As we've noted before, among the many ways you can ID a food lover in this town is the presence of a mole-stained copy of EAT: Los Angeles in the glove compartment of the car.

Along with, say, a dilapidated copy of Jonathan Gold's “Essential Whatever,” the Mozza2Go boxes, the super hip Ink.Sack black lunch bags, the Daikokuya chopsticks, the valet tickets from the SLS hotel, etc. So, time to upgrade, as the 2012 edition of the Los Angeles food guide comes out this Saturday, October 22.

The new edition, the fourth from Prospect Park Media in Pasadena, has all the lovely features from previous versions, plus the inclusion of Favorites, a collection of short lists of the authors' personal favorites in various categories; expanded food truck coverage; and more than 150 new reviews of places to eat, drink and/or shop. There are 1,292 listings in all.

“I'm proud of the book– I really do think it's our best yet,” publisher and editor Colleen Dunn Bates emailed us. Plus, this year it's blue! So, whose reviews are you reading? In addition to Bates, contributors are Jean T. Barrett, Linda Burum, Miles Clements, Amelia Saltsman, Pat Saperstein, Joseph Shuldiner, Jenn Garbee and Elina Shatkin. (The last two writers, we should mention, both also write for this happy publication. They haven't picked a bad meal yet, at least as far as our experience goes.)

EAT: Los Angeles 2012, Prospect Parks Books, $19.95.

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