Living in the greater Hancock Park area gives me a certain pride of “location.” No we’re not next to the beach, nor do we have great views of the LA skyline. But we are close to so much – perfectly situated to take advantage of the best of LA without driving far. So when the Los Angeles Times today published it’s top 100 LA restaurants, it is with a bit of smugness and pride that we note five of the top ten spots are – really close by.
Winning the Number One spot is Providence at 5955 Melrose, just up the street, which Gold loves for its old-fashioned take on modernist, sustainable seafood. Also in the top ten: Mozza on Highland, Luques on Melrose, Animal on Fairfax, and Kogi BBQ, the Korean barbeque truck that floats through many neighborhoods but seems born of our area with it’s Korean short-rib tacos and and kimchi quesadillas.
Jonathan Gold, food critic for the LA Times who also once wrote for Gourmet and LA Weekly, was the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize in 2007. He has become a familiar voice to many Angelenos for his Good Food report on public radio station KCRW every Friday evening that shares a new intriguing restaurant or chef with listeners. His adventurous forays into off-the-beaten-track restaurants as well as some of the city’s finest dining establishments makes for a great listen. If you sign up for the Good Food text alerts, you’ll get a simple text every Friday evening sharing the name and address of his “pick of the week”, and if you reply EAT he’ll message you the top dishes to order. It could hardly be simpler, and the list of texts on my phone is a great go-to restaurant list when trying to come up with a new place to entertain a colleague or treat myself to a new adventure. Â Read some of Jonathan’s reviews via the Good Food blog.
The LA Times Top 100 article includes an interactive map, nice photographs and a dollar sign pricing key. It just may be worth bookmarking for future reference, on those dining days when you do have to go further afield than our neighborhood.
LA Times: Gold’s Best Los Angeles Restaurants
KCRW: Jonathan Gold/Good FoodÂ
For those of us who prefer vegetarian options (they don’t tend to make 100 best lists) but, then again, have you seen how unhealthy some restaurant critics and chefs look???), there are many options, too.