Entries tagged with 'food critics'
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Critic Turned Cook follows former Seattle Post-Intelligencer food critic Leslie Kelly on her journey away from the keyboard and into the kitchen. Take it away, Leslie! ©iStockphoto.com/joanek At a recent family cookout, my Uncle Hugh asked how work in the kitchen was going. "It's hard—exhausting, really," I said. "I have a new understanding for what goes in to feeding a bunch of demanding diners." "Well, maybe you owe some of those restaurants you reviewed an apology," he teased. Uncle Hugh loved yanking my chain, but weeks later, I was still thinking about what he said. From the other side of the counter, I can certainly see how a critic would drive a cook crazy. Myself, I wasn't the kind of...
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Pulitzer Prize–winning LA food critic Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly, Gourmet) reveals a love of gangsta rap during a guest DJ session on KCRW. Host Garth Trinidad asks Gold about the time he spent in the studio with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre while they recorded Doggystyle. ... LA hip-hop had all been like very fast. Like pop, pop, pop, pop. Stuff for the girl in the disco, and he was the guy who like slowed it down and made it gangsta. Chronic, I think, was the total breakthrough album. It crossed over to the bouncing cars to hanging out barbecuing in the park. It was less about bang, bang, bang, and it was more about "this is a neighborhood you...
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MenuPages Chicago: "Could it be that the head restaurant reviewer for a major metropolitan newspaper decided to blow his anonymity out of the water by appearing on a highly rated, nationally aired television show featuring the signature dish of his hometown, with his cover being only the inversion of his highly recognizable name?" MP also notes Bobby Flay's praise: "'You guys are the best judges we've ever had... You guys should do this for a living.'"...
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It's a popular question for San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer, who says people should "follow their passion and write, whether on a blog or on established websites. The unique, interesting and trusted voices will rise to the top.” Or you could just join Yelp....
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The San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer wrote last week in his column on how having a blog gives him the ability to have an open dialogue with both diners and restaurateurs, and as a result, also helps him be more informed as a critic. Given such direct correspondence with the owners, wouldn't it impact his ability to give an objective review? He doesn't think so: Call me dense, but I don't see how corresponding by e-mail with restaurateurs and chefs makes me any less anonymous. This type of interaction only helps to inform my coverage. It has no bearing on whether I'm recognized when I go to a restaurant.Before the Internet, I often would call a chef after the visits...
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Gordon Ramsay is the kind of man that has the words "temper" and "outburst" used in nearly every last thing written about him. The Independent's Jonathan Thompson interviewed Ramsay yesterday to get his reaction on the interviews his former mentor and now long-time nemesis Marco Pierre White's been doing in support of his new book, and of course both "temper" and "outburst" appeared in the piece's very first paragraph. White said "there is a time and a place for McDonald's" and naturally, Ramsay feels quite the opposite: "Strip a Big Mac back of everything it's filled up with and you've got two bland basics: fat and fodder. When you think of how exciting it is to make a hamburger...
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Just one week after restauranteur Jeffrey Chodorow bought a pricey full-page ad in the New York Times declaring war on food critic Frank Bruni for dissing his new steakhouse with a starless review the week before, Bruni visits Robert's Steakhouse, the restaurant of the Penthouse stripclub in Midtown and gives it a very positive one star review. Anthony Bourdain weighs in: "Maybe I'm being cynical here but the Message seems to be: "Even a freakin' strip club--where you get lap dances offered between courses is better than your soulless, overpriced meat-emporium. I'd rather spend time in a hot tub with Bob Guiccione than you!" Subtext? "Don't Fuck With Me!" Previously: Mimi Sheraton on Chodorow VS Bruni, You Win Some, You......
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We mentioned last week that restauranteur Jeffrey Chodorow declared war on the New York Times food section after their food critic Frank Bruni panned Chodorow's new steakhouse Kobe Club and gave it a starless review; former NYT and Time Magazine food critic Mimi Sheraton recently weighed in on the debacle for Slate: Chodorow, of course, was an idiot to have run such an ad. For one thing, it does worlds of good for the critic, indicating he or she has a strong following, and that his or her words can make or break a dining place—in itself a measure of proven dependability. Chodorow questions Bruni's credentials, but one might also ask: What qualifies Chodorow to be a restaurateur? Simply having...
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