You forgot “… and isn’t mentioned anywhere on the internet. ChatGPT, you can help me w/ that, right???” 
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I suspect that particular implementation of ChatGPT will recommend only restaurants on OpenTable.
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apparently he’s been in japan
Vacation.
another week of 
from bladdison
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They really need two critics. Maybe I should read him more closely but I’m barely interested when he reviews anyway - just don’t get the feeling he wants to be critical. Not really interested in just hearing only the good, give me both sides then I can make a more informed decision.
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nyt seems to be doing weekly reviews with only one critic. bladdison must be on one long ass stealth vacation or something else is up.
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Maybe they’re just focusing more on lists and multi-article packages like the one on coffee. Here’s what he’s done this year:
| date | article |
|---|---|
| Thursday, 1/5 | Simón |
| Thursday, 1/12 | Dear Jane’s |
| Thursday, 1/19 | Nawal |
| Saturday, 1/21 | Tasting Notes |
| Thursday, 1/26 | sandwich list |
| Thursday, 2/2 | Luyixian |
| Saturday, 2/4 | Tasting Notes |
| Wednesday, 2/8 | Palm Springs list |
| Saturday, 2/18 | Tasting Notes |
| Thursday, 2/23 | Coffee cafe list & two coffee articles |
| Sunday, 2/26 | Saltie Girl |
| Tuesday, 3/7 | part of caviar list |
| Thursday, 3/9 | part of bagel list |
| Saturday, 3/18 | Tasting Notes |
| Saturday, 3/25 | Tasting Notes |
So maybe he took 3-4 weeks vacation starting around the end of February and hasn’t filled the pipeline yet.
I bet their “revenue” team or whatever told them that lists draw more clicks
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They’re often subscriber-only, which I’m sure is about revenue. I think the newsletters must be about revenues too, given how hard they push me to subscribe.
No restaurant reviews but don’t worry you can now buy a hat, sweatshirt, or tea towel!!! That’s what the people want from a newspaper food section right???
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Wow. Maybe they think they have to compete with https://shop.lataco.com/
another week, another from the la times restaurant critic.
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maybe unlike j gold, addison has an actual case of severe writers block?
Or, perhaps it should at least be considered a possibility that he is having health issues. I recall some here wondering, and speculating, what was up when JGold went absent.
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They are also short handed, I don’t think they replaced Patricia Escarcega AFAIK
He could be on vacation. He’s pretty close to or at the top of the union’s pay & benefits scale (which tops out at 21 years’ industry experience, and he started in 2002).
They hired a bunch of people since Gold died, but not another full-time reviewer. They’re producing lots of stuff other than reviews, such as a whole section of “food maps.”
This week there’s a review by Peterson.
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Addison’s back from vacation and weighs in on the hot restaurant everyone’s been talking about.
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Right? It feels like over the last two years the food section has devolved into a combination of clickbait lists (best fastfood xxx SoCal Countdown!!!), human interest stories only tangentially related to food, and reviews of such interesting new concepts as…a Disney restaurant. awesome.
Honestly, it feels like an editorial decision was made to change what Food section should be. and it is so boring to me.
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