Jonathan Gold

Photo by Anne FishbeinTHE WESTSIDE, OR AT LEAST THE CENTINELA corridor, has so many decent Oaxacan restaurants that the cuisine has become something of a Los Angeles tourist attraction, a new, clean, ineffably exotic kind of cooking that happens to have popped up in Studioland rather than somewhere down the......

Bu San When you land a sushi-bar seat at Bu San, the chef will ask whether you trust him to choose the sushi. Your answer should be yes. You will probably start with three hulking slabs of tuna sashimi, then cured salmon in sheets as big as an entrée portion......

China Islamic China Islamic may be the only Chinese restaurant I've ever seen where Pakistani customers sometimes outnumber the East Asians. As soon as you sit down, you are asked if you want sesame bread (you do), a thick, crisp disk of flatbread made to order. There are a number......

Photo by Anne FishbeinLOS ANGELES COUNTY IS RICH IN REGIONAL KOREAN restaurants, regional Mexican restaurants and regional Japanese restaurants, in various flavors of southern American restaurants and Chinese restaurants of astonishing specificity. We don't just have Thai restaurants here, we have Muslim Thai restaurants and Isaan Thai restaurants, northern and......

Alameda Swap Meet The big food stall under the awning closest to the main building here is a full-on Mexican restaurant without the walls, featuring grilled chicken, carne asada and pretty good steam-table dishes: chile verde, chicken mole and a really good, spicy goat-meat stew that's the color of fresh......

El Colmao About the best thing at this Cuban restaurant is arroz con pollo: a big, fragrant bowl of rice, stained Easter-chick yellow with achiote, and studded with pimientos and the meat of at least a quarter-chicken. Chicken is also available sautéed with garlic and tomatoes, or sautéed and glazed......

Photo by Anne FishbeinCONSIDER THE FALAFEL, THE MIDDLE EAST'S FAVORITE grease bomb, a drippy, screaming-orange post card from culinary cultures that would really rather be remembered for kebabs, seasoned rice and sheep's brains garnished with sautéed pine nuts. Most food from Arabic-speaking countries is healthy, sparkling fresh, breathing the vitality......

The Arsenal Good steak houses are basically of two kinds: the ones that pass along the $15-plus per pound they pay for prime meat wholesale and the ones that use less-expensive grades but make up for it with low prices, friendly service, strong old-fashioneds and plenty of atmosphere. Among the......

Cupid's It is a beautiful thing to see a Cupid's dog assembled, to observe the counterman aligning buns four, five, six at a time in a special ridged tray, to witness the quick flick of his wrists as he lays in the hot dogs, smears each with yellow mustard, sprinkles......

Photo by Anne FishbeinAS MUCH AS I LIKE KHMER RESTAURANTS, AS MUCH time as I have spent stalking the aisles at Acres of Books or wincing through Iron Maiden shows at the arena, a visit to Long Beach sometimes seems like a thinly veiled excuse to swing by Joe Jost's,......