Jonathan Gold

Q: Where have you been going for dim sum lately? —Y. Ramirez, Silver Lake A: Seaworld, a palace of ziggurats and chandeliers and fish tanks, is neither the best nor the worst Cantonese seafood restaurant in town, but the dim sum has been great lately — trays of glistening baked......

Q: I am trying to find a nice restaurant in Los Angeles that serves caviar, and am having a tough time of it. My husband’s birthday is coming up, and I would love to surprise him with an evening out — money is not an object. Any suggestions, or will......

Q: I recently ate wonderful carne seca in Tucson, but have looked for the dish in vain in Los Angeles. Have you found any Mexican restaurants with a good version of it? —Ian Barnard A: There are versions of carne seca from all over Mexico in greater Los Angeles, including......

Q:Do you know any Chinese restaurants in L.A. that serve bitter melon (ku gua)? It's the weirdest-looking of all vegetables and, as the name suggests, profoundly bitter - a vegetable that seems to make its own vinegar. It's an acquired taste - indeed, even most Chinese people hate it; but......

Q: I’ve been to Yabu and the little noodle shop in the Mitsuya supermarket on Centinela at Venice Boulevard, but I am still in search of the ultimate soba joint. —C. Evans A: Soba may be the ultimate Japanese noodle: moistly crunchy groats temporarily transformed, as if by magic, into......

Question:It’s Halloween today — got any Faustian bargains? Answer: Chipotle Mexican Grill is a newish mega-chain of burrito outlets popping up in malls and ’plexes all over the country. The faux-industrial architecture comes from what looks like a shotgun marriage between the aesthetics of Soho and Bessemer, Alabama; a heaping......

Question: Some of us are vegetarians who go to a wide variety of restaurants, because we live in the real world with non-vegetarian friends. My favorites include Nyala Restaurant, Sante Brea and Real Food Daily. Can you offer any other suggestions for places with good vegetarian food? —Michael L. Stempel......

Photo by Anne Fishbein AFTER EXPLORING THE DELIS OF NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND OTHER U.S. cities, Gourmet magazine restaurant critic and L.A. Weekly Counter Intelligence columnist JONATHAN GOLD concludes that his own hometown, Los Angeles, has the most vibrant deli scene in the country -- not to mention the best......

Question: The Westside has plenty of places to get breakfast, but they’re pretty fancy, with fancy prices. My family is looking for a really good, plain old coffee-shop breakfast, like Rae’s — only better, preferably with shredded hash browns. Any thoughts? —T. Flinders Answer: Not so long ago, the Westside......

Question: I am faced with the unexpected arrival of friends who have asked me, an insular San Fernando Valley resident, to find a place where six of us can meet for brunch on Sunday. They will be staying in midtown. --Bernice Lieberman Answer: It is hard to imagine a better......