These are the questions that guided Los Angeles Times staffers as they set out to create a list of Los Angeles’ 101 favorite restaurants after the loss of iconic restaurant critic Jonathan Gold. The answer: Stay true to Gold’s vision without trying to fill his shoes.

First, remember the No. 1 rule of eating in L.A. “There are no rules,” says Jenn Harris, acting food editor of the Los Angeles Times. Second, reflect the city as a whole. Third, defer to Gold’s work, relying heavily on his most recent reviews and giving 15 spots on the list to significant restaurants Gold wrote about in the months before his passing. And this year, for the first time ever, there's a bonus Classics list featuring “the types of places you take people from out of town, because they are emblematic of Los Angeles, a city with a history, a city of diversity, a city of seemingly limitless possibility,” Harris says.