The Gold Watch

Jonathan Gold Looks Back at His Roots

Langer's #6
Langer’s #6 Photo: LWY via Flickr

Jonathan Gold discusses “his Jewishness” today with Tablet magazine. The story is brimming with Gold gold, with L.A.’s favorite critic revealing that he originally sought to be a poet (“Half the poems were about food,” he admits), had a short tour of duty working at a kosher restaurant run by Steven Spielberg’s mama, and got his love of munching on Chinese from a high school girlfriend. Friends Nancy Silverton, Ruth Reichl, and Susan Feniger all share high praise for the man (Reichl notes, “He knows he is good but never good enough…As an editor it is frustrating because he won’t give it up.”) as he dispels notions that he eats seven meals a day.

As to any sort of religious upbringing, Gold, the son of a Jewish P.O. and a converted Christian Scientist who says he’s “not a Jew in the kitchen” explains, “My father always felt more Jewish in the delis than he did in the shul. Sundays were deli day at Junior’s or Canter’s.”

He also shares insight into how his reviews develop, explaining, “Before I go out to restaurants, I cook for my family from the farmers markets…One of my criteria is that the dinner at the restaurant be as good as the dinner left behind. I really resent it when it isn’t. [Tablet]

Jonathan Gold Looks Back at His Roots