Just thought this documentary, directed by Laura Gabbert, was enjoyable as well as informative. It centers on Jonathan Gold, acclaimed food critic for the L.A. Times, and winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for food criticism, in 2007.We follow Gold as he cruises through the streets of Los Angeles, describing or visiting the many multi-cultural restaurants, or street vendors, along the way. Gold specializes in reviewing the smaller ethnically oriented establishments, often surprisingly located in small mini malls or even based out of food trucks. Based on interviews with his colleagues, Gold has a reputation of being extremely fair and empathetic towards those that he critiques, with Gold stating himself that he'll visit an establishment a minimum of 4 to 5 times before he'll write a review.The movie is not all food, as we learn about Gold's remarkable history and upbringing, and we'll get to meet his family as well. They'll also be quite a lot of humor in the film, as well as some heartfelt interviews with several of the restaurant owners. Finally, for those concerned about such, there is explicit language laced throughout the doc.All in all, I thought this film was quite interesting, and one of the better documentaries I've seen in s while.

"City of Gold" (2015 documentary; 96 min.) is a documentary about Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic for the LA Times. As the documentary opens, we see Gold sitting at his computer and looking at a blank screen. Then all of the sudden the words start to roll and the voice-over gives us Gold's 2014 review of Guerilla Tacos, a food truck, To tell you more would spoil your viewing pleasure, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: the documentary is written, produced and directed by Laura Gabbert, who previously brought us the equally delightful "No Impact Man". Here she profiles the well-known food critic (and erstwhile music critic) Jonathan Gold. I really didn't know much about this man before seeing this. Turns out he is a down-to-earth guy, driving around his Dodge pick-up truck, little ego to speak of yet obviously very smart. One thing that he is very passionate about is his love for LA (he grew up there), and the diversity of the food that is available there, due to the city being a melting pot of cultures (or as Gold coins it, "a great glittering mosaic"). It seems that he'd rather visit and review food trucks and authentic holes-in-the-walls as opposed to the fancy 5 star French restaurant. Just as Gold is using food only a pretext to write about the city, so also does Habbert only use Gold as a pretext to paint a portrait of LA. And along the way, we get the answer to questions such as "why do we need food critics when we have Yelp reviews?" If you are wondering whether you need to be a foodie yourself in order to enjoy this film, my answer is a clear "no" (I'm not a foodie either). Bottom line: this is an enjoyable and insightful documentary about a food critic and his interactions with the food scene in Los Angeles."City of Gold" recently had a one-week run at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. As it happened, I caught the movie on its very last day of that run. Not surprisingly, I had a private screening, as in: I literally was the only person in the theater. Hopefully this is the kind of movie that will find a wider audience once it becomes available on VOD and eventually on DVD/Blu-ray. Meanwhile, if you like documentaries or if you are a foodie, "City of Gold" is certainly worth checking out.

Still not sure what the director or writer was going after here, except for a clever play on words that goes nowhere since we are quite frustrated by the end of the film. L.A. still remains a scattered mess with no design or purpose, and Gold's influence on the local scene looks at least, limited. Worse, it's hard to see the connections between his upbringing and the type of person he became.It's hard to appreciate a place like Los Angeles, with his scattered design, plenty of roads that go nowhere, freeways that shine for their lack of mobility, and poor public transportation. One struggles to go from place to another, but if you know where you're going and what you want, you might be rewarded. The documentary focuses on specific areas in the city, and for what we see, there might be four five types of cuisine in L.A., and it becomes pretty clear which one he favors. One of the pluses of living in a big urban setting is that you can find many types of offerings simply by crossing the street. According to the movie, there are only two countries in Latin America, one in Africa, and Asian cuisine is represented by three choices in Los Angeles.It is clear he loves to eat, and his followers are desperate to hear about the latest trend. Apparently, food trucks are one of the best signs of food offerings we can find. How would anyone like to wait in lines and love to stand up while eating goes beyond any comprehension. When we are lucky to actually see the inside of a restaurant, things are simplified to the point that we hear a family story, but this could have happened in any setting, and his presence would have been superfluous. The only time he shows much interest is when he's around Mexican fast food, and the culinary descriptions are minimal at best. He makes a big deal about spicy food, but we have no reference as to what makes the dish special or about its ingredients.Instead, the film indulges in his musical background??? Not sure how classical music is related to his appreciation for his favorite Latin American food, and I wonder if his rebellious procrastination originates from his punk music days. Truly, all this time I was wondering about the rest of Central American offerings, South America must have disappeared in the last ice age, and other than Ethiopia, you would think Africa doesn't exist. Worse is ignoring the varied and delicious Asian restaurants one can find all over the city. It's not like you blink you miss. I was confused.Ang Lee manages to show his love of food in his films, and one can look around cable shows to see how food critics travel all over the world and bring back a social experience where food is the star, and we understand its origins and its influence on society. "Gold" whatever its intentions might have been never succeeds at any of that.

"A hundred different dishes can be good in a hundred different ways." Jonathan Gold Although Los Angeles is many things to many people, most of us who know it more than in passing can agree its place for diverse ethnic food is about numero uno in the universe. It's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow those of us who long for Korean one day and American the next, one day Thai the next Mexican, and so it goes. The true LA Gold is Jonathan Gold, the food critic who elevated mom and pop to king and queen. Who'd have thought the home of film glamour was also the home of casual, strip mall dining elevated to Oscar worthy.The new documentary, City of Gold, follows Jonathan Gold around the city and its ethnic enclaves where he started his culinary journey to The LA Times. Did you ever stop at a Salvadoran stand on Pico Blvd. for a pupusas? Gold makes you wish you had. Are you aware that he made us aware of the greatness of Marisco Jalisco and Jitlada? Guelaguetza's barbacoa tacos live in glory because of Gold.This robust raconteur can write about a taco as if it were a truffle. Not because he embellishes but because he gets to the heart of the experience of social sharing found in the food's tasty essence. Although he never fully explains why certain food is worthy of his exaltation, his Odyssey around town, punctuated by shots inside his car while he passes little restaurants and comments on their merits, or rarely the lack thereof, is more about ethnic diversity than tasty dining.More often than not he is praising the food until you long for a moment of real truth that exposes it for the crap it might taste like. Perhaps he has reserved his negative criticism for passing comments about the effects of the infamous Watts riots. Maybe that's the point—this sunshiny critic saves his negativity for the one non-food disaster everyone can agree on. Only in that instance can you feel he is fully objective about this checkered city.In the end, City of Gold is a paean to a melting-pot town of such food glamour that you forget the monumental traffic and epic social clashes. It is a rousing depiction of one critic's ability to bring a city together around one table. Robust and inclusive, Gold doesn't so much deconstruct food as he infuses it with energy: "Taco should be a verb." Gold