la.foodblogging

Former Los Angeles Times dining section editor Ruth Reichl pacted with HBO to produce a half-hour comedy based on her memoirs as a food writer. The pilot will be similar in tone to “Sex and the City,” according to a story in Variety.

Project will pick up with Reichl’s second book “Comfort Me With Apples,” which covers her evolution from chef to food writer in addition to the dissolution of her first marriage, a sexual awakening at the start of a second and motherhood at the age of 40.

Now Gourmet Magazine’s editor, Reichl’s hallmark at NYT was donning disguises before eating anonymously in the city’s finer dining establishments. When the bill appears she rips off her frumpy librarian concealment and makes Wu-Xia mincemeat of any restaurant axe gang foolish enough to cross her peerless palate! Or she writes a dual review of the restaurant, one as famous food critic, the other as a smiling, bewigged nobody. The restaurant then deals with Ruth’s consequences.

Here’s hoping that Showtime is putting together a like-minded series for LA Weekly’s own Jonathan Gold. Although I envision more of a car-centric comedy caper set primarily in the San Gabriel Valley. Our protagonist is trailed by a familiar if motley crew of freeloaders and an inept LA County Department of Health inspector. In the cable dramatization of Gold’s life, he’s played by either a peppery Paul Giamatti or a salty Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Otherwise, I’m sorta stumped. I can’t really think of who should play Reichl aside from Qiu Yuen.