Comments on: In praise of Jonathan Gold …

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:10:51 +0000

I’ve not tried Din-Tai Fung (though it sounds fine); I can never get farther than the Empress Pavilion at the north edge of Chinatown. Why would I want to order dim sum via a paper order form rather than by seeing and smelling them on the carts? If carts are good enough for Hong Kong, they’re good enough for me — and the Empress is as close to a Hong Kong dim sum palace as anything I’ve seen outside of Hong Kong.

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:19:33 +0000

I have been to Din-Tai Fung a few times, valjean, and second your emotion – good place.

By: valjean

valjean — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 20:15:57 +0000

Roger,

Indeed, there are a zillion places (as Mgmax notes), but for Dim Sum I can provide a multi-visit recommendation for Din-Tai Fung on Baldwin in Arcadia. (In a mini-mall — where else?) I *think* it’s on one of Gold’s many lists.

A little pricey (though I rarely spend over $10/person) — and always packed — but imagine melt-in-your-mouth dumplings ordered via paper order form (!), rather than having a cart-pusher shout at you. Very civilized and insanely great. If memory serves their only other locations are Taipei and Tokyo.

By: John Van Laer

John Van Laer — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 06:13:16 +0000

Sorry, Roger, to be such a pedant but restaurants [plural] “valent le detour.”

By: jeyi

jeyi — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:53:07 +0000

Well, in refraining from pig meat for at least the time being (eight months cold turkey so far), just say I’m hedging my bets on the outcome of the Jihadis vs. Sons of Apes and Pigs war: either way I win.

In my case, it’s not the fear of divine retribution that motivates me (although one never know, do one?); its the patently addictive qualities of charcuterie, broadly defined. And I’d guess those qualities were apparent enough to Founding Fathers, as it were, that they thought the master script should cover that angle from the outset.

As for the gourmand (in the French sense) issue, jeesh! Even vegetarian cuisine can more than suffice.

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 19:26:42 +0000

Sorry, jeyl, I’m too much of a hedonist to go for kosher… but then I’m not much of a theist either. (Of course, I’m willing to be convinced. The older I get the more I’d like to believe in an afterlife.)

By: jeyi

jeyi — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:57:46 +0000

Considering how the Jews are getting whacked everywhere (except maybe in Hollywood), please Mr Simon, spare those of your readers who are making the first baby steps towards koshering up our acts, such glowing recommendations, by way of Jewish restaurant critics, no less, of the excellent pork dishes in the San Gabriel valley.

By: Mgmax

Mgmax — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 16:10:39 +0000

A longtime Chicagoan, I was out in LA last summer for the first time in a while and one of my main goals was to eat at some of the recommendations of Gold and some of the other LA food blogger/Chowhound types. What struck me, though, was just the sheer quantity of these places– both Koreatown and the SGV Chinese areas are at least five times the size of Chicago’s by no means insubstantial Koreatowns and Chinatowns, and so densely packed with places which even Gold et al. seem not to have managed to explore yet (not to in any way to denigrate the terrific work he and others have done– there’s just so much!) Anyway, I envy those who have the opportunity to dig into it more deeply than I did in a week’s visit (which anyone who cares can read about here– I especially recommend the Indonesian fair in Duarte:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9256