I was wondering how long Alan Richman was going to last in the salt mines that are Bloomberg News. The answer came yesterday, when word got out that Richman resigned. Richman was probably way too independent-minded for the notoriously controlling Bloomberg editors, and he couldn't have been happy knowing his reviews were buried a zillion clicks down on the Bloomberg website. I hope that Richman, a terrific writer (check out his hilarious, spot-on review of Il Mulino) whom I have had disagreements with on occasion, finds a regular print or online home for his restaurant reviews. We need more funny, smart, and knowledgeable curmudgeons writing restaurant criticism. He will continue to write for GQ and Bon Appétit, and teach at...
Continue reading »
Though much hand-wringing was done about the waning anonymity of food critics last month and in various publications (including here on Serious Eats), Regina Schrambling manages to write a new take on the issue in the Los Angeles Times by going big-picture and surveying all the recent unmaskings. In the article, Schrambling (Gastropoda) points to instances of food critics either getting outed (Craig LaBan, Philadelphia Inquirer; Jonathan Gold, L.A. Weekly) or outing themselves (blogger-cum–newspaper critic Danyelle Freeman; legions of food bloggers who don't necessarily try to hide their mugs). Google, she writes, has led to a new openness, though Schrambling doesn't really opine too much on whether that's good or bad, instead gathering the thoughts of those affected as well...
Continue reading »
Alison Arnett has left her job as the Boston Globe's restaurant critic after an incredible fifteen year run and over 700 reviews tucked under her belt. Her farewell post on the trial tribulations of a restaurant critic is a fantastic read, but here's my favorite part of it, what she says is a critic's job requirement: A thick skin. Early in my reviewing career (I had a respectable editing job at the Globe before this), I overheard a woman at the table next to ours discussing me. "You know, she's a vegetarian. Isn't that awful? How can she write about meat when she doesn't even eat it? That's so dishonest." Of course, I wanted to jump up and throttle her....
Continue reading »
