Of Jonathan Gold, Destroyer, restaurant reviews, semantics and logomachy

This is the same J Gold that keeps Providence as his de facto #1 restaurant in LA because he believe so strongly that it is such an underrated fine-dining destination right?

I think he’s pretty evenly split; my favorite thing about him is that he holds these places on equal footing, not that he places one above the other.

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I am stunned that people are reading it any other way.

Heck, I am in the monkey business demographic that he is talking about of and I still had a good laugh about it!

This is almost completely false… language is an interpretive exercise. Anyone that believes language is somehow objective, eternal, and set in stone ought to take an intro to linguistics course at a local college, or in a MOOC. They are in for quite an enlightening couple of weeks.

This requires no interpretation - or does it? My first thought was, “Lighten up, ‘dude.’” No?

Not if they’re funny.

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Yes. That’s why I wrote people will now flock to Destroyer. He made it incredibly intriguing. He knows Kahn can or should expect controversy. And if Kahn doesn’t, well…

It’s kinda’ what I feel about kevin’s fucking. If he didn’t want or expect some reaction, then what is his point? But that’s for another thread.

Humor is subjective as far as I know.

So…basically, yes, we need them?

Jordan Kahn expecting controversy?? No WAY!!

[quote=“Aesthete, post:90, topic:4311”]
This is the same J Gold that keeps Providence as his de facto #1 restaurant in LA because he believe so strongly that it is such an underrated fine-dining destination right?
[/quote]Yes, yes Aesthete. I said his “passion”. I can see it in his writing. But if people think because of this he should only write about pig snout or whatever, they’re wrong. Food is his life. He knows more about food than any of us have time to consider.

[quote=“Aesthete, post:89, topic:4311”]
But for my part, I was just having a laugh.
[/quote]Oh brother. Here you go.

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Fair enough, I agree. I just feel like if it was truly his main passion to the exclusion of fine-dining his top 10 restaurants might look a bit different. But then again, it’s not like he doesn’t rank some fine-dining temples fairly low (and piss off a ton of people in the process) I suppose. Maybe he is more constrained now, too. I guess you just would’ve expected him to, say, put Luv2EatThai as his #4 instead of Spring if street/peasant/etc… is truly his main passion.

But who knows… I barely care how he ranks things, I just enjoy reading his writing. Hell, the guy doesn’t even acknowledge the existence of one of my favorite restaurants on the planet. At least he has acknowledged that Mori exists, even though he snubs the place lol

Language as the written word presents a “tone,” and any good writer knows exactly how the written word will be interpreted. Comedy? Tragedy? Irony? Sarcasm? Or sanctimony?

As for the rest of it, really? You’re implying anyone who doesn’t agree with your interpretation of the review is uneducated. Rather presumptuous. You’re being bombastic and aggressive, with a thin veneer of humor to cover up your insecurity. How’s that for interpretation and reading between the lines?

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Okay, this interpretation I understand. As for the “unique” reference, you’re right. It was late and I was typing furiously into my phone, so I misquoted.

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This is completely false. This would require one to have objective knowledge of the thoughts of every other human being in existence. Surely the only Being with this capacity is God, if she exists…no?

Or are we to believe that good writers are, in fact, Gods in a literal sense?

Consider, if this were true, there would be no such thing as literary interpretation; indeed, no such thing as interpretation at all really.

Anyone who believes language is objectively set in stone is uneducated.

Anyone who hates Destroyer or J Gold based on the review is totally free to do so, precisely because it’s open to interpretation. Personally, reading the review as J Gold hating Destroyer seems absurd to me. Hilariously though, this proves that good writers have no idea how their writing will be interpreted. Gold has a Pulitzer, and is therefore objectively about as good as a writer can get, and yet he was completely unable to calculate a tone that would be exactly the same to everyone given this very comment thread about it.

This is not humorous, feel free to take it as an aggressive claim if you want. Since language is open to interpretation, I am free to find what I perceive as a rather offensive interpretation of Gold’s writing as a misreading of an aim of satire I interpret it as. You are the one acting as if you have a monopoly on the meaning of his words.

My only joke was in regards to being awarded badges for scooping J Gold.

That’s not what I said. Bringing it back to the review, I read it as a grouchy old guy that couldn’t find a parking space, so was in a bad mood until the food set before him.

You read it as a satire of hipsterism. But we both read the tone of the review (before he gets his food) as that of a man that is unimpressed and annoyed by the location, ambiance and intent of the restaurant.

Welcome back @ipsedixit.

Where’s the beginning of this thread???

We were getting crazy. Dad separated us. Do a search of Destroyer: A Pictorial Essay. Or something like that.

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No comment on the topic being discussed…

But kudos for the thread title!

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I know. Love it.

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