Gold Watch

Jonathan Gold Mixes Up a ‘Classic L.A. Combination’

Jonathan Gold has made a noticeable shift into the public eye in the last few months, giving interviews, public lectures, and this weekend, a giant cocktail party fundraiser at Union Station, whose ticket price could buy over twenty meals at Gold’s favorite diamond-in-the-rough restaurants. LAist spent some time with Mr. Gold, who calls the event “a cocktailian gathering of the shakerati,” with food from Providence, Comme Ca, Ilan Hall, and Rivera, gallons of artisan-crafted drinks, and a short discussion on L.A.’s “cocktail moment.” Not the moment Duke’s dubbed the Harvey Wallbanger after a loaded surfer or Chandler sipped his first gimlet, but one circulating on the inventive output of places like The Edison, Seven Grand, and Varnish.

In typical style, Gold skips the fancy talk when asked what wines he might pair with music, much like a local winery is doing. Instead, he name-checks seminal SoCal punkers The Descendants, saying he would pair their tunes with Der Weinerschnitzel for a “classic L.A. combination,” if forced to embrace those two things at once.

Sounds like a good, good thing, but even better than Milo and hot dogs, the critic senses a shift in corporate food chains choking us to death and makes sure to drop a reference to the land he hopes will greet him in Heaven someday. “It’s heartening to drive through the San Gabriel Valley and see all the drive-thrus and chain restaurants that have been converted to crab houses and noodle shops.”

Gold never seems to be comfortable with too much dazzle, preferring a crab house to Crustacean, and a noodle shop to Philippe Chow, anyday. When Saturday’s big party arrives at Union Station for guests who have $300 burning holes in their pockets, we’ll have to wonder, would Jonathan Gold rather be eating birria in Pico-Union?

$300 tickets are still available for Jonathan Gold’s Cocktail Party to benefit Zocalo Public Square this Saturday, with two tickets priced at $500. Tickets can be reserved on Zocalo’s website.

This Saturday: Jonathan Gold’s Cocktail Party [LAist]

Jonathan Gold Mixes Up a ‘Classic L.A. Combination’