Post & Beam Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #45 Post & Beam is the only restaurant on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list in the Crenshaw District. I find it strange that such a cool, modern restaurant is located in Baldwin Hills Plaza, but at least the mall location means plenty of parking. The inside has a big bar seating area where…

Far East Plaza Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #44 Similar to Grand Central Market, Far East Plaza brings a bunch of eateries together in a Chinatown shopping center. The plaza as a whole is on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. While I’m conflicted about the notion of including a grouping of restaurants that vary in food type and quality onto…

Kogi Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #43 Kogi started out as a Korean-taco truck, and has since expanded to three taco trucks (whose schedule you can find on their website) and two taqueria locations – one in a Whole Foods in El Segundo, and the one we went to in a little strip mall in Palms. The whole Kogi empire…

Mayura Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #42 Mayura, as you can see on the sign, is an Indian restaurant that specializes in Kerala cuisine. Kerala is a South Indian state. You can also see from the banner that Mayura has repeatedly made Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. Located in something of a dumpy looking strip mall in Culver City,…

Officine Brera Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #41 Officine Brera specializes in northern Italian cuisine. It is one of the many downtown restaurants on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. It is an awesome, high-ceilinged space with a long wine bar on one end, and a wall of windows opposite a view into the wood-grilling and roasting magic. You’ll even pass by…

LocoL Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #40 LocoL is a fast food spot in Watts, which I think makes it onto Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list as much for its mission as for its food. I fully support this. While the food might not compare to high end places where one dish will cost you as much as a whole tray…

Lincoln Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #39 Lincoln is one of just a couple Pasadena eateries that make Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. They do breakfast and lunch, a nice selection of baked goods, and good Stumptown coffee. The building is a refurbished machine shop, which they have transformed into an airy space with lots of natural light, a view…

Mian Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #38 Mian is a noodle house in the San Gabriel Valley (what I like to think of as LA’s real Chinatown). It is one of two restaurants by chef Tony Xu that makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list – the other is Chengdu Taste (check out my Chengdu Taste Gold Dig too). It’s a fairly…

Son of a Gun Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #37 Son of a Gun is another of Jon and Vinny’s eateries that makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. You can also check out my Petit Trois review and my Animal review. Son of a Gun is their seafood spot, or as they refer to it on their website – a “hip, nautical-themed restaurant”….

Grand Central Market Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #36 Grand Central Market isn’t so much a restaurant as it is an experience. It is an indoor market in Downtown LA, filled with stalls of cooked food, fresh produce, breads, cheeses, and spices. I have somewhat mixed feelings about it being part of Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. I understand his love for…

Tsujita Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #35 Tsujita is the ramen spot that makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, and is also on pretty much every “top 10 ramen spots in LA” list that you can find. It’s easy to figure out which of the many Japanese restaurants in the Little Osaka area on Sawtelle is Tsujita… it’s the one…

Cassia Restaurant Review

Gold Dig #34 Cassia is one of the few Santa Monica spots on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. I’ve been pretty excited that one of the most talked about hot LA restaurants in the last couple years is in my backyard. Every time I pass by, I see a lot of happy-looking people eating and drinking…