he lists his reasons. if you disagree with them, that’'s up to you. given he has a pulitzer and we are by and large anonymous posters, i doubt that he’ll lose much sleep over it.
i for the most part respect his perspective which is as i see it an attempt to educate white bread america by emphasizing the positives of cuisines outside the normal white bread experience.
OTOH, there are critics other people on this board seem to follow religiously that i wouldn’t follow with a shovel.
that’s a solid fucking pint, secret Asian man. and we are more niche reviewers with a much narrower reach.
but some will read his review on say a banh mi joint in Westminster and go to it, whereas they may never have visited if we mentioned it innumberable times on this site and or othr sites.
he purveys a certain level of legitimacy, and yes he won the Pulitzer once and was a finalist and few years later.
I think it would be cool if the Baco empire and the Jon and Vinny’s empire was listed under one thing, a la Mozzaplex. Then maybe Gold could throw a few more curveballs at us.
As far as the list goes, I’m thrilled to see Taco Maria number 2.
Jitlada is still a joke. Border Grill. Nickel Diner. Those are some others that jump out at me. He sure does love Jar doesn’t he. Have any of you gone there recently? And he loves his old school Italian spots.
I think this might be the first time that the OC has 5 restaurants in the top 101 - Taco Maria, Plyground, Marche Modern, Garlic & Chives and Bordard Chateau.
I’ve never been to Q but surprised it is #11 and a long way down to another sushi spot - Kiriko #47.
I’m surprised Maude is not higher up but his review last month wasn’t glowing.