This review was well in the works before the death July 21 of America's greatest restaurant critic. But it's no exaggeration to say that Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winner who wrote for the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly and many others, has been an inspiration my entire career. This was especially true of his approach to immigrant restaurants. It avoided touristic ogling and "bizarre food" trophy hunting in favor of a genuine love for traditional cooking informed by empathy, deep knowledge, and an appreciation for these cuisines in the context of their communities, which are, in turn, woven into the multiculti patchwork of a larger American metropolis. His reviews simultaneously celebrated those worlds and invited outsiders in: "He gave us the keys to a hidden city," Ruth Reichl, his friend and former editor, wrote in her moving tribute to Gold.