Los Angeles food critic Jonathan Gold calls himself “the belly of Los Angeles,” and he is that and more. L.A. is a foodie haven, and its restaurants represent a vast array of cultures, with each dish a living history. Gold’s weekly reviews traverse this vast metropolis and catalog the many different people who call L.A. home. In a sense, Gold’s reviews are as important to the cultural makeup of L.A. as the writings of Raymond Chandler.

Gold, formerly of the L.A. Weekly, now of the Los Angeles Times, is a food critic par excellence and not simply for his incredibly discerning palate and quick wit with the keyboard but also his devotion to the craft. Unlike many East Coast critics, Gold eschews prestige and hunts high and low for hole-in-the-wall restaurants with a family history. Many of his raves have boosted hard-working immigrant families toiling in food trucks or sun-soaked strip malls, barely making it by until Gold comes along and transforms their businesses into successes. His reviews don’t just help realize lifelong dreams but preserve a bit of family history and culture in the process.

City of Gold follows the clever critic down sun-bleached streets from the cab of his much-loved Dodge pickup as Gold gives a tour of L.A.; the sights, the sounds, the smells. L.A. is a giant sprawling metropolis, one that has baffled many writers, but Gold has found a way to grasp the city by the guts and show it for the wonderful and eclectic land it truly is.

City of Gold (2015)
Written and directed by Laura Gabbert
Produced by Holly Becker, Laura Gabbert, Braxton Pope
IFC Films, Rated R, Running time 96 minutes, Premiered Jan. 27, 2015 at the Sundance Film Festival

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The above blurb first appeared in the pages of Boulder Weekly Vol. 23, No. 31, “BIFF returns with an impressive lineup.”