Chefs Pay Tribute to Restaurant Critic Jonathan Gold, Dead at 57

The world's best chefs have been paying tribute to the LA Times' revered restaurant critic Jonathan Gold, who has passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 57 from pancreatic cancer.

Los Angeleno Gold, who was the first restaurant critic to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, whilst at LA Weekly in 2007, was famous for his love of the California city's street food and off the beaten track restaurants and recently appeared in an episode of chef David Chang's Ugly Delicious series dedicated to tacos. He was also the subject of a 2015 documentary called City of Gold, directed by Laura Gabbert.

The critic recognised the potential of food to bridge the divide between different ethnic communities in a vastly diverse city such as Los Angeles and was praised for his honesty and positivity, his writing reflecting the wider social and cultural picture. He awarded the Times' first ever restaurant of the year award in 2017 to Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson's restaurant/social enterprise LocoL in LA's Watts neighbourhood.

The loss of Gold will be felt strongly in an industry that is still reeling from the recent death of Anthony Bourdain, and earlier in the year, the legendary French chef Paul Bocuse.

Take a look at how the food world has been reacting to the sad news below.

RIP Jonathan Gold • To me Jonathan was the best the world of food had to offer. He was honest, generous and selfless. He truly was smarter than anyone. He had a way of distilling everything that was going on in the world, Into a few clear paragraphs, and always with food as the connecting tissue. You didn’t just get hungry, you understood new things about the world with Jonathan. I can’t fathom that I’ll never get to see him again. Never cook for him again. He was just here in Copenhagen a few months ago. We were talking about a trip to LA this fall, He was gonna take us around in his pick up truck.

A post shared by Rene Redzepi (@reneredzepinoma) on Jul 22, 2018 at 12:28am PDT

Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning LA Times restaurant critic, has died at the age of 57. We will miss him greatly. ?: Goro Toshima

A post shared by Los Angeles Times (@latimes) on Jul 21, 2018 at 6:44pm PDT

Devasted by the news of Jonathan Gold passing away. You were a great man, of incredible wittiness, a great journalist and a man of integrity. #R.I.P @latimesfood #respect #fuckcancer

A post shared by Dominique Crenn (@dominiquecrenn) on Jul 21, 2018 at 11:41pm PDT

RIP , food hero ! Jonathan Gold

A post shared by Virgilio Martinez (@virgiliocentral) on Jul 21, 2018 at 10:03pm PDT

Arigatou...

A post shared by Yoshihiro Narisawa (@yoshihironarisawa) on Jul 22, 2018 at 6:56am PDT

RIP jgold. I never even thought of him as a food critic per se because he loved respected food and the culture around it so much. Really on another level. When I served him, it always felt like a friend coming over. I’m so crushed and his impact on me will stay with me forever, as will our impromptu taco crawl around LA ❤️??? I will truly miss you in this world, my heart is with his family.

A post shared by Rosio Sánchez (@sanchezrosio) on Jul 22, 2018 at 10:15am PDT