[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]o honor Jonathan Gold don’t write
him a poem or an essay. Don’t talk
about your favorite restaurant.
To honor Jonathan Gold is to learn how
to navigate from Westside freeways
to strip malls in the San Gabriel
Valley; is letting your tongue travel
from Manila to Calcutta all in one day;
it means you know the taco is life
wrapped in a tortilla.
To honor Jonathan Gold you have to recognize
the seas and borders that recipes crossed
to make it inside a restaurant; you have to
think about tired hands
in the San Joaquin Valley picking garlic;
you have to remember the Brown bodies
in the kitchen; you have to leave
a proper tip—not another Yelp review.
To honor Jonathan Gold visit a fancy taco
spot in the Arts District. Sit across
from a woman, look into delicious eyes and
say: the sourness of the feta cheese on these sweet
potato tacos overpower the sweetness.
To honor Jonathan Gold there has to be a table
where food is shared, not worshiped;
or, a picnic at Hollywood Forever Cemetery;
or, under the lights of a taco truck on a
South Central street. So, text your friends,
invite them to dinner, and order
everything on the menu.
