Dear Mr. Gold:

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Vancouver, where we ate excellent dim sum, although I couldn’t persuade him to try poutine. But we also ate at a restaurant called Salt that was basically a bar with a snacky charcuterie menu. You could order a number of different cheeses and meats and “sides,” like almonds, olives and pâtés. I would love to find a relaxed charcuterie like that in Los Angeles. Do you know of any?

—Janet L., Los Angeles

Dear Ms. L.:

We may be entering the golden age of American cured meats, and there are a lot of places in Los Angeles doing the charcuterie thing at the moment. AOC offers a carefully curated array of meats and cheeses that sounds a lot like the restaurant you describe. The Bolognese restaurant Il Moro on the Westside has a good selection of meats from northern Italy, and Matt Molina at Osteria Mozza is curing a lot of his own salumi, including guanciale and lardo. On the less pricy end of things, Cube has a lot to choose from. But I’m probably most excited about the charcuterie at Palate Food & Wine in Glendale, which has a well-priced list of handmade wines; houses a big cooler devoted to the meats they’re curing themselves that should be available any week now; specializes in potted chicken and rillettes; and has exclusive sources for salumi you’ll never taste anywhere else. (A few weeks ago, I had a few slices of wild-boar prosciutto that tasted like death in the nicest possible way.) Palate also offers a great cheese program, and easy seating at the wine-bar area in back. Palate is still in its formative stage — it seems to be a different restaurant almost every time you stop by — but it is difficult not to love. 933 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818) 662-9463.

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