Jonathan Gold on Working with Dr. Dre to Chicken Neck Tacos

Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold needs no introduction. He's been driving around LA ands its outer parts in his beat up pickup truck for decades, blasting chamber music on the highways as he chronicles the city's food carts, trucks, stands, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and strip mall eateries. These meals, which no critic had bothered to seek out before him, have become the yardstick of eating culture here.

On the first episode of MUNCHIES: The Podcast from our LA series, I head over to the Marisco's Jalisco Taco Truck on LA's East Side to meet up with Gold. Over tacos, the goal is to get his thoughts on contemporary LA eating culture. He considers the truck's owner, Raul Ortega, a "rock star" among taco chefs. People drive here from far and wide around the city to order Ortega's spicy shrimp cocktail, aguachile, his octopus ceviche, and in particular, the tacos dorados de camarones—crunchy shrimp tacos—which are one of the most extraordinary things you can consume.

But first, a confession: Gold helped MUNCHIES find our own gold when we hired our West Coast staff writer, Javier Cabral. Cabral grew up in East LA and was one of Gold's devoted fans. Under his influence, Cabral swapped his fast food tendencies for the traditional specialties of his neighborhood, like birria (goat stew), which he had never tried before. This episode wouldn't be complete without Javier's presence, so he joined us to wax poetic on where the City of Angel's food scene is moving.

We recorded this interview back in February, right before City of Gold was released; the documentary about his work as a food critic. If you haven't seen it yet, you've got some homework to do. Over crunchy fried shrimp tacos, Gold gathered his thoughts on LA's changing food scene, how technology has changed food culture, and why he knows Dr. Dre so well. Tune into the podcast, subscribe on iTunes if you can dig it, and tell your friends to do the same.

And check back in two weeks for the next episode, when we explore LA's mysterious history and the restaurants that exist in unusual spaces with the band, YACHT.