IN WITH THE OLD

I agree with Jonathan Gold (“Slimmer Pickin’s,” On the Town, Nov. 5) that “hip new restaurants these days tend to be either private clubs or franchises, essentially closed to the public or spun off and marketed.” It seems as though every so-called hip new restaurant serves the same food with only minor variations.

However, I believe Gold missed the point when he asked the question, “How many truly interesting mainstream restaurants have opened in the past few years? Just about the same number of older joints that seem to close each month.”

Your magazine is always pushing the trendy. If you focused just a little bit on those older joints, maybe they wouldn’t be closing down one by one, leaving nothing but Wal-Mart cuisine. In other words, you have only yourselves to blame.

Heidi L. Fineberg

Reseda

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There are more quality food experiences available to the masses in Los Angeles than ever before. We’ve graduated from the time when it was exciting to try a new restaurant specializing in 3 ounces of salmon with two asparagus spears (served with attitude) for $45 a plate, to an era in which the culinary experimentation of the ‘80s has passed the test of market economics. The gold standard for restaurant food is higher and customers are smarter than at any time in the past.

Check out the real neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where the median income is not stratospheric, and where the people are willing to embrace restaurants for what they are rather than as surrogate symbols of status.

Check especially for the restaurant concepts being invented by non-pedigree chefs. You’ll find value, a wonderland of food variety and high adventure. But you won’t find much arugula.

Ken Struman

Camarillo