Jonathan Gold wasn't just a guy who ate for a living. Honestly, calling him a "food critic" feels a bit like calling Bob Dylan a " harmonica player." Technically true, sure, but it misses the entire point of what the man actually did for Los Angeles and for anyone who’s ever sat down at a sticky laminate table in a strip mall.
He changed the game.
Before Gold, restaurant criticism was mostly a rich person's sport. You had these critics in stiff suits going to places with white tablecloths to see if the foie gras was chilled correctly or if the waiter’s tuck was precise. Then came this guy with a mop of strawberry blond hair and a beat-up green Dodge Ram. He didn't care about the valet. He cared about the Oaxacan mole in a tiny shop next to a dry cleaner.
Jonathan Gold and the Art of the Strip Mall
You’ve probably heard of his famous "Counter Intelligence" column. It started back in the 80s at LA Weekly. Think about LA in the 80s for a second—it was a city deeply divided by freeways and fear. People stayed in their bubbles. If you lived in Santa Monica, you probably weren't driving to the San Gabriel Valley for dim sum.
Gold changed that. He made the city feel small.
He didn't just review food; he reviewed the people, the history, and the sheer human effort behind a bowl of noodles. He once wrote about a Salvadoran restaurant that stayed open during the 1992 riots, serving pupusas while the neighborhood literally burned around it. That's not just a food review. It’s anthropology. It’s a love letter to resilience.
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Basically, he told us: "Don't be afraid of your neighbors."
He spent his life racking up 20,000 miles a year on his truck, sniffing out the best birria or the most authentic doro wot. He’d find a place like Meals by Genet in Little Ethiopia when it was on the verge of closing. After a Gold review? Lines out the door. He didn't just give people recommendations; he gave immigrant business owners a future.
Why a Pulitzer changed everything
In 2007, the Pulitzer Board did something weird. They gave the Prize for Criticism to a food writer. It was the first time it ever happened. People were shocked. "Wait, you can win a Pulitzer for writing about taco trucks?"
Yes. If you write like Jonathan Gold, you can.
His prose was dense but somehow light on its feet. He could compare a lentil-flour pancake to an Eero Saarinen building and somehow make it make sense. He had this "free-range brain," as his friend Ruth Reichl put it. He could talk about N.W.A. (he actually interviewed Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre back in his music critic days) and then pivot to the specific acidity of a Thai lime.
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The Jonathan Gold 101 List: A Map of the Soul
Every year, Angelenos waited for the "101 Best Restaurants" list. It was a holy text. But it wasn't ranked by who had the most expensive wine list. He’d put Mariscos Jalisco, a taco truck in Boyle Heights, right alongside Providence, a world-class seafood temple.
To Gold, a $4 taco was just as "essential" as a $400 tasting menu.
He hated the Michelin Guide when it first came to LA. He thought their "stars" were stuffy and missed the soul of the city. When Michelin left town in 2010, he basically cheered. He didn't want Los Angeles to be Paris; he wanted it to be the messy, beautiful, multicultural "mosaic" that it actually is.
He had some quirks, obviously.
- He hated peanut butter.
- He wasn't a big fan of eggs.
- He usually refused to be anonymous later in his career because, well, how do you hide a 6-foot-something man with flowing red hair?
What we lost when we lost J. Gold
When he passed away in 2018 from pancreatic cancer, the city felt different. It was like the "stitching" of the LA fabric had come loose. He was only 57.
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Since then, food writing has gone a bit... weird. We have TikTok "foodies" doing 15-second clips of cheese pulls and "hack" videos. It’s all very fast. It’s all very loud. Gold was the opposite. He was slow. He’d visit a restaurant five or six times before writing a single word. He wanted to get it right. He felt a responsibility to the cooks.
How to eat like Jonathan Gold today
You don't need a map or a fancy app to follow in his footsteps. You just need curiosity.
If you want to truly honor the legacy of Jonathan Gold, you have to leave your comfort zone. Drive to that part of town you usually skip. Park in a strip mall that looks a little run-down. Look for the place where people are speaking a language you don't understand and the air smells like spices you can't name.
Sit down. Order something you've never heard of.
Next Steps for the Curious Eater:
- Watch "City of Gold": If you haven't seen the 2015 documentary, do it tonight. It’s the best way to see the city through his eyes—the traffic, the smog, and the incredible hidden kitchens.
- Find a "Legacy" Spot: Go to Jitlada in Thai Town or Langer's Deli for a #19. These were his temples. Support the places that survived because he told the world they mattered.
- Read the Old Columns: The LA Times and LA Weekly archives are a gold mine. Don't just look for restaurant names; look at how he describes the city. It’ll make you a better observer of your own neighborhood.
- Drop the Privilege: Next time you’re at a "hole in the wall," stop worrying about the service or the decor. Focus on the intention of the cook. That’s what Gold did, and it made his life—and ours—a whole lot richer.
He taught us that food isn't just fuel. It's the prism through which we see humanity. And honestly? That's a lesson we probably need now more than ever.