Gold Dig #21 Animal is another of several restaurants by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo that make appearances on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. In addition to Animal, Jon and Vinny have Son of a Gun, Jon & Vinny’s, Petit Trois, and Trois Mec – all within about a 3-mile radius in the Fairfax area. So far I’ve only been…
Category: Gold Digging
Lukshon Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #20 Lukshon is the modern Southeast Asian restaurant by Sang Yoon (the chef famous for the “Changes and Modifications Politely Declined” policy he started at his burger place Father’s Office). Its patio area has the luxury of facing the pedestrian-only street of the Helms Bakery complex, so you can enjoy the weather while having…
Gjusta Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #19 Gjusta is by the owners of the ever-popular Gjelina. Both regularly make appearances on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, but Gjusta is an affordable spot to stop off for lunch, whereas Gjelina is a place I plan to one day go to when I have a special occasion. In oh-so-LA fashion, Gjusta doesn’t have a sign. You just…
Baroo Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #18 Baroo is one of the most strikingly different restaurants I have been to. In some ways, it is so very LA… in a strip mall next to a 7-Eleven, with no sign other than the remnants from the previous establishment which looks to have once read “Thai Noodle”; ingredients that are local, sustainable,…
Mariscos Jalisco Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #17 Mariscos Jalisco was our second stop as we hopped from one taco truck on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list to another (check out my Guerrilla Tacos post to read about the other). The Mariscos Jalisco truck always parks at the same spot on East Olympic Blvd. There’s another truck with a similar name that parks just…
Guerrilla Tacos Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #16 There are a couple taco trucks on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. My cousin came into town for a couple days, and I talked her into taco truck hopping with me. It didn’t take much convincing. We went to Guerrilla Tacos first (also check out my post about Mariscos Jalisco, where we went…
Night+Market Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #15 Night+Market is one of the Thai restaurants on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. While his list includes quite a few Thai spots, each has its own unique approach. Night+Market does Thai street food, as clearly called out in their neon sign. It is located in West Hollywood, and there’s another location in Silver Lake…
Fig Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #14 Fig is the bistro in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. It’s one of the only hotel restaurants on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. Fig is an adorable place to go for brunch, which is what we did. It’s also a good excuse to wander through the enchanting Fairmont grounds even if…
Guelaguetza Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #13 Guelaguetza is an absolutely gigantic Oaxacan restaurant in Koreatown. In addition to tons of seating, there is a bar area, stage where they often have live music, gift shop, and cases filled with prepared sweets and drinks for purchase. A regular on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, he calls Guelaguetza “one of the best…
Tar and Roses Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #12 Tar and Roses is one of the few westside establishments on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. It has Santa Monica prices to go along with its Santa Monica location, but it’s worth it when you have an occasion to splurge on a nice night out. The restaurant is a long narrow rectangle with…
Chengdu Taste Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #11 Chengdu Taste is in the San Gabriel Valley, the real Chinatown of LA (in my humble opinion). The outside looks pretty much like every Chinese restaurant in the area – kinda rundown, no frills, hopefully because all the focus is on the food! They do have one of the fancier menu covers…
Mexicali Taco Restaurant Review
Gold Dig #10 I should start by saying that Mexicali Taco suffered the fate of being the third feed stop in just a few hours on our 3-restaurant Gold Dig for the day. So it probably doesn’t get a fair shake when it comes to my assessment of the place, given that we were pretty…