LA Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold, in “City of Gold,” a new documentary film
The tagline on Jonathan Gold‘s Twitter account acknowledges the role the LA Times critic has long played in his city: “The belly of Los Angeles.” For close to three decades, Gold has been re-inking the map of the city’s food scene, marking alongside $300 sushi counters and Nancy Silverton bistros the strip-mall noodle shops whose chile-infused atmosphere sears the eyes and the taco trucks daubing Michoacan stews onto hot tortillas. Gold is a cultural critic as much as an arbiter of good taste, and the first restaurant critic in the United States to win a Pulitzer.
Laura Gabbert’s new documentary about Gold, “City of Gold.” arrives in San Francisco this week (see trailer below). Relaxed and looping, the film trails Gold to some of the restaurants he has made famous and public appearances the once-anonymous writer makes now he is a city icon. She accompanies him on the highway, in his big green pickup, and flits in back of the restaurants where he is dining to catch fire-framed woks and grimacing chefs.
Gabbert also sits with the writer as he battles the empty laptop screen that haunts his days and turns his editors, in the words of one, into stalkery teenagers. There is no linear plot to the film, but instead an emotional resonance — a love for Los Angeles — that deepens with every scene.
Gold and Gabbert will be in town this weekend making a series of performances to talk about “City of Gold”:
On Friday, March 25, and Saturday, March 26, they will attend the 7:05 p.m. showing of “City of Gold” at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco and will do a short Q&A afterward.
On Saturday, March 26, from noon to 1 p.m., Gold and Gabbert will be at the Ferry Building Farmers Market, discussing the film with me (Jonathan Kauffman) and answering questions. (Seating is closed for the event, but there will be standing room around the periphery.)
On Saturday, March 26, at 4:15 p.m., the filmmaker and her subject will appear at the Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael to do a Q&A after the screening.
Here’s the trailer for the film:
