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If you were the guy who
lifted my cell phone last year
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you may have noticed that the camera roll
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is rich in taco snapshots.
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My inner life tends to be measured
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out in radishes, meat and limes.
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If you peered closely at the tiny images
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trying to figure out who might spend so many
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of his days in proximity to small tortillas.
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You may have inferred
that a startling number
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of the tacos came from a single source.
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Guerilla tacos,
a tiny operation that pops up
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a few days a week in downtown Los Angeles.
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Guerilla tacos is a pretty singular taqueria
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the creation of Wes avila
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whose culinary training came
under Alain ducasse in Paris.
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Avila was crafting tacos
in empty storefronts
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or stairwells or garage spaces deep downtown
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and there were rumors about
tacos made with diver scallops
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weird vegetables and
Sushi grade yellow tail.
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When I published a list
of the best dishes of 2013
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I included his taco made with roasted squash
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rubbery oaxacan cheese
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and a hint of chili and charred tomato.
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The tortillas don't seem to be made to order
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but they are fresh and toasty enough.
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The taco equivalent of the energy
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of what Chinese cooks sometimes call
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"the breathe of the wok," is in full effect.
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A ducasse disciple, quitting
his job at an haute cuisine
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pop up to serve charred octopus tacos
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on a downtown street corner.
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You're not gonna find cooking
like this anywhere, but la.
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I'm an la guy, I drive.
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I am, I am my truck, my truck is me.
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I'm going a slightly screwy way.
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I got off on the 10 instead of the 5
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which I probably shouldn't have.
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Everybody in the world has an
idea of what Los Angeles is.
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Everybody thinks they know
what Los Angeles means
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even if they've never been here.
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And if you live in Los Angeles,
you're used to
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having your city explained to you
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by people who come in for a couple of weeks
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stay in a hotel in Beverly hills
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and take in what they can get to
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within 10 minutes in their rented car.
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The thing that people find
hard to understand I think
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is sort of the... the
magnitude of what's here.
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The huge number of multiple
cultures that live in the city
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who come together in this
beautiful and haphazard fashion.
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And you know, the... the fault
lines between them
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are sometimes where you find
the most beautiful things.
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I mean, I became a food writer
completely by accident
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but it became what I aspired to.
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The idea of celebrating, you know
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the... the glorious mosaic
of the city
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on somebody else's dime
was just completely fun
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and completely exactly what I wanted to do.
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I mean, I kept feeling as if I
was getting away with something.
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There definitely is a
Jonathan gold Los Angeles
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and it's a Los Angeles that a
lot of people didn't know about.
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He, like Raymond Chandler
showed you a vision
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of Los Angeles that was a new vision.
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Jonathan changed the food writing world
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because he was one of the first
restaurant critics
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which was, who was perfectly happy in..
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I guess I even think happier
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writing about the hard
to find small restaurants
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in tiny little communities.
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- Hi, how you doin'?
- Good. How are you?
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Can I get a huarache de
with flor de calabaza?
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- Flor de calabaza huarache?
- Yes.
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Sure.
You want cheese on that?
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- Yeah.
- Okay.
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He was going to these places
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where food critics didn't always go
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and he went to mom and pop places
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where generations of tradition
were being passed down
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in the cooking.
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La is great that way
because you don't have to travel
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far to taste like you traveled far
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and... and I think that's what made
him such an interesting writer
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because he was so curious
about that type of cooking.
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This is a little sauce right
here from my grandmother.
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She, she came up with this, with this sauce
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so my mom just wanted me
to bring you guys some
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so you can taste it and see how good it is.
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It's really, it's really, really good.
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There's salsa de semillas inside.
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Yeah, salsa de semillas.
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It has peanuts, garlic, hojuelas..
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It's really good.
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- Thanks.
- You're welcome.
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The saddest moment
in boyle heights street food
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most aficionados would agree
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was the evening the breed street vendors
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were finally chased from their scene.
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This gathering had always been
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rousted by the cops every so often.
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00:08:06,692 --> 00:08:08,391
It was amazing how quickly the circus
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turned into a deserted parking lot.
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00:08:10,828 --> 00:08:14,496
But Carmen castellanos,
the soul of antojitos Carmen
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had been working
boyle heights since the 1980's
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and after a brief stretch on a sidewalk
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next to an mta building sight
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she scraped together the
funding for a real restaurant
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just around the corner
and brought along her family.
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Other la restaurants began as street food
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but none quite so vividly
as antojitos Carmen.
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You want these guys to succeed.
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He became a, a... a figure
of the democratizing
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movement in, in culture, not just in writin'
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not just in food writin', but
in the ability to tell stories
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about America and the city
of Los Angeles in specific
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through a series of, you know
restaurants and food experiences
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that other people weren't
writin' about. He gave it value.
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It's good.
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00:09:46,479 --> 00:09:49,046
So, Alice, we.. I wanted to talk
about some of these,
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pieces we wanted Jonathan to do.
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Good.
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Suggestions rather.
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Right, well, I, I feel
the most important thing
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00:09:58,122 --> 00:09:59,454
and we've talked a little bit
about this before
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is the grand central market piece.
125
00:10:01,291 --> 00:10:03,491
It's true, it's at that tipping point.
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00:10:03,493 --> 00:10:07,428
It's been a symbol of a certain
kind of Los Angeles
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00:10:07,430 --> 00:10:10,697
for a very long time.
128
00:10:10,699 --> 00:10:13,366
As it's been redeveloped or the
new restaurants are coming in
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00:10:13,368 --> 00:10:15,534
or the... the new
fancy butchers
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00:10:15,536 --> 00:10:18,236
it's gonna stop being
this sort of place that you
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00:10:18,238 --> 00:10:22,640
associate with the smells
and the tastes and the..
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00:10:22,642 --> 00:10:24,908
The look of that part of Los Angeles
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into being the sort of precious artisanal
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00:10:30,148 --> 00:10:33,115
you know, aren't we special to pay
135
00:10:33,117 --> 00:10:36,785
$35.99 for a skirt steak
kind of market.
136
00:10:36,787 --> 00:10:39,788
You know, can a pupuseria
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00:10:39,790 --> 00:10:42,857
exist next to, a fancy cheese store?
138
00:10:42,859 --> 00:10:47,227
- Yeah.
- Is that the challenge that these, that the owners now face?
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00:10:47,229 --> 00:10:50,063
It is. I mean, I like
a lot of the new places
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00:10:50,065 --> 00:10:51,431
and I shop there all the time
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00:10:51,433 --> 00:10:54,600
but you have to have a place where you have
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00:10:54,602 --> 00:10:57,135
like the, the tastes of
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sort of last century Los Angeles
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00:11:00,073 --> 00:11:02,673
existing with
the... the modern taste.
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00:11:02,675 --> 00:11:05,075
There's something cultural about
it, and there's something
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00:11:05,077 --> 00:11:07,544
about it that has become part of Los Angeles
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that I think is sort of magical.
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00:11:10,181 --> 00:11:15,684
It's like when do you start cutting
into the flesh and bone of the market?
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00:11:15,686 --> 00:11:18,186
And that's, that's a hard
question to answer, and I think
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that would be something really
interesting to address.
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Yeah.
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I... I'm hoping we can get
to that piece
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sooner rather than later.
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Whenever we talk about
criticism in New York..
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Jonathan gold's name always comes up.
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We're always like,
I wish we had Jonathan gold
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as our chief critic in New York
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because I think he's very fair.
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I think what separates Jonathan
from the rest of the critics
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is that his empathy level
is higher than anybody else's
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and I think that shows
in his... in his writing
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00:11:50,747 --> 00:11:54,281
but this is what pisses me off
about j. Gold.
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00:11:54,283 --> 00:11:58,017
I was in a place
that did very esoteric chine..
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Korean chicken barbecue.
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I was like, "this is great. I'm
not gonna tell anybody about it."
166
00:12:06,993 --> 00:12:12,229
And then, in the corner I see
Jonathan gold's review
167
00:12:12,231 --> 00:12:14,698
and I was like, "motherfucker."
168
00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:17,434
He knows every place.
I don't know how he does it.
169
00:12:17,436 --> 00:12:19,569
You know, I don't know any
Korean that knows more about
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Korean food than Jonathan gold.
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00:12:21,406 --> 00:12:24,507
I don't know anybody
that knows every taco stop.
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I was at the wrong truck,
there's another fish one.
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I know.
That one's good too.
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The... the cuatro vientos has,
it has always been down there
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and sometimes the line is longer.
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- Un taco!
- Ready to order?
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Yeah, sure.
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You guys tweeted about a,
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00:12:48,162 --> 00:12:50,095
tostada this morning,
that sounded really good.
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What was that?
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Yeah.
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- Yeah.
- Okay.
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I met Jonathan pretty much right away.
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He walked into the newsroom.
185
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He look, acted like he
owned the place practically
186
00:13:04,374 --> 00:13:08,408
and I thought he was
one of the bigger writers.
187
00:13:08,410 --> 00:13:09,842
It turned out he was just a proofreader
188
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at the time and I was an intern.
189
00:13:12,947 --> 00:13:14,746
He invited me up to his apartment
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for his mom's, peach pie
191
00:13:18,118 --> 00:13:21,152
so, that... that
changed a lot.
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He sent roses the next morning.
193
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Thank you very much.
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When I woke up this morning
and saw that tweet
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it's like, I know I have to come here.
196
00:13:29,094 --> 00:13:31,327
Yeah.
It's very super spicy.
197
00:13:31,329 --> 00:13:33,729
- Good.
- That looks great.
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00:13:33,731 --> 00:13:38,767
It's amazing for us, people
like him, that, that writes.
199
00:13:38,769 --> 00:13:42,170
He said that, these
tacos are number 1 for him
200
00:13:42,172 --> 00:13:45,973
and, a... actually we're in
the process of getting a loan
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00:13:45,975 --> 00:13:48,842
from the bank to get another truck done.
202
00:13:48,844 --> 00:13:53,780
People asking us to go
to orange county and San Diego.
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00:13:53,782 --> 00:13:55,982
Here, I'll hold this.
204
00:13:55,984 --> 00:13:59,118
I gather that it's unusual
for people who've married
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00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,554
as long as we have, to wanna hang out
206
00:14:02,556 --> 00:14:05,990
together so much of the time,
but we kind of do.
207
00:14:05,992 --> 00:14:08,792
You know I've been wanting
you to do the piece on anonymity
208
00:14:08,794 --> 00:14:10,226
for a long time?
209
00:14:10,228 --> 00:14:13,862
There's still that old idea
of a restaurant critic
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has to be anonymous, but you know..
211
00:14:15,732 --> 00:14:18,733
Laurie doesn't edit my pieces anymore
212
00:14:18,735 --> 00:14:22,136
but she has this odd ability
213
00:14:22,138 --> 00:14:25,072
of getting the best out of her writers.
214
00:14:25,074 --> 00:14:27,541
And that's, we're doing an excerpt?
215
00:14:27,543 --> 00:14:30,443
Maybe, like, 1, like, 11 inch little story.
216
00:14:30,445 --> 00:14:32,344
The weird way that she does it with me
217
00:14:32,346 --> 00:14:35,613
is probably, maybe not great
for the marriage
218
00:14:35,615 --> 00:14:39,850
but it's, she suggests something and..
219
00:14:41,052 --> 00:14:44,254
I'll, like, say that's a really..
220
00:14:44,256 --> 00:14:47,557
N... no, that's not the way it
works, but in the way of, like
221
00:14:47,559 --> 00:14:49,325
explaining to her that that's
not the way it works
222
00:14:49,327 --> 00:14:51,160
I understand how it does work.
223
00:14:51,162 --> 00:14:54,863
I mean, other people have written
about it, but not... not in the way..
224
00:14:54,865 --> 00:14:57,765
I don't think in the deeper way
that you want to do it.
225
00:14:57,767 --> 00:15:00,834
You think the history
of anonymity in a restaurant?
226
00:15:00,836 --> 00:15:02,769
That'd be, that'd be very cool.
227
00:15:10,810 --> 00:15:15,446
It would probably be ideal to be anonymous.
228
00:15:15,448 --> 00:15:18,415
I mean, I... I was certainly was
in the early part of my career.
229
00:15:18,417 --> 00:15:22,051
I mean, I would go to spago,
basically looking like
230
00:15:22,053 --> 00:15:26,221
a punk rock kid with my friend
who had one pair of pants.
231
00:15:26,223 --> 00:15:28,022
And... and we were not
being ushered
232
00:15:28,024 --> 00:15:30,724
to the nice table by the window
233
00:15:30,726 --> 00:15:35,795
but any cri, any critic who does restaurants
234
00:15:35,797 --> 00:15:39,198
is gonna be recognized soon enough.
235
00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,100
Especially, in the age of social media
236
00:15:42,102 --> 00:15:44,569
where somebody will tweet your picture
237
00:15:44,571 --> 00:15:47,405
before you've gotten
your first cocktail, right?
238
00:15:47,407 --> 00:15:51,008
I mean, the people who disguise themselves
239
00:15:51,010 --> 00:15:54,811
probably aren't getting away with it
nearly as much as they think they are.
240
00:15:54,813 --> 00:15:58,181
I'm wearing this mask
because I'm an anonymous critic
241
00:15:58,183 --> 00:16:00,550
which means that none of the restaurateurs
242
00:16:00,552 --> 00:16:03,286
or very few of them recognize
what I look like.
243
00:16:03,288 --> 00:16:04,687
- Oy, gevalt.
- I almost...
244
00:16:04,689 --> 00:16:07,189
you didn't know that
I was gonna wear this thing?
245
00:16:07,191 --> 00:16:09,758
Well, I heard that you were..
246
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,961
I believe it's a positive value,
other people disagree with me
247
00:16:12,963 --> 00:16:15,430
but I'm always wanna
on the side of the consumer
248
00:16:15,432 --> 00:16:19,466
and, have a meal experience that's a..
249
00:16:19,468 --> 00:16:21,468
Just like what a normal person would have.
250
00:16:21,470 --> 00:16:23,770
People have told me that there's
pictures of me in the kitchen
251
00:16:23,772 --> 00:16:25,705
but it's with the mask on.
252
00:16:28,643 --> 00:16:30,509
I mean, I think it is essential to get
253
00:16:30,511 --> 00:16:34,079
an unbiased look at how a place is cooking
254
00:16:34,081 --> 00:16:37,382
because they will treat people
255
00:16:37,384 --> 00:16:40,251
that they know are writing about
them very differently.
256
00:16:40,253 --> 00:16:43,454
Ruth reichl did that famous
review of le cirque
257
00:16:43,456 --> 00:16:45,622
where she went in disguised as this sort of
258
00:16:45,624 --> 00:16:48,791
frumpy woman and got treated
like garbage and then
259
00:16:48,793 --> 00:16:50,959
the next week went in dressed
as herself and was treated
260
00:16:50,961 --> 00:16:55,095
like a queen and wrote a parallel review.
261
00:16:55,097 --> 00:16:57,063
I do all the stuff you're supposed to do.
262
00:16:57,065 --> 00:17:00,299
I always reserve under different names
263
00:17:00,301 --> 00:17:02,801
I switch up the names I reserve under
264
00:17:02,803 --> 00:17:05,336
I switch up the phone
numbers that I reserve under.
265
00:17:05,338 --> 00:17:08,272
I mean, I have a whole series
of throw away phones
266
00:17:08,274 --> 00:17:09,940
that I use just for reservations.
267
00:17:09,942 --> 00:17:11,775
It's... it's kind of like the
268
00:17:11,777 --> 00:17:14,744
it's... it's kind of like
the fat man's version
269
00:17:14,746 --> 00:17:16,245
of the "bourne identity," I think.
270
00:17:38,132 --> 00:17:39,632
Sir, nice to see you again.
How are you doing?
271
00:17:39,634 --> 00:17:41,967
- Good. How are you?
- Awesome. That's really good.
272
00:17:41,969 --> 00:17:43,935
- Bonsoir.
- Bonsoir.
273
00:17:43,937 --> 00:17:46,504
Hello.
274
00:17:46,506 --> 00:17:48,739
I never know when Jonathan is coming.
275
00:17:48,741 --> 00:17:50,640
I don't know the night before,
you know, I don't know.
276
00:17:50,642 --> 00:17:53,609
It's really the last minute, you
know, I never have a reservation
277
00:17:53,611 --> 00:17:55,377
for Jonathan gold, 6 people.
278
00:17:55,379 --> 00:17:59,280
No, it's another name and boom, he's here.
279
00:18:01,183 --> 00:18:02,782
Panic in the kitchen.
280
00:18:02,784 --> 00:18:06,752
The beans, the beans are fucking
al dente, man, you eat the beans?
281
00:18:06,754 --> 00:18:09,621
You have nothing to do, John?
You have nothing to do?
282
00:18:09,623 --> 00:18:11,623
No, I have stuff to do, but..
283
00:18:11,625 --> 00:18:13,358
But what?
284
00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:16,994
I'm always excited to cook
for him because Jonathan gold
285
00:18:16,996 --> 00:18:21,365
is a critic who is very
open to trying new things.
286
00:18:24,135 --> 00:18:26,769
My god.
That's insane.
287
00:18:26,771 --> 00:18:29,271
I saw the corn on the cob when I came in
288
00:18:29,273 --> 00:18:31,840
so this is amazing
to see it turned into this.
289
00:18:31,842 --> 00:18:34,442
This is great.
290
00:18:34,444 --> 00:18:37,545
So what makes ludo ludo?
291
00:18:37,547 --> 00:18:40,147
Part of it is growing up as a chef in a way
292
00:18:40,149 --> 00:18:42,716
that almost nobody does anymore.
293
00:18:42,718 --> 00:18:45,151
You know, having the good fortune
294
00:18:45,153 --> 00:18:46,852
to work his way up in the kitchen
295
00:18:46,854 --> 00:18:49,421
with three of the most
interesting chefs in France
296
00:18:49,423 --> 00:18:53,958
and I think the way he just..
297
00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:56,093
He loves Los Angeles.
298
00:18:56,095 --> 00:18:58,895
He... he likes working
with the produce here
299
00:18:58,897 --> 00:19:02,365
he likes the kind of people who live here.
300
00:19:02,367 --> 00:19:04,033
He wanted to do something that was personal
301
00:19:04,035 --> 00:19:07,403
that... that meant something
to him as a chef
302
00:19:07,405 --> 00:19:10,639
and Los Angeles has always been the place
303
00:19:10,641 --> 00:19:12,574
certainly in the United States,
where you can come
304
00:19:12,576 --> 00:19:16,911
and you can... Reinvent yourself.
305
00:19:16,913 --> 00:19:20,047
Sometimes as a chef
we don't see what we create.
306
00:19:20,049 --> 00:19:21,681
When Jonathan gold gave me an amazing review
307
00:19:21,683 --> 00:19:25,918
for ludo bite in 2007,
I did not realize what I create
308
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:27,552
but Jonathan opened my eyes.
309
00:19:27,554 --> 00:19:30,520
Wow! I just realized
I created a new concept.
310
00:19:32,489 --> 00:19:36,591
Food and writing have gone
together throughout history.
311
00:19:36,593 --> 00:19:38,426
If you look at France in the 18th century
312
00:19:38,428 --> 00:19:41,896
or China in the 12th century,
there wasn't just food
313
00:19:41,898 --> 00:19:44,531
there, there was food
and someone writing about it
314
00:19:44,533 --> 00:19:46,299
food and someone thinking about it
315
00:19:46,301 --> 00:19:49,535
and that relationship
is what turned food from fuel
316
00:19:49,537 --> 00:19:51,803
to food into an art form.
317
00:19:51,805 --> 00:19:54,138
It's true of literature, it's true of plays
318
00:19:54,140 --> 00:19:56,440
it's true of all cultural art forms
319
00:19:56,442 --> 00:19:58,508
that writing is what made them digestible
320
00:19:58,510 --> 00:20:01,043
so to speak by the masses.
321
00:20:01,045 --> 00:20:02,577
You're trying to tell a story
322
00:20:02,579 --> 00:20:05,580
make that experience
into something much bigger
323
00:20:05,582 --> 00:20:07,315
but at a certain point, everyone
324
00:20:07,317 --> 00:20:09,083
I mean, look at yelp,
it's such an American thing
325
00:20:09,085 --> 00:20:12,019
where everyone then
believes they are the critic
326
00:20:12,021 --> 00:20:13,153
and they are the expert.
327
00:20:23,397 --> 00:20:24,563
You know, now everybody thinks
328
00:20:24,565 --> 00:20:26,164
"I can go to a restaurant
329
00:20:26,166 --> 00:20:27,865
and write what
I think about it."
330
00:20:27,867 --> 00:20:29,399
And if I use words like
331
00:20:29,401 --> 00:20:33,035
toothsome, you know, then,
"hey, I'm... I'm a food writer."
332
00:20:33,037 --> 00:20:35,437
They all seem to use the word amazing now.
333
00:20:35,439 --> 00:20:39,007
"It's amazing!
The Mexican corn is amazing!"
334
00:20:39,009 --> 00:20:41,442
You know, it's like, amazing
doesn't tell me anything.
335
00:20:41,444 --> 00:20:43,076
What is the role of the critic
336
00:20:43,078 --> 00:20:44,577
is a question that's being asked
337
00:20:44,579 --> 00:20:47,613
and I think every area of culture right now
338
00:20:47,615 --> 00:20:49,748
because it's, like, "well, why
do I need a food critic"
339
00:20:49,750 --> 00:20:51,783
"if I have yelp, and why do
I need a book critic
340
00:20:51,785 --> 00:20:53,918
if I've got Amazon reviews?"
341
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,855
I think what a critic brings
to the table is knowledge.
342
00:20:57,857 --> 00:21:02,226
You know that he's done his homework.
343
00:21:02,228 --> 00:21:04,394
You know, if you're really
interested in a subject
344
00:21:04,396 --> 00:21:06,929
you are gonna find the critics
that... that speak to you
345
00:21:06,931 --> 00:21:08,263
that you don't always agree with
346
00:21:08,265 --> 00:21:09,831
but that, that speak to you
347
00:21:09,833 --> 00:21:11,966
that you feel you'll learn something from
348
00:21:11,968 --> 00:21:13,834
that you... you found a new way
349
00:21:13,836 --> 00:21:16,569
of seeing something after
reading what they had to say.
350
00:21:19,239 --> 00:21:21,707
The biggest thing in restaurants over
351
00:21:21,709 --> 00:21:24,676
say the last 40 years has been
352
00:21:24,678 --> 00:21:29,013
the introduction of diversity.
353
00:21:31,815 --> 00:21:35,083
When Craig claiborne in the '60s
354
00:21:35,085 --> 00:21:38,586
was reviewing expensive
restaurants in New York
355
00:21:38,588 --> 00:21:41,088
they were almost all French.
356
00:21:41,090 --> 00:21:45,558
Then as you start to get
cuisines from all over
357
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:50,361
you can't look at cuisine as
a singular thing anymore.
358
00:21:50,363 --> 00:21:52,296
There can be a thousand
different restaurants
359
00:21:52,298 --> 00:21:54,197
that are great in a thousand different ways.
360
00:22:01,505 --> 00:22:06,174
Two pieces of legislation
in 1965 and in 1986
361
00:22:06,176 --> 00:22:09,510
increased the number of migrants
362
00:22:09,512 --> 00:22:14,614
abolished standard quotas which
favored migration from Europe
363
00:22:14,616 --> 00:22:20,219
opened up, I... immigration
to a much wider range of people.
364
00:22:20,221 --> 00:22:25,456
La was a leading edge in
diversity population growth.
365
00:22:25,458 --> 00:22:29,059
The immigrant population
has defined the country.
366
00:22:29,061 --> 00:22:32,028
It's defined Los Angeles.
367
00:22:32,030 --> 00:22:34,930
We are what we are because of our diversity.
368
00:22:44,439 --> 00:22:47,674
Green bean..
369
00:22:47,676 --> 00:22:50,576
Carrot, bell pepper..
370
00:22:50,578 --> 00:22:55,947
My name tui. I'm the chef
of jitlada restaurant.
371
00:22:55,949 --> 00:22:59,483
I came America in 1996.
372
00:23:07,158 --> 00:23:12,094
I never went to cooking school,
but I learned from my grand mom.
373
00:23:12,096 --> 00:23:15,130
She teach me everything, you know, like..
374
00:23:15,132 --> 00:23:16,364
What is this, what is that..
375
00:23:16,366 --> 00:23:20,101
Like, you know, how to grow the lemongrass
376
00:23:20,103 --> 00:23:25,105
how to grow the coconut,
how to grow the turmeric.
377
00:23:25,107 --> 00:23:28,775
In 2006, I bought jitlada restaurant
378
00:23:28,777 --> 00:23:31,677
but at first we lost money.
379
00:23:31,679 --> 00:23:33,879
We're going to jitlada right now.
380
00:23:33,881 --> 00:23:37,682
It's my favorite
thai restaurant in Los Angeles.
381
00:23:37,684 --> 00:23:39,483
It serves all kinds of thai food
382
00:23:39,485 --> 00:23:44,587
but what it specializes in is
the extremely spicy, aromatic
383
00:23:44,589 --> 00:23:47,489
pungent cooking of Southern Thailand.
384
00:23:47,491 --> 00:23:50,792
"Warning, if you do not eat
spicy food, do not order this."
385
00:23:50,794 --> 00:23:54,529
The... the spicier it is,
actually the better it tastes
386
00:23:54,531 --> 00:23:55,997
because the flavors come into balance
387
00:23:55,999 --> 00:23:58,599
because that's the way it's designed.
388
00:23:58,601 --> 00:24:01,301
He have very good palate on his tongue
389
00:24:01,303 --> 00:24:04,370
because he can separate, like,
"you have this in here."
390
00:24:04,372 --> 00:24:07,973
I... I start laughing.
Especially with my thai coffee.
391
00:24:07,975 --> 00:24:11,009
No one in the whole wide world,
even my family
392
00:24:11,011 --> 00:24:13,644
doesn't know what
I put in there, but he know.
393
00:24:15,113 --> 00:24:17,914
I learned from the customer
that Jonathan gold
394
00:24:17,916 --> 00:24:21,783
important for the people in America.
395
00:24:21,785 --> 00:24:23,317
And then one day he came here
396
00:24:23,319 --> 00:24:25,352
and they all laugh and they say.
397
00:24:25,354 --> 00:24:27,053
"Jonathan gold in front of you."
398
00:24:27,055 --> 00:24:30,823
And I remember my leg,
shaking like this, like
399
00:24:30,825 --> 00:24:32,791
"my god,
is it Jonathan gold?"
400
00:24:32,793 --> 00:24:35,727
But still I didn't know
who is him, just the name.
401
00:24:38,197 --> 00:24:39,463
Well, thank you.
402
00:24:39,465 --> 00:24:41,231
If she, if she brought it out with this
403
00:24:41,233 --> 00:24:43,132
then you know it's hot.
404
00:24:43,134 --> 00:24:46,134
This is extra chili that
you can pour on the beef if..
405
00:24:55,542 --> 00:24:57,042
It's, it's spicy enough.
406
00:25:02,248 --> 00:25:03,280
No, it's fine.
407
00:25:04,148 --> 00:25:05,548
Oof.
408
00:25:05,550 --> 00:25:07,683
After he writes about our restaurant
409
00:25:07,685 --> 00:25:11,319
the people, they waiting,
you know, before we open.
410
00:25:11,321 --> 00:25:12,787
They bring the newspaper.
411
00:25:12,789 --> 00:25:16,357
I want to eat Southern
thai food, and after that
412
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,393
we are the famous restaurant everyone know.
413
00:25:28,202 --> 00:25:31,871
I, I feel, like a, so proud, you know
414
00:25:31,873 --> 00:25:34,273
if she like to learn in America, you know?
415
00:25:34,275 --> 00:25:38,376
Bye, thanks again. Your, your
food is always so good.
416
00:25:38,378 --> 00:25:39,510
Well, thank you.
417
00:26:28,159 --> 00:26:29,893
One of the amazing things about Los Angeles
418
00:26:29,895 --> 00:26:33,696
is that there really is a
thereness beneath the thereness.
419
00:26:37,167 --> 00:26:38,500
And of course, some people think
420
00:26:38,502 --> 00:26:41,102
what the hell is this place?
421
00:26:49,878 --> 00:26:53,380
I think that you can build
a city any shape you like
422
00:26:53,382 --> 00:26:55,648
as long as it works.
423
00:26:55,650 --> 00:26:59,485
And you say,
"works, Los Angeles works?"
424
00:26:59,487 --> 00:27:01,353
Everyone tells you that it doesn't work.
425
00:27:04,256 --> 00:27:07,291
Reyner banham's book came
out in the early '70s
426
00:27:07,293 --> 00:27:10,560
and he was the first person who,
I think made sense
427
00:27:10,562 --> 00:27:12,795
of Los Angeles for an awful lot of people.
428
00:27:12,797 --> 00:27:16,165
The changes that were
occurring in Los Angeles
429
00:27:16,167 --> 00:27:19,401
were typical of a lot of
changes that were happening
430
00:27:19,403 --> 00:27:21,469
in other cities in this country.
431
00:27:21,471 --> 00:27:25,306
And somehow or other,
Los Angeles had got there first.
432
00:27:25,308 --> 00:27:28,309
Right then, Los Angeles
needs some explaining
433
00:27:28,311 --> 00:27:30,144
because it's normally regarded
434
00:27:30,146 --> 00:27:32,779
as an unspeakable sprawling mess
435
00:27:32,781 --> 00:27:34,880
though certainly not by me.
436
00:27:36,983 --> 00:27:39,250
Pretty much all cities in the 19th century
437
00:27:39,252 --> 00:27:42,786
the 20th century,
grew from the centre outward.
438
00:27:42,788 --> 00:27:44,954
Los Angeles was different.
439
00:27:44,956 --> 00:27:46,956
You were getting a post modern arrangement
440
00:27:46,958 --> 00:27:50,292
whereby their peripheries were
more important than the centre.
441
00:27:50,294 --> 00:27:53,595
And all of these
different centres have grown
442
00:27:53,597 --> 00:27:55,096
and they collided with each other
443
00:27:55,098 --> 00:27:59,900
into one giant megalopolis
of 18 to 20 million people.
444
00:27:59,902 --> 00:28:03,970
And the city is so large
and so sprawling and so diverse
445
00:28:03,972 --> 00:28:08,273
that it allows for the, the
interseses between the major spaces
446
00:28:08,275 --> 00:28:12,510
to be occupied by people
to create what they want.
447
00:28:12,512 --> 00:28:17,547
And this is where gold, as a
critic of urban living comes in.
448
00:28:17,549 --> 00:28:20,049
He provides a map for us.
449
00:28:20,051 --> 00:28:24,053
His culinary mapping becomes
a cartography of the region
450
00:28:24,055 --> 00:28:27,956
and through leading us, we
come to understand our city.
451
00:28:30,693 --> 00:28:36,330
Los Angeles is a lot of
self-contained communities.
452
00:28:36,332 --> 00:28:40,600
We have communities of people here
453
00:28:40,602 --> 00:28:42,902
who are not cooking for tourists
454
00:28:42,904 --> 00:28:45,671
and they're not cooking
for the newspaper critic
455
00:28:45,673 --> 00:28:48,373
and they're not cooking for the glory of it.
456
00:28:48,375 --> 00:28:51,075
They're cooking because they're filling
457
00:28:51,077 --> 00:28:55,112
a specific need that their community has.
458
00:28:55,114 --> 00:28:59,616
Because of that, it becomes
almost the... Anti-melting pot
459
00:28:59,618 --> 00:29:04,953
less a melting pot than sort of
a great glittering mosaic.
460
00:29:10,425 --> 00:29:13,527
There's no end to the fun
in the San Gabriel valley.
461
00:29:13,529 --> 00:29:15,829
And this is, El monte proper.
462
00:29:15,831 --> 00:29:19,465
Ca... can't you feel the electricity
and excitement in the air?
463
00:29:19,467 --> 00:29:22,434
People not from Los Angeles
sometimes don't understand
464
00:29:22,436 --> 00:29:24,803
the beauty you can find in mini malls.
465
00:29:24,805 --> 00:29:27,705
That's probably the best dim sum
in town at the moment.
466
00:29:27,707 --> 00:29:30,741
That's the remaining,
Chinese islamic restaurant.
467
00:29:30,743 --> 00:29:33,276
This, this is lupe's,
this is the place I love.
468
00:29:33,278 --> 00:29:35,044
In case you think I love everything
469
00:29:35,046 --> 00:29:37,479
the stuff in that restaurant
is absolutely disgusting.
470
00:29:40,783 --> 00:29:43,484
That place we just passed
called pho huynh is famous
471
00:29:43,486 --> 00:29:46,119
for boiled ox penis in your pho.
472
00:29:46,121 --> 00:29:51,023
That place, has like the best, nim nong.
473
00:29:51,025 --> 00:29:52,758
You... you have another
pho place.
474
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,893
Yeah, there is it.
It says, "pho Kim."
475
00:29:54,895 --> 00:29:56,461
Or pho Kim?
476
00:29:56,463 --> 00:29:58,429
Which is..
477
00:29:58,431 --> 00:30:02,132
Sometimes they don't, like,
think these through.
478
00:30:02,134 --> 00:30:04,033
This is yee-Lou
which is interesting
479
00:30:04,035 --> 00:30:06,970
because it's a really
old-fashioned
480
00:30:06,972 --> 00:30:09,973
Chinese American place that's
been taken over by Chinese
481
00:30:09,975 --> 00:30:12,008
who are doing Chinese American food
482
00:30:12,010 --> 00:30:15,211
as an exotic food for Chinese people to eat.
483
00:30:15,213 --> 00:30:17,580
In here is a nanjing kitchen
484
00:30:17,582 --> 00:30:21,250
which specializes
in this duck dish that's just..
485
00:30:21,252 --> 00:30:23,051
I'm not sure it's the most
pleasurable duck in the world
486
00:30:23,053 --> 00:30:24,986
but it's perfect in its way.
487
00:30:24,988 --> 00:30:27,455
It's sort of a, a boiled duck
with absolutely
488
00:30:27,457 --> 00:30:29,089
all the fat taken out of it.
489
00:30:30,691 --> 00:30:32,591
But there just happens to be
490
00:30:32,593 --> 00:30:34,559
you know, in this completely ordinary place
491
00:30:34,561 --> 00:30:36,594
there, there happens to be
extraordinary food.
492
00:30:37,929 --> 00:30:41,164
It's the miracle of
entry level capitalism I think.
493
00:31:00,215 --> 00:31:05,084
My name is genet agonafer,
and I'm from Ethiopia.
494
00:31:05,086 --> 00:31:09,120
I cam 1981, Valentine's day with my son
495
00:31:09,122 --> 00:31:11,288
with my 5-year-old son.
496
00:31:11,290 --> 00:31:14,190
Lemeneh tefera is his name.
497
00:31:14,192 --> 00:31:17,893
I moved to la to provide
my son with education
498
00:31:17,895 --> 00:31:21,796
and I was working
as a waitress for many years.
499
00:31:21,798 --> 00:31:25,466
I raised my son being a
waitress for many, many years.
500
00:31:25,468 --> 00:31:29,870
And that adorable son is my grown son now.
501
00:31:29,872 --> 00:31:31,638
I have another picture.
502
00:31:33,273 --> 00:31:37,009
This is when he graduated
from medical school
503
00:31:37,011 --> 00:31:40,979
and he's been practicing
medicine for 12 years.
504
00:31:43,215 --> 00:31:48,118
This space opened up and my generous son
505
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,690
took cash advance practically
on all the credit cards he have
506
00:31:53,692 --> 00:31:55,924
and opened it for me.
507
00:31:57,993 --> 00:32:03,096
I was very busy at first, and then 9/11 came
508
00:32:03,098 --> 00:32:06,099
and then just completely at a standstill
509
00:32:06,101 --> 00:32:10,770
and my son was pumping money
to keep the place alive.
510
00:32:10,772 --> 00:32:14,539
And then all of the sudden, the review came
511
00:32:14,541 --> 00:32:18,209
and I was, like, "my god."
512
00:32:18,211 --> 00:32:22,612
Every day I would have people out lining up.
513
00:32:22,614 --> 00:32:24,146
Celebrities come.
514
00:32:24,148 --> 00:32:29,017
I could not cook the doro wat fast enough.
515
00:32:29,019 --> 00:32:34,555
But for me, it was so important
to tell my son I could succeed
516
00:32:34,557 --> 00:32:38,525
and whenever he comes here,
now he's just so proud.
517
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,902
It takes a special temperament
to be a food critic.
518
00:32:50,904 --> 00:32:54,805
You need to have, you know,
a mixture of, sort of
519
00:32:54,807 --> 00:32:58,475
ego, and,
520
00:32:58,477 --> 00:33:01,578
and-and interest
and obsessi with food
521
00:33:01,580 --> 00:33:03,379
that very few people have.
522
00:33:05,582 --> 00:33:08,350
My first year out of college,
I was working downtown
523
00:33:08,352 --> 00:33:12,654
as a proofreader,
and I was bored out of my mind.
524
00:33:12,656 --> 00:33:15,423
So I decided to make it my project to eat
525
00:33:15,425 --> 00:33:19,026
at every restaurant on pico boulevard.
526
00:33:21,329 --> 00:33:25,398
Pico boulevard is kind of
Los Angeles' back porch.
527
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:30,769
It goes through a remarkable swath of town.
528
00:33:30,771 --> 00:33:32,904
There's a place called the El Salvador cafe
529
00:33:32,906 --> 00:33:34,372
on the eastern end.
530
00:33:34,374 --> 00:33:37,575
That was one of the first
salvadoran places in town
531
00:33:37,577 --> 00:33:41,778
and way at the Santa Monica end
was a place called tom's no. 5
532
00:33:41,780 --> 00:33:44,247
which had my favorite chili fries in town.
533
00:33:44,249 --> 00:33:46,182
Those were really good chili fries.
534
00:33:48,185 --> 00:33:51,720
Pico, in a certain sense
was where I learned to eat.
535
00:33:51,722 --> 00:33:55,556
I also saw my first punk rock
show on pico, was shot at
536
00:33:55,558 --> 00:33:58,825
fell in love, bowled a 164
537
00:33:58,827 --> 00:34:01,494
witnessed a knife fight, took cello lessons
538
00:34:01,496 --> 00:34:03,796
raised chickens, ate oki dogs
539
00:34:03,798 --> 00:34:08,032
and heard x ice-cube hole
and Willie Dixon perform
540
00:34:08,034 --> 00:34:09,034
though not together.
541
00:34:10,668 --> 00:34:13,036
It was fascinating to go every night
542
00:34:13,038 --> 00:34:16,606
and to sit into a place and have
my plate of rice and beans
543
00:34:16,608 --> 00:34:20,643
or my papusas and listen
to the dialogue around me
544
00:34:20,645 --> 00:34:22,911
to look at the stacks of
newspapers people were reading
545
00:34:22,913 --> 00:34:25,246
to, you know, seeing what was on the TV
546
00:34:25,248 --> 00:34:27,248
that was perpetually on in the corner
547
00:34:27,250 --> 00:34:29,984
to see what people were talking about.
548
00:34:29,986 --> 00:34:34,487
I gradually started to find
things out that I didn't know.
549
00:34:34,489 --> 00:34:38,057
The Mexican restaurants weren't
all just Mexican restaurants
550
00:34:38,059 --> 00:34:41,226
and they were from
different regions of Mexico.
551
00:34:41,228 --> 00:34:43,094
This was the time in the early '80s
552
00:34:43,096 --> 00:34:45,729
when the wars were bad in central America
553
00:34:45,731 --> 00:34:48,798
a lot of people migrated to Los Angeles.
554
00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,400
And they started out selling street food
555
00:34:51,402 --> 00:34:53,201
then they opened little restaurants
556
00:34:53,203 --> 00:34:57,538
and by the time I was
in the middle of my project
557
00:34:57,540 --> 00:35:00,607
they had colonized an entire strip.
558
00:35:02,443 --> 00:35:04,777
I learned this very quickly as a journalist
559
00:35:04,779 --> 00:35:06,712
that if you randomly go up
to somebody on the street
560
00:35:06,714 --> 00:35:07,979
and start talking to them
561
00:35:07,981 --> 00:35:10,514
they're probably not gonna talk to you
562
00:35:10,516 --> 00:35:13,817
they're gonna think
you're odd and brush you off.
563
00:35:13,819 --> 00:35:18,054
But if you're doing it in a restaurant..
564
00:35:18,056 --> 00:35:20,156
You have a context in which to be
565
00:35:20,158 --> 00:35:23,092
so you'll sit down and they'll feed you
566
00:35:23,094 --> 00:35:26,260
and they'll be nice to you, and
maybe there'll be some gossip.
567
00:35:27,695 --> 00:35:29,729
It was the year that I got to know.
568
00:35:29,731 --> 00:35:33,032
Los Angeles as Los Angeles.
569
00:35:50,049 --> 00:35:51,983
Hello-o-o.
Hello, there, darling.
570
00:35:51,985 --> 00:35:53,784
How are you?
Okay.
571
00:35:53,786 --> 00:35:55,285
You saw what I wrote, right?
572
00:35:55,287 --> 00:35:56,953
I answered somebody's tweet.
573
00:35:56,955 --> 00:36:01,423
I said, you know, "yeah, he'll
do a Kuala Lumpur restaurant"
574
00:36:01,425 --> 00:36:02,905
but what, there's, like, one of them.
575
00:36:04,527 --> 00:36:05,926
Yeah, and... and then
another person said
576
00:36:05,928 --> 00:36:07,827
"he'll run out of
restaurants in koreatown."
577
00:36:07,829 --> 00:36:11,530
I... I refrained from saying, there
are 900 restaurants in koreatown.
578
00:36:11,532 --> 00:36:14,366
It's not gonna happen
in your lifetime, buddy.
579
00:36:14,368 --> 00:36:16,835
I seem to be going through
a Korean foods fixation.
580
00:36:17,803 --> 00:36:20,137
Welcome back to "good food"
581
00:36:20,139 --> 00:36:23,140
it's that time where we check in
with our resident gourmand
582
00:36:23,142 --> 00:36:26,243
on where to eat this weekend in Los Angeles.
583
00:36:26,245 --> 00:36:27,510
So where are we going?
584
00:36:27,512 --> 00:36:29,812
We're going to a restaurant called soban.
585
00:36:29,814 --> 00:36:31,580
And what is their specialty?
586
00:36:31,582 --> 00:36:34,649
They're specialty is galbi Jim.
They're famous...
587
00:36:34,651 --> 00:36:37,318
I remember the first time
I went to a Jonathan gold
588
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:40,220
approved restaurant from the "la weekly"
589
00:36:40,222 --> 00:36:42,355
and, you know, you drive into a mini mall
590
00:36:42,357 --> 00:36:44,056
and you're, like, "really?"
591
00:36:44,058 --> 00:36:47,426
You know, "really?
I'm not gonna be waylaid?"
592
00:36:47,428 --> 00:36:50,495
I'm... I'm not gonna be mugged
walking into this place?
593
00:36:50,497 --> 00:36:53,831
And you walk in and it's, like,
"yeah, it's people
594
00:36:53,833 --> 00:36:55,999
it's just people."
595
00:36:56,001 --> 00:36:57,567
This isn't the El bulli of sandwich shops
596
00:36:57,569 --> 00:37:00,169
but he does, kind of, use his toys
597
00:37:00,171 --> 00:37:02,404
in making them which makes a lot of it fun.
598
00:37:02,406 --> 00:37:05,407
He's so much more than a food writer.
599
00:37:05,409 --> 00:37:08,276
Jonathan is a cultural commentator
600
00:37:08,278 --> 00:37:11,912
who uses food and restaurants as a way
601
00:37:11,914 --> 00:37:16,115
of creating these little
commentaries on modern life.
602
00:37:19,218 --> 00:37:22,153
I've been eating lately
at chego, the new restaurant
603
00:37:22,155 --> 00:37:26,723
from kogi auteur Roy choi, the
architect of the truck-based
604
00:37:26,725 --> 00:37:29,258
restaurant phenomenon,
and the only chef I know
605
00:37:29,260 --> 00:37:31,326
whose food is capable of attracting
606
00:37:31,328 --> 00:37:35,162
several hundred people to an eagle
rock parking lot at midnight.
607
00:37:36,597 --> 00:37:38,831
Chego specializes in rice bowls
608
00:37:38,833 --> 00:37:41,767
wavy, baroque constructions that splice
609
00:37:41,769 --> 00:37:44,903
all the flavors of the city
into great splooshes
610
00:37:44,905 --> 00:37:47,338
of combinatorial DNA.
611
00:37:47,340 --> 00:37:51,108
Pickled watermelon radish, sauteed ong choi
612
00:37:51,110 --> 00:37:55,178
crumbled cotija cheese and a
spurting slab of pork belly
613
00:37:55,180 --> 00:37:58,881
that's been burnished as
lovingly with Korean chili paste
614
00:37:58,883 --> 00:38:03,051
as a '64 impala show car
has been rubbed with lacquer.
615
00:38:03,053 --> 00:38:04,652
David!
616
00:38:04,654 --> 00:38:07,388
Kogi's taco is a new
paradigm of a restaurant
617
00:38:07,390 --> 00:38:10,290
an art directed take on Korean street food
618
00:38:10,292 --> 00:38:14,860
previously unimaginable
in both California and Seoul.
619
00:38:14,862 --> 00:38:16,995
Cheap, unbelievably delicious
620
00:38:16,997 --> 00:38:20,098
and unmistakably from Los Angeles.
621
00:38:20,100 --> 00:38:22,433
Food that makes you feel
plugged into the rhythms
622
00:38:22,435 --> 00:38:25,001
of this city just by eating it.
623
00:38:27,104 --> 00:38:29,171
We're working on some new dishes right now.
624
00:38:29,173 --> 00:38:32,275
This is, it's summertime here in Los Angeles
625
00:38:32,277 --> 00:38:35,278
so we're working on a tomato,
watermelon, goat cheese
626
00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:38,948
thai basil, soy, chili, lemongrass dish.
627
00:38:38,950 --> 00:38:42,217
In all of my properties,
the only litmus test is
628
00:38:42,219 --> 00:38:46,787
when we eat it, can I just throw
this down and say, "fuck."
629
00:38:46,789 --> 00:38:49,322
If we say that, then, then,
630
00:38:49,324 --> 00:38:52,124
then the dish makes it to the menu.
631
00:38:52,126 --> 00:38:55,893
The small kitchen keeps us
together, keeps us focused.
632
00:38:55,895 --> 00:38:57,194
There's nowhere to move around
633
00:38:57,196 --> 00:39:00,297
so you have to be really
creative and move here, boom.
634
00:39:00,299 --> 00:39:04,100
It's all about muscle memory,
boom, boom, boom.
635
00:39:04,102 --> 00:39:07,336
It's fun, it makes for a lot of jokes too
636
00:39:07,338 --> 00:39:10,906
because we bump asses
with each other all the time.
637
00:39:10,908 --> 00:39:11,973
Especially right here.
638
00:39:11,975 --> 00:39:13,741
This is the danger zone right here.
639
00:39:15,611 --> 00:39:18,378
You know, the weird thing
about my... my first interaction
640
00:39:18,380 --> 00:39:21,347
with Jonathan is, he helped me figure out
641
00:39:21,349 --> 00:39:22,881
what we were trying to do.
642
00:39:22,883 --> 00:39:24,682
Kind of like,"
this is what kogi is."
643
00:39:24,684 --> 00:39:26,250
We're kind of, like, this justice league
644
00:39:26,252 --> 00:39:29,419
of, like, kind of weird, warped super heroes
645
00:39:29,421 --> 00:39:31,421
that came together
to feed the city, you know.
646
00:39:32,589 --> 00:39:36,258
When he writes about me, he understands..
647
00:39:36,260 --> 00:39:38,860
And is able to articulate the little
648
00:39:38,862 --> 00:39:41,595
kind of secret, you know..
649
00:39:43,397 --> 00:39:45,564
You know, tangled webs I have inside
650
00:39:45,566 --> 00:39:49,200
that I'm trying to put out into the plate.
651
00:39:49,202 --> 00:39:50,334
He, like, understands it.
652
00:39:50,336 --> 00:39:51,468
I never explained it to him.
653
00:39:51,470 --> 00:39:54,704
He gets exactly where that came from.
654
00:39:54,706 --> 00:39:57,406
Like, we were trying to recreate..
655
00:39:59,041 --> 00:40:03,410
How Asian kids grow up and eat in their home
656
00:40:03,412 --> 00:40:05,278
and what their refrigerators look like
657
00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:07,446
but also how stoners eat.
658
00:40:07,448 --> 00:40:11,916
In that first review, he was
able to capture that moment
659
00:40:11,918 --> 00:40:14,451
you know,
of... of what was happening.
660
00:40:15,853 --> 00:40:18,120
Anthony!
661
00:40:25,661 --> 00:40:27,194
I kind of like that Italian beef.
662
00:40:27,196 --> 00:40:30,363
They have those Italian beef
sandwiches that's marinated.
663
00:40:30,365 --> 00:40:31,764
Alice always said it was marinated
664
00:40:31,766 --> 00:40:34,366
because it was such crappy meat
that they have to marinate.
665
00:40:34,368 --> 00:40:38,169
Modern food writing starts
with Calvin trillin.
666
00:40:38,171 --> 00:40:39,870
He was saying, that,
you know, everyone reveres
667
00:40:39,872 --> 00:40:42,239
these French restaurants that
no one wants to eat at
668
00:40:42,241 --> 00:40:44,541
and you know, and it's the,
the colloquial food
669
00:40:44,543 --> 00:40:47,277
that's really important,
and I think that's, you know
670
00:40:47,279 --> 00:40:50,613
that was, like, the battle call
for both Jonathan and for Robert
671
00:40:50,615 --> 00:40:54,617
and then for a lot of people
who have followed after.
672
00:40:54,619 --> 00:40:56,151
Alright, what are we gonna do
here, Jonathan?
673
00:40:56,153 --> 00:40:59,587
You're the guy, you're
the expert, you're the food guy.
674
00:40:59,589 --> 00:41:02,389
I was probably a sophomore in college
675
00:41:02,391 --> 00:41:04,924
and I, I was house sitting.
676
00:41:04,926 --> 00:41:07,359
Among the books in the study
was "American fried"
677
00:41:07,361 --> 00:41:09,494
you know, Calvin trillin's first book.
678
00:41:09,496 --> 00:41:15,098
And I read it, and I was
utterly fascinated by it.
679
00:41:15,100 --> 00:41:18,134
I read "American fried"
and "Alice, let's eat"
680
00:41:18,136 --> 00:41:19,935
so many times.
681
00:41:19,937 --> 00:41:24,872
Yeah, I... I imitated him
absolutely blindly when I started.
682
00:41:24,874 --> 00:41:26,773
Trillin was writing about eating
683
00:41:26,775 --> 00:41:30,510
he was writing about the culture of eating
684
00:41:30,512 --> 00:41:35,748
and it was obviously the way to go.
685
00:41:35,750 --> 00:41:37,850
You know, I always say that
if I'm in a strange town
686
00:41:37,852 --> 00:41:41,820
and I don't know where to eat,
I go up to the motel clerk
687
00:41:41,822 --> 00:41:44,088
grab him by the necktie
and pull him over the counter
688
00:41:44,090 --> 00:41:45,889
just to get his attention
689
00:41:45,891 --> 00:41:50,726
and I say, "not where you took your parents"
690
00:41:50,728 --> 00:41:53,295
"for their 25th wedding anniversary
691
00:41:53,297 --> 00:41:55,897
"the place you went to
the night you got home
692
00:41:55,899 --> 00:41:58,399
after 13 months in Korea."
693
00:41:58,401 --> 00:42:00,901
And the second place is really good.
694
00:42:00,903 --> 00:42:02,869
And I think
your... your idea
695
00:42:02,871 --> 00:42:05,338
has become almost the norm now
696
00:42:05,340 --> 00:42:08,607
that if you're gonna be
a newspaper critic or a writer
697
00:42:08,609 --> 00:42:11,977
in a, in a big town, you better
698
00:42:11,979 --> 00:42:15,347
you know, know among the 6 good rib stands
699
00:42:15,349 --> 00:42:17,115
which, which is up and which is down.
700
00:42:17,117 --> 00:42:19,750
Why?
That didn't used to be true.
701
00:43:00,458 --> 00:43:04,394
This... this is,
king taco which is beloved.
702
00:43:05,596 --> 00:43:07,563
It's not necessarily my favorite
703
00:43:07,565 --> 00:43:12,767
but it's very good tacos, you
know, pretty good al pastor
704
00:43:12,769 --> 00:43:14,602
and one of the great things
about it is they actually
705
00:43:14,604 --> 00:43:17,972
have a truck parked outside the restaurant
706
00:43:17,974 --> 00:43:21,442
sort of this canopy, place of honor
707
00:43:21,444 --> 00:43:24,077
and if you come on
a weekend night, there'll be
708
00:43:24,079 --> 00:43:27,080
an hour wait for the truck,
and you can walk right up
709
00:43:27,082 --> 00:43:30,249
to the counter at the restaurant itself.
710
00:43:30,251 --> 00:43:32,317
I've had the tacos at the truck
and at the restaurant
711
00:43:32,319 --> 00:43:36,254
and it's correct, you actually
do want the ones from the truck
712
00:43:36,256 --> 00:43:42,559
but it's, I've always wondered why the taco
713
00:43:42,561 --> 00:43:44,193
honors the truck so much.
714
00:43:45,662 --> 00:43:51,065
My theory is that taco eating
is... It's almost a verb.
715
00:43:51,067 --> 00:43:52,800
Taco should be a verb, right..
716
00:43:52,802 --> 00:43:57,004
The... the, the tortilla, the tortilla's
hot, the... the, the meat's hot
717
00:43:57,006 --> 00:44:00,807
they combine, the sauce is sloshed on it
718
00:44:00,809 --> 00:44:03,376
and then you're almost eating it
in one continuous motion
719
00:44:03,378 --> 00:44:06,578
from the way it comes from the
grill to the guy to the counter.
720
00:44:08,614 --> 00:44:11,015
I know it's overly romantic.
721
00:44:41,775 --> 00:44:43,342
Yeah.
722
00:44:44,277 --> 00:44:46,645
Yeah, that was a great place.
723
00:44:46,647 --> 00:44:49,247
And speaking of that..
724
00:44:50,582 --> 00:44:52,549
If, if we're looking for
somebody for the picnic
725
00:44:52,551 --> 00:44:55,251
if we're doing a sandwich thing..
726
00:44:55,253 --> 00:44:56,652
I mean, there's some interesting people
727
00:44:56,654 --> 00:45:00,188
doing sandwiches right now, but, Fred Eric
728
00:45:00,190 --> 00:45:02,523
has this new place attached to his tiara
729
00:45:02,525 --> 00:45:04,725
called delish.
730
00:45:04,727 --> 00:45:08,028
I'm definitely a great procrastinator.
731
00:45:08,030 --> 00:45:09,929
I suppose when I need to have
an attention span for something.
732
00:45:09,931 --> 00:45:13,598
I... I have an attention span
for something, but..
733
00:45:15,334 --> 00:45:18,702
It's... it's, it's hard,
it's hard to explain.
734
00:45:20,304 --> 00:45:22,505
So for some reason you wanted that, right?
735
00:45:22,507 --> 00:45:25,841
Yeah, that was great.
I think that's perfect.
736
00:45:25,843 --> 00:45:29,210
I mean, o... otherwise I
would have sent the call away.
737
00:45:31,414 --> 00:45:34,114
A... as is my want.
738
00:45:34,116 --> 00:45:35,815
Keep as new..
739
00:45:35,817 --> 00:45:37,383
Maybe if the Internet went away
740
00:45:37,385 --> 00:45:42,587
but even before the Internet,
I mean, I would always find
741
00:45:42,589 --> 00:45:44,989
you know, 12 books and 17 magazines
742
00:45:44,991 --> 00:45:47,358
I had to read before I could
finish an article.
743
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,361
Now, I have the attention span of a gnat.
744
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,034
Being Jonathan's editor
745
00:45:58,036 --> 00:46:02,137
it's like being someone's,
like, teenage stalker for me.
746
00:46:02,139 --> 00:46:04,439
I knew he won't turn his piece in
747
00:46:04,441 --> 00:46:06,507
even if he agrees to do it
748
00:46:06,509 --> 00:46:08,909
and then I realized that
what it was gonna take
749
00:46:08,911 --> 00:46:13,446
would be, you know,
bordering on psychotic levels
750
00:46:13,448 --> 00:46:17,782
of, of e-mail and phone
and text harassment.
751
00:46:20,952 --> 00:46:23,887
I'll call when I get back.
752
00:46:27,591 --> 00:46:30,726
You know, actually I went to somebody
who specialized in writer's block.
753
00:46:30,728 --> 00:46:36,297
I mean, that was her thing,
and she just threw her hands up
754
00:46:36,299 --> 00:46:39,366
and usually I do writer's block,
I do people who can't write.
755
00:46:39,368 --> 00:46:42,402
There's something
that keeps them from writing
756
00:46:42,404 --> 00:46:48,641
yet you publish 150,000 words
a year. Clearly you're writing.
757
00:46:48,643 --> 00:46:52,711
That, I'm not, I don't deny that
what you're experiencing
758
00:46:52,713 --> 00:46:55,780
is something, but I have no idea what it is.
759
00:46:55,782 --> 00:46:58,282
I mean, I could sit down and I can say that
760
00:46:58,284 --> 00:46:59,816
"you need to do this piece a week early"
761
00:46:59,818 --> 00:47:04,219
but I end up like, you know,
torturing one paragraph for
762
00:47:04,221 --> 00:47:06,622
you know, 3 and a half days
763
00:47:06,624 --> 00:47:08,457
and then somebody calls
and starts yelling at me
764
00:47:08,459 --> 00:47:12,193
and the rest of the piece will
be done in an hour and a half.
765
00:47:14,763 --> 00:47:17,030
So... Alright.
766
00:47:17,032 --> 00:47:18,998
What else we need
to talk about is what you think
767
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:22,767
you might be doing in terms of reviews
for the next couple of weeks.
768
00:47:22,769 --> 00:47:26,270
I think next week will be,
769
00:47:26,272 --> 00:47:29,606
this new szechuan restaurant in..
770
00:47:31,342 --> 00:47:32,909
Surprise, alhambra.
771
00:47:35,146 --> 00:47:39,781
That, is called the chengdu taste.
772
00:47:39,783 --> 00:47:42,884
Like, there's, there's a dish on the menu
773
00:47:42,886 --> 00:47:44,919
called intriguingly enough..
774
00:47:47,155 --> 00:47:50,157
Little sister's spicy rabbit.
775
00:47:50,159 --> 00:47:51,625
Yeah, great.
776
00:47:51,627 --> 00:47:53,526
I don't think they're actually cooking...
777
00:47:53,528 --> 00:47:54,793
rabbit?
778
00:47:54,795 --> 00:47:56,327
It's rabbit, but I don't think
779
00:47:56,329 --> 00:47:58,262
it's, like, the little sister's rabbit.
780
00:47:58,264 --> 00:48:00,797
I think it's in the style of..
781
00:48:01,965 --> 00:48:04,132
The way a little sister would make it
782
00:48:04,134 --> 00:48:05,366
unless it actually was...
783
00:48:05,368 --> 00:48:09,436
I sort of regard him some days as my younger
784
00:48:09,438 --> 00:48:11,538
much smarter little brother
785
00:48:11,540 --> 00:48:14,474
and I'm the first born,
and I'm the responsible one
786
00:48:14,476 --> 00:48:16,776
and I have to make the trains run on time
787
00:48:16,778 --> 00:48:21,247
and he's the funny, smart,
talented one, and I,
788
00:48:21,249 --> 00:48:24,183
there's probably some love
buried down there deep inside
789
00:48:24,185 --> 00:48:26,618
but
790
00:48:29,655 --> 00:48:33,157
it's, sometimes the role
is difficult to play.
791
00:48:33,159 --> 00:48:35,492
So, how difficult, alright
792
00:48:35,494 --> 00:48:38,995
is it gonna be to photograph there?
793
00:48:38,997 --> 00:48:40,496
Is there gonna be a language barrier?
794
00:48:40,498 --> 00:48:42,130
There is gonna be a language barrier.
795
00:48:42,132 --> 00:48:43,898
We need to take care of that this afternoon.
796
00:48:43,900 --> 00:48:46,267
- Okay, I'll do that.
- Okay, -
797
00:48:46,269 --> 00:48:47,368
- you come up with the cattle prod
798
00:48:47,370 --> 00:48:48,369
I'll come up with the copy.
799
00:48:48,371 --> 00:48:49,770
Awesome.
800
00:48:53,574 --> 00:48:55,474
Chengdu taste.
801
00:48:55,476 --> 00:48:57,375
Everybody's excited about it.
802
00:48:57,377 --> 00:49:00,244
Not 'cause we haven't had
chengdu style food here before
803
00:49:00,246 --> 00:49:05,481
but the sort of freshness, the,
the vividness of the flavors
804
00:49:05,483 --> 00:49:08,150
the fact that everything is not just lashed
805
00:49:08,152 --> 00:49:12,720
with oceans of chili oil
806
00:49:12,722 --> 00:49:15,322
makes it sort of a really appealing place.
807
00:49:16,824 --> 00:49:19,358
One thing that I try never, never to do
808
00:49:19,360 --> 00:49:22,427
is to pretend expertise that I don't have.
809
00:49:22,429 --> 00:49:25,062
I like to come to it the way
810
00:49:25,064 --> 00:49:28,331
that I assume most of my
readers are gonna come to it..
811
00:49:28,333 --> 00:49:31,534
That I don't necessarily,
no more than they do
812
00:49:31,536 --> 00:49:36,171
and I find out chengdu is the largest city
813
00:49:36,173 --> 00:49:38,840
and the capital of sichuan proper.
814
00:49:38,842 --> 00:49:41,742
It's inland, so there's
probably not gonna be
815
00:49:41,744 --> 00:49:43,210
a lot of sea food..
816
00:49:44,445 --> 00:49:46,212
Although these pictures are all, like
817
00:49:46,214 --> 00:49:48,781
you know, abalone crab.
818
00:49:51,851 --> 00:49:55,820
I very rarely take notes in a restaurant.
819
00:49:55,822 --> 00:50:01,158
I'm more involved in, sort of,
observing the music of the meal.
820
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:04,861
I mean, you could take notes
when you're having sex too
821
00:50:04,863 --> 00:50:08,531
but you'd, sort of,
be missing out on something
822
00:50:08,533 --> 00:50:11,700
and I go to restaurants usually 4 or 5 times
823
00:50:11,702 --> 00:50:13,501
before I review them.
824
00:50:13,503 --> 00:50:18,505
In the case of places where the
cuisine is unfamiliar to me
825
00:50:18,507 --> 00:50:21,374
I may go many, many more times than that.
826
00:50:21,376 --> 00:50:23,909
I think my record is 17.
827
00:50:31,851 --> 00:50:35,854
Let's get
the... The fish with green chili.
828
00:50:35,856 --> 00:50:38,423
They... they don't have
that chicken dish you like
829
00:50:38,425 --> 00:50:39,624
but they have, -
830
00:50:39,626 --> 00:50:41,258
- that's okay.
I mean, I don't...
831
00:50:41,260 --> 00:50:44,894
- And the wonton with...
- Okay.
832
00:50:44,896 --> 00:50:46,095
I've been thinking that you'll like
833
00:50:46,097 --> 00:50:47,729
the water boiled fish.
834
00:50:47,731 --> 00:50:50,698
A lot of, sichuan peppercorn..
835
00:51:09,282 --> 00:51:11,616
Hi, how are you today?
Nice to see you again.
836
00:51:11,618 --> 00:51:13,851
Nice to see you too.
Thanks.
837
00:51:16,554 --> 00:51:18,354
I mean the sense of discovery of eating
838
00:51:18,356 --> 00:51:22,091
something you've never
had before is exhilarating.
839
00:51:22,093 --> 00:51:26,027
But what's even better I think is
840
00:51:26,029 --> 00:51:29,330
you get through the exhilaration
841
00:51:29,332 --> 00:51:31,198
you go through the infatuation phase
842
00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:33,800
for the next couple of meals and then maybe
843
00:51:33,802 --> 00:51:38,937
if you're really lucky, you get
to the place of understanding.
844
00:51:38,939 --> 00:51:42,573
I mean, I wouldn't pretend
to know anything at all
845
00:51:42,575 --> 00:51:47,044
about Burma from having had
two dozen Burmese meals, right?
846
00:51:47,046 --> 00:51:50,781
But there was, certainly
a point where I thought
847
00:51:50,783 --> 00:51:53,517
I knew something about Burma for having that
848
00:51:53,519 --> 00:51:57,187
and it's, like, seeing a movie or something
849
00:51:57,189 --> 00:51:58,588
like, seeing a documentary.
850
00:51:58,590 --> 00:52:00,590
It gives you the illusion
of understanding things
851
00:52:00,592 --> 00:52:02,992
and maybe you have a different
context to put things in
852
00:52:02,994 --> 00:52:06,862
and sometimes that's,
that's all you can ask for
853
00:52:06,864 --> 00:52:10,332
and sometimes that's enough.
854
00:52:10,334 --> 00:52:12,634
No shortage of bean sprouts.
855
00:52:12,636 --> 00:52:14,469
The book that we oughta write
856
00:52:14,471 --> 00:52:18,039
would be some sort of popular,
populist thing
857
00:52:18,041 --> 00:52:20,274
on all these communities and who runs what
858
00:52:20,276 --> 00:52:23,810
and all the stuff that I always
wanna know the answer to.
859
00:52:23,812 --> 00:52:27,380
Between the two of us,
the number of hours spent
860
00:52:27,382 --> 00:52:30,716
not writing that book..
861
00:52:30,718 --> 00:52:32,584
It would be, it would take a lifetime
862
00:52:32,586 --> 00:52:34,418
not to write that book.
863
00:52:36,287 --> 00:52:38,287
- Yeah, sure.
- Okay.
864
00:52:40,857 --> 00:52:43,859
You will probably find
this chengdu style cooking
865
00:52:43,861 --> 00:52:46,595
lighter, cleaner, and less
likely to wake you up
866
00:52:46,597 --> 00:52:50,165
in the middle of the night with
chili oil induced nightmares.
867
00:52:50,167 --> 00:52:53,268
The food is still quite spicy,
flavored with a vast array
868
00:52:53,270 --> 00:52:56,504
of fresh, dried, pickled and ground chilis.
869
00:52:56,506 --> 00:52:59,106
The almost electric charge
of the peppercorns
870
00:52:59,108 --> 00:53:02,709
brings out the flavor
of the filets and chilies.
871
00:53:02,711 --> 00:53:05,411
The taste flits around your lips and tongue
872
00:53:05,413 --> 00:53:08,947
with the weird vibrancy
of a flashing las Vegas sign
873
00:53:08,949 --> 00:53:11,015
where the pepper sauce with the wonton
874
00:53:11,017 --> 00:53:13,450
obliterates everything in its path
875
00:53:13,452 --> 00:53:17,020
like a mysteriously pleasurable
punch in the mouth.
876
00:53:43,981 --> 00:53:46,014
The little secret
that people don't get about.
877
00:53:46,016 --> 00:53:50,017
Jonathan's writing is the way
he uses the second person.
878
00:53:50,019 --> 00:53:52,252
He'll start a review something like
879
00:53:52,254 --> 00:53:55,888
you probably have found in the past
880
00:53:55,890 --> 00:53:59,358
that deer penis is not
really worth the effort
881
00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:04,195
that the, that the amount of
gristle and fat and bone
882
00:54:04,197 --> 00:54:07,898
is just to high in proportion
to the amount of stringy meat
883
00:54:07,900 --> 00:54:09,299
you're able to pull off,
884
00:54:09,301 --> 00:54:11,934
but that's because
you've never had deer penis
885
00:54:11,936 --> 00:54:14,903
at this vietnamese restaurant
that specializes in it.
886
00:54:14,905 --> 00:54:18,306
In the first paragraph, he's
formed a bond with the reader.
887
00:54:18,308 --> 00:54:22,109
You know, you and I are people
who eat deer penis
888
00:54:22,111 --> 00:54:24,611
and you know even though the readers
889
00:54:24,613 --> 00:54:27,880
even though 99.9% of his readers
890
00:54:27,882 --> 00:54:30,949
has never ordered or eaten deer penis
891
00:54:30,951 --> 00:54:33,851
he brings you to his table in a way that
892
00:54:33,853 --> 00:54:36,586
I've never seen another
restaurant writer do.
893
00:54:40,924 --> 00:54:43,191
It takes great writing
and great storytelling
894
00:54:43,193 --> 00:54:47,561
to elevate food criticism
to what Jonathan does
895
00:54:47,563 --> 00:54:50,397
and Jonathan was the
first pulitzer prize winner
896
00:54:50,399 --> 00:54:52,932
for food criticism.
897
00:54:52,934 --> 00:54:56,035
The fact that someone could
write about food in such a way
898
00:54:56,037 --> 00:54:58,037
as to get the attention of
people not in the food world
899
00:54:58,039 --> 00:55:01,673
but in the journalism world,
in the cultural criticism world
900
00:55:01,675 --> 00:55:03,841
to me was hugely significant.
901
00:55:03,843 --> 00:55:08,645
I think the fact that he got
the pulitzer for food criticism
902
00:55:08,647 --> 00:55:15,417
sort of put the stamp on food
as a, a subject
903
00:55:15,419 --> 00:55:18,720
worthy of, of serious inquiry.
904
00:55:18,722 --> 00:55:21,155
Thank you, - are you
guys interested in wine?
905
00:55:21,157 --> 00:55:22,956
- Coffee is fine. Thank you.
- Right. Sounds good.
906
00:55:22,958 --> 00:55:24,691
Have you ever been on any kind of a diet?
907
00:55:24,693 --> 00:55:28,493
Have you ever made any
sort of dietary restrictions?
908
00:55:28,495 --> 00:55:29,961
No.
909
00:55:33,198 --> 00:55:34,965
I mean, you've read all the stuff that, like
910
00:55:34,967 --> 00:55:37,000
cooking is actually what makes us human.
911
00:55:37,002 --> 00:55:41,403
Right. I had to explain to my 4 year old.
Like, what's the diff..
912
00:55:41,405 --> 00:55:42,537
It was like, she's like,
"we're animals."
913
00:55:42,539 --> 00:55:43,672
I'm, like, "yeah, we're
animals." She's like
914
00:55:43,674 --> 00:55:45,040
"so what makes us people?"
915
00:55:45,042 --> 00:55:47,275
And I was like, "well, we cook."
916
00:55:47,277 --> 00:55:49,043
And she seemed satisfied with that.
917
00:55:49,045 --> 00:55:50,978
That's the difference
between me and a monkey
918
00:55:50,980 --> 00:55:53,180
because I will puree the banana for you
919
00:55:53,182 --> 00:55:55,849
and he will just throw it at you.
920
00:55:55,851 --> 00:55:57,417
So what's, what's your next thing
921
00:55:57,419 --> 00:55:59,485
for "lucky peach" going to be?
922
00:55:59,487 --> 00:56:01,453
Or what ideas can I steal from you
923
00:56:01,455 --> 00:56:03,354
and then put into "lucky peach?"
924
00:56:03,356 --> 00:56:05,222
I'm taking hagfish
925
00:56:05,224 --> 00:56:07,657
and you threatened to take me
to the hagfish restaurant.
926
00:56:07,659 --> 00:56:09,492
I didn't threaten you, did you
go to the hagfish restaurant?
927
00:56:09,494 --> 00:56:11,374
I have not yet been
to the hagfish restaurant.
928
00:56:16,698 --> 00:56:18,932
I didn't think that you were fucking with me
929
00:56:18,934 --> 00:56:21,901
but your description of the hagfish..
930
00:56:21,903 --> 00:56:25,170
Well, the first thing about
the hagfish is that it's not
931
00:56:25,172 --> 00:56:28,039
really delicious.
932
00:56:28,041 --> 00:56:30,708
It's like eel, only a lot worse.
933
00:56:30,710 --> 00:56:33,410
Really? Like muddier? Blander?
934
00:56:33,412 --> 00:56:35,979
It's bla, it's blander
935
00:56:35,981 --> 00:56:40,516
and the filets are gelatinous
936
00:56:40,518 --> 00:56:42,417
but sort of everything about the hagfish
937
00:56:42,419 --> 00:56:44,118
is bothersome, right?
938
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:46,687
The fact that it's this weird hybrid
939
00:56:46,689 --> 00:56:48,188
of a vertebrate and invertebrate
940
00:56:48,190 --> 00:56:51,257
it's really sort of
an early species and the..
941
00:56:51,259 --> 00:56:54,293
It has a cranium, but it
really has no other bones.
942
00:56:54,295 --> 00:56:57,062
- And then the slime thing.
- And the slime thing.
943
00:56:57,064 --> 00:57:01,432
You could put a hagfish
in a 5 gallon bucket of water
944
00:57:01,434 --> 00:57:06,336
and the bucket will turn
to solid slime in seconds.
945
00:57:06,338 --> 00:57:08,738
Jonathan doesn't write about
food because it's weird
946
00:57:08,740 --> 00:57:12,074
like that's not, I don't think
that's ever a sole motivator
947
00:57:12,076 --> 00:57:15,677
though he is, like, uniquely good at finding
948
00:57:15,679 --> 00:57:18,513
horrible things to eat.
949
00:57:18,515 --> 00:57:23,350
He writes about it because people eat it
950
00:57:23,352 --> 00:57:25,552
and that's a part
of their culture and their world
951
00:57:25,554 --> 00:57:29,155
and if you learn about that,
then you're connected to them.
952
00:57:38,831 --> 00:57:42,700
Now we're going down Westwood boulevard
953
00:57:42,702 --> 00:57:45,369
and towards, what was for so many years
954
00:57:45,371 --> 00:57:48,472
junior's deli, which was the deli
955
00:57:48,474 --> 00:57:50,507
my family grew up going to.
956
00:57:50,509 --> 00:57:54,911
For, reformed Jewish families in Los Angeles
957
00:57:54,913 --> 00:57:59,515
sometimes like your deli is more telling
958
00:57:59,517 --> 00:58:03,318
of who you are and what your status is
959
00:58:03,320 --> 00:58:07,255
and how you grow up
than the show you went to.
960
00:58:07,257 --> 00:58:09,290
If your family went to Nate'n al's
961
00:58:09,292 --> 00:58:11,959
you were, you were kind of fancy.
962
00:58:11,961 --> 00:58:15,629
If your family went to..
963
00:58:15,631 --> 00:58:19,599
Labels table, you were probably
964
00:58:19,601 --> 00:58:22,201
pretty close to working class,
but if your family was going
965
00:58:22,203 --> 00:58:24,870
to junior's, you were, you were
doing alright.
966
00:58:42,521 --> 00:58:44,321
You ever been here before?
967
00:58:44,323 --> 00:58:46,056
No, I never have.
968
00:58:46,058 --> 00:58:47,824
It's kind of like a social scene in Tehran
969
00:58:47,826 --> 00:58:52,161
that's reproducing itself,
like 30 years later.
970
00:58:54,264 --> 00:58:56,398
That's cool.
971
00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:57,832
It's funny that everybody thinks
972
00:58:57,834 --> 00:59:00,568
we had this sort of like
gourmet upbringing, right?
973
00:59:00,570 --> 00:59:03,070
Just remembering the stuff that
we ate when we were kids.
974
00:59:03,072 --> 00:59:04,204
What do you mean?
975
00:59:04,206 --> 00:59:06,539
Iceberg, salad..
976
00:59:06,541 --> 00:59:10,409
Orange jello, French fries
977
00:59:10,411 --> 00:59:12,978
cream wafer sticks,
and Dr. pepper.
978
00:59:12,980 --> 00:59:15,413
That was like the perfect meal.
What are you talking about?
979
00:59:15,415 --> 00:59:17,181
When you describe
it like that, it sounds like
980
00:59:17,183 --> 00:59:20,784
one of those typical last meals
that prisoners request..
981
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:24,019
Before they go to the electric chair.
982
00:59:24,021 --> 00:59:25,120
We just had that a lot.
983
00:59:25,122 --> 00:59:28,056
We did have that a lot.
984
00:59:28,058 --> 00:59:30,925
So have you eaten
any endangered species lately?
985
00:59:30,927 --> 00:59:32,493
Yes, I had an ortolan souffle.
986
00:59:32,495 --> 00:59:35,295
It was, it was delightful.
987
00:59:35,297 --> 00:59:37,397
My brother and I are pretty different.
988
00:59:37,399 --> 00:59:39,232
I mean, he's an environmentalist.
989
00:59:39,234 --> 00:59:43,335
He lives to save the ocean.
990
00:59:43,337 --> 00:59:47,072
And I'm the guy who bought the truck
991
00:59:47,074 --> 00:59:49,140
that was the single most polluting vehicle
992
00:59:49,142 --> 00:59:51,475
in consumer reports that year.
993
00:59:51,477 --> 00:59:55,178
I'm not proud of it, but mark
definitely pointed it out to me.
994
00:59:55,180 --> 00:59:58,347
Dinner at the gold table
was always a blood sport
995
00:59:58,349 --> 01:00:00,782
because all 3 of us brothers were always
996
01:00:00,784 --> 01:00:02,984
ragging on each other all the time.
997
01:00:02,986 --> 01:00:07,320
How can you say, "okay, this is
an amazing Sushi place"
998
01:00:07,322 --> 01:00:09,155
and say, "don't eat the blue fin"
999
01:00:09,157 --> 01:00:11,790
when you're still getting
people to go to that place?
1000
01:00:11,792 --> 01:00:15,326
Well, I'm, I'm subtler than that.
1001
01:00:15,328 --> 01:00:17,928
Yes and no.
1002
01:00:17,930 --> 01:00:21,164
You're the one who was on a
Korean whale eating tour.
1003
01:00:21,166 --> 01:00:23,099
I have to be an environmentalist
1004
01:00:23,101 --> 01:00:26,402
because Jonathan's eating
everything I'm trying to save.
1005
01:00:26,404 --> 01:00:28,771
The question is whether
or not you go to the point
1006
01:00:28,773 --> 01:00:31,874
o... of using a regulatory
mechanism to have this country
1007
01:00:31,876 --> 01:00:33,375
lead by example.
1008
01:00:33,377 --> 01:00:36,010
I've often thought that one
of my biggest achievements
1009
01:00:36,012 --> 01:00:42,048
was getting my brother to write
and op-ed piece on a bill
1010
01:00:42,050 --> 01:00:46,085
that we were pushing to ban on
the sale of shark fin products
1011
01:00:46,087 --> 01:00:47,786
in the state of California.
1012
01:00:47,788 --> 01:00:49,721
Believe me, I'd like to see, you know
1013
01:00:49,723 --> 01:00:51,622
shark's fin soup banned tomorrow..
1014
01:00:51,624 --> 01:00:55,292
It took me 4 months to get him
to write that piece
1015
01:00:55,294 --> 01:00:59,295
but I read his piece
and my anger melted away.
1016
01:00:59,297 --> 01:01:01,563
"But as much as you might love conpoy
1017
01:01:01,565 --> 01:01:06,066
"dried flotation bladders,
crab eggs, braised fish cheeks
1018
01:01:06,068 --> 01:01:09,035
"and the other esoterica
of cantonese seafood cooking
1019
01:01:09,037 --> 01:01:11,237
"it is hard to work up an appetite
1020
01:01:11,239 --> 01:01:14,340
for the bitter taste
of extinction."
1021
01:01:14,342 --> 01:01:17,042
I had people who worked on the
bill say that that was one
1022
01:01:17,044 --> 01:01:19,778
of the most critical aspects
of the entire campaign
1023
01:01:19,780 --> 01:01:23,214
to get the bill passed, and so
the power of how well he writes
1024
01:01:23,216 --> 01:01:24,376
really made a big difference.
1025
01:01:29,954 --> 01:01:31,220
My dad always wanted to be a writer
1026
01:01:31,222 --> 01:01:35,490
and he was very talented.
1027
01:01:35,492 --> 01:01:38,926
My father was probably the most overeducated
1028
01:01:38,928 --> 01:01:42,596
probation officer in the history
of Los Angeles county.
1029
01:01:42,598 --> 01:01:45,165
He really wanted to be an English professor.
1030
01:01:45,167 --> 01:01:48,835
He was all but dissertation
in American literature
1031
01:01:48,837 --> 01:01:52,171
but la county probation paid a lot more
1032
01:01:52,173 --> 01:01:54,873
than being an English professor.
1033
01:01:54,875 --> 01:01:58,176
So, our household was all about culture
1034
01:01:58,178 --> 01:02:02,612
and we were just exposed to,
you know, any book we wanted.
1035
01:02:02,614 --> 01:02:04,780
Doesn't matter what our
financial situation is
1036
01:02:04,782 --> 01:02:05,947
that book would appear.
1037
01:02:05,949 --> 01:02:07,815
There was always music playing
1038
01:02:07,817 --> 01:02:10,050
usually my dad's infatuation
1039
01:02:10,052 --> 01:02:13,353
with either mahler or Italian opera.
1040
01:02:13,355 --> 01:02:16,422
And there was the idea
that the culture of the nation
1041
01:02:16,424 --> 01:02:19,391
was sort of like flowing
through our living room.
1042
01:02:22,828 --> 01:02:23,828
What are you working on?
1043
01:02:23,830 --> 01:02:26,063
Well, yeah.
1044
01:02:26,065 --> 01:02:29,332
Okay, so here, here, here it is.
1045
01:02:29,334 --> 01:02:30,833
I remember this.
1046
01:02:30,835 --> 01:02:31,934
This was in your painting class.
1047
01:02:31,936 --> 01:02:35,103
- Yeah.
- Dark stuff.
1048
01:02:35,105 --> 01:02:38,539
Isabel has always drawn,
even when very young, 4 or 5
1049
01:02:38,541 --> 01:02:43,043
she used to paint and draw
pictures like incessantly.
1050
01:02:43,045 --> 01:02:45,378
I mean, it must be hard
living with writers, right?
1051
01:02:45,380 --> 01:02:47,146
I mean, people who are
1052
01:02:47,148 --> 01:02:49,381
who basically judge or you think judge
1053
01:02:49,383 --> 01:02:51,549
every single sentence that you say.
1054
01:02:51,551 --> 01:02:53,951
Maybe that's why she went into cartooning.
1055
01:02:53,953 --> 01:02:56,053
"Cold okapis!"
1056
01:02:56,055 --> 01:02:57,554
Looks like I have, like, a split lip
1057
01:02:57,556 --> 01:02:59,722
like a dog, that's good.
1058
01:03:07,195 --> 01:03:09,963
I hope my kids have grown up
with culture in the way
1059
01:03:09,965 --> 01:03:11,764
that I grew up with culture.
1060
01:03:11,766 --> 01:03:15,768
I mean, I do this thing
where we go to a museum
1061
01:03:15,770 --> 01:03:19,004
and we stand in front
of a painting for half an hour
1062
01:03:19,006 --> 01:03:20,338
and we talk about the painting
1063
01:03:20,340 --> 01:03:22,840
and every single thing about it.
1064
01:03:22,842 --> 01:03:27,811
And the idea of being able
to spend that much time
1065
01:03:27,813 --> 01:03:31,381
with your child and having
that dialogue about it
1066
01:03:31,383 --> 01:03:34,650
is... is just wonderful.
1067
01:03:34,652 --> 01:03:36,585
These are all like members of the congress
1068
01:03:36,587 --> 01:03:37,752
or something, right?
1069
01:03:37,754 --> 01:03:39,854
Yeah, yeah.
1070
01:03:39,856 --> 01:03:43,224
None of them were so
stoked about these, right?
1071
01:03:43,226 --> 01:03:46,160
I mean, I think he was
the first caricaturist.
1072
01:03:46,162 --> 01:03:49,196
And he was very vicious in his things
1073
01:03:49,198 --> 01:03:50,964
but he was also like really accurate.
1074
01:03:54,368 --> 01:03:57,036
Well, you might not have
to see eyes on that one.
1075
01:03:57,038 --> 01:04:00,005
It's like when you're writing something
1076
01:04:00,007 --> 01:04:03,241
and you're just describing
something as a, as a writer
1077
01:04:03,243 --> 01:04:05,209
you can't list every single detail.
1078
01:04:05,211 --> 01:04:08,445
You've gotta pick just a couple of details
1079
01:04:08,447 --> 01:04:13,983
that let the reader see
and then they'll build
1080
01:04:13,985 --> 01:04:16,251
the person up in their imagination.
1081
01:04:16,253 --> 01:04:18,753
And so, like this guy, you know, he's round
1082
01:04:18,755 --> 01:04:20,655
and he's squat and he's froggy
1083
01:04:20,657 --> 01:04:23,124
and, you know, like there's
nobody in the world with a nose
1084
01:04:23,126 --> 01:04:25,159
that's that big.
1085
01:04:38,739 --> 01:04:42,808
In just a few months, la Tia
has already established itself
1086
01:04:42,810 --> 01:04:45,076
as one of the most serious
Mexican restaurants
1087
01:04:45,078 --> 01:04:49,180
in Los Angeles in complexity and deftness.
1088
01:04:49,182 --> 01:04:53,184
I always end up with the quail
in the traditional black mole
1089
01:04:53,186 --> 01:04:56,120
so dark that it seems to suck the light out
1090
01:04:56,122 --> 01:04:58,255
of the airspace around it.
1091
01:04:58,257 --> 01:05:02,458
Spicy as a novella and bitter as tears.
1092
01:05:02,460 --> 01:05:06,929
Mole whose aftertaste can go on for hours.
1093
01:05:06,931 --> 01:05:09,932
La Tia's mole negro
appears so glossy and rich
1094
01:05:09,934 --> 01:05:12,901
that I'm always tempted
to test its consistency
1095
01:05:12,903 --> 01:05:17,004
by stabbing an index finger
into it and the resulting stain
1096
01:05:17,006 --> 01:05:19,906
lingers as long as the empurpled digits
1097
01:05:19,908 --> 01:05:23,209
of patriotic Iraqi voters.
1098
01:05:23,211 --> 01:05:26,245
The last time I was as
inspired by glossy black
1099
01:05:26,247 --> 01:05:30,716
it was part of Charles Ray's
infamous sculpture ink box
1100
01:05:30,718 --> 01:05:33,719
and it was enshrined
in a major museum of art.
1101
01:05:59,340 --> 01:06:02,908
Hey, this is garth Trinidad
from kcrw and I am here
1102
01:06:02,910 --> 01:06:07,045
with Jonathan gold, food critic and writer
1103
01:06:07,047 --> 01:06:10,481
who actually got his start
writing about music.
1104
01:06:10,483 --> 01:06:13,484
Yeah, I was the classical
music critic at the "la weekly"
1105
01:06:13,486 --> 01:06:15,686
before I did anything else
1106
01:06:15,688 --> 01:06:20,190
and then later got to write
about Los Angeles hip hop.
1107
01:06:20,192 --> 01:06:22,358
So we're going to be talking
about some of his favorite songs
1108
01:06:22,360 --> 01:06:25,260
as part of the kcrw guest dj project.
1109
01:06:28,965 --> 01:06:30,564
Can we talk about the song that you picked
1110
01:06:30,566 --> 01:06:31,965
"flow my tears" real quick.
1111
01:06:31,967 --> 01:06:34,734
Sure, I was a classical
music geek growing up.
1112
01:06:34,736 --> 01:06:38,304
I was locked in a, small room with my cello
1113
01:06:38,306 --> 01:06:39,672
for most of my adolescents.
1114
01:06:39,674 --> 01:06:42,541
I played, you know viola da gamba.
1115
01:06:42,543 --> 01:06:44,342
That's the way to get
the chicks I'm telling you.
1116
01:06:44,344 --> 01:06:46,510
John dowland was probably the hit composer
1117
01:06:46,512 --> 01:06:49,145
of the elizabethan era,
a little bit afterwards.
1118
01:06:49,147 --> 01:06:51,280
"Flow my tears" was more or less
1119
01:06:51,282 --> 01:06:53,949
the "stairway to heaven" of like 1620.
1120
01:07:01,191 --> 01:07:05,059
My dad wanted a string trio
with the three brothers
1121
01:07:05,061 --> 01:07:08,028
and I was the worst violinist player ever.
1122
01:07:08,030 --> 01:07:09,996
Josh was probably
the worst viola player ever
1123
01:07:09,998 --> 01:07:12,064
and Jonathan's the guy who had some talent
1124
01:07:12,066 --> 01:07:13,732
and really stuck with it.
1125
01:07:13,734 --> 01:07:16,634
He knew every single opera and
every classical music piece.
1126
01:07:16,636 --> 01:07:19,269
They used to have a contest on the radio
1127
01:07:19,271 --> 01:07:22,038
on classical music and opera trivia
1128
01:07:22,040 --> 01:07:24,473
that he would excel and dominate on.
1129
01:07:24,475 --> 01:07:26,341
He didn't grow up with rock and roll
1130
01:07:26,343 --> 01:07:29,177
the way most of us did
just because his parents
1131
01:07:29,179 --> 01:07:31,445
were mostly listening to classical music
1132
01:07:31,447 --> 01:07:34,414
and because he was so obsessed
with the cello, that was..
1133
01:07:34,416 --> 01:07:37,016
The cello was kind of his whole life.
1134
01:07:37,018 --> 01:07:41,853
So he experienced like there's a
kind of radical shift
1135
01:07:41,855 --> 01:07:47,058
when he heard, you know,
punk rock for the first time.
1136
01:07:47,060 --> 01:07:50,061
You brought, okay, a track
from the germs, "forming?"
1137
01:07:50,063 --> 01:07:52,129
"Forming" is the first la punk single
1138
01:07:52,131 --> 01:07:54,131
ever recorded in Los Angeles.
1139
01:08:02,272 --> 01:08:05,506
Punk rock is sort of what
got me out of my shell
1140
01:08:05,508 --> 01:08:08,242
and somebody dragged me to the whisky
1141
01:08:08,244 --> 01:08:11,511
to see a show of, you know,
x and the screamers.
1142
01:08:11,513 --> 01:08:12,645
I was just..
1143
01:08:12,647 --> 01:08:14,513
"You can do this?"
1144
01:08:14,515 --> 01:08:16,314
"It's possible to do this?"
1145
01:08:16,316 --> 01:08:20,284
And it was as transforming
as anything I've ever done.
1146
01:08:34,464 --> 01:08:37,765
I think punk rock is one of the things
1147
01:08:37,767 --> 01:08:40,200
that's really helped shaped his world view
1148
01:08:40,202 --> 01:08:43,703
and his ideas as a critic.
1149
01:08:43,705 --> 01:08:48,840
The idea of disruption
and, and pushing boundaries.
1150
01:08:48,842 --> 01:08:52,143
When Jonathan came in and was first a critic
1151
01:08:52,145 --> 01:08:55,346
the fact that the "la times"
was reviewing, you know
1152
01:08:55,348 --> 01:08:59,249
a burrito place, was disruption.
1153
01:09:19,868 --> 01:09:22,236
That's delicious, I love mezcal.
1154
01:09:22,238 --> 01:09:23,737
Mezcal on an empty stomach.
1155
01:09:23,739 --> 01:09:25,004
Welcome to la.
1156
01:09:32,177 --> 01:09:35,012
My dad was a mezcal maker in oaxaca
1157
01:09:35,014 --> 01:09:38,482
and things were going really bad
for my dad in '93
1158
01:09:38,484 --> 01:09:40,717
and that's when, the peso devalued
1159
01:09:40,719 --> 01:09:43,119
so there was an economic downfall in Mexico
1160
01:09:43,121 --> 01:09:45,521
so he decided to move here.
1161
01:09:45,523 --> 01:09:47,456
So he just started kinda exploring la
1162
01:09:47,458 --> 01:09:49,691
and this area where we are right now
1163
01:09:49,693 --> 01:09:52,527
koreatown, there was a lot
of latinos and a lot of people
1164
01:09:52,529 --> 01:09:53,928
from oaxaca that lived in the area.
1165
01:09:53,930 --> 01:09:57,064
So my dad opened a little food stand
1166
01:09:57,066 --> 01:09:59,533
and it became very popular
among people from oaxaca
1167
01:09:59,535 --> 01:10:01,801
because they just knew that's where you went
1168
01:10:01,803 --> 01:10:03,269
to get oaxacan food.
1169
01:10:03,271 --> 01:10:05,437
So he was like, you know, -
1170
01:10:05,439 --> 01:10:07,806
"let's open up a restaurant."
1171
01:10:07,808 --> 01:10:11,242
It was this little hole in the
wall, maybe like 6 tables
1172
01:10:11,244 --> 01:10:12,643
and we opened like a little alley
1173
01:10:12,645 --> 01:10:14,811
it was like totally illegal.
1174
01:10:14,813 --> 01:10:19,215
So one day my dad walks in and was like
1175
01:10:19,217 --> 01:10:20,583
"where are all of these
white people coming from?"
1176
01:10:20,585 --> 01:10:22,885
Because there were all these white people.
1177
01:10:22,887 --> 01:10:26,722
Somebody was like, "don't you
know you were in the 'la times?'"
1178
01:10:26,724 --> 01:10:28,690
in fact, Jonathan gold
reviewed the restaurant
1179
01:10:28,692 --> 01:10:31,526
before the Spanish speaking media.
1180
01:10:31,528 --> 01:10:34,529
And now the restaurant's run
by my sister, my brother
1181
01:10:34,531 --> 01:10:37,565
and myself, and we sit 300 people here.
1182
01:10:40,635 --> 01:10:42,435
These are so delicious.
1183
01:10:42,437 --> 01:10:44,470
The grasshoppers?
1184
01:10:44,472 --> 01:10:46,071
They're so delicious.
1185
01:10:46,073 --> 01:10:50,041
I think there's 2 things,
I mean one, it's insects
1186
01:10:50,043 --> 01:10:53,710
and two, it's a whole animal, which is still
1187
01:10:53,712 --> 01:10:56,779
really hard for Americans.
1188
01:10:56,781 --> 01:10:59,782
I mean, if we're going to
survive as a species
1189
01:10:59,784 --> 01:11:01,517
we're going to eat insects.
1190
01:11:01,519 --> 01:11:03,618
- We are.
- I mean, unless we're idiots.
1191
01:11:06,388 --> 01:11:08,655
For us, the oaxacan community
1192
01:11:08,657 --> 01:11:11,557
we owe him a lot because in oaxaca
1193
01:11:11,559 --> 01:11:14,226
people are really looked down on
1194
01:11:14,228 --> 01:11:16,728
because we come
from an indigenous background
1195
01:11:16,730 --> 01:11:19,630
and to have someone put it out there and say
1196
01:11:19,632 --> 01:11:22,799
come and taste this oaxacan food.
1197
01:11:22,801 --> 01:11:25,134
I think it even helped me as a person
1198
01:11:25,136 --> 01:11:28,337
to embrace my culture because people cared
1199
01:11:28,339 --> 01:11:31,406
about my food and people cared,
and people were really like
1200
01:11:31,408 --> 01:11:33,608
"your food's like, your food's cool"
1201
01:11:33,610 --> 01:11:36,010
and I was like,
"yeah, my food's cool."
1202
01:12:28,595 --> 01:12:30,162
Hello.
1203
01:12:30,164 --> 01:12:32,230
He's a funny guy.
1204
01:12:34,566 --> 01:12:37,734
The don of dogs.
1205
01:12:37,736 --> 01:12:40,336
- How you doing, Duane?
- What's up, big guy?
1206
01:12:40,338 --> 01:12:41,470
Same old, you?
1207
01:12:41,472 --> 01:12:43,905
Hot dogs.
1208
01:12:43,907 --> 01:12:46,240
So, so you're, you're back to the cart.
1209
01:12:46,242 --> 01:12:48,909
I'm back to the cart,
we're doing it big again.
1210
01:12:48,911 --> 01:12:50,911
We did this just to let people know
1211
01:12:50,913 --> 01:12:53,280
hey, what's happening,
we're about to get back open.
1212
01:12:53,282 --> 01:12:55,915
It's cool because I'm getting
a lot of my old customers
1213
01:12:55,917 --> 01:12:58,050
who were hot dog cart customers,
pulling up saying
1214
01:12:58,052 --> 01:13:00,218
"I could have sworn,
I saw your little peanut head
1215
01:13:00,220 --> 01:13:01,719
"standing over there, so I had to come back
1216
01:13:01,721 --> 01:13:04,755
over here and see
what your hot dogs were like."
1217
01:13:04,757 --> 01:13:07,424
Earle's wieners is opening up!
1218
01:13:12,396 --> 01:13:14,597
28 years, since what '86?
1219
01:13:14,599 --> 01:13:17,866
- '86.
- '86
1220
01:13:17,868 --> 01:13:20,201
- crenshaw suave, baby.
- Lotta dogs.
1221
01:13:29,077 --> 01:13:31,111
There's no tidy way to eat one of these.
1222
01:13:34,849 --> 01:13:37,817
I've always felt a little
uncomfortable about claiming hood.
1223
01:13:39,019 --> 01:13:42,221
I grew up in south la, but I obviously
1224
01:13:42,223 --> 01:13:44,856
my family moved out before..
1225
01:13:46,892 --> 01:13:49,093
When I was still very young.
1226
01:13:52,664 --> 01:13:55,632
We had moved there,or my parents had moved there
1227
01:13:55,634 --> 01:13:59,435
in the late '50s when my dad was a teacher
1228
01:13:59,437 --> 01:14:02,070
at audubon junior high school
1229
01:14:02,072 --> 01:14:07,275
which was this sort of
beautifully integrated school.
1230
01:14:07,277 --> 01:14:08,609
There were, you know..
1231
01:14:08,611 --> 01:14:13,513
There were lots of black kids
and lots of white kids
1232
01:14:13,515 --> 01:14:17,449
and lots of Japanese kids,
and it seemed like
1233
01:14:17,451 --> 01:14:19,551
that was gonna be the future of la
1234
01:14:19,553 --> 01:14:23,821
and he wanted to be part of it,
so he moved into the community.
1235
01:14:25,323 --> 01:14:32,128
Some of my earliest memories
are of the riots in 1965.
1236
01:14:32,130 --> 01:14:34,497
You know, sitting at the top of our hill
1237
01:14:34,499 --> 01:14:38,267
and, and seeing the fires burn down below
1238
01:14:38,269 --> 01:14:42,771
of seeing the tanks
go along crenshaw boulevard
1239
01:14:42,773 --> 01:14:47,575
and after that the neighborhood changed.
1240
01:15:08,928 --> 01:15:11,329
We're here with Jonathan gold.
1241
01:15:11,331 --> 01:15:14,765
So you brought funkadelic with
the classic "maggot brain."
1242
01:15:14,767 --> 01:15:16,867
Maybe you remember in the old
days when you could actually
1243
01:15:16,869 --> 01:15:20,637
buy like, soul records in liquor stores.
1244
01:15:20,639 --> 01:15:23,272
I was 13 or 14 when I was trying to buy
1245
01:15:23,274 --> 01:15:26,608
you know, beer on a false ID.
1246
01:15:26,610 --> 01:15:28,876
And I picked up "maggot brain"
because I loved the cover.
1247
01:15:28,878 --> 01:15:32,212
Got home and put it on and the guitar solo.
1248
01:15:32,214 --> 01:15:33,613
Eddie Hazel, it's just amazing.
1249
01:15:33,615 --> 01:15:35,114
It just keeps flowing.
1250
01:15:35,116 --> 01:15:37,449
It has a sort of, majesty
1251
01:15:37,451 --> 01:15:40,418
that you expect from somebody
like, you know, Wagner
1252
01:15:40,420 --> 01:15:41,852
the concept of the endless melody
1253
01:15:41,854 --> 01:15:43,720
the one that goes on forever.
1254
01:15:43,722 --> 01:15:46,255
Almost all of blues guitarists
1255
01:15:46,257 --> 01:15:48,624
just Peter out in the middle,
they have nothing more to say
1256
01:15:48,626 --> 01:15:51,760
so they did the wa wa wa,
but Eddie Hazel doesn't.
1257
01:15:51,762 --> 01:15:54,796
He always has something new
to say, and the tune
1258
01:15:54,798 --> 01:15:56,998
and the chord progression
keeps folding in on itself
1259
01:15:57,000 --> 01:15:58,833
and showing itself in all of these
1260
01:15:58,835 --> 01:16:00,868
you know, wonderful miraculous ways.
1261
01:16:50,884 --> 01:16:54,353
Please join me in welcoming Jonathan gold.
1262
01:16:58,290 --> 01:17:00,024
Thank you.
1263
01:17:04,228 --> 01:17:06,062
Hi.
1264
01:17:06,064 --> 01:17:11,700
I, in some ways I think
come to you as an emissary
1265
01:17:11,702 --> 01:17:15,070
from the world of failure
1266
01:17:15,072 --> 01:17:16,871
a rare citizen of the wide country
1267
01:17:16,873 --> 01:17:21,408
where things do not turn out
exactly as you've planned.
1268
01:17:22,710 --> 01:17:25,211
I'm here to say that that's okay.
1269
01:17:25,213 --> 01:17:26,912
Still, when I wake up in the morning
1270
01:17:26,914 --> 01:17:29,481
I don't feel
like a semi-successful writer
1271
01:17:29,483 --> 01:17:30,949
a chronicler of Los Angeles
1272
01:17:30,951 --> 01:17:33,918
I feel like a failed cellist
1273
01:17:33,920 --> 01:17:36,287
which was more or less my ucla experience.
1274
01:17:38,056 --> 01:17:40,724
But all of us, especially
those of us in the arts
1275
01:17:40,726 --> 01:17:43,727
experience failure,
and it is this experience
1276
01:17:43,729 --> 01:17:45,729
of failure that makes us strong
1277
01:17:45,731 --> 01:17:49,099
that helps make us who we are.
1278
01:17:49,101 --> 01:17:51,768
Did my ucla acquired knowledge help me
1279
01:17:51,770 --> 01:17:53,970
when I wrote about hip hop in the 1980s?
1280
01:17:53,972 --> 01:17:56,973
Not directly, but it was a way
of listening that gave me a way
1281
01:17:56,975 --> 01:18:00,443
to understand the music in an important way.
1282
01:18:00,445 --> 01:18:02,611
Did my experience in writing
about opera and new music
1283
01:18:02,613 --> 01:18:05,347
have anything to do with food writing?
1284
01:18:05,349 --> 01:18:08,917
Yes, as it turns out, on a very basic level
1285
01:18:08,919 --> 01:18:11,819
criticism is criticism.
1286
01:18:11,821 --> 01:18:14,388
An Aria is in some way
1287
01:18:14,390 --> 01:18:17,524
equivalent
to a well-cooked potato
1288
01:18:17,526 --> 01:18:21,260
and both the comprehension
of form and the ability
1289
01:18:21,262 --> 01:18:24,062
to describe abstract sensation
1290
01:18:24,064 --> 01:18:26,798
which I learned to do as an undergraduate
1291
01:18:26,800 --> 01:18:31,969
in music and art courses here,
turns out to be exactly
1292
01:18:31,971 --> 01:18:34,237
what I needed to know.
1293
01:18:39,042 --> 01:18:41,076
I think the great human ill
1294
01:18:41,078 --> 01:18:44,212
is, contempt prior to investigation.
1295
01:18:44,214 --> 01:18:46,514
Jonathan takes that idea..
1296
01:18:46,516 --> 01:18:49,016
It's a really comfy idea
for a lot of Americans
1297
01:18:49,018 --> 01:18:51,985
and he just, he just blows it the fuck up.
1298
01:18:55,222 --> 01:18:57,590
Jonathan gold is my guest dj.
1299
01:18:57,592 --> 01:19:01,326
Okay, man, so you brought
some la gangsta rap.
1300
01:19:01,328 --> 01:19:03,261
Some Los Angeles gangsta rap
1301
01:19:03,263 --> 01:19:06,397
and you brought "g thang"
from, Dr. dre, snoop dogg.
1302
01:19:06,399 --> 01:19:09,933
Now, listen, the rumor is
you were in the studio
1303
01:19:09,935 --> 01:19:11,668
a lot of the time with them
when they were actually
1304
01:19:11,670 --> 01:19:13,002
recording "doggystyle" and stuff like that.
1305
01:19:13,004 --> 01:19:14,436
Yeah, yeah, I was.
1306
01:19:14,438 --> 01:19:15,470
This was when you were really writing
1307
01:19:15,472 --> 01:19:16,571
about a lot of that music
1308
01:19:16,573 --> 01:19:18,039
during that time.
1309
01:19:18,041 --> 01:19:21,776
Right, la hip hop was great,
but nobody ever heard it.
1310
01:19:21,778 --> 01:19:24,278
Everybody just heard the New York stuff
1311
01:19:24,280 --> 01:19:26,813
and dre was the guy who figured out
1312
01:19:26,815 --> 01:19:29,115
how to slow it down, made it gangsta.
1313
01:19:29,117 --> 01:19:31,717
Chronic, I think was the total
breakthrough album.
1314
01:19:31,719 --> 01:19:34,352
It crossed over to the bouncing
cars to the hanging out
1315
01:19:34,354 --> 01:19:35,820
and barbequing in the park.
1316
01:19:35,822 --> 01:19:37,321
It was less about bang bang bang
1317
01:19:37,323 --> 01:19:39,823
and it was more about,
this is the neighborhood
1318
01:19:39,825 --> 01:19:42,091
you live in and you're enjoying it
1319
01:19:42,093 --> 01:19:44,726
and ya'll are invited to the party
1320
01:19:44,728 --> 01:19:46,894
and there's something beautiful about that.
1321
01:20:03,407 --> 01:20:06,041
You know, after the Los Angeles riots
1322
01:20:06,043 --> 01:20:07,475
there was a lot of hand wringing
1323
01:20:07,477 --> 01:20:10,444
about what had gone wrong in this city
1324
01:20:10,446 --> 01:20:14,247
and there was a movement to like get to know
1325
01:20:14,249 --> 01:20:16,349
who your neighbors are
1326
01:20:16,351 --> 01:20:19,352
but long before the riots
and after Jonathan gold
1327
01:20:19,354 --> 01:20:24,123
was introducing us to people
and to neighborhoods.
1328
01:20:28,694 --> 01:20:32,663
There's a certain level of
utopian thinking in his work.
1329
01:20:32,665 --> 01:20:34,631
There's a certain level of dedication
1330
01:20:34,633 --> 01:20:37,533
to asking the question how we live.
1331
01:20:37,535 --> 01:20:39,801
He talks about the miscegenation
1332
01:20:39,803 --> 01:20:43,904
between races in essence
appearing over the table.
1333
01:20:43,906 --> 01:20:47,607
Those food nations become an integral part
1334
01:20:47,609 --> 01:20:50,142
of the way he sees Los Angeles
1335
01:20:50,144 --> 01:20:52,677
in a way Los Angeles comes together.
1336
01:21:30,945 --> 01:21:32,912
There's so many different
ways to tell stories
1337
01:21:32,914 --> 01:21:36,949
about Los Angeles, and
of course, telling stories
1338
01:21:36,951 --> 01:21:40,552
through food is one of the ways
Jonathan gold does that.
1339
01:21:40,554 --> 01:21:43,755
And the piece he's going to read
1340
01:21:43,757 --> 01:21:46,491
represents another way
of talking about Los Angeles
1341
01:21:46,493 --> 01:21:49,227
in a moment when, the fabric of the city
1342
01:21:49,229 --> 01:21:52,263
kind of looked like it wasn't going to hold.
1343
01:21:52,265 --> 01:21:54,198
So, Jonathan.
1344
01:22:00,404 --> 01:22:05,173
This is an older essay written, the week
1345
01:22:05,175 --> 01:22:11,946
after the, the riots in 1992
1346
01:22:11,948 --> 01:22:16,483
and... It..
1347
01:22:16,485 --> 01:22:20,220
Well, I'll, I'll, I'll read
and you can, you can hear.
1348
01:22:20,222 --> 01:22:27,026
I can't tell you
how much I love Los Angeles.
1349
01:22:27,028 --> 01:22:31,630
"It is 8 o'clock and the light
has started to fade"
1350
01:22:31,632 --> 01:22:34,165
"as I sit on the floor of my apartment"
1351
01:22:34,167 --> 01:22:38,068
"staring at the spot where
the rain not so much dripped"
1352
01:22:38,070 --> 01:22:40,203
"as oozed from the door jam."
1353
01:22:41,939 --> 01:22:43,339
"For the last decade or so"
1354
01:22:43,341 --> 01:22:45,341
"I have lived in a creaking apartment"
1355
01:22:45,343 --> 01:22:46,775
"probably swank in its day"
1356
01:22:46,777 --> 01:22:49,110
"that has been home to a dog trainer"
1357
01:22:49,112 --> 01:22:51,612
"a fiddle player and a series of writers"
1358
01:22:51,614 --> 01:22:54,581
"in a smartly column building
in an aging neighborhood"
1359
01:22:54,583 --> 01:22:58,651
"nobody has yet bothered to name."
1360
01:22:58,653 --> 01:23:02,754
"Downstairs a baby cries out in Spanish"
1361
01:23:02,756 --> 01:23:04,288
"in the distance the ghetto boys"
1362
01:23:04,290 --> 01:23:06,056
"boom from a passing truck."
1363
01:23:07,591 --> 01:23:09,825
"For the fifth time, in about an hour"
1364
01:23:09,827 --> 01:23:12,060
"I think about the other parts of town"
1365
01:23:12,062 --> 01:23:15,063
"the ones with croissant shops
on the street corners"
1366
01:23:15,065 --> 01:23:17,231
"and air conditioned shopping malls"
1367
01:23:17,233 --> 01:23:19,499
"and neighbors who look like me."
1368
01:23:21,535 --> 01:23:24,703
"Before the fires of April,
there were 14 different kinds"
1369
01:23:24,705 --> 01:23:27,672
"of ethnic restaurants
within a 5 minute walk."
1370
01:23:27,674 --> 01:23:30,407
"Now, there are just 10."
1371
01:23:32,042 --> 01:23:35,377
"For a while, everything in the neighborhood"
1372
01:23:35,379 --> 01:23:38,046
"seemed just a little more ominous."
1373
01:23:38,048 --> 01:23:40,948
"The Saturday night gunshots
a little louder."
1374
01:23:40,950 --> 01:23:44,017
"The omnipresent sirens and helicopters"
1375
01:23:44,019 --> 01:23:46,120
"a little closer to home."
1376
01:23:49,324 --> 01:23:51,224
"When you spend some time in my neighborhood"
1377
01:23:51,226 --> 01:23:52,625
"you'll learn the rhythm of the place."
1378
01:23:52,627 --> 01:23:54,460
"The mornings when the Mexican's food truck"
1379
01:23:54,462 --> 01:23:55,594
"shows up on the corner."
1380
01:23:55,596 --> 01:23:57,495
"The hour when Filipino teenagers"
1381
01:23:57,497 --> 01:24:01,832
"snack on liver buns and
Coca-Cola at the pancit shop."
1382
01:24:01,834 --> 01:24:04,501
"The peaceful time in late afternoon"
1383
01:24:04,503 --> 01:24:07,470
"when the Avenue flows majestically."
1384
01:24:08,805 --> 01:24:11,139
"Guatemalan women walk home from Ralph's"
1385
01:24:11,141 --> 01:24:12,607
"with bags of groceries"
1386
01:24:12,609 --> 01:24:15,276
"balanced expertly on their heads."
1387
01:24:15,278 --> 01:24:17,177
"Salvadoran construction workers crowd"
1388
01:24:17,179 --> 01:24:19,012
"into the local Korean noodle shop"
1389
01:24:19,014 --> 01:24:21,981
"for steamed dumplings."
1390
01:24:21,983 --> 01:24:26,318
"In this neighborhood, most of
us are just passing through."
1391
01:24:26,320 --> 01:24:28,620
"Transients on our way
to more permanent homes"
1392
01:24:28,622 --> 01:24:30,922
"in long beach or huntington park."
1393
01:24:30,924 --> 01:24:33,424
"We are all citizens of the world."
1394
01:24:33,426 --> 01:24:36,026
"We are all strangers together."
1395
01:24:37,561 --> 01:24:41,930
"But to my Korean landlords,
this neighborhood is home."
1396
01:24:41,932 --> 01:24:43,531
"I have been awakened before dawn"
1397
01:24:43,533 --> 01:24:45,666
"by the rhythmic thud
of their pounding garlic"
1398
01:24:45,668 --> 01:24:48,769
"into paste on the back porch."
1399
01:24:48,771 --> 01:24:51,638
"I've stumbled out the door
with an armful of wet laundry"
1400
01:24:51,640 --> 01:24:53,506
"only to find all of the clotheslines"
1401
01:24:53,508 --> 01:24:56,141
"taken up by drying fish."
1402
01:24:56,143 --> 01:24:59,110
"I've also come home from work
to find the back stairs spread"
1403
01:24:59,112 --> 01:25:02,613
"with leaves of cabbage,
curing in the hot sun."
1404
01:25:06,250 --> 01:25:10,252
"Even when their son was shot"
1405
01:25:10,254 --> 01:25:12,354
"a half mile south of here"
1406
01:25:12,356 --> 01:25:16,591
"there was questioning
of their sense of place."
1407
01:25:16,593 --> 01:25:21,328
"The landlords keep
to themselves and so do I."
1408
01:25:23,030 --> 01:25:27,233
"I often wish that they would
invite me over for dinner."
1409
01:25:27,235 --> 01:25:28,434
Thanks.
1410
01:26:24,785 --> 01:26:26,485
Alright, man, you brought
some Louis Armstrong.
1411
01:26:26,487 --> 01:26:27,819
We gotta talk about Louis.
1412
01:26:27,821 --> 01:26:29,387
"tight like this," why did
you choose this track?
1413
01:26:29,389 --> 01:26:31,355
I think it's by the best
driving music there is.
118862
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