Blogs
February 28, 2013Today, as you may have noticed already, our 99 Essential Restaurants issue has landed at your newsstand, in your in-box, on your laptop or wherever you're reading this -- and hopefully, eventually, repeatedly, on your plate.
This year, unsurprisingly, there are a lot of changes. A new restaurant c ... More >>
Blogs
December 27, 2012Beginning next week, LA Weekly's main restaurant reviews will come with a star rating. This week, in place of a restaurant review, I wrote an essay explaining the new system, as well as discussing how the decision to implement stars came about and why we think this is a good idea.
An excerpt:
Blogs
September 10, 2012In recent months, I've noticed a disturbing trend: The base price for a bottle of wine at the low end of a wine list in many restaurants has risen from around $30 to around $40. While $30-35 used to be the standard for the cheaper bottles on a list, many restaurants I've visited lately -- even casua ... More >>
Blogs
June 4, 2012I've had a ton of great mail since soliciting reader feedback in my first Fork Lift column, including an amazing letter that began "Dear Sir! Thank you for your article in the LAWeekly about working as an restaurant critic. I think you have the very right approach, when you go to test the food at a ... More >>
Blogs
August 12, 2011Flickr/LensAlivegarlic
If onshore breezes don't do their job, L.A. may disappear this month in a powerful haze, not of smog but of garlic fumes. The culprit is Chaya Venice, which is sending out the heavenly (or hateful) aromas of Allium sativum throughout August.
Its Garlic Fair 2011 starts ... More >>
Blogs
July 21, 2011"How Italian Food Conquered the World," a book by John Mariani.Tonight, Culina, the in-house restaurant at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, will celebrate the launch of John Mariani's book, "How Italian Food Conquered the World" with a special five-course prix fixe dinner from chef Victor C ... More >>
Blogs
June 2, 2011Anne FishbeinSpice Table
The spice route through Los Angeles? Since the recent opening of Spice Table, it travels via downtown's Little Tokyo district. And thus to And thus to this week's Counter Intelligence and Jonathan Gold's review of Bryant Ng's new restaurant.
Spice Table, a high-cei ... More >>
Eat+Drink
June 2, 2011Blogs
May 18, 2011The interior of Starry Kitchen (left); chef Laurent Quenioux (right).
Update, 05.18.11, 9:41 a.m.: A few specifics on the dish Quenioux will make next week. It's a boudin noir with apple compote, creamed mashed potatoes and mustard tapioca stuffed into either a banh mi or a wrap. Also, Tran t ... More >>
Blogs
February 24, 2011Unlike the Michelin Guide, Zagat's reviews are generated not from secret inspectors driving around in shabby Citroëns and furtively eating alone in pricey restaurants (a stereotype certainly, but one we're attached to), but by the rest of us. Zagat compiles the comments and ratings from ever ... More >>
Blogs
February 8, 2011Flickr/Lana's Dazzling Desserts
While they should probably just rename Valentine's Day's Restaurant Prix Fixe Day, we understand not everyone is into a rousing (and often wildly expensive) multi-course dinner. Perhaps you don't have a sweet tooth, are chicka-pescetarian (yes, there is such a ... More >>
Blogs
February 3, 2011Yelp user Joan S. La Serenata Santa Monica, Never A Glass WallMost weeknights, the Santa Monica outpost of La Serenata, the "other" Mexican restaurant on 4th Street in Santa Monica, resonates with a post-tequila calm that pales next to the constant laugh track and cocktail shaker buzz at Bord ... More >>
Blogs
February 2, 2011Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, with dim sum menuDear Mr. Gold:
I'm turning 50 next month and I'd like to go somewhere with an outstanding tasting menu. I'm willing to splurge, but I am not a fancy girl and prefer somewhere that's not stuffy or where I have to wear high heels.
--L.M., Los Angeles
Dea ... More >>
Blogs
January 14, 2011A. ScattergoodEric Ripert at the Chateau Marmont
Eric Ripert was in town a few weeks ago on a book tour for his fourth and most recent cookbook, Avec Eric, a sort-of companion book to his Emmy award-winning PBS show of the same name. We met Ripert at the Chateau Marmont, his customary hang-ou ... More >>
Eat+Drink
November 18, 2010It's the Ritz! It's Chinese! It's Wolfgang Puck!
Blogs
November 18, 2010Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining GroupSara JohannesIf you haven't been to WP24, Wolfgang Puck's newish restaurant, you can live vicariously and just read Jonathan Gold's latest review, out today. Or you can head downtown, past the gathering crowds of Lakers fan and the folks at LA Live, past the val ... More >>
Blogs
August 17, 2010twitter/MichaelShearinA Cocktail From Your SommelierIt's no shocker that L.A. has long been short on its share of Master Sommeliers, but lately, we've got a solid crew of several who are one pivotal -- and impressive -- step closer.
The Court of Master Sommeliers announced the eleven sommel ... More >>
Blogs
August 4, 2010The New York Timesthe anonymous restaurant critic"Reservations to LudoBites are the summer's must-have accessory in this restaurant-mad city," writes restaurant critic Sam Sifton in today's New York Times, "written about on Twitter and blogs and heralded in the pages of LA Weekly, where the ... More >>
Eat+Drink
July 1, 2010A place for regulars, at regular prices
Blogs
May 3, 2010The James Beard Foundation has announced the winners of the 2010 James Beard Foundation Media & Book Awards. The Restaurant and Chef awards will be announced tonight. The Weekly's longtime restaurant critic Jonathan Gold has won the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviews award. Cook ... More >>
Blogs
March 30, 2010The date is set. Kogi mastermind Roy Choi's first honest-to-goodness restaurant, called Chego, will open its doors in Palms on April 7th.
Kogi launched a Korean taco truck phenomenon that has spawned many imitators since it began, but this new restaurant will not be the first time Choi's food has b ... More >>
Eat+Drink
January 28, 2010Finding your bliss in Josef Centeno’s ambitious new downtown bistro
Eat+Drink
December 24, 2009Communal, unorthodox and somewhat Italian
Blogs
November 10, 2009Morton's restaurant is known for its juicy steaks and classic martinis. But, Tuesday, November 24, you won't be staring at your filet as much as you will be at Spike Lee, famed film director, producer, writer and actor, as he's interviewed by ESPN radio.
The series, Lunch with a Legend, a collabora ... More >>
Eat+Drink
November 5, 2009Blogs
October 9, 2009Anyone who's been downing Eric Alperin's violet-scented cocktails to cope with living in a post-Gourmet world should get up at least by 11 tomorrow morning and turn on the radio. On KCRW's Good Food program, Evan Kleiman will be discussing the demise of the much-loved magazine with the Weekly's Jona ... More >>
Blogs
October 6, 2009Word just in that the second Fraîche restaurant from Jason Travi and company will open for dinner next Wednesday night, October 14th. Where is it exactly? Amir Ohebsion, president of the Fraîche Management Group, won't say. Ah, secresy. How fun. The new restaurant will also be called Fraîche ("we ... More >>
Blogs
September 10, 2009Photo credit: Anne FishbeinMr. Gold, incognitoThis Saturday morning LA Weekly restaurant critic Jonathan Gold will be giving a talk, "The Rise of Regional Cuisines in the San Gabriel Valley," at the Los Angeles Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium. The talk is presented by the Culinary His ... More >>
Blogs
August 3, 2009Publishers WeeklyYour unanonymous criticNow that New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni is moving out of the anonymous shadows (Bruni resigned his post in May; the identity of his replacement, not yet named, has generated much amusing speculation), his mugshot is now public record. In f ... More >>
Eat+Drink
July 9, 2009Blogs
May 6, 2009Jessica RitzThe scene at Avery Fisher Hall, with Ted Allen in the mix. The James Beard Foundation Awards is the Big Night Out for an industry that's all about nights out. Cooks, writers, restaurateurs, sommeliers, and others in the service of making great food and interpreting it for a hungry public ... More >>
Eat+Drink
February 12, 2009Eat+Drink
November 6, 2008There hasn't been a blowfish fatality in a restaurant since the '60s, but eating it for many is still heightened by danger
Eat+Drink
July 17, 2008Behind the velvet ropes of the Westwood W, chef's latest is all American generosity
Eat+Drink
March 27, 2008Finding happiness in a slice of Ibérico ham at Bar Pintxo
Eat+Drink
January 24, 2008The caffeine obsessive's newest laboratory
Eat+Drink
December 13, 2007Comme Ça - finally, a brasserie Made for L.A.
Eat+Drink
July 13, 2006The second coming of Chung King
Eat+Drink
November 10, 2005Eat+Drink
July 15, 2004Cooking in the Age of Anxiety
Eat+Drink
October 10, 2002Eat+Drink
November 8, 2001Restaurant Halie tries hard
Eat+Drink
February 1, 2001Eat+Drink
January 18, 2001Eat+Drink
December 7, 2000Music to the eyes, and mouth
Eat+Drink
May 11, 2000Eat+Drink
February 24, 2000Eat+Drink
August 5, 1999Eat+Drink
September 17, 1998In the beginning, there was beer...
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