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Remembering Jonathan Gold

Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold has picked L.A.'s top 101 restaurants in order, published on Thursday.
Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold
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Maya Sugarman/KPCC
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Listen 1:36:52
Pulitzer-Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold has died. He was 57. We also round up the headlines you might have missed this weekend including President Trump's threat via Twitter; Vladimir Putin’s surprise invite to the White House; and more.
Pulitzer-Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold has died. He was 57. We also round up the headlines you might have missed this weekend including President Trump's threat via Twitter; Vladimir Putin’s surprise invite to the White House; and more.

Pulitzer-Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold has died. He was 57. We also round up the headlines you might have missed this weekend including President Trump's threat via Twitter; Vladimir Putin’s surprise invite to the White House; and more

Remembering Jonathan Gold

Listen 47:50
Remembering Jonathan Gold

Pulitzer-Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold, who wrote lyrically and passionately about everything from taquerias to the world's finest restaurants, has died. He was 57.

The loss will be felt deeply in the city of Los Angeles and by food lovers everywhere. Gold, a Los Angeles native, had just recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died at an L.A. hospital surrounded by family.

"One of the greatest in L.A." said Mayor Eric Garcetti on hearing the news. "A man who made L.A. soar. Who articulated this moment. Who was Los Angeles in many ways."

It would be difficult to overstate Gold's impact on the culture of food in Southern California. His reviews of L.A.'s restaurants drew international attention to the region's unique fusion of cultures. But he also saw it as a mosaic, an "anti-melting pot," where immigrants opened restaurants that maintained the unique flavors of home without having to bow to American palates.

"The idea that you have all these communities, and all these viewpoints, and all these histories coming together in sort of this vast glittering fabric," he said in an interview with Take Two when the 2016 documentary about his life "City of Gold" was released.

Read the full obituary on LAist.

With guest host Libby Denkmann.

Guests:

Amy Scattergood, food editor for the Los Angeles Times, who edited Jonathan Gold since 2009

Armando De La Torre, Jr., co-founder and general manager of the Mexican restaurant Guisados in Boyle Heights and other parts of LA

Sean Xie, co-owner of Chengdu Taste, a Sichuan restaurant that opened in Alhambra in 2013, and has since expanded to 5 other cities in the US

Amy Duan, founder and CEO of Chihuo, a chinese language food review site based in the San Gabriel Valley

Gustavo Arellano, California columnist for L.A. Times Opinion section, who wrote about Gold’s impact on Southern California; former writer and editor at OC Weekly, who founded the “¡Ask a Mexican!” column; he tweets

Week in politics: President Trump threatens Iran on Twitter, Vladimir Putin’s surprise invite to the White House and more

Listen 47:44
Week in politics: President Trump threatens Iran on Twitter, Vladimir Putin’s surprise invite to the White House and more

AirTalk’s political analysts round up the headlines you might have missed this weekend and what to watch for in the week to come.

Here’s what’s on tap today:

  • President Trump’s all-caps threat via Twitter to Iran

  • Is there going to be any lasting damage from the Helsinki summit?

    • Lawmakers calling for notes from translator at Trump-Putin summit

    • Unbeknownst to his Director of National intelligence, Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to DC

  • Carter Page FISA application

  • Paul Manafort on trial

  • Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly taped a conversation he had with the president on paying a Playboy model

  • Trump's criticism of the Federal Reserve and China

  • Updates on tariffs and trade – will there be a tax on European cars?

  • McConnell issues Supreme Court ultimatum saying he’ll force a vote before midterms if Dems don’t back down on demand for documents

With guest host Libby Denkmann.

Guests:

Matt Barreto, professor of political science and Chicano/a Studies at UCLA and co-founder of the research and polling firm Latino Decisions; he tweets

Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets