When you sit down to watch a food documentary, you know what you’re going to get. High-def, close-up shots of delicious foods being cooked and plated, celebrity chef talking heads waxing on about truffle or foie gras, and sometimes a little recipe or history behind a particular dish. With City of Gold, you get all that, and so much more. The documentary, like Gold’s writing, brings you to his table, as he explains Los Angeles to you in a culinary exposé.
It’s not, I think, just Gold’s superb command of English prose, or even his passion for food that sets him apart and won him the only Pulitzer Prize ever awarded for food criticism. It’s his transparent love of food in all forms and flavors and classes, and his deep connection to the city of LA, where he was born and raised. This documentary gives you so much more than the “hey! I’ve been there” moments that you get from a lot of films; it gives you insight into a master, his craft, and why he does it. As David Chang says, “J. Gold knows more about Korean food than any Korean person I know,” and I’ve often felt like that reading his Chinese food reviews. In fact, that probably applies to almost every single type of cuisine you can find in Los Angeles – and that doesn’t leave a whole lot else.
Anthony Bourdain has long been one of my favorite celebrity chefs because of his openness to learn about and enjoy other cultures and their food – Jonathan Gold embodied this as a food critic. He broke so many barriers in his field by giving as much of his word count, if not more, to $5 food carts as he does five star restaurants. He was as much at ease at a nondescript SGV Chinese restaurant as he is in the hustle and bustle of Grand Central Market, or the silver laden tables of a French fine dining restaurant. His reviews don’t just impart information, they make you want to slurp those hand cut noodles, or wash down the bite of samgyupsal with a shot of soju.
When I first moved to LA and learned about the different cultures and foods here (the “mosaic”, as Gold calls it), I quickly learned about the legend of Jonathan Gold. To this day, when I look up a restaurant, I do two things – I look it up on Yelp, and I see what Gold has to say about it. I’m an unabashed fanboy because Gold really understood me. He understood my food, the Chinese food I grew up with, the Mexican joints to hit up after drinking, the best spots in Koreatown to get bossam, the best dishes to get if you’re eating at a random restaurant in Little Ethiopia. That’s his gift – he understood the customer as well as he did the chef. Jonathan Gold is what your best friend would be if he were a big dude who loved to eat, learn, and have a good time, but just happened to have a world-class palate and writing skills.
I know I’ve talked more about the man himself than the actual film, which does have some weaknesses (it’s slightly unfocused, and could have been more organized), but I’ve fallen in love with this city, and Jonathan Gold, more than anyone else, has encapsulated and expressed what this City of Angels means. For many of us, Jonathan Gold embodied Los Angeles – the essence of the city – and his annual 101 best restaurants list were the reference point for dining in the city. One of my greatest regrets in life is that I wasn’t able to meet and eat with Jonathan Gold, but watching this documentary and reading his reviews comes as close to anything to feeling like you’re driving around Los Angeles in Gold’s rickety old pickup truck, scouring the strip malls for the next great Kogi or Mariscos Jalisco. If you live in LA, or if you eat food, this is a must-watch.
