signs and scarred dark wood. Lifeboats hang out back, and a
mysterious board engraved "Joyce Kilm...
North of Old Town

Old Town Pasadena may be the most gentried district in America, a

sort of mega-mall sprinkled like fairy dust through hundred-yearold ofce blocks, polished to a shine. In Old Town - which for some
reason has been renamed Old Pasadena - you ar...
The Pie's the Limit

18 years ago
Casa Bianca Of all the neighborhood pizza parlors out there, each of
them touted as the best in the Southland, one of them actually has to
be the best. And I'm pretty sure that the Casa Bianca pizza pie is the
one. Especially the sausage pizza: sp...
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Hot Stuff
The hottest Thai curry in Los Angeles? It's hard to say. The eriest
Mexican dish? I couldn't tell you, although a dish of grilled shrimp
with sauteed habanero peppers I had at a defunct Whittier
restaurant a few years ago was intense enough to c...
Out and In
18 years ago
Casa Bianca Of all the neighborhood pizza parlors out there, each of
them touted as the best in the Southland, one of them actually has to
be the best. And I'm pretty sure that the Casa Bianca pizza pie is the
one. Especially the sausage pizza, sp...
SIGNUP
LOGIN
Man Bites Prawn

The rst cold night of fall, I went to the Living Fish Center, a small,
superbly named Koreatown restaurant in whose window a brilliant
neon trout burns in permanent midleap. Inside, a school of scarlet
sh stare dumbly out from their dim tank, ...
In and Out
18 years ago
Little Joe's If you grew up in the Southland, you've probably known

the taste of Little Joe's ravioli - soft meat puffs in red marinara sauce
- since you were small. If you grew up almost anywhere else, you've
tasted something like Little Joe's ra...
Mixmasters
18 years ago
Bahooka In the '70s and '80s, countless Kelbo's and Don the
Beachcombers closed, the Torches was razed for condos, and the
Luau on Rodeo Drive, where three generations of Beverly Hills High
School students purchased their rst illicit drink, was ...
The Year I Ate Pico Boulevard

For a while in my early 20s, I had only one clearly articulated

ambition: to eat at least once at every restaurant on Pico Boulevard,
starting with the fried yucca dish served at a pupuseria near the
downtown end and working methodically westward ...
Birria Forever! And Ever...and Ever...

18 years ago
Baldomero There may be more than birria and weekend menudo

here, but it would be hard to tell by looking at the plates on the tables
around you, at the signboards above the steam table or at the menu
(which doesn't exist). And where some restauran...
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(which doesn't exist). And where some restauran...
Liquid Diet
18 years ago
Cole's P.E. Buffet When you trip down out of the bright sunlight into
the dim warren of Cole's, you stumble into another era, with real
Tiffany lamps, sawdust on the oors, and a couple of pickle-nosed
guys at the bar who look like they haven't b...
Profiles in Curry
18 years ago
All India CafeThe conceit here is dishes from each of the regions of
India - tandoori meats from the north and masala
dosa from the
SIGNUP
south, salads and Bombay-style uttapam
ltered
LOGINthrough the soft
focus lens of the All India kitchen and washed w...
Hawaiian Aye
If you're looking for the latest combination of diced papaya and

unpronounceable Big Island sh, you might visit the Maui Beach
Cafe. If you want to see what kind of Chinese dishes Japanese chefs
might cook up for Californians in a restaurant own...
Yemenite Delight
As an agricultural center, Yemen produced the world's rst coffee. As

a center of music, it produced Ofra Haza, once known as the
Yemenite Madonna. But in Tel Aviv, where much of the huge and
ancient Yemenite-Jewish community has gathered in the ...
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

18 years ago

Lotus Eaters
Indian cooking is, of course, some of the most varied and delightful
on earth, the repository of a hundred spices, a thousand marvels and
10,000 recipes for lentils. From the sort of curried Country Captain
chicken George Washington enjoyed 200 ye...
Finally, Enough Garlic

18 years ago
Brooklyn Bagel Bakery The bagels are fresh here in the a.m.,
sometimes still hot from the oven, fragrantly sweet, soft without
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sometimes still hot from the oven, fragrantly sweet, soft without
being bready, ready to ripen into the moist, day-old chewiness most
people associate with their morning bagel. You can s...
Dog Day Afternoon

18 years ago
Dodger Stadium Children growing up in Los Angeles found the spicy

funk of grilling dogs as much a part of the Dodger Stadium
experience as the rst green ash of outeld, the buzz of Jerry
Doggett from 10,000 radios, the crunch of peanut shells...
Gruel World
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Dim sum can be grand. Northern breakfast breads are delicious. But
congee - porridge - may be as close as there is to a universal Chinese
breakfast dish, rice boiled with large amounts of broth until it
becomes a nutritious, loosely textured gruel...
Trapper's Delight
If you grew up in West Los Angeles, you probably have primal

yearnings for Lawry's roast beef that you don't fully understand. If
like me you hail from the south side, you may long for Poor
Richard's, a '60s wonderland of Shirley Temples and chugg...
Fish Out of Water

The San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant may be the most raucous
place in Los Angeles on a Saturday afternoon - a crumbling wharf in
the Ports O' Call complex of San Pedro swarming with children,
besieged by gulls, vibrating with the sound of mari...
Hong Kong Chow

18 years ago
Empress Pavilion-- A recent meal at Empress Pavilion included

shiitake mushrooms braised with snow-pea leaves - a musky
combination that somehow breathed summer - and Chinese water
spinach sauteed with blindingly pungent fermented soy. You will al...
Ping-Pong Balls and Thai Tacos

Everybody likes mint-leaf chicken. In some parts of town, pad Thai

noodles are more popular than hot dogs. But to people not actually
raised in Bangkok, Thai desserts may be as specialized a taste as
oboe recitals or light bondage, gelatinous mass...
Persian Cats
18 years ago
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18 years ago
Canary Canary is an Iranian sandwich shop on Westwood's Iranian

strip, a house of kebabs in the most kebab-intensive neighborhood
in California. (As W.C. Fields once said of the garlic-packing town of
Gilroy, you could marinate a steak just by han...
Soft-Shoe Sushi
Sushi on Tap is a stylish sushi bar in a Studio City mini-mall, a tapdance-themed place with bright posters on the walls, tap
documentaries ickering silently on the video screens that dot the
room, and saccharine versions of jazz standards oa...
SIGNUP
LOGIN

18 years ago
While the contributions of South America to world culture may

include the magical realist novel, Che's groovy beret and Lambada:
The Forbidden Dance, the continent's role in world cuisine has gone
largely unremarked. Without South America, there w...
A Perfect Day for Banana Pizza

The Brazilian restaurant Zabumba is as soccer-mad as any three

British pubs, with a welter of video screens tuned to the games,
World Cup schedules handed out with the check, and at least one
waitress who wears a uniform consisting of short-shorts...
Only the Lonely

18 years ago
The concept of the single-item restaurant is well known in Los

Angeles: Lawry's for prime rib, Tommy's for hamburgers, Philippe's
for French dip. If you want crab, you might head to the Crab Cooker;
if tofu, to Tofu Cabin. There is precedent for t...
Sticking It Where The Sun Shines

New York has pushcart dogs and the garlic knobelwurst at Katz's
deli. Chicago has Vienna franks. Rochester has its white-hots,
Cincinnati its chili-sluiced coneys. Sheboygan is famous for grilled
brats. Santa Monica . . . Santa Monica is the birth...
Out of Africa
18 years ago
The rst West African cooks to land in the Caribbean more than 400
years ago did not precisely apply for their jobs. But since then
African avors have been as dominant in American cooking as
African-derived rhythms in jazz. From the Carolina ri...
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A Round of Sushi
Behold Sushi Bar Golf, at the historic intersection of Third and

Vermont, a Japanese restaurant at the heart of a neighborhood that
can't decide whether it is Filipino, Salvadoran or Korean. Although
Sushi Bar Golf is in plain view, it seems a lit...
Old-School Thais
Vim must have been one of the rst dozen Thai restaurants in Los
Angeles, a bright, fragrant storefront on a strip of South Vermont
SIGNUP
that anchored one of the city's original Thai neighborhoods.
Composer Carl Stone named one of
MIDI op...
his earliestLOGIN
White Glove Hamburgers

Julienne may be the last restaurant of its type in Los Angeles County,
a patio caf in the heart of San Marinos small downtown that rolls
the experiences of La Coupole, Mayberry R.F.D. and the Bullocks
Wilshire tearoom all into one. ...
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam. . .

There is sushi. And then there is Spam musubi. Spam musubi is a

brick of vinegared sushi rice, the size of a chalkboard eraser but with
20 times the heft, burrito-wrapped in a sheet of dark-green nori
seaweed and stuffed with a pink, glistening sl...
Tacos Belles
19 years ago
When the Southwestern thing was hot a few years ago, we tasted
foie-gras tacos with honey-lime sauce and radicchio tacos stuffed
with crab; blue tacos and red tacos; Jamaican tacos and Pilgrim
tacos; tacos lled with parts of the pig wed r...
Griddle Me This
Japan, of course, is home to the most rened food culture in the

world, to sh fried so delicately that it appears less greasy than it did
before it was immersed in oil, to sake that costs more per ounce than
pure gold, to kaiseki meals so exqui...
Grill Crazy
19 years ago
Quest for re? Grate expectations? Sear bliss? Old King Coal?
Stripes? When protein meets the bonre, cuisine starts to happen cuisine, or an auto-da-fe. Still, we wish they all could be California . . .
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cuisine, or an auto-da-fe. Still, we wish they all could be California . . .

you know. By Brazil No. 2 While By Braz...
Loaves and Fishes

For most of the last decade, Gagnier's of New Orleans was a

gleaming white-tablecloth creole restaurant in the Baldwin
Hills/Crenshaw Plaza shopping center on Crenshaw, casual enough
to stop into after a morning of shopping at Macy's, though still...
Amphibious Assault
If you have taken your American Express card SIGNUP

out for a walk lately,
LOGIN
you have probably noticed that Los
become a city of
Angeles has
supper clubs, dark, atmospheric - and smokeless - rooms featuring
identical blends of '80s grill food and '50s loun...

19 years ago
Bahooka This Polynesian restaurant is the kind of place you'd expect

to nd near a scruffy tropical seaport, all rusted nautical gear, stolen
street signs and scarred dark wood. Lifeboats hang out back, and a
mysterious board engraved "Joyce Kilm...
She Conchs to Stupor

Coconut-enriched seafood chowders, from new-wave Florida soups

to the ery mocquecas of northern Brazil, are a staple of the warmwater Americas. But Honduran sopa de caracol is perhaps the
greatest seafood soup of all. The national dish of Hondu...
Vietnamese rice in San Gabriel

A French chef is not considered accomplished until he has mastered

the classical repertoire from bouillon to ballotines; Italian chefs
pride themselves on their ability to prepare 500 pasta sauces on
demand. Some Angeleno chefs work from menus tha...
Big Meat
19 years ago
Al-WatanLike any serious Pakistani restaurant, Al-Watan ostensibly

specializes in the complicated offal dishes that make up the heart of
Muslim Pakistani soul food: masala, here a ragout of chopped goat's
brains cooked in a bright-red spice paste;...
Tofu before noon

19 years ago
Raisin Bran has its place in the world; blueberry pancakes are ne.
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Raisin Bran has its place in the world; blueberry pancakes are ne.
We have personally fried enough eggs over easy to swamp Dodger
Stadium in slightly runny yolk. But on the other side of the world and in other parts of town - breakfast is more...
Creme Brulee
If you had hung out at the pastry station of any swank restaurant in
the mid-'80s, you would have seen a hundred little ramekins of
custard and one young woman, armed with a blowtorch and goggles,
blasting the tops of each of them as if they were ...
Dizie With Anticipation

SIGNUP
LOGIN
So how do you eat this?" Margaret said, pointing at her very rst
serving of the Iranian stew dizie, a complicated concoction involving
little bowls of soup, of mashed stew, of powerfully sour pickled
vegetables, of fresh herbs. "Yo...
Wrap Party
19 years ago
All India Caf This place is at its best when you bring the fewest
preconceptions to the table, when the food least resembles its
regional roots. The restaurants signature dish is probably the
"frankie," a Bombay street snack that th...
A Pretty Good Chinese Restaurant

We all have spent a certain amount of time in the last decade in

pursuit of the great Chinese restaurant, the mythical Taiwanese caf
or the swank Cantonese seafood Valhalla we instinctively know must
exist among the several thousand Chines...
2016LAWeekly,LP.Allrightsreserved.
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When foodists talk about the deceased

Jonathan Gold Reviews Coni'Seafood

Click here for Anne Fishbein's slide show.

The Vol. 94: McSweetbreads + The

The invasion of the small plates is not

Chinese Dinner for Christmas

Dear Mr. Gold: My husband and I,

rst year as a married couple and we're

Nick's Cafe: An Old-fashioned Diner

When poet Suzanne Lummis asked me