Win your very own copy of EAT: Los Angeles, the must-have guide to L.A. dining!!!
Here are Ms. Go Go’s absolutes for eating wonderfully and well: a sense of adventure, a determination to include food in every possible activity, and EAT: Los Angeles, the indispensable guide to all things gustatory.
Whether you need a Great Date Dinner, a Mom ‘n Pop Soda Pop Shop, or a Knowledgeable Knife Sharpener, editor Colleen Dunn Bates and her talented team of food journalists have scoured L.A. County to find you the best choices in every category, in every part of town. The writing is informed, accessible and fun. The “Good Food Neighborhoods” is an inspired feature that maps out ultimate foodie road trips…in your home town! The book is impeccably organized (with tabs detailing sections such as “Restaurants”, “Gourmet to Go” and “Services + Events”), compact (despite 56 more pages in the 2010 version), and addictively readable. (Ms. Go Go’s own copy is stuffed with torn Post-It strips marking Must-Visit and Must-Remember Spots!)
EAT: Los Angeles is a great gift for mothers, graduates, fathers, friends, or (hint, hint!) yourself! Go Go buy it now!
Colleen, who is also publisher/owner of Prospect Park Books and the L.A. Food Critic for Westways Magazine, gabbed with Ms. Go Go in between publishing, writing and dining.
(Win your own copy of Eat: Los Angeles! Details at the end of the interview!)
Ms. Go Go: In Eat:Los Angeles, you make a passionate case for Los Angeles as an exciting city for food lovers because of “ethnic diversity, prosperity, adventurousness and year-round access to high-quality ingredients.” So what’s with the lack of Michelin stars?
Colleen Dunn Bates: Good question! It’s true that we don’t compete on a broad level for the high-end places that typically earn stars, at least compared with New York, London and Paris. I think that’s a function of what our residents are willing to pay for, and perhaps too many Angelenos are willing to pay for scene over food. But we do have some top contenders: Lucques, Melisse, Providence and Spago come to mind. Where we really shine, though, is in the inexpensive and mid-range places, in Asian, Indian and Latin cuisines, and suddenly in what we call Drink & Eat places: wine bars, cocktail bars with food, and gastropubs. And of course now the food trucks!
