Doesn’t he usually review new restaurants ? it seems like it was a pretty bad review and deviations from his usu. ones, that are mostly favorable.
Actually JGold looks for (or at he least USED to look for) out-of-the-way, less heralded restaurants which the reading/dining public may otherwise overlook or would not consider patronizing, regardless of how long it’s been around.
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I think he feels the need to revisit out local icons every so often. I enjoyed the fact that he was blunt about what’s old, tired and not really working here, while highlighting the very well-done bits that still work and are worth the trouble.This piece made me no more interested in going to Dan Tana’s than I was a week ago (that would be roughly zilch), but I enjoyed reading it anyway. And, you know, the main reason I read anyone’s stuff is that I enjoy it, whether it makes me change my life, my mind, my dinner plans or not. And I love the hell out of this guy’s writing. So there.
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He works for the L.A. Times now, plus he’s older. He’s writing for a different audience and I’m pretty sure his stomach can’t handle Thai food the way it did thirty years ago.
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spot on, nashwill.
however, next time i go to dan tanas, i must remember to bring an umbrella:
“you get a Caesar salad, tossed to order across the room.”
a link for anyone interested,
His 101 blurb for Sapp Coffee Shop suggests he eats Thai food all the time, even if he doesn’t write about it.
I think the difference with the Times gig is that part of his job is covering the high-end, high-profile places he often ignored at the Weekly.
Got it. do you guys like Dan Tana’s ?
Also, Pok Pok is on his list. They’re kinda new, Thai and higher profile.
Uh, he worked for the Times long ago. then he moved to the Weekly where his wife was editor. Then she got canned (change of ownership) and he moved back to the Times. Throughout he has reviewed Thai, Japanese, Mexican, Burmese, Chinese, various pastries and gelatos, etc., et al. He may die from some of his eating habits, but I doubt it will be from eating/drinking spicy foods/drinks. He’s basically Mikey with taste. [Sorry, this was an intended reply to Bookwich.]
An apt description. 
Don’t you patronize me. 
Cuz sorry I don’t know the guy’s bio like you do. I was replying to someone else’s comment about him not reviewing Thai as much. I was guessing based on the eating habits of other men in their fifties, and also that the L.A. Times readership is a different demographic than the Weekly.
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That’s not right at all.
In the early 80s Gold got a job as a proofreader at LA Weekly, where he met Laurie Ochoa, an intern. He became music editor and then started writing Counter Intelligence. In 1990 both moved to the LA Times, then in 1999 to New York to work for Gourmet. In 2001 Ochoa was offered the job as editor of LA Weekly and they both went there, then in 2012 he was hired away by the Times again.
I don’t know where you’d get the idea that he doesn’t like spicy food.
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True. Left out some of the bio and how he used to post on Chowhound.
Love it for some things, like:
– Sitting at the bar and listening to - and joining in - the banter.
– Celeb spottings galore, as well as other people watching
– Chicken Sidney Beckerman, all dark meat, is a great dish (as @Thor has said many times)
– Excellent NY steak “Dabney Coleman”
– White Fish
– Clams Oreganata
Hate it for some things, like:
– truly shitty pasta
– lousy marinara sauce
– outrageous pricing
Sorry, I try to save my patronizing for political sites. Must have slipped in after eating too much spicy food as old guys are prone to do. The demographic point is an interesting one, but I think he just tries to eat as much as he can and write about it or talk about it (KCRW’s “Good Food”).
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I wasn’t writing Gold’s bio, just correcting factual misstatements.
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No worries.
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And he despises scrambled eggs.
BTW, whatever happened to Counter Intelligence? Did he update it? Did he do an index?