Coup for the LA Times: Jonathan Gold coming back?

The popular and respected food writer Jonathan Gold was spotted shaking hands in the Los Angeles Times building yesterday. The unconfirmed buzz is that he will rejoin the paper shortly after his upcoming Gold Standard tasting event, scheduled for March 4 at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Gold won his Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2007 for pieces he wrote for the LA Weekly, but before that (actually, between gigs at the Weekly) he had been a food and music writer for the Times. What his arrival would mean, if anything, for resident LAT restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila I don't know. At this point, neither Gold nor Times editor Davan Maharaj are responding to inquiries. The Weekly and owners Village Voice Media would dearly like to keep Gold, so the next couple of days should be interesting.

Gold, right, at the Pulitzer luncheon in 2007. Pulitzer.org