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May 3, 2018 11:50 AM Subscribe
Spies, Dossiers, and the Insane Lengths Restaurants Go to Track and Influence Food Critics
Tom Sietsema ranks America's Top 10 Chain Restaurants. Previously.
The voice on the phone seemed a little too chipper. Tom Sietsema wondered if he’d been made. Or was he being paranoid? Maybe Le Diplomate’s reservationist was always this enthusiastic about hosting a party of eight at the buzzy French restaurant. Either way, as usual, the Washington Post’s lead restaurant critic made his reservation under an alias.
Tom Sietsema ranks America's Top 10 Chain Restaurants. Previously.
I have an engineer’s view of things, but it would be better to treat everyone well, and serve every diner good food. Then you don’t have to spot the critics, and you have a restaurant that is actually good. It’s like they put more effort into faking good quality than it would take to actually be worthy of praise.
posted by w0mbat at 12:18 PM on May 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
posted by w0mbat at 12:18 PM on May 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
w0mbat, not if the critics are looking at tiny details that normal diners would never even notice. I believe this is a problem that Michelin-starred restaurants have- the pressure to make every single plate absolutely perfect lest they lose a star for some leaf that was out of place.
posted by dilaudid at 12:23 PM on May 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
posted by dilaudid at 12:23 PM on May 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
"I have an engineer’s view of things, but it would be better to treat everyone well, and serve every diner good food. Then you don’t have to spot the critics, and you have a restaurant that is actually good. It’s like they put more effort into faking good quality than it would take to actually be worthy of praise."
Well, yeah, that's the idea and what gets drilled into workers at restaurants in one form of another. A lot of restaurants really do accomplish a good job most of the time. However, if you're trying to pander to a critic who may have a disproportionate influence on you're business' success, it becomes worthwhile to do more than normal good, but to do especially great. Keeping up that excessive standard all the time would burn out employees, and we all know how shitty restaurant goers are in general.
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:23 PM on May 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
Well, yeah, that's the idea and what gets drilled into workers at restaurants in one form of another. A lot of restaurants really do accomplish a good job most of the time. However, if you're trying to pander to a critic who may have a disproportionate influence on you're business' success, it becomes worthwhile to do more than normal good, but to do especially great. Keeping up that excessive standard all the time would burn out employees, and we all know how shitty restaurant goers are in general.
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:23 PM on May 3, 2018 [19 favorites]
I have an engineer’s view of things, but it would be better to treat everyone well, and serve every diner good food.
First, you have to define "well" and "good".
posted by Etrigan at 12:26 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
First, you have to define "well" and "good".
posted by Etrigan at 12:26 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
I dunno, from what the article says, it's more than just upping your game for food critics -- it's shafting everyone else who has the misfortune to be in the restaurant at the same time.
“It is a huge wrench in the operation, because what you’re basically doing is interrupting the regular flow of service to stop and concentrate on one table and the other tables surrounding.”
At now-closed Cashion’s Eat Place, if the kitchen was running low on a dish when a critic walked in, they’d tell the other tables it was eighty-sixed, just to be safe, says former co-owner Justin Abad.posted by inconstant at 12:31 PM on May 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm also always wondering why people are so much more likely to study calculus the night before a calculus exam. Wouldn't it be better if everybody just knew that stuff all the time?
Sorry. Unsnark.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 12:39 PM on May 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
Sorry. Unsnark.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 12:39 PM on May 3, 2018 [25 favorites]
Next step in this arms race on the critics' side is to have a decoy critic. You have one person go in under a fake name and enough pretense to plausibly be Anton Ego trying to be anonymous — spike the internet with a few blurry photos identifying this person as Anton Ego — while the real Anton Ego sits unnoticed three tables over.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:43 PM on May 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 12:43 PM on May 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
In Chicago (and a few other markets) there's a public television show called Check, Please! that sends out three new non-critics to review three restaurants every week. I wonder if sending out multiple strangers rather than a single consistent critic foils this sort of Potemkin Dinner routine, or if restaurants have developed methods for surveilling the production team and identifying the guests.
posted by Iridic at 12:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Iridic at 12:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
. . . and to be honest I thought it was good but not great food in a less than perfectly comfortable setting.
You are not crazy. This describes, with a handful of exceptions, the bulk of the restaurants that have driven the massively over-hyped DC food scene in the last 5 years or so. Most of them - and I would include Le Diplomate in this - are examples of premium mediocre.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:58 PM on May 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
You are not crazy. This describes, with a handful of exceptions, the bulk of the restaurants that have driven the massively over-hyped DC food scene in the last 5 years or so. Most of them - and I would include Le Diplomate in this - are examples of premium mediocre.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:58 PM on May 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
I think it's basically unfair to other restaurants. It's a form of cheating, you're trying to game the process by turning a single-blind evaluation into a non-blind evaluation. But if you're in a what's traditionally a working-class environment i.e. a restaurant, I can understand why they do it, which is not to condone the practice as a system of hierarchical structural privileging. Most chefs don't have a college or postgraduate degree, so they don't necessarily care about ethics the way an engineer or scientist or artist in a different social setting might. Cheating harms customers, restaurants, and wastes critics energy; at theoretical best, if every restaurant practiced this, it would be an inefficient ritual.
posted by polymodus at 1:05 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by polymodus at 1:05 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Most chefs don't have a college or postgraduate degree, so they don't necessarily care about ethics the way an engineer or scientist or artist in a different social setting might.What? Since when has a college or postgraduate degree been a prerequisite for Having Ethics? We're not talking about writing thirty-page philosophical monographs here, after all. I am skeptical of the assumption that those without advanced degrees are somehow ethically deficient.
posted by inconstant at 1:10 PM on May 3, 2018 [95 favorites]
I wonder if sending out multiple strangers rather than a single consistent critic foils this sort of Potemkin Dinner routine
This practice is traditionally known as "Yelp".
posted by capricorn at 1:18 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
This practice is traditionally known as "Yelp".
posted by capricorn at 1:18 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
First, you have to define "well" and "good".
"well" = being treated the same as the critic
"good" = food that is the same as what is served to the critic
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:25 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
"well" = being treated the same as the critic
"good" = food that is the same as what is served to the critic
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:25 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I agree that Le Diplomate is not as good as it's supposed to be, but I did have the best salad of my life there. And the room is really nice (not to mention the lovely outdoor seating when the weather is good). But it's not a place I ever think of to go on my own. Except maybe for that salad.
posted by lunasol at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2018
posted by lunasol at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2018
I think the trick would be to learn to disguise myself to LOOK like popular critics and keep going in for meals for a week steady. Once the ground is prepped, THEN we roll the real critic. Plus a week of top-flight meals for me!
posted by Samizdata at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Samizdata at 1:26 PM on May 3, 2018 [12 favorites]
"In Chicago (and a few other markets) there's a public television show called Check, Please! that sends out three new non-critics to review three restaurants every week. I wonder if sending out multiple strangers rather than a single consistent critic foils this sort of Potemkin Dinner routine, or if restaurants have developed methods for surveilling the production team and identifying the guests."
I'd have to think that would at the very least, be more useful to the average restaurant goer. When I go out to eat, very few of the weird little concerns a professional will have will be entirely irrelevant to me. Then again, I'm also not going to be reading professional restaurant reviews to begin with, I don't care about Joe Schmancy's experience or expectations anyway. First priority is friends/family/peers/etc and then whatever reviews you see looking up the restaurant. Ultimately these food reviews aren't really for us, they're for restaurants and the bourgeoisie culture around them.
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:31 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'd have to think that would at the very least, be more useful to the average restaurant goer. When I go out to eat, very few of the weird little concerns a professional will have will be entirely irrelevant to me. Then again, I'm also not going to be reading professional restaurant reviews to begin with, I don't care about Joe Schmancy's experience or expectations anyway. First priority is friends/family/peers/etc and then whatever reviews you see looking up the restaurant. Ultimately these food reviews aren't really for us, they're for restaurants and the bourgeoisie culture around them.
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:31 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I thought [Le Diplomate] was good but not great food in a less than perfectly comfortable setting. DBDG was strictly better.
So, I've never been to DBGB because literally everything I've heard about DBGB is that it's expensive and underwhelming, but I've had three great meals at Le Diplomate. How many times did you go?
Most of them - and I would include Le Diplomate in this - are examples of premium mediocre.
Like I said, I've had only great experiences at Le Diplomate, so I would not include it in that description, but oh yeah, lots and lots of other newish places in DC are exactly that. It's a combination of extremely high rent and an impossible market for good staff. And that's not even getting into the Fig & Olive disaster.
(Special "what the hell, chef?" points go to David Chang for the ongoing shambles with periodic outbreaks of deliciousness that is Momofuku DC).
posted by fedward at 1:33 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
So, I've never been to DBGB because literally everything I've heard about DBGB is that it's expensive and underwhelming, but I've had three great meals at Le Diplomate. How many times did you go?
Most of them - and I would include Le Diplomate in this - are examples of premium mediocre.
Like I said, I've had only great experiences at Le Diplomate, so I would not include it in that description, but oh yeah, lots and lots of other newish places in DC are exactly that. It's a combination of extremely high rent and an impossible market for good staff. And that's not even getting into the Fig & Olive disaster.
(Special "what the hell, chef?" points go to David Chang for the ongoing shambles with periodic outbreaks of deliciousness that is Momofuku DC).
posted by fedward at 1:33 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
What? Since when has a college or postgraduate degree been a prerequisite for Having Ethics? We're not talking about writing thirty-page philosophical monographs here, after all. I am skeptical of the assumption that those without advanced degrees are somehow ethically deficient.
Since when has a college or postgraduate degree been a prerequisite for Having Ethics?: Since never. I am not saying that having an advanced degree makes a person more ethical. But it is different, because classism exists. In this context, white-collar value systems, in particular knowledge workers, versus those in a restaurant or trade. This is a sociological observation, not a normative one, to the other comment about an engineer's perspective (and part of w0mbat's comment I do agree with as well as your earlier comment about shafting people, I do agree).
posted by polymodus at 1:39 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Since when has a college or postgraduate degree been a prerequisite for Having Ethics?: Since never. I am not saying that having an advanced degree makes a person more ethical. But it is different, because classism exists. In this context, white-collar value systems, in particular knowledge workers, versus those in a restaurant or trade. This is a sociological observation, not a normative one, to the other comment about an engineer's perspective (and part of w0mbat's comment I do agree with as well as your earlier comment about shafting people, I do agree).
posted by polymodus at 1:39 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have an engineer’s view of things, but it would be better to treat everyone well, and serve every diner good food.
If you're a software or hardware engineer who's ever worked on an investor demo, it's sorta like that. "I know this whole thing is a house of cards on an angry cat surrounded by bees, but by god it will work for the next twenty minutes."
posted by zippy at 1:42 PM on May 3, 2018 [36 favorites]
If you're a software or hardware engineer who's ever worked on an investor demo, it's sorta like that. "I know this whole thing is a house of cards on an angry cat surrounded by bees, but by god it will work for the next twenty minutes."
posted by zippy at 1:42 PM on May 3, 2018 [36 favorites]
So, I've never been to DBGB because literally everything I've heard about DBGB is that it's expensive and underwhelming, but I've had three great meals at Le Diplomate. How many times did you go?
Just the once at each. LD I've described (though the service was absolutely top-tier). DBDG was a solid nose ahead until dessert, which was a chocolate souffle I would rate at "Star Gate sequence from 2001."
posted by The Gaffer at 1:42 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Just the once at each. LD I've described (though the service was absolutely top-tier). DBDG was a solid nose ahead until dessert, which was a chocolate souffle I would rate at "Star Gate sequence from 2001."
posted by The Gaffer at 1:42 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
First, you have to define "well" and "good".
you really don't have to do that first
posted by thelonius at 1:44 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
you really don't have to do that first
posted by thelonius at 1:44 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
If you're a software or hardware engineer who's ever worked on an investor demo, it's sorta like that.
It's not like that at all. Critics are journalists are thus bound by a particular code of journalistic ethics (including disclosing conflict of interest). Investors are about money; if you're trying to get some Cornell schooled manager to pay for your restaurant, then by all means shower him/her with truffles and caviar. News for the public is a wholly different platform having to do with dissemination of information as a social good. It says a lot that we've ceded so much of legitimacy and standard of news to mass entertainment and economic capital in this way.
posted by polymodus at 1:48 PM on May 3, 2018
It's not like that at all. Critics are journalists are thus bound by a particular code of journalistic ethics (including disclosing conflict of interest). Investors are about money; if you're trying to get some Cornell schooled manager to pay for your restaurant, then by all means shower him/her with truffles and caviar. News for the public is a wholly different platform having to do with dissemination of information as a social good. It says a lot that we've ceded so much of legitimacy and standard of news to mass entertainment and economic capital in this way.
posted by polymodus at 1:48 PM on May 3, 2018
Okay, call it a press demo instead of an investor demo.
posted by Dysk at 2:10 PM on May 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 2:10 PM on May 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I'm going to make all my future reservations under the name Jonathan Gold. I will let you know how that works for me.
posted by rdr at 2:14 PM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by rdr at 2:14 PM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Okay, call it a press demo instead of an investor demo.
That's a problematic sentiment. I had just said in different words that the news (which hire said food critics and columnists) serves, and is paid for and funded by, the public readership, and ethically does not serve as a marketing arm for any industry. Given this, such a rebuttal is usually understood as glib and disingenuous rhetoric.
posted by polymodus at 2:17 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's a problematic sentiment. I had just said in different words that the news (which hire said food critics and columnists) serves, and is paid for and funded by, the public readership, and ethically does not serve as a marketing arm for any industry. Given this, such a rebuttal is usually understood as glib and disingenuous rhetoric.
posted by polymodus at 2:17 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Many years ago I went through a portion of my life where I had a bit more disposable income, and ended up eating out at some high end restaurants. That kind of fell off when I realized that I could remember many of those places for the experience, but the places I remembered for the >food were $5 lunches. And that if I spent the money up-front on the materials I could do as good a prep job at home.
Having said that, and I was only a regular at one fine dining establishment, even if there's a lot of hubbub around a restaurant critic, a lot of fine dining is about making a particular diner feel special. As such, I'd be surprised if they didn't have dossiers on likely diners, certainly they'd keep notes on regulars. The occasional tweak to the dish or "something special from the chef"? Heck, I've had that at $10 (inflation adjusted) lunch places I've been a regular at.
Which, of course, means that the non-regulars don't get the full fine dining experience, and, yeah, if you go to a restaurant once and you're not famous you're gonna wonder what the buzz is about...
posted by straw at 2:17 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Having said that, and I was only a regular at one fine dining establishment, even if there's a lot of hubbub around a restaurant critic, a lot of fine dining is about making a particular diner feel special. As such, I'd be surprised if they didn't have dossiers on likely diners, certainly they'd keep notes on regulars. The occasional tweak to the dish or "something special from the chef"? Heck, I've had that at $10 (inflation adjusted) lunch places I've been a regular at.
Which, of course, means that the non-regulars don't get the full fine dining experience, and, yeah, if you go to a restaurant once and you're not famous you're gonna wonder what the buzz is about...
posted by straw at 2:17 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
> It's not like that at all.
Yeah, it's sort of like that. In that a normally acceptable failure can in this one instance literally doom your business.
A dirty fork in a restaurant happens all the time, and a good server can turn it into a plus. So sorry, let me take care of that right away, and have an appetizer on the house. A critic is bound by journalistic ethics, but the standards for michelin-starred restaurants are ridiculous by design, and bad reviews are more fun to write and get more clicks. And you can't just turn an operation that's perceived to be on a certain level into one that's not. What are you gonna do, fire half the hard-to-find staff and move to a cheaper place? Might as well start over.
Same for important demos: Your stuff is in beta and fails 5% of the time? Fine, 95% of users left. You're trying to convince someone that this is the right place for their money, and all they see is a blue screen? Hope you have other people lined up. And you can't just turn a company that was planning on this funding into one that definitely won't get it. What are you gonna do, fire half the hard-to-find staff and move to a cheaper place? Might as well start over.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:20 PM on May 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Yeah, it's sort of like that. In that a normally acceptable failure can in this one instance literally doom your business.
A dirty fork in a restaurant happens all the time, and a good server can turn it into a plus. So sorry, let me take care of that right away, and have an appetizer on the house. A critic is bound by journalistic ethics, but the standards for michelin-starred restaurants are ridiculous by design, and bad reviews are more fun to write and get more clicks. And you can't just turn an operation that's perceived to be on a certain level into one that's not. What are you gonna do, fire half the hard-to-find staff and move to a cheaper place? Might as well start over.
Same for important demos: Your stuff is in beta and fails 5% of the time? Fine, 95% of users left. You're trying to convince someone that this is the right place for their money, and all they see is a blue screen? Hope you have other people lined up. And you can't just turn a company that was planning on this funding into one that definitely won't get it. What are you gonna do, fire half the hard-to-find staff and move to a cheaper place? Might as well start over.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:20 PM on May 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Yeah, it's sort of like that. In that a normally acceptable failure can in this one instance literally doom your business.
All you're really saying is that if stakes are high, the ethics can be "sort of" minimized. So really, it's not like that at all. Look, for whatever reason my earlier comments are triggering a number of people, but I've said what I wanted to say on the issue of ethics so in that vein I'm done. I happen to love fine eating at Michelin starred restaurants which is why I give them a hard time on this issue. I'm not going to keep commenting about my political opinions on this aspect of their practices, but I am happy to share my own experiences of being comped dishes and so on.
posted by polymodus at 2:24 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
All you're really saying is that if stakes are high, the ethics can be "sort of" minimized. So really, it's not like that at all. Look, for whatever reason my earlier comments are triggering a number of people, but I've said what I wanted to say on the issue of ethics so in that vein I'm done. I happen to love fine eating at Michelin starred restaurants which is why I give them a hard time on this issue. I'm not going to keep commenting about my political opinions on this aspect of their practices, but I am happy to share my own experiences of being comped dishes and so on.
posted by polymodus at 2:24 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I worked at a plumbing company not too long ago and Chris Onstad called in to get some plumbers over to his house for something. I was the only one that recognized his name and geeked out about it, and it ultimately didn't have any use. Now, if only I had been working in a restaurant while he was still the restaurant reviewer for the Mercury...
posted by gucci mane at 2:25 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 2:25 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
That kind of fell off when I realized that I could remember many of those places for the experience, but the places I remembered for the >food were $5 lunches.
Yeah, the places I think about most when I remember living in DC are the Peruvian chicken joints and Amsterdam Falafelshop (I have a friend in DC who is a vegan and I just discovered she's never been there and boy is she in for a treat!).
OK, well there's also Jose Andreas' restaurants, which are all pretty amazing and memorable both for the experience and the food. I've never been to minibar, but I regularly think about meals I've had at Oyamel and Zaytinya (still trying to figure out how to copycat the brussels afelia).
posted by lunasol at 2:28 PM on May 3, 2018
Yeah, the places I think about most when I remember living in DC are the Peruvian chicken joints and Amsterdam Falafelshop (I have a friend in DC who is a vegan and I just discovered she's never been there and boy is she in for a treat!).
OK, well there's also Jose Andreas' restaurants, which are all pretty amazing and memorable both for the experience and the food. I've never been to minibar, but I regularly think about meals I've had at Oyamel and Zaytinya (still trying to figure out how to copycat the brussels afelia).
posted by lunasol at 2:28 PM on May 3, 2018
This also reminds me of one of my good friends, who works at a certain restaurant in Portland where a lot of NBA players come to dine at. He's one of the only people on staff that recognize them (him and the other person who recognize them are both on my fantasy basketball team).
posted by gucci mane at 2:28 PM on May 3, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 2:28 PM on May 3, 2018
This is why there shouldn't be professional food critics. The rise of food blogging makes them pointless.
"But wait..." you might say. "... that's like saying that the rise of news blogging makes traditional journalists obsolete and pointless."
No, I'm not saying that at all, because traditional journalists have sources and can chase down stories, digging into red tape and obfuscation by people who don't want their dirty deeds to be revealed. Journalists can tell us the subjective truth, the facts of a situation. Professional food critics, on the other hand, are writing about completely objective things and giving only their opinion. They're op-ed writers. Other people who share the same food from the same plate at the same time might not even have the same experience as the critic. News outlets ought not to be wasting their resources on opinion writers - not for politics and not for food writing.
posted by Docrailgun at 2:33 PM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
"But wait..." you might say. "... that's like saying that the rise of news blogging makes traditional journalists obsolete and pointless."
No, I'm not saying that at all, because traditional journalists have sources and can chase down stories, digging into red tape and obfuscation by people who don't want their dirty deeds to be revealed. Journalists can tell us the subjective truth, the facts of a situation. Professional food critics, on the other hand, are writing about completely objective things and giving only their opinion. They're op-ed writers. Other people who share the same food from the same plate at the same time might not even have the same experience as the critic. News outlets ought not to be wasting their resources on opinion writers - not for politics and not for food writing.
posted by Docrailgun at 2:33 PM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
Counterpoint: restaurants are entirely about a subjective experience, and therefore having staff dedicated to analysing that subjective experience is vital both for the expertise and ability to appreciate nuance that they obtain via training and experience and for the consistency that a professional brings to the task which allows readers to say "Reviewer X clearly appreciates the same things I do in a restaurant, based on their reviews of places I've been, and therefore I can trust their recommendations".
In a world where some people love cilantro and others think it tastes like soap, I have no idea how you can possibly claim that anything about food is objective.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:40 PM on May 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
In a world where some people love cilantro and others think it tastes like soap, I have no idea how you can possibly claim that anything about food is objective.
posted by tobascodagama at 2:40 PM on May 3, 2018 [22 favorites]
I had just said in different words that the news (which hire said food critics and columnists) serves, and is paid for and funded by, the public readership, and ethically does not serve as a marketing arm for any industry.
I mean, if you want to pretend that in practice, it works differently in engineering circles, great, but that doesn't match the reality for anyone I know working in engineering or any similar field. Press demos (which are completely analogous to the meal served to the restaurant critic) are routinely polished turds, held together by spit and sawdust, to function for the specific circumstances of the demo. This is no different to making a special effort for the restaurant critic.
What I'm trying to say is, no, in practice it is absolutely no different in engineering or any other industry with regard to ethical concerns regarding how representative your demonstrations to the media are.
posted by Dysk at 2:41 PM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
I mean, if you want to pretend that in practice, it works differently in engineering circles, great, but that doesn't match the reality for anyone I know working in engineering or any similar field. Press demos (which are completely analogous to the meal served to the restaurant critic) are routinely polished turds, held together by spit and sawdust, to function for the specific circumstances of the demo. This is no different to making a special effort for the restaurant critic.
What I'm trying to say is, no, in practice it is absolutely no different in engineering or any other industry with regard to ethical concerns regarding how representative your demonstrations to the media are.
posted by Dysk at 2:41 PM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
This is why there shouldn't be professional food critics. The rise of food blogging makes them pointless.
"But wait..." you might say. "... that's like saying that the rise of news blogging makes traditional journalists obsolete and pointless."
No, I'm not saying that at all, because traditional journalists have sources and can chase down stories, digging into red tape and obfuscation by people who don't want their dirty deeds to be revealed. Journalists can tell us the subjective truth, the facts of a situation.
As a programmer, are you sure you don't mean the objective truth?
However, that's a very serendipitous sentence, because I'd argue that what food critics and, yes, op-ed writers, provide is a view into their subjective truth - if only in the "Whatever X approves of must be horrible" kind of way.
Fake edit: Beaten like a drum, eponysterically, by tobascodagama.
posted by "mad dan" eccles at 2:46 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
"But wait..." you might say. "... that's like saying that the rise of news blogging makes traditional journalists obsolete and pointless."
No, I'm not saying that at all, because traditional journalists have sources and can chase down stories, digging into red tape and obfuscation by people who don't want their dirty deeds to be revealed. Journalists can tell us the subjective truth, the facts of a situation.
As a programmer, are you sure you don't mean the objective truth?
However, that's a very serendipitous sentence, because I'd argue that what food critics and, yes, op-ed writers, provide is a view into their subjective truth - if only in the "Whatever X approves of must be horrible" kind of way.
Fake edit: Beaten like a drum, eponysterically, by tobascodagama.
posted by "mad dan" eccles at 2:46 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
> All you're really saying is [...]
Yeah, no, that's more or less the opposite of what I'm saying. I say an analogy is apt but not in every conceivable way, you pick one of the ways in which it's not, and then tell me I'm only saying that. No, I'm not.
Making a demo work and convincing a food critic are sort of alike. Yes, feel free to point out more ways in which they are not exactly the same. People "cheat" to minimize high-damage low-probability events in both cases. The product you're demoing is hopefully worthwhile, and you're hopefully not serving swill to everybody but the critic. That's where the ethics come in. On the side of the critic, well there's as much money in being unreasonably snobbish as there is in being honest I'm sure. But given they tend to care about screw-ups that normal patrons would be OK with, I kind of think of it not as cheating but as self-defense...
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Yeah, no, that's more or less the opposite of what I'm saying. I say an analogy is apt but not in every conceivable way, you pick one of the ways in which it's not, and then tell me I'm only saying that. No, I'm not.
Making a demo work and convincing a food critic are sort of alike. Yes, feel free to point out more ways in which they are not exactly the same. People "cheat" to minimize high-damage low-probability events in both cases. The product you're demoing is hopefully worthwhile, and you're hopefully not serving swill to everybody but the critic. That's where the ethics come in. On the side of the critic, well there's as much money in being unreasonably snobbish as there is in being honest I'm sure. But given they tend to care about screw-ups that normal patrons would be OK with, I kind of think of it not as cheating but as self-defense...
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
restaurants are entirely about a subjective experience, and therefore having staff dedicated to analysing that subjective experience is vital
Imma going to stop you right there, you're right, especially about the last part.
A few weeks ago I went out to a upscalish German beergarden restaurant and with my main course they served some mustard, as is the custom in such establishments. Now this mustard was the most fantastic, perfect mustard ever. As in "bottle this shit up and you'll make millions" mustard. So I told my server so (in less florid language) and he explained to me how they made it and oh, would I like a few containers to take home with me?
This seemingly small gesture struck me as so nice and genuine that I now love this place and cant wait to take everyone I know there.
I like knowing that this was a genuine gesture, if I was a food critic and this happened I would have most likely written it off as "Damn, my cover's blown."
posted by jeremias at 2:59 PM on May 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
Imma going to stop you right there, you're right, especially about the last part.
A few weeks ago I went out to a upscalish German beergarden restaurant and with my main course they served some mustard, as is the custom in such establishments. Now this mustard was the most fantastic, perfect mustard ever. As in "bottle this shit up and you'll make millions" mustard. So I told my server so (in less florid language) and he explained to me how they made it and oh, would I like a few containers to take home with me?
This seemingly small gesture struck me as so nice and genuine that I now love this place and cant wait to take everyone I know there.
I like knowing that this was a genuine gesture, if I was a food critic and this happened I would have most likely written it off as "Damn, my cover's blown."
posted by jeremias at 2:59 PM on May 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
1: I am so totally a PPX. Just that no one knows it yet lol.
2: basically take a half star off every notable review to get a real idea of of what the non PPX experience will be.
posted by Annika Cicada at 3:17 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
2: basically take a half star off every notable review to get a real idea of of what the non PPX experience will be.
posted by Annika Cicada at 3:17 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
In Chicago (and a few other markets) there's a public television show called Check, Please! that sends out three new non-critics to review three restaurants every week
Yeah, thankfully this reviewer was able to eat and get his review in before he became more noticeable in public.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:39 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
Yeah, thankfully this reviewer was able to eat and get his review in before he became more noticeable in public.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:39 PM on May 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
This is why there shouldn't be professional food critics. The rise of food blogging makes them pointless. … News outlets ought not to be wasting their resources on opinion writers - not for politics and not for food writing.
This is absurd. Good critics make restaurants better, because they give them something to strive for and point out when they're missing the goals they set out for themselves. J. Random Yelper might not have the familiarity or the palate to judge a new cuisine on its merits (cf the Thai restaurant in DC that puts its bad Yelp reviews on its sandwich board), and a restaurant critic presumably has the palate and the references to describe the experience well.
Also I'm pretty sure Tom Sietsema's restaurant guides drive traffic to the Post web site even if nobody goes to the newsstand for a copy anymore.
posted by fedward at 3:46 PM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
This is absurd. Good critics make restaurants better, because they give them something to strive for and point out when they're missing the goals they set out for themselves. J. Random Yelper might not have the familiarity or the palate to judge a new cuisine on its merits (cf the Thai restaurant in DC that puts its bad Yelp reviews on its sandwich board), and a restaurant critic presumably has the palate and the references to describe the experience well.
Also I'm pretty sure Tom Sietsema's restaurant guides drive traffic to the Post web site even if nobody goes to the newsstand for a copy anymore.
posted by fedward at 3:46 PM on May 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
KNOW HOW MANY MONTE CRISTO'S I MADE TODAY, YA.
Really, I'm going to need 'Larousse Gastronomique' and a CIA case report on Culinary warfare to waddle my way through this.
"But the photos—often tiny and low-resolution—help only so much. What’s more valuable is having someone who has interacted with food writers face to face and can ID them without the grainy images."
Ya know, just hire two folks part-time, have 'em do a Gomer and Sue, smooze....
"Next step in this arms race on the critics' side is to have a decoy critic."
on preview, DevilsAdvocate has it right [posted at 3:43 PM on May 3.] I like that, Take'em to Neiman Marcus (sic sp) and a salon.
don't know, going back to cooking, I didn't want to work in a place that a had a chef. I figure, A good cook does the best what they given, while a chef has to go and find the best thing to give.
for a price.
posted by clavdivs at 3:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Really, I'm going to need 'Larousse Gastronomique' and a CIA case report on Culinary warfare to waddle my way through this.
"But the photos—often tiny and low-resolution—help only so much. What’s more valuable is having someone who has interacted with food writers face to face and can ID them without the grainy images."
Ya know, just hire two folks part-time, have 'em do a Gomer and Sue, smooze....
"Next step in this arms race on the critics' side is to have a decoy critic."
on preview, DevilsAdvocate has it right [posted at 3:43 PM on May 3.] I like that, Take'em to Neiman Marcus (sic sp) and a salon.
don't know, going back to cooking, I didn't want to work in a place that a had a chef. I figure, A good cook does the best what they given, while a chef has to go and find the best thing to give.
for a price.
posted by clavdivs at 3:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah, thankfully this reviewer yt was able to eat and get his review in before he became more noticeable in public.
Now I'm bummed that Dixie Kitchen has been closed for almost 10 years now.
posted by Copronymus at 4:08 PM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Now I'm bummed that Dixie Kitchen has been closed for almost 10 years now.
posted by Copronymus at 4:08 PM on May 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
Me covering up a lie: “Nor do I, sir. Nor do I.”
posted by GuyZero at 4:34 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 4:34 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Chris Onstad called in to get some plumbers over to his house for something
I worked at one of the largest Austin ISPs in the late 90s, and one day Mike Judge calls in wanting to get signed up and get his SGI workstation at home connected. IIRC he wanted a T1 line setup.
We damn near had a fistfight in the office over who got to go out and PERSONALLY attend to Mr. Judge's needs.
Other cool stuff about that job: one day we got a phone call from some sysadmins out at Origin. One of the line cards in their Cisco router (or somesuch) had gone down and Ultima Online was currently suffering an outage, did we happen to have a spare they could borrow for a couple of days? Why sure, said our CEO/boss, and filled a couple of cars with our sysadmins and headed across town. Not only did our guys get a tour, but I was told they were taken into the "company store" and told "You can take home everything you can carry." Unfortunately that was the week I was on vacation out of town...
posted by mrbill at 4:51 PM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
I worked at one of the largest Austin ISPs in the late 90s, and one day Mike Judge calls in wanting to get signed up and get his SGI workstation at home connected. IIRC he wanted a T1 line setup.
We damn near had a fistfight in the office over who got to go out and PERSONALLY attend to Mr. Judge's needs.
Other cool stuff about that job: one day we got a phone call from some sysadmins out at Origin. One of the line cards in their Cisco router (or somesuch) had gone down and Ultima Online was currently suffering an outage, did we happen to have a spare they could borrow for a couple of days? Why sure, said our CEO/boss, and filled a couple of cars with our sysadmins and headed across town. Not only did our guys get a tour, but I was told they were taken into the "company store" and told "You can take home everything you can carry." Unfortunately that was the week I was on vacation out of town...
posted by mrbill at 4:51 PM on May 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
This was an entertaining story, but I had 2 thoughts:
- I'm glad I don't work in the restaurant industry. My current job is stressful, but not THAT kind of stressful.
- This probably happens in other big cities too, but it feels quintessentially, well, Washingtonian. D.C. seems to be entirely built around knowing who has the power, and sucking up to them.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:33 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
- I'm glad I don't work in the restaurant industry. My current job is stressful, but not THAT kind of stressful.
- This probably happens in other big cities too, but it feels quintessentially, well, Washingtonian. D.C. seems to be entirely built around knowing who has the power, and sucking up to them.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 7:33 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
> tobascodagama:
"Counterpoint: restaurants are entirely about a subjective experience, and therefore having staff dedicated to analysing that subjective experience is vital both for the expertise and ability to appreciate nuance that they obtain via training and experience and for the consistency that a professional brings to the task which allows readers to say "Reviewer X clearly appreciates the same things I do in a restaurant, based on their reviews of places I've been, and therefore I can trust their recommendations"."
This is how I choose my movie critics. Find out how they rated a few movies I liked, then a probationary period...
posted by Samizdata at 7:48 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Counterpoint: restaurants are entirely about a subjective experience, and therefore having staff dedicated to analysing that subjective experience is vital both for the expertise and ability to appreciate nuance that they obtain via training and experience and for the consistency that a professional brings to the task which allows readers to say "Reviewer X clearly appreciates the same things I do in a restaurant, based on their reviews of places I've been, and therefore I can trust their recommendations"."
This is how I choose my movie critics. Find out how they rated a few movies I liked, then a probationary period...
posted by Samizdata at 7:48 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
> Annika Cicada:
"PPX"
Can I ask what the blistering green fuck that means, please? All I can find are Walther pistols and portable X-Ray machines. Oh, grand! ANOTHER watchlist I am on...
posted by Samizdata at 7:50 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
"PPX"
Can I ask what the blistering green fuck that means, please? All I can find are Walther pistols and portable X-Ray machines. Oh, grand! ANOTHER watchlist I am on...
posted by Samizdata at 7:50 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
What was sad about this was the sense that whoever caused any mistake, however minor, was going to lose their job over it.
posted by salvia at 7:53 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by salvia at 7:53 PM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
From the article:
Someone scrawled Sietsema’s name on the kitchen whiteboard that tracks everyone in the dining room designated “PPX,” the French code for VIP, meaning personne particulièrement extraordinaire.
posted by Slinga at 7:58 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Someone scrawled Sietsema’s name on the kitchen whiteboard that tracks everyone in the dining room designated “PPX,” the French code for VIP, meaning personne particulièrement extraordinaire.
posted by Slinga at 7:58 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
> Can I ask what the blistering green fuck that means, please?
personne particulièrement X-traordinaire. But if you have to ask, or if you have the time to comment on metafilter, you're not one. We're all stuck in the unceasing mediocrity of ordinary experience... Experience that was probably not even designed by anyone, certainly not tailored and hand-crafted to our needs. We're so fucked.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 8:00 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
personne particulièrement X-traordinaire. But if you have to ask, or if you have the time to comment on metafilter, you're not one. We're all stuck in the unceasing mediocrity of ordinary experience... Experience that was probably not even designed by anyone, certainly not tailored and hand-crafted to our needs. We're so fucked.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 8:00 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Sort of reminds me of how anxious hospital management gets about JCAHO visits.
posted by ghost phoneme at 8:00 PM on May 3, 2018
posted by ghost phoneme at 8:00 PM on May 3, 2018
The pursuit of Michelin Stars is so literally tiresome.
posted by srboisvert at 8:29 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 8:29 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: crammed with fish that appeared to be fried in a straitjacket
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:23 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:23 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
I mean, if you want to pretend that in practice, it works differently in engineering circles, great, but that doesn't match the reality for anyone I know working in engineering or any similar field.
Yeah, no, that's more or less the opposite of what I'm saying. I say an analogy is apt but not in every conceivable way, you pick one of the ways in which it's not, and then tell me I'm only saying that. No, I'm not.
You're both just repeating the idea that commercial engineering has to hustle and this is the same. Which is analytically wrong and therefore morally a wrong consequence for people to believe in. Yes, it is not unethical that Steve Jobs used a faked out, prototype iPhone during its first press conference. It is unethical if he tells a journalist his iPhone has special features that then will not actually be in the product for consumers. That difference is the key difference. When as documented in his memoirs, Paul Liebrandt at Corton went all out with truffles, caviar, foie, and gold leaf after detecting it was Frank Bruni sitting at some table, that is fundamentally a practice that thwarts what critics of the NYTimes and the Michelin Guide set out to do. High-end restaurants as a system are literally doing something that the journalists do not want because it interferes with their evaluative task. In economic terms, this is an anti-competitive practices which increases barrier to market entry and thus has material effect on the success of other restaurants and thus the health of the industry as whole.
It's the difference between testing and demoing. Tests have to be fair. If you thwart the review system, you make it harder for everyone else including those restaurants that don't have the capital to embark on such forms of covert advertising campaigns. That's the ethical line; it's a clear and bright distinction. It's about fairness and consideration beyond your own restaurants' needs and so on.
Using the role of a critic and somehow rationalizing that as something not any different than other business scenarios "It's just business" reasoning is so off-base I can't even wrap my head around that. Remember, the journalists at Moscone center were invited to an Apple developer/press conference. They were not doing product review. (Unless either of you are saying that pre-release hardware for journalists has magic features, right? Again, the distinction.) Understanding the contexts and the very different roles between a critic, a journalist, and a buyer or investor is critical for any analogy to work. Otherwise you're better off directly reasoning about the thing itself.
posted by polymodus at 9:27 PM on May 3, 2018
Yeah, no, that's more or less the opposite of what I'm saying. I say an analogy is apt but not in every conceivable way, you pick one of the ways in which it's not, and then tell me I'm only saying that. No, I'm not.
You're both just repeating the idea that commercial engineering has to hustle and this is the same. Which is analytically wrong and therefore morally a wrong consequence for people to believe in. Yes, it is not unethical that Steve Jobs used a faked out, prototype iPhone during its first press conference. It is unethical if he tells a journalist his iPhone has special features that then will not actually be in the product for consumers. That difference is the key difference. When as documented in his memoirs, Paul Liebrandt at Corton went all out with truffles, caviar, foie, and gold leaf after detecting it was Frank Bruni sitting at some table, that is fundamentally a practice that thwarts what critics of the NYTimes and the Michelin Guide set out to do. High-end restaurants as a system are literally doing something that the journalists do not want because it interferes with their evaluative task. In economic terms, this is an anti-competitive practices which increases barrier to market entry and thus has material effect on the success of other restaurants and thus the health of the industry as whole.
It's the difference between testing and demoing. Tests have to be fair. If you thwart the review system, you make it harder for everyone else including those restaurants that don't have the capital to embark on such forms of covert advertising campaigns. That's the ethical line; it's a clear and bright distinction. It's about fairness and consideration beyond your own restaurants' needs and so on.
Using the role of a critic and somehow rationalizing that as something not any different than other business scenarios "It's just business" reasoning is so off-base I can't even wrap my head around that. Remember, the journalists at Moscone center were invited to an Apple developer/press conference. They were not doing product review. (Unless either of you are saying that pre-release hardware for journalists has magic features, right? Again, the distinction.) Understanding the contexts and the very different roles between a critic, a journalist, and a buyer or investor is critical for any analogy to work. Otherwise you're better off directly reasoning about the thing itself.
posted by polymodus at 9:27 PM on May 3, 2018
clavdivs, I look forward to a hearty meal of your nonsequitir monte cristos some fine day
posted by mwhybark at 9:28 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mwhybark at 9:28 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
My Dad, being the kind of person he was, would sometimes pretend to be a restaurant critic--doing things like taking notes in a notepad after tasting the food. I think it only worked at one restaurant where the owner kept coming over, looking nervous, and asking if everything was okay.
He just wanted to see if he could pull it off, so I don't think he ever did it again after that.
posted by eye of newt at 9:38 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
He just wanted to see if he could pull it off, so I don't think he ever did it again after that.
posted by eye of newt at 9:38 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah the stress/pressure on the workers is all I can really focus on here. It seems like the extra stress of a shift where you know there's a mystery customer or a liquor licence agent coming in a dozen times over.
"Nerves, as always, ran high. “I’ve burned more shit trying to cook something perfect for Tom Sietsema than I ever would have if I didn’t know that he was there,” the sous chef says."
If they're going to work their employees that much harder, they should at least pay them more.
Not to mention the shift length/frequency regulations that are probably being thrown under the bus when they call extra workers in.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 10:21 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
"Nerves, as always, ran high. “I’ve burned more shit trying to cook something perfect for Tom Sietsema than I ever would have if I didn’t know that he was there,” the sous chef says."
If they're going to work their employees that much harder, they should at least pay them more.
Not to mention the shift length/frequency regulations that are probably being thrown under the bus when they call extra workers in.
posted by AnhydrousLove at 10:21 PM on May 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
> Slinga:
"From the article:
Someone scrawled Sietsema’s name on the kitchen whiteboard that tracks everyone in the dining room designated “PPX,” the French code for VIP, meaning personne particulièrement extraordinaire."
> kleinsteradikaleminderheit:
"> Can I ask what the blistering green fuck that means, please?
personne particulièrement X-traordinaire. But if you have to ask, or if you have the time to comment on metafilter, you're not one. We're all stuck in the unceasing mediocrity of ordinary experience... Experience that was probably not even designed by anyone, certainly not tailored and hand-crafted to our needs. We're so fucked."
Yeah, well, between the article and reading that comment, a goodly bit of time had passed. And as I no longer work restaurant work, my memory prioritization had let it pass, silently and with no warning. Plus SO many abbreviations and acronyms nowadays, I can't track all of them.
posted by Samizdata at 11:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
"From the article:
Someone scrawled Sietsema’s name on the kitchen whiteboard that tracks everyone in the dining room designated “PPX,” the French code for VIP, meaning personne particulièrement extraordinaire."
> kleinsteradikaleminderheit:
"> Can I ask what the blistering green fuck that means, please?
personne particulièrement X-traordinaire. But if you have to ask, or if you have the time to comment on metafilter, you're not one. We're all stuck in the unceasing mediocrity of ordinary experience... Experience that was probably not even designed by anyone, certainly not tailored and hand-crafted to our needs. We're so fucked."
Yeah, well, between the article and reading that comment, a goodly bit of time had passed. And as I no longer work restaurant work, my memory prioritization had let it pass, silently and with no warning. Plus SO many abbreviations and acronyms nowadays, I can't track all of them.
posted by Samizdata at 11:47 PM on May 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
(still trying to figure out how to copycat the brussels afelia)
Lunasol, have you seen this?
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:00 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Lunasol, have you seen this?
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:00 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's the difference between testing and demoing. Tests have to be fair.
The critic might see it as a test. The restaurant clearly sees it as a demo.
Unless either of you are saying that pre-release hardware for journalists has magic features, right?
It fairly often does? Like, you can be sure the particular chip sent to the overclock-happy hardware review site is hand picked to be one of the better ones, that will be stable beyond what's representative of the production line in general.
The pre-release sample of a product sent out to press is often packaged in a way that is not at all like the final product packaging, to give a better impression. These kinds of things are massaged all the time.
You're basically saying that you think it ought to be different in this particular situation. In practice, it absolutely isn't.
posted by Dysk at 1:44 AM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
The critic might see it as a test. The restaurant clearly sees it as a demo.
Unless either of you are saying that pre-release hardware for journalists has magic features, right?
It fairly often does? Like, you can be sure the particular chip sent to the overclock-happy hardware review site is hand picked to be one of the better ones, that will be stable beyond what's representative of the production line in general.
The pre-release sample of a product sent out to press is often packaged in a way that is not at all like the final product packaging, to give a better impression. These kinds of things are massaged all the time.
You're basically saying that you think it ought to be different in this particular situation. In practice, it absolutely isn't.
posted by Dysk at 1:44 AM on May 4, 2018 [5 favorites]
(And don't get me started on the automotive world, where press cars are routinely earmarked as such from early in the production process, and given care and attention that nothing else that comes off the same production line ever will. Then there's the whole emissions testing thing, which caught several manufacturers not just VW, and then there's the official fuel economy figures which are not at all representative of what's achievable in real-world conditions, but is nevertheless sold and expressed that way as standard by every manufacturer in the industry.
Like, a little extra gold leaf or truffle is fucking minor compared to a lot of the routine semi-deception in other fields.)
posted by Dysk at 2:06 AM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
Like, a little extra gold leaf or truffle is fucking minor compared to a lot of the routine semi-deception in other fields.)
posted by Dysk at 2:06 AM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
Back in my food media days, I was occasionally exposed to this level of attention, whether openly, because I was dining with our well-known editor or more clandestinely, because a few restaurants around town knew who I was. I wielded nowhere near the power that Sietsema does and I still found the clandestine version of this kind of suffocating. Being openly romanced was actually a lot less annoying -- at least you knew for sure everything you were being sent unordered from the kitchen was a "special taste" and weren't constantly feeling on edge about whether you were getting a "normal" experience.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:21 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 8:21 AM on May 4, 2018 [2 favorites]
Dysk, funny you should mention the auto world. I know it's confirmation bias, but the cars the wash post auto review guy (warren) parallels the restaurants the wash post food guy (tom) does.
All BMW/Mercedes high end luxe cars. Not a honda civic to be found. Not that I want applebee's or fast casual chain joints reviewed, but would be nice to see reviews of places that aren't $80+ a diner. (Yeah, the food section has shorter blurbs "first taste" for that, not written by Tom, but.. )
posted by k5.user at 8:54 AM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
All BMW/Mercedes high end luxe cars. Not a honda civic to be found. Not that I want applebee's or fast casual chain joints reviewed, but would be nice to see reviews of places that aren't $80+ a diner. (Yeah, the food section has shorter blurbs "first taste" for that, not written by Tom, but.. )
posted by k5.user at 8:54 AM on May 4, 2018 [3 favorites]
I always enjoy these articles, because I know someone who used to work in high-end restaurants and explained the spot-the-critic game to me; I enjoyed this one even more because I used to hang out with Sietsema (I impressed him when I first met him by saying "That's a Friesian name, isn't it?") and know what a dedicated and serious food person he is (in case anyone thinks he's some snob who only eats at fancy places, he started out reviewing local eats in NYC), and because it's so well written (it's by Jessica Sidman—name the author, people!). This thread is full of the usual pointless peacocking by folks who know nothing about the topic but have Strong Opinions largely based on the Just World Fallacy, but my thanks go to those brave souls who are willing to stand up for fine dining and the value of critics on the Blue!
Money quote from TFA (which some of y'all haven't bothered to read): “You can’t fake a four-star restaurant.”
posted by languagehat at 9:34 AM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
Money quote from TFA (which some of y'all haven't bothered to read): “You can’t fake a four-star restaurant.”
posted by languagehat at 9:34 AM on May 4, 2018 [8 favorites]
> "That's a Friesian name, isn't it?"
Frisian! I meant Frisian, dammit!!
posted by languagehat at 10:47 AM on May 4, 2018
Frisian! I meant Frisian, dammit!!
posted by languagehat at 10:47 AM on May 4, 2018
Not that I want applebee's or fast casual chain joints reviewed
As a matter of fact, Sietsema did just that.
posted by praemunire at 10:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
As a matter of fact, Sietsema did just that.
posted by praemunire at 10:19 PM on May 4, 2018 [6 favorites]
Thanks, that made fascinating reading!
posted by languagehat at 10:30 AM on May 5, 2018
posted by languagehat at 10:30 AM on May 5, 2018
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posted by The Gaffer at 11:56 AM on May 3, 2018 [3 favorites]