A Chef of Words

Jonathan Gold is an incredibly influential writer. Every restaurant within the great city of Los Angeles hopes to have this inconspicuous man walk through their door. They hope to delight him with a flavorful meal and have that meal be perfectly articulated to the readers Gold writes for. In this article, I’ve selected two of Gold’s more famous and awarded writings to talk about. Hopefully, a taste of his delectable words is in the cards. (Both articles can be found at this link!)

The first article I decided to take a look at was Gold’s “Home of the porno burrito.” With such an interesting title, I had to take a look. Gold begins his review as he begins a lot of his writings: speaking to the reader as if it were a normal conversation. He speaks with confidence about the reader’s experiences, which shows a bit of his carefree attitude. He has no way of knowing that the reader has had a potato taco as he states with upmost certainty, but even if the reader has never enjoyed that meal, he feels that he has after reading. The flavors and ingredients are laid out to the audience with such ease and precision. You can almost smell the food through the page! He continues on about the burrito itself, listing the humorous name that has been bestowed upon it by those that have engulfed it. Ultimately, though, he ends up finishing the review not with the taste of the food, but with the people after they are done. There was not a speck of food left.

“Flesh and Bone: Playing with Kobe at mighty Cut” yet again begins with that same attention-grabbing tactic of speaking to the reader as if he were a man right in front of Gold. This time, though, he asks a question regarding the delightful steak he is about to consume. He speaks about the ambiance of the establishment and a little bit of the history behind it as well. Gold, as a food critic, strives to not only talk about the singular aspect of the taste of the food, but how a customer feels during and after eating. He explains that Cut is the “love child of Puck’s senior chef Lee Hefter.” This is completely arbitrary when it comes to the taste of the food, but it adds so much depth to the article itself. It helps to put the reader in the shoes of the customer.