LIVE TO EAT: Chef Edward Lee's thoughtful essay "Restaurant Reviewing Needs a Revamp."

Marty Rosen points the way in a short post at Food & Dining Magazine, and Chef Lee takes it from there.

Writing for Mark Bittman’s new online food magazine Heated, Chef Lee recently penned an incisive essay that defends the importance of professional criticism but argues that our increasing diverse culinary culture calls for equally diverse journalism.

His tagline is telling: “For those of us who cook from a culture that is outside the European vernacular, we may own our recipes, but we never owned the words that described our foods. And it’s time we did.”

I suppose the future of the genre itself -- restaurant reviews as written by someone who knows something about food -- is up for grabs in a world where Yelp follies proliferate. When everyone knows everything, no one really knows anything, do they?

Restaurant Reviewing Needs a Revamp, by Edward Lee (Heated)

As chefs and diners move away from Eurocentric restaurants, food writing still needs to catch up

... I don’t want to dismantle a system that has documented America’s restaurants, but when the country’s most exciting restaurants are as diverse as the America we live in, how can we possibly rely on the old system? In the past two years, some of the best dishes I have eaten have been from restaurants that serve Sri Lankan food, Laotian food, Uzbek food, and Nigerian food. I am an expert in none of these cuisines. And I am going to make the bold assumption that neither is the food reviewer of the local paper who has been tenured there for the past 20 years. When diners are more interested than ever before in the foods of nations that have been ignored by history, how do we properly and intelligently review these restaurants?

One of the incredible byproducts of the food revolution in America is that we have an army of “foodies” that come in all shapes, colors, sizes, ages, and economic and social backgrounds. We are as discerning about our Michelin-starred meals as we are about our banh mi and our pupusas. In a near future, when Eurocentric restaurants may not be the dominant cuisine, when the new audience is going to demand more from a review than a list of italicized dishes, how do we adjust to this? At a time in the restaurant industry where we are going through a reckoning of what is right and wrong, is there a place where food criticism of “ethnic” cuisines can be more inclusive and respectful?

Edward Lee is the author of “Smoke & Pickles” and of “Buttermilk Graffiti,” winner of the 2019 James Beard Award for Best Book of the Year in Writing; the chef/owner of 610 Magnolia, MilkWood, and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, Kentucky; and culinary director of Succotash in Penn Quarter, Washington D.C. and National Harbor, Maryland.

LIVE TO EAT: "The restaurant owner who asked for 1-star Yelp reviews."

This guy reminds me of me, at least back in the day before I mellowed. This is a must read.

The restaurant owner who asked for 1-star Yelp reviews, by Zachary Crockett (The Hustle)

How one small business owner flipped the online review ecosystem on its head.

In 2014, chef Davide Cerretini advertised a special that would forever change his fate: Anyone who left his restaurant a 1-star review on Yelp would get 25% off a pizza.

See, his Bay Area-based Italian joint, Botto Bistro, was at a crossroads. Like many small businesses, it was enslaved to the whims of online reviewers, whose public dispatches could make or break its reputation.

He’d had enough: It was time to pry the stars from the “cold, grubby hands of Yelpers” and take control of his own destiny.

But the move would set Cerretini at the center of a long-standing battle between Yelp and disgruntled business owners — a battle including cries of “extortion,” review manipulation, and predatory advertising tactics ...

Pints&union garners an outstanding review in the Courier-Journal.

Back in prehistoric times, through at least the dawn of the World Wide Web, these Courier-Journal reviews were disproportionately important. Susan Reigler's review of the original Rich O's Public House in 1994 helped "break" us to a wider audience -- and on the Saturday evening after the review came out in the Scene, the deluge "broke" my damned back, although it was worth it in the long run.

I'm also reminded of the late, great Keith Moon's description of himself.

I'm the best Keith Moon-style drummer in the world.

Pints&union will be a year old on August 1, and we've already stayed entirely true to Joe's founding principles while evolving tremendously during this short time. It doesn't particularly matter whether we're English, Irish or New Albanian, only that we remain the best Pints&union-style pub in the region.

Because I'm a miscreant and a laggard, the C-J has me boxed out of seeing the review; I actually read the piece on Calvin's phone. Here's the link for those of you able to make the connection through yonder pay wall.

Hop across the river for the best British pub this side of the pond at Pints & Union.

LIVE TO EAT: "7 steps to try before resorting to a bad review on Yelp."

A satisfied customer (Catania 2016).

While staying in Porto in February, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at a family-operated eatery called Taberna Stº. António. It's near the university quarter, and seems to be successfully keeping both locals and tourists fed and satisfied.

Except an American who wrote a one-star review on social media. Now, it helps to know that just about every source of information about the Taberna Stº. António concurs that reservations are a good idea owing to the small size. There are only 10, maybe 12 tables, and for dinner service, the establishment is geared to turn them once, then clean up and go home.

We walked past at about 6:00 p.m., an hour before the restaurant begins evening seating, and thought it might be expeditious to make a reservation. It took all of a minute for the friendly bartender to record our names in the old-school notebook. It was a wonderful meal.

Another satisfied customer (Porto 2018) 

Accordingly, the reason for the one-star take-down from the clueless American, which occurred a few weeks before our excellent experience, was that he came to the Taberna Stº. António without a reservation, it was fully booked with no available tables, and so BOOM, a negative review: how dare they not have space to seat us?

How can you give a bad review to a place you haven't even entered? It still annoys me. Click through for the details of how better outcomes result from communication between real people.

7 steps to try before resorting to a bad review on Yelp, by Neil Swidey (Boston Globe Magazine)

We don’t always have to air our grievances about a business with the entire world before telling the business.

1. Be timely.
2. Be resourceful.
3. Be firm but respectful.
4. Be honest.
5. Be succinct.
6. Be clear that you are interested in having management restore your faith in the business.
7. Be generous with feedback.

Gentrification and the art of the restaurant review.

The review is worth it for the preface about gentrification. Just yesterday, I saw a comment elsewhere to this effect: "Working class people can't always afford to eat at local restaurants."

I have no glib reply, but there's a discussion waiting to happen.

Plot, London: restaurant review, by Jay Rayner (The Guardian)

As the gentrification wave reaches Tooting in south London, a new diner makes itself at home in the local market

It would be a mistake to write about Plot, a sliver of a restaurant serving terrible cocktails and great food in one of south London’s traditional covered markets, without first rehearsing the arguments around gentrification. It demands that context. We know where the G-word starts: with a bunch of self-serving fiscal policies which attract oligarchs and other non-doms up to their nipples in filthy cash into London. They buy up all the property, forcing the merely well-off out to the inner suburbs, who in turn force up prices. Each socio-economic group goes further and further out of the centre.

Those on lower, but still good incomes, come in search of cheaper property, and with them come businesses to service their needs. High streets which were once full of shops selling things that people actually need become infested by men with beards making pulled pork. Suddenly there are artisanal coffee shops, and clashing food concepts fusing the traditional dishes of Cambodia with, say, those of Wales.

Caricature aside, there have generally been only two ways to view this. Either all economic activity is good and to be applauded. Yay, for pulled pork and so on. Or gentrification makes everyday life prohibitively expensive for the traditional populations of these areas, who are on lower incomes and deserve better. The reality lies somewhere in the middle. What matters is an enlightened approach by landlords and local councils to managing the high-street economy. Get it wrong and a neighbourhood really can disappear up its own gilded fundament. Get it right and there’s more money for the council to run its services.

Tooting High Road is going through the process right now and, for the most part, it seems to be working ...

A $700 meal in Paris: "This one will also leave me with memories. They are bleak and troubling. If I work hard, one day, with luck, I may be able to forget."

From the article.

Perhaps this review isn't quite up to the lofty timelessness of Pete Wells' immortal (and savage) take-down of Guy Fieri.

"It doesn't matter whether Guy Fieri's new Louisville restaurant has good beer because none of us will be going there anyway."

Still, Jay Rayner piles on the laughs as he reviews Le Cinq, a three-star Michelin restaurant.

There'll be just a few zingers in the pull. Brutal stuff. Positively brutal.

Le Cinq, Paris: restaurant review (The Guardian)

It was supposed to be a joyous trip to one of France’s famous gastro palaces – what could possibly go wrong?

Le Cinq, Four Seasons Hôtel George V, 31 avenue George V, 75008 Paris (00 331 49 52 71 54). Meal for two, including service and modest wine: €600 (£520)

There is only one thing worse than being served a terrible meal: being served a terrible meal by earnest waiters who have no idea just how awful the things they are doing to you are. And so, to the flagship Michelin three-star restaurant of the George V Hotel in Paris, or the scene of the crime as I now like to call it. In terms of value for money and expectation Le Cinq supplied by far the worst restaurant experience I have endured in my 18 years in this job. This, it must be said, is an achievement of sorts.

And:

The dining room, deep in the hotel, is a broad space of high ceilings and coving, with thick carpets to muffle the screams. It is decorated in various shades of taupe, biscuit and fuck you.

And:

Other things are the stuff of therapy. The canapé we are instructed to eat first is a transparent ball on a spoon. It looks like a Barbie-sized silicone breast implant, and is a “spherification”, a gel globe using a technique perfected by Ferran Adrià at El Bulli about 20 years ago. This one pops in our mouth to release stale air with a tinge of ginger. My companion winces. “It’s like eating a condom that’s been left lying about in a dusty greengrocer’s,” she says.

And:

My lips purse, like a cat’s arse that’s brushed against nettles.

And:

The cheapest of the starters is gratinated onions “in the Parisian style”. We’re told it has the flavour of French onion soup. It makes us yearn for a bowl of French onion soup. 

Is this the same Guy Fieri who got history's worst (and funniest) restaurant review back in 2012?

Now that the former News and Tribune editor is working for Louisville Business First, will it devote the bulk of its coverage to fluffing chains in Cincinnati?

Inquiring minds want to know, but I digress.

Today the electronic media breathlessness took hold, and it wasn't pretty.

Guy Fieri plans Louisville announcement, by David A. Mann (Louisville Business First)

Celebrity chef Guy Fieri will make an announcement in Louisville tomorrow, according to a media advisory.

The advisory is from Fourth Street Live developer The Cordish Cos., which could indicate that a Fieri restaurant is going to locate there. It says Fieri will make "a special appearance and announcement" during the Hometown Tourist Attraction Showcase news conference.

Yay -- Cordish will save us from ourselves!

Sorry, media shills, but whenever I hear Guy Fieri's name, all I can think about is that epochal gut-buster of a review in the New York Times (2012). If anyone truly belongs at Fourth Street Live, it's Fieri.

If you need me for anything, I'll be dining and drinking locally, thanks. Now, prepare to laugh loud and long.

As Not Seen on TV: Restaurant Review: Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square, by Pete Wells (New York Times)

GUY FIERI, have you eaten at your new restaurant in Times Square? Have you pulled up one of the 500 seats at Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar and ordered a meal? Did you eat the food? Did it live up to your expectations?

Did panic grip your soul as you stared into the whirling hypno wheel of the menu, where adjectives and nouns spin in a crazy vortex? When you saw the burger described as “Guy’s Pat LaFrieda custom blend, all-natural Creekstone Farm Black Angus beef patty, LTOP (lettuce, tomato, onion + pickle), SMC (super-melty-cheese) and a slathering of Donkey Sauce on garlic-buttered brioche,” did your mind touch the void for a minute?

Did you notice that the menu was an unreliable predictor of what actually came to the table? Were the “bourbon butter crunch chips” missing from your Almond Joy cocktail, too? Was your deep-fried “boulder” of ice cream the size of a standard scoop?

What exactly about a small salad with four or five miniature/a> croutons makes Guy’s Famous Big Bite Caesar (a) big (b) famous or (c) Guy’s, in any meaningful sense?

Were you struck by how very far from awesome the Awesome Pretzel Chicken Tenders are?

Gospel Bird scores praise in the CJ, then reveals a new restaurant/distillery idea for Main Street.

Formerly the WE Studio, soon to become Concrete Jungle. 

New Albany is Southern Indiana's Food District, and the week before Derby has been filled with positive media, some of it generated entirely unexpectedly.

Bernie Sanders dines in New Albany as local Democrats join Hillary at an Applebee's somewhere.

Bernie Sanders at The Exchange pub + kitchen, Tuesday, May 3.

Meanwhile, it's all Gospel Bird. The patio is open, and will be served by the restaurant's refashioned Airstream bar once health department approval is obtained. Until then, servers will find a way to put a drink in your hand.

The Courier-Journal's praise for Gospel Bird is effusive.

Gospel Bird is a don’t miss, by Nancy Miller (Special to the Courier-Journal)

Unlike a sponge that soaks up every trend, (Eric) Morris and (Ethan) Ray do their own thing, marrying a casual sensibility with revved up inventiveness. Don’t take my word for it, although I speak only the truth. The eating is believing. I’m a Gospel Bird believer. Hallelujah.

Rating: 3 ½ of 4 stars

Then there's this bombshell. Who knew that Steve Resch had designs on being a distilling magnate?

As Gospel Bird soars, Eric Morris eyes opening of Concrete Jungle restaurant and distillery, by Steve Coomes (Insider Louisville)

... And as the future of New Albany’s downtown unfolds, Morris envisions even greater traffic. He says an unnamed developer from Nashville wants to erect a seven-story building (either a hotel or condo complex) across the street from his restaurant, and developer Steve Resch wants to build a restaurant and distillery a literal stone’s throw from Gospel Bird.

And he wants Morris to run it.

“I have no plan to open a bunch of restaurants, but Steve came to us with this idea and we wanted to do it,” Morris says. The building is located at 324 E. Main St. “We came back to him with our ideas, and he said he loved it.”

The business will be called Concrete Jungle, Morris says, adding it has literal and symbolic applications.

Just think how much better all these positive developments would come together if they were connected by complete, calmed, two-way streets.

C-J critic ham-fistedly hammers Southern Indiana dining options.

Random Fb image from The Exchange.

There are a number of potential talking points here.

• Do traditional media reviewers matter any longer?
• Is the review fair to Rocky's? 
• What is a newspaper, anyway?
• What's the name of the restaurant she already reviewed?

These aren't the point of the digression.

It is this: Has this reviewer even visited downtown New Albany? Yes, Veteran's parkway is  a chain food court, but this long since has ceased to define food and dining hereabouts.

Review | Rocky's Sub Pub in Jeff is sub-par, by Nancy Miller (Courier-Journal)

... I can’t understand why the Hoosiers aren’t spitting mad that having a mediocre dinner is the best for which they can hope (with the exception of one restaurant, which I have already reviewed.)

The Ohio River is the great culinary divide. On the south side are dozens of restaurants for every taste and budget. On the north side, it’s as if a giant food court of chain restaurants thinks of their customers as second-class citizens who don’t deserve first-class food.

Marty Rosen praises Big Four Burgers + Beer.

I'm enthused that Matt (Irish Exit) McMahan's new establishment in Jeffersonville is doing well and garnering positive reviews. May it live long and prosper.

I'm equally amazed that there seems to be no sense urgency in New Albany as to the momentum currently being squandered.

Restaurant Review | Big Four Burgers + Beer bridges well-composed sandwiches, friendly service, by Marty Rosen (CJ)

Right now it’s still a “bridge to nowhere,” but the Big Four Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge has already netted some 600,000 visitors. Once the Jeffersonville ramp is finished, the bridge may well be as crowded as Spaghetti Junction at rush hour.

And downtown Jeffersonville — which boasts a superb walkable residential waterfront — is gearing up to meet the appetites of all those hungry strollers. There are plenty of established eateries in easy proximity to the ramp (including the Come Back Inn, Adrienne & Co. Bakery & Cafe and the venerable Schimpff’s Confectionery).

An excellent review of Louis Le Français by Robin Garr includes French language lessons.

For my next amazing trick, I will convince Louis that there is such a thing as good beer from France; namely, Bieres de Garde. If I achieve this, it really WILL be amazing. The man is seriously gifted, but just doesn't really "get" beer. That's okay; let's hope his restaurant has a long life span, affording me enough time to gradually wear him down.

It bodes well that Robin Garr favorably compares Louis Le Français with Le Relais, the Louisville gold standard. In doing so, he's recommending downtown New Albany for dining. Priceless.

Learn your French tastefully at New Albany’s Louis Le Français, by Robin Garr (LEO Weekly)

All right, boys and girls, it’s time for our French lesson! First, let’s review: “Bonjour” ... “Merci!” ... “S’il vous plaît” ... “Je voudrais un verre de vin rouge.” Very good!

Now, let’s learn two important food words. Repeat after me:

“Cassoulet.” Draw it out, warm and rich, just like the hearty dish itself, “Cahs-soo-lay.”

Louis Le Français
133 E. Market St., New Albany
812-944-1222
louisthefrenchman.com

Rosen visits River City Winery and is quite pleased.

The C-J's free-lancing food writer Marty Rosen likes River City Winery. The Confidential household does, too.

The crab cakes aren’t quite as big as a baseball. But they’re close. And they make much better eating.

In fact, the crab cakes at River City Winery are the best you’ll find in the Metro region. They’re formed of good-quality lump crabmeat, lightly packed, pleasantly seasoned and fried to a toasty brown finish. Then they’re sluiced with a light, creamy sriracha-lime aioli that’s studded with black-eyed peas, kernels of corn, herbs and other goodies (market-priced, recently $7.50 per cake). A couple of these and a salad would make a fine meal.

Red Room redux: Welcome to genocidal grammar and tyrannical misspelling.

I never cease to be amused by the era of lunacy empowerment, and this sort of trolling seems to be happening with more frequency since last year's election, suggesting that one tormented person is responsible for multiple comments under different names.

"Manny" uses the words "shrine" and "idolized," as did the previous offended party, to whom I forwarded a prompt reply and received no response or acknowledgement. That's because the last thing he wants is dialogue ... and that's because thinking is so very hard.

"Manny" sent no e-mails, unless he botched the .com address; even dud newalbanian.com addresses are forwarded to me for examination.

Worst of all, having selected Yelp as platform for sharing his dullardry with a mass audience, "Manny" files his one-star review under Bank Street Brewhouse, while the supposed "shrine" to which he refers is at our Grant Line location.

Yep, we're all experts now. Even when we don't know Jack Schitt.

Excellent review of Feast BBQ at WFPL.

Dana McMahan is a veteran Louisville foodie and writer, so this isn't your average Yelp screed in crayon. When it appeared on Facebook yesterday, one of the first "shares" was by Rick Adams, chef at the adjacent, newly relocated Exchange, which tells you something quite positive about the emerging food and drink community in New Albany. We're in it together.

REVIEW: Feast BBQ a Candidate for Last, Great Meal (WFPL radio)

 ... Our hefty platters arrived soon. Brisket, chicken, pulled pork, smoked tofu, sweet potato fries, mac and cheese, baked beans, collard greens—dish after dish. I tore into my plate with full intentions of finishing all of my dishes and tasting everything. And it was a valiant attempt. “I am impressed,” my husband said in reverent tones as I plowed through the spread.

The food was so very, very good that it didn’t take any particular skill on the part of this professional eater to polish off a significant portion. The creamy, peppery mac and cheese led perfectly to the crunchy cole slaw, which was the perfect segue to the savory, succulent pulled pork, followed by the surprisingly complex tofu and capped off with the perfectly crispy, sweet and savory sweet potato fries.

On being glad you're not Guy Fieri.

Quite simply a masterpiece of rhetorical ire, question upon savage question, escalating not unlike the progression in Ravel's Boléro. Justifiably, this restaurant review has gone viral. Because I'll return to it often, I publish the link here.

As Not Seen on TV: Restaurant Review: Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square, by Pete Wells (New York Times)

When you hung that sign by the entrance that says, WELCOME TO FLAVOR TOWN!, were you just messing with our heads?

Robin Garr: "Let’s Say “Bonjour” To Louis Le Français."

As an addendum, note this Facebook message about the Frenchman's Bastille Day plans:

Louis says: Happy July 4th to everyone! We will be open for dinner tonight. And don't forget Independence Day for France. We will be celebrating on the 15th of July with roast beef sandwiches, rotisserie lamb, chicken, mashed potatoes, and more. Fun for everyone! Vive la France!

---

Let’s Say “Bonjour” To Louis Le Français

Robin Garr | July 3, 2012 | 0 Comments

By ROBIN GARR
LouisvilleHotBytes.com

I know this may seem an odd thing to say about an eatery in New Albany, but it’s true: A visit to Louis Le Français comes  surprisingly close to dining in France.

How authentic is it?  Here’s how: I decided to give my limited language skills a workout by ordering a dish in French. “I’ll have the Crêpes aux Epinards, please,” I chirped, properly gargling my Rs and liaisoning the preposition so it came out something like “Khwehpp O’Zehpeenagghh.” I beamed, anticipating high praise for my tourist-French accent.

“Spinach crepes,” the friendly Francophone server chirped right back, restoring  the conversation to  English.

Funny, this always happens to me in Paris, too.

NA Exchange is given a stellar review in LEO.

There's fine ink for NA Exchange in the past week's LEO. It's located just down Plaza Drive from the Public House, and is a welcomed addition to "The Northside." Now, if we could just think of a snappier name for the neighborhood ...

Gastropubbing at NA Exchange, by Robin Garr (LEO Weekly)

On Tuesday evenings there’s generally a $2 special, recently taking the form of “Bells and Burgers,” with a draft beer selection from the excellent Bell’s Brewery of Kalamazoo, Mich., and a slightly downsized version of the Exchange burger going for $2 each. That was enough to bring us in. We immediately ordered two-buck glasses of hoppy, crisp Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale and examined the menus.

Subdivided into Starters, Salads, Light Fare and Specialties of the Chef, the evening bill of fare was substantial and varied, ranging from fairly traditional bar food to more upscale gastropub grub; but even the basics generally came with a tasty twist.

Gravity Head rest (?) day, and kudos for Chef Josh and his crew at BSB.

There's been this little celebration going on called Gravity Head, and it tends to be intense. I don't want to miss a chance to thank NABC's staff for their labors, because without them, it cannot be done.

Also, with the inevitable emphasis on the Pizzeria & Public House during Gravity Head, it's a good time to remember the crew at Bank Street Brewhouse, where critical mass is being achieved in record time: A day of rest, or perhaps not. Either way, BSB is open for Sunday business.

On a fully related note, here is a blog link to good press by freelancer Steve Coomes:

Thanks, Chef Josh: Praise for Bank Street Brewhouse in Louisville Magazine and Insider Louisville.

The rebirth of downtown New Albany is well underway, specifically its restaurant population. There have always been a handful of small cafes and seedy dives in the area, but with the addition of Bank Street came Toast on Market, Wick’s Pizza and several other truly respectable spots that make the drive from Louisville worthwhile. Much like my wife and I do on Bardstown Road, you could plan to stay several hours, park your car and hop between bars and restaurants, nibbling and noshing as you go.