Mar 21, 2017 City of Gold screening with Laura Gabbert and Jonathan Gold at the LAPL Main Branch
Although newspapers, magazines, books, and movies can be accessed online these days, I find myself going to to the library more often than ever. Partially because I am a Luddite who likes to crack open books with pages and still watches movies on DVD, but also because the LAPL hosts so many cool programs. This year’s LA Made at the Los Angeles Public Library calendar is packed with literature, film, dance, and comedy related events from now through November. Last weekend at the Main Branch there was a screening of City of Gold followed by a Q&A with director Laura Gabbert and food writer Jonathan Gold.
Gold is touted as being the first food critic to win a Pulitzer Prize, but around L.A. he is worshiped for being the first writer to treat street tacos, face-meltingly hot noodles, and soup-filled dumplings with the same respect as French cuisine. He famously said that food is the new rock ‘n’ roll well before turning ethnic mini malls into pilgrimages, nurturing the L.A. food truck scene, and becoming the patron saint of foodie culture and food bloggers that might not have existed without his storied body of work, which is equally adventurous and empathetic.
I’ve met Gold a few times–notably at Imprint’s Long Beach: Work in Progress event a few years ago–so it was nice to see the documentary about him with my family and introduce them to him. In the film, Gabbert does an exceptional job of revealing the preparation that goes into his columns but also illuminates his love for the mishmash of cultures comprise Los Angeles. There are big-time writers, chefs, and friends in the mix but the highlights are the streets and neighborhoods of Los Angeles which never looked so beautiful.
The Q&A that following the movie equally demonstrated the respect that Los Angelenos reciprocate in his direction as well as our wanting to know what he likes to eat in our zip codes, cultures, and schedules. I enjoyed his response to a question about bad reviews. He makes at least five visits before writing a piece, and if he’s going to write a bad one, at least seven. He doesn’t do the latter much these days since not only is it unsavory to close a business (bad business doesn’t mean bad person) but it’s physically taxing.
We left at 4:00 in love with Los Angeles and totally hungry. So we decided to have dinner at one of Gold’s perennial 101 Essential Restaurants, Guelaguetza in Koreatown. I’ve always loved the huge, Oriental-roofed building has been reskinned in bright Oaxacan colors and was excited to finally step into the lively spot to try out the delicious tlayuda (kind of like a Mexican pizza), a sampling of savory mole (from light to dark with two shades in between), and a rainbow-hued horchata (with melon flavors and colors). And grasshoppers (served whole in lettuce cups). Thank you, Jonathan Gold! Thank you, LAPL!
Check out the LA Made calendar at lapl.org/lamade and follow Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, too.