[2] In 1986, with the reluctant support of Weekly founder Jay Levin,[1][5] Gold started his first food column "Counter Intelligence", reviewing under-the-radar restaurants in ethnic neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

[8] In 2007, Gold became the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize;[9] the citation referenced his "zestful, wide ranging restaurant reviews, expressing the delight of an erudite eater".

[10] In 2012, Gold returned to work at the Los Angeles Times,[11] succeeding S. Irene Virbila as chief food critic for the paper.

[13] Describing his work in the LAist, Megan Garvey wrote: "It would be difficult to overstate Gold's impact on the culture of food in Southern California.

[8] Anthony Bourdain described Gold as "the first guy to change the focus from white tablecloth restaurants to really cool little places in strip malls".

[3][16] Jonathan Gold's younger brother Mark Gold was the long-time president of the Santa Monica-based non-profit organization Heal the Bay[17] and then moved on to become associate director of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability,[3] but now is an employee of the state of California in Sacramento at the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) as the executive director.