Trailer for 'City of Gold,' film about Jonathan Gold

Laura Gabbert's documentary about Jonathan Gold, who famously won the Pulitzer Prize for his LA Weekly food writing, is billed as his love letter to Los Angeles. It opens today in selected theaters in Los Angeles and New York.

Here's an excerpt of A.O. Scott's review in the New York Times:

“City of Gold,” directed by Laura Gabbert, is an affectionate portrait of Mr. Gold, a genial walrus of a man with a graying ginger mane and a gentle, gaptoothed smile. The film accompanies him in his green pickup truck as he patrols the streets of Los Angeles, pointing out the best places to find fiery Southern Thai stews and sublime Oaxacan moles. We sit in on editorial meetings and peek over his shoulder as he writes on his laptop at the dining room table. Colleagues and expert witnesses are summoned to pay tribute to his genius and annotate his quirks. We spend some time with Laurie Ochoa, his wife and erstwhile editor, and their two children. We learn about Mr. Gold’s childhood, his early career, his Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Gabbert, in other words, follows the usual documentary recipe.

But “City of Gold” transcends its modest methods, largely because it connects Mr. Gold’s appealing personality with a passionate argument about the civic culture of Los Angeles and the place of food within it. His enthusiasm and generosity of spirit stand in definitive rebuke to the myth that critics are crabbed, hostile, pleasure-hating creatures.