LA Times Will Overhaul Food Section With New Editor and Restaurant Critics

The LA Times Food Section, one of the country’s oldest and most respected newspaper sections that covers restaurants and recipes, will go through some major changes in the coming weeks. In an internal memo, executive editor Norm Pearlstine announced that current food editor Amy Scattergood will step down from her position to write about cooking, recipes, and cookbooks, while former deputy Jenn Harris will become the acting editor until the newspaper hires a new food editor.

The publication will also hire restaurants critics, answering the question of when the Times would replace Jonathan Gold, who died last month from cancer. It’s curious as to why the publication specified a plural number of critics, but perhaps as in the past, the section will have different critics to cover both the high and low ends of the restaurant scene.

In addition, Andrea Chang, an 11-year veteran reporter for the Times, will join the food section from the business pages. Chang, who first broke the news of Gold’s death in July, has been to 95 of the late writer’s 101 restaurants. According to Pearlstine’s memo, the paper had already thought about beefing up the section under the new ownership of Patrick Soon-Shiong. When Jonathan Gold died suddenly, it was reason to completely overhaul the food section.

Despite recent turmoil at LA Weekly and its food section, the city’s food media seems to have gotten a breath of fresh air from LAist’s recent reinstatement and today’s LA Times reorganization news. With thousands of restaurants and millions of eager diners, more food coverage will only help to bolster the city’s burgeoning scene.

• All Food Media Coverage [ELA]