The Other Critics

S. Irene Virbila Impressed by Post & Beam; Gold Pigs Out at Black Hogg

Govind Armstrong
Govind Armstrong Photo: Tatiana Arbogast

S. Irene Virbila takes it on down to Govind Armstrong and Brad Johnson’s Post & Beam, where we imagine she wasn’t really feeling the noise levels. She does feel the food, however, noting that Armstrong “is making a strong comeback at this casual spot.” She goes on to list a bunch of the home-grown dishes they prepare that taste solely of themselves, without a whole lot feedback or critical analysis, before finally declaring, “In a landscape of the inevitable chain restaurants, Post & Beam stands out on all counts – a dedicated chef and solid farm-to-table cooking, sharp front of the house and warmly welcoming setting. Every neighborhood should be so lucky.” [LAT]

J. Gold is also eating the true essences of real food at Cook’s County, which he posits, “In its way…may seem more of the moment than a place like Ink, which is engaged in the restless mutation that modernism needs to survive.” Seasonal to the point where you can watch the asparagus as it “shifts from thin to thick,” Gold has a deja vu moment with the farmers market cooking when he finds, “I’ve had the experience of preparing a meal of sautéed sprouting broccoli and pasta with nettles and Parmesan before I went out for the evening, and encountering essentially the same dish at Cooks County a half-hour later.” [LAT]

Noting the shifting tides of restaurant fortune in Silver Lake, Jonathan Gold calls it, “a part of town where you will soon be able to travel from bar to bar by skimboarding on a shallow lake of artisanal ale.” Ha! Happy as a pig in poop at Black Hogg’s porkapalooza, the scribe notes that chef Eric Park “understands L.A.,” which is nothing if not high praise from the big guy. [LAT]

S. Irene Virbila Impressed by Post & Beam; Gold Pigs Out at Black Hogg