Last Thursday, LA Weekly published their annual compilation of must-try places around LA. This compendium of a read is known as Jonathan Gold’s 99 Essential LA Restaurants.
For me and many LA based foodies, its fun to see all of the mentions on the list. Particular interest goes to places that I’ve had the pleasure or opportunity to try.
Any places I haven’t tried are out there like a challenge, causing me to wonder whether its worth trying or not. My first thought is almost always, “Where is this place!?”.
To answer that question, I’ve put together a map of the restaurants mentioned my Mr. Gold. Use the following link to get to it:
https://www.southbayfoodies.com/j-golds-99-essential-la-restaurants-mapThe first thing I asked myself when I looked at this map was “Where’s the South Bay!?”. Not one blip showed up south of LAX and west of the 110 Freeway.
Does that mean all the chow we have down this way is unmentionable or unessential to LA dining? I doubt it. I’m just gonna say that Mr. Gold likes to stay close to home.
What ever the case is, he’s missing out on Iron Chef worthy cripsy-rice+spicy-tuna at Sashi Sake+Sushi Lounge in Manhattan Beach; the succulent St. Louis style ribs at Paul Martin’s American Bistro in El Segundo; and the savory and sweet olive oil and black pepper gelato at Paciugo in Hermosa Beach.
I will give him an aside, though, for including Big Mista’s Barbecue in the line up. Big Mista serves South Bay citizens three times a week at farmers markets.
I hope you’ll find the map useful. If you use it to find a new place to try out, let me know!
LOVE IT! Thank you so much for this great map. I hadn’t had a chance to read his latest 99, but now I can just SEE them!
We need to get Jonathan to venture farther south!
You’re welcome! Yeah, we do OK on our own but it would be nice to get some props in the major publications.
That’s the thing that bugs me about JGold. He really should name his list 90 essential restaurants north of the 10 plus a few more wherevs. There are so many gems in the South Bay and East LA. I take his list with a grain of salt–tried the beef roll at 101 Noodles a few years ago when it was on his list then and was “meh” about it. I do give him props for some of his other restaurants though–thoroughly enjoy Wurstkuche, Jitlada, Bludso’s (love me some Bludso’s!), etc. but they’re established foodie joints. I know, I’m a hater. =)
Hater! HA! Yeah, any thing that’s as subjective as something tasting good should be taken with a grain of salt even from a pro like JGold.
I still haven’t been to Bludso’s yet! Hoping to check this one off my list soon…