Jonathan Gold, who's been poached by the Los Angeles Times, may have been the L.A. Weekly's most valuable byline not just because of his Pulitzer Prize, but because he makes such a point of reviewing the tiny ethnic restaurants that comprise Los Angeles's vast culinary landscape. Gold's departure for the Los Angeles Times is going to be a major blow not just to the Weekly's food section, but to the paper as a whole. Many readers in Los Angeles turn to Gold's Counter Intelligence column as a first stop to understanding the various ethnic food scenes in their city, and as L.A. Observed points out, Gold was "probably the last marquee name at the L.A. Weekly." The Weekly knows it, too. L.A. Observed reports that corporate parent Village Voice Media pushed to keep Gold with weekend negotiations and "apparently dangling money the chain had not previously shown itself willing to commit." Guess it wasn't enough, as the alt-weekly chain's flagship Village Voice was officially wishing Gold a nice life on Monday.

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Adam Martin