Just as the blowout from Graham Elliot Bowles and Bill Kim’s anti-blogger comments has started to settle down, Eater is reporting that Milk & Honey, New York’s original neo-speakeasy, has essentially decided to lock bloggers out its business. Couple this with David Chang’s decision earlier this summer to ban food photography from his restaurants, and you have what I’m going to call the beginning of—what? An uprising? Maybe that’s too extreme. Maybe it’s a mere revolution—Chefs Taking Back The Table and all that.
A few weeks ago I wrote about how bloggers and Yelpers have changed the way that restaurant critics are approaching their jobs. (Since that piece came out there have been several examples of journalists hitting restaurants quickly: Michael Nagrant visited the Bristol in its early days and posted a harsh diatribe against it this week; the Trib’s Monica Eng complained about Farmerie’s cold food a mere five days after it opened.) What I didn’t have space to write about in that article was how chefs feel about Yelp, LTH, et al. I thought that maybe, one day, I would write a separate piece about that. But now that piece need not be written—the chefs are speaking up for themselves.
In that Farmerie post, Eng spends her last 100 words or so taking issue with the fact that farms are not mentioned on the restaurant’s menu. “For a ‘farm-centric’ eatery, its menu seemed a little short on local produce and certainly never engaged in local farm name-dropping,” she writes. “What’s up with that?” What’s up with that, it turns out, is that chef William Alexander simply doesn’t want to crowd his menu with farm names—a point he valiantly makes in a comment to Eng’s post. Alexander then goes on to list the farms whose products he uses at his restaurant, delivering a serious blow to Eng’s argument.
This is how it starts, my friends. A few chefs implement anti-blogger policies, a few start fighting back in comments or in articles. Things might start getting ugly.
Then again, if you’re a chef, things may be getting prettier already.
I’d like to see some of those restaurants implement anti- major critic policies….I’m sure they feel they’ve been wronged by establishment writers too. The only reason chefs are going after bloggers is because they’re not afraid of their power.
If the bloggers were so wrong, why did Graham Elliot Bowles retool his restaurant so soon? Clearly, something rang true from the blogger community.
I spoke with Marcus Samuellson of C-House in Chicago and Aquavit and Merkato in NYC etc this week and we had a really good dialogue about the difference between diners and those who communicate about food (i.e. critics). The crux was that people who communicate about it are often so far from the actual experience of eating it, that they focus on technical details and find fault with things the average or even sophisticated diner doesn’t care about…sometimes at the expense of really good dining experience.
I definitely buy this. Though I try to remember what it’s like to be a regular diner, look at my Bristol review…while I don’t take back anything I said especially that some of the food was mediocre, does the average diner care how similar it is to Mado? Maybe not, though I guess it’s human nature to dislike imitation sometimes,…in retrospect, maybe I should have saved that space for something more important to the average diner…. I think bloggers in general are much closer to the diners than many critics are these days, and they play a fundamental role in keeping things real.
I’d also contend that my review was not a diatribe. While my prose is strong, it was strong both for and against in different aspects.
In an effort to clean the proverbial slate (and avoid having things taken out of context…again), I think it would be great to have an informal pow wow between chefs, bloggers and critics alike. By discussing the pros, cons and future of reviewing, perhaps we could all come to an agreement or understanding that is mutually beneficial to both parties of this symbiotic relationship.
That’s not a bad idea, Chef. In fact, I think we’ll do just that. Look for more details on this soon.
Ok, here is my take on the subject:
1 - I don’t see it as Chefs going after bloggers - I think it is the other way around. Everyone wants to feel that they have a voice and they should, no matter how ignorant it may be. Now, I am not saying that all bloggers are ignorant, so let us not go there. Anyone in the industry can tell you horror stories of guests that will come in to a restaurant bent on getting a free meal or the like.
I have even seen guests take off a fake fingernails and place it into the dish…WOW, but it happens. It didn’t matter that she had nine identical nails left…we comped the meal and treated her with all of the professionalism we could muster.
As far as Chef Bowles - He’s earned the title repsect that -
Every restauranteur retools his restaurants as the market dictates. Jerry Keliner changes his concepts to be a more viable and profitable venture, sometimes going the oposite direction intended.
I don’t think he was listening to please bloggers, but to be fiscally responsible and give himself the chance to endure the
economy.
2 - I do not disagree with Chef Samuellson - I agree that some diners are hyper critical and have no foundation to base it on, except an opinion of someone else who knows little
I do have a problem with people that have never donned a Chef coat to pick apart technique of a dish…I doubt any of them can make a basic consomme.
My solution….I am sure the Chef has an extra coat in the back and will be glad to throw it on you and let you get a taste of the action
I responded to the add and my message was blanked half way through the draft…can you send it back for completion and I will send it back to you