Jonathan Gold’s 101 best restaurants

2 | Urasawa  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Wolfgang Puck has reinvented Spago with a new chef, Tetsu Yahagi, and a proto-modernist menu.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

The mozzarella bar draws diners at Osteria Mozza, one of the collection of restaurants and a takeout place in the Mozzaplex.   (Ringo H.W. Chiu / For the Los Angeles Times)

Chef Roy Choi’s food truck is such a hit that when fans find out where it’s parked, a long line soon forms. From there a party often begins.   (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

Taylor Bay scallops with green curry, black rice, Tahitian squash and Bloomsdale spinach from Lucques.   (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Jon Shook, left, and Vinny Dotolo have a pretty good sense of what tastes good. And it’s often meat.   (Ringo H.W. Chiu / For the Los Angeles Times)

A 32-ounce Porterhouse is grilled over a wood fire at Wolfgang Puck’s steakhouse in Beverly Hills.   (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Three-flavored whole sea bass is among the 300 dishes served at Jitlada. The typed pages at the back of the menu list the southern Thai specialties.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

This is agedashi momotaro tomato tofu at Shunji restaurant in Los Angeles.

Rivera sometimes operates with five menus at a time, each exploring a different aspect of Mexican or Spanish cuisine.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Fiery grill cooking is the focus at the Spice Table, where chef Bryant Ng blends Southeast Asian flavors.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

A passionate, micro-focused chef and a menu that veers beyond meat and potatoes are the draws at this creative restaurant on Melrose.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Josef Centeno’s signature creation is a kind of flatbread sandwich halfway between a Catalan coca and a taco with a vaguely Mediterranean sauce.   (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The impression is of Italian cooking translated into an odd American dialect, with plating done by an art director.  (Ann Johansson / For the Los Angeles Times)

Tony Ho’s Rosemead restaurant delivers in every way a seafood house can deliver.   (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

One of the Italian dishes is agnolotti alla Vaccinara, cacao pasta parcels with braised ox tail, burro fuso, grana padano, pine nuts and currants.  (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

The new restaurant from David Myers is at the base of a Century City condo tower.   (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Chef Josiah Citrin’s Santa Monica restaurant offers luxury ingredients ... and luxury prices.   (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Chef Suzanne Tracht is adept at both the urban rustic style of cooking that packs them in at Bestia and at Asian-accented new American cuisine.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Ludo Lefebvre, left, Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook run one of the hottest new restaurants in town. Want a table? Be prepared to buy a ticket at precisely 7:59 a.m. Friday.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Salt’s Cure in West Hollywood is just a counter, a few tables and a reputation for great food.   (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Suzanne Goin’s wine bar is an institution, and, yes, it’s still hard to land a table.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Totillas are made from scratch at Guelaguetza, a Oaxacan restaurant in Los Angeles.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Park’s pretty much has the top end of Koreatown barbecue to itself.   (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

Sotto is a southern Italian place dedicated to local produce and sustainable and artisanally produced meat.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

29 | Drago Centro  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

30 | Church & State  (Christina House / For The Times)

Steamed rice noodle with shrimp from the dim sum menu.  (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

Sea urchin with sea salt from Kiriko sushi in West Los Angeles.  (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Chef Sang Yoon is part of a new wave of American-raised Asian guys classically trained in European techniques who re-project their vision of American cuisine through the lens of Asian street food.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Alma focuses on fresh produce, including locally foraged herbs, in downtown Los Angeles.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The communal table and bar at Son of a Gun on West 3rd Street.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Filete de Pescando en Adobo de chile Guajillo y Ancho, or fish fillet marinated in a chile guajillo and anchco adobo sauce and wrapped in corn husk.   (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times)

Butter biscuits with blackberries, pimento cheese and honey butter.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Quinn and Karen Hatfield are married chefs whose restaurant is one of the quietest successes in Hollywood.   (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)

Karen and Quinn Hatfield’s sandwich shop and bakery offshoot has a Michelin star.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Chef Raymond Garcia prepares a dish at the restaurant in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica.  (Ann Johansson / For the Los Angeles Times)

Din Tai Fung in Arcadia is the outlet of a Taipei-based chain that practically created the modern XLB cult when it opened here a decade ago.   (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)

Year after year, Serge and Sosi Brady’s restaurant becomes nothing but better.   (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

The Bazaar is a local vanguard of modernist cuisine.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Govind Armstrong’s fresh take on African American dishes is new yet utterly familiar.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Sashimi of tuna, halibut, kanpachi, oyster with uni and live sweet shrimp at a recent kaiseki dinner.   (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

David LeFevre’s restaurant is giving Angeleno’s a reason to drive to the South Bay for dinner again.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Ricardo Zarate filters Peruvian cooking through the aesthetics of the izakaya.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

A large wood oven is the heart of the cuisine.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Lines are long, and ramen is served only at lunch.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Nguyen Tran and his wife, Thi Tran, with their sought-after dish of Singapore-style chili crab.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The Postmodern shed in Venice is open to the outside.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

The taco sampler at the Guisados in East L.A.   (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

Besides the fresh seafood, the Hungry Cat also has inventive cocktails, such as the Schnockered Bloody Mary and the Porch Swing.  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Cardboard cutouts of former wrestler Kang Ho-dong grace the front entrance.   (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Kevin Bludso mans the steel smokers at his barbecue place in Compton. Now there’s a new outlet on North La Brea.   (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Cooks County takes advantage of seasonal bounty, like with this fat Sacramento Delta asparagus with Jersey cow’s milk Ricotta, pounded hazelnuts and lemon zest.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Pastrami is sliced for the famous No. 19 sandwiches at the deli on Alvardo Street.   (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

The restaurant on Sawtelle Boulevard is retro-futuristic, with a list of Japanese whiskies to boot.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The shrimp dishes are great, supposedly made with seafood a member of the family brings from Mazatlan a couple of times a week.   (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

Chef Travis Lett’s restaurant on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice has crunchy-crusted wood-fired pizzas.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Apfelstrudel with homemade vanilla ice cream brings the flavor of Austria.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Everybody looks good at the Grill.   (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

la-jonathan-gold-101-top-los-angeles-restauran-069  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

If you’re an old-school gourmand in L.A., you probably have a relationship with Valentino.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Brandon Boudet’s New Orleans roots come through with his Creole takes on Italian.   (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times)

72 | SQURL  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

The avocado frito (avocado, coconut and mango with habanero chutney) at the restaurant in Bell.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Hannosuke in the Mitsuwa supermarket in the Palms neighborhood.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

77 | Meals by Genet  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The Yucatecan dishes include Brazo de Reina (green and yellow tamale spirals on orange and yellow tomato sauce).  (Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times)

Boster, Mark -- B581938874Z.1 LOS ANGELES, CA., MARCH 2, 2012: Tacos at Border Grill in Los Angeles MARCH 2, 2012 .(Mark Boster/Los Angeles Times).  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

The signature tacos dorados de camaron, shrimp tacos.   (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

The Lebanese-Armenian restaurant in Studio City brings a different kind of edge to the cuisine.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

The tapas restaurant in Pasadena is from the team of Loretta Peng and Teresa Montano.   (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

At nearly 2-feet long, an order of masala dosa, served with spiced potatoes, for $8.95, is a great item for sharing.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

This is a grand restaurant for celebrating big things. It helps that it’s next door to Disney Hall.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Mole Oaxaqueo shrimp is among the myriad mole options.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Longtime barman Ruben Rueda at Musso & Frank, a Hollywood classic.   (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

The Peruvian lomo saltado with sauteed beef fillet, Roma tomatoes, red onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and Kennebec fries.   (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

It’s the place to be after the bars close in North Hollywood and you have a craving for Thai.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Leo Bulgarini mandates a three-scoop minimum.   (Stefano Paltera / For the Los Angeles Times)

The restaurant respects the changes downtown, from its longtime skid row neighbors to the incoming loft dwellers.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Salsa de aguacate (avocado salsa) at the East L.A. restaurant.   (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times)

Primal Mexican food doesn’t get any better than this.  (Mariah Tauger / For the Los Angeles Times)

The restaurant is more or less a brasserie in the classic sense, except you can also get a nicely turned out Aviation No. 1.   (Coral von Zumwalt / For the Los Angeles Times)