PrintYou Win Some, You... Get Really, Really Mad At Some?
We see restaurant reviews in newspapers and on blogs every single day but we rarely ever get to hear the other side of the story, how chefs and restauranteurs feel when they read what critics and customers have to say about their food. Today we've got two totally opposite reactions from people on different ends of the food industry ladder:
Matt Finarelli's is working what's only his second job in a kitchen (at Restaurant Vero in Arlington) and his reaction to a local food blog reviewing the restaurant and giving highest praise to a dish he created is sweet and joyful: "So while my one addition was well-received, and even achieved “gem” status, I give all thanks to my bosses for taking the chance to allow me to be creative, my fellow cooks for letting me - the salad chef - take up space on the stove and in the bain marie for the creation of this dish, and to the servers for getting it to the right people at the right time. The seeming success of one in the kitchen is really the success of all."
Financier Jeffrey Chodorow—perhaps known to most as Rocco diSpirito's partner-turned-nemesis on the reality show The Restaurant—was so upset by Frank Bruni's recent slam of his new steakhouse Kobe Club that he spent at least $30K to buy a full-page ad in the NYT today declaring war on the Times food section: "In the interest of fairness, I am introducing my personal blog, which will be a compilation of my food-related experiences and musings and a special section entitled Following Frank and After Adam, in which I will make a follow-up visit to the restaurants they write about for the purpose of reviewing their reviews. My blog will appear at http://www.chinagrillmgt.com/blog/."
Related: What it's like to wait for a NYT review
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5 Comments:
From the Chodoblog:
"The restaurant business is one of the most difficult businesses in the world. Thank God....otherwise many more people would try to do it!"
Yes, thank god. God forbid we have more people puffing up their chests in self-importance and taking out full page ads in the Times.
Dan Dickinson at 10:37AM on 02/22/07
Frankly, I find critics reviews pretty worthless. They are often recognized when visiting a restaurant, and are treated differently from the rest of us. It's human nature, and I don't blame the chefs for doing it. When you read reviews from regular diners, you often get a true picture of what your dining experience will turn out to be.
Mr. K at 11:47AM on 02/22/07
Someone told me the full-page ad cost $80K. That's probably more than four times what the average kitchen worker in a Chodorow restaurant (or any other restaurant for that matter) makes!
lia at 4:50PM on 02/23/07
mmm ... i'm decidedly not a fan of mr. chodorow, and don't pretend to understand his motivation in undertaking this project.
i will say, however, that i'm glad he's doing it. i am a restaurant owner; have been in the biz since i was a kid. when the chod says that "The restaurant business is one of the most difficult businesses in the world", i've gotta speak up. it really is extraordinarily difficult; hard to hear from such a puffed-up egomaniac as himself, but true, nonetheless.
restaurant criticism in NYC is about the great gaping maw of the publicity machine, and operates on roughly the same dynamic as that of the "popular" high school clique.
who's hot? who's got the best press agent? who can charge so much money that they can make their customers feel that they're the kings of the world?
so much utter bullshit - i've had employees of the local rags tell me, to my face, that they wouldn't have time to eat, could i just give them a quick rundown on what the restaurant was about. it's incredibly galling, to work so hard, to use all of one's experience and energy to deal with this really tough business, only to find that the bullshit artists who call themselves "restaurant critics" are barely willing to get out of bed to submit their worthless drivel to their editors. and no, i am not making this up.
i can't even continue writing this post, as i'm becoming apoplectic at the very thought of it.
as for Mr. K's observation that "When you read reviews from regular diners, you often get a true picture of what your dining experience will turn out to be" - well, yes and no. the explosion of the blogosphere has allowed any number of entitled, spoiled persons to spew all sort of vitriol at any target that might suit their particular ill-temper du jour.
good god people, i'm FEEDING you! i can say that the feedback that i get from my customers, is, in the main,heart-warmingly positive, even effusive. however, now and again i'll read something so nasty, so out of left-field, and so unwarranted that i just want to cry.
sure, it's my problem that i'm thinskinned: NYC's not an easy place.
enough of me for now. if i compose myself i'll write more later - but for now i have to make a cake and a pie. gee whiz.
suzy at 3:50PM on 02/24/07
I'm sure many of you have read Ruth Reich's books and realize what a real food critic is all about.......let's face it the restaurants that are reviewed are eaten in by a majority of people who have more money that the average bloke........we only go out to restaurants on special occasions that are in the $100 per person range and the rest of the time stay in our neighborhoods where they never review the restaurants or we use Zagat's for our information......every New Yorker uses it as their guide to food in their neighborhood and throughout the city........sounds to me like Mr. Chodorow is so full of himself that he has lost sight of the fact that he is in the customer service business.......and as for Alain Ducasse.......well, he couldn't make it in NY and back to France he goes.....
galaxypark83 at 6:31PM on 02/26/07