Posted by Ed Levine, September 8, 2008 at 8:30 AM
Randall Stross compared Yelp and Zagat in the New York Times on Sunday. While he correctly noted that Yelp now covers more restaurants than Zagat, and uses this as a launching pad to compare and contrast the two companies, he leaves out the most relevant points. Most notably, he completely whiffs on recent business goings-on in the world of user-generated restaurant reviews.
My first question is what do serious eaters think about both Zagat and Yelp?
And while you ponder that, here's what Stross should have pointed out in his comparison.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 21, 2008 at 4:15 PM
Peter Meehan gives an "exit interview" to Eater regarding his departure as the New York Times's "$25 and Under" columnist. I think this passage sums up food-critic wankery perfectly: "But if I've learned anything doing this gig, it's that unless I'm across the table from Frank, bitching about the minor indignities of restaurant reviewing is pretty boring to everybody except the person doing the complaining." Meehan also recommends former Village Voice food blogger Nina Lalli as a replacement.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 21, 2007 at 3:15 PM
Via blogger Jason Kottke, a snip from the first restaurant review in the New York Times:
Very well," replied the editor-in-chief. "Dine somewhere else to-day and somewhere else to-morrow. I wish you to dine everywhere, -- from the Astor House Restaurant to the smallest description of dining saloon in the City, in order that you may furnish an account of all these places. The cashier will pay your expenses."
It dates to New Year's Day 1859, and was unearthed by the blogger shortly after the Times opened up access to the site for free. Here's the full PDF.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 26, 2007 at 8:00 AM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
Craig LaBan, restaurant critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer, recently reviewed the first Legal Sea Foods restaurant to open in Philadelphia. He liked much of the food he ate there (the raw bar, chowder, fried clams, fish and chips) but was left cold by other dishes (the "leaden" stuffed shrimp, desserts, "odd" "everything" tuna).
What's interesting is that he decided to review it at all. Serious restaurant critics in cities with vibrant independent restaurant scenes like Philly typically thumb their noses at chain restaurants and don't deign to review them. But places like Legal Sea Foods, Houston's, and The Cheesecake Factory, to name three, are in fact decent restaurants that should be taken seriously. I have had decent to very good meals at all three. That doesn't mean that there aren't loser dishes to be had at them, but chain restaurants don't have a monopoly on loser dishes.
I guess what I'm saying is that not all national restaurant chains are created equal. There are chains with pretty awful food (Olive Garden, Applebee's, Cracker Barrel), and there are chains with damn good food. We allow ourselves to glorify In-N-Out, Five Guys, and other burger chains because, well, they're burgers, reasonably fast food. And they are great, don't get me wrong. But chain restaurants cooking more upscale food are regarded as beneath contempt or at the very least unreviewable by fancy-pants local or national restaurant critics.
But eaters vote with their appetites and their pocketbooks. Restaurant critics should do the same.
