Yelp Weekly has a Q&A with Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic who writes LA Weekly’s terrific Counter Intelligence column. Here’s a taste:
Yelp: Being a native Angeleno, in your opinion, what makes LA so unique?
JG: There are too many to name, but I am very fond of the Alameda Swap Meet, Al & Bea’s at lunchtime, the bar at Musso and Frank’s, the mind-blowing southern Thai curries at Jitlada, Koreatown in its entirety, and the Hollywood Farmers Market.
Yelp: Every foodie has a guilty pleasure, so tell me, do you have a favorite fast food restaurant? (Sorry, I had to!)
JG: The Rosemead branch of Lee’s Sandwiches, the mammoth Vietnamese banh mi operation, has a drive-thru window now. That’s living: house-made Vietnamese charcuterie on a freshly baked baguette without getting out of your car.
Read more of Aunny De La Rosa’s interview with Gold here.
In a recent column this summer, Gold revisited Fred Eric’s Tiara Cafe, an eclectic and unexpected gem in downtown LA’s Fashion District. “Eric’s Asian-tinged, pan-Mediterranean menu is still painted in 17 shades of farmers-market salad,” Gold writes. “There are bubbly, skateboard-shaped lengths of flatbread served with curried squash, preserved lemons and harissa, and a selection of `Freshwiches,’ rice-paper rolls stuffed with spice-tinged `Thai’ cobb salad, with grilled tuna and vegetables, or with shrimp, mangoes and Granny Smith apples. Low-carb and fat-free, Freshwiches are big with the perpetually fasting fashionistas that make up a big part of the clientele. A Cuban-style pressed sandwich is made with smoked duck and house-pickled cucumbers, and noodle dishes come both vegan and not — I suspect there is no system of culinary belief the kitchen cannot accommodate.”
