The End of Critics

I find that restaurant critics -- and food critics -- far too often celebrated the transcendent over the quotidian. This is only natural. But, for example, not only had I no chance of ever going to El Bulli, every description I read made me want to stay away. So I find --despite legacy media telling us it is impossible-- social media much more relevant to my happiness.
 
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
I find that restaurant critics -- and food critics -- far too often celebrated the transcendent over the quotidian.
Click to expand...

In some cases, perhaps. But change is possible; to wit: the SF Chronicle went from having one of the country's worst restaurant critics to hiring one of the most interesting.

So I find --despite legacy media telling us it is impossible-- social media much more relevant to my happiness.
Click to expand...

Bit of a non sequitur here. I don't really see much in common between thoughtful criticism in print media and the wild, woolly west of social media. The "social" value of the latter is vastly overstated by its founders.
 
Maybe I am projecting, but I think Tristan is just saying that he trusts "us" more than he trusts "them" (at least for the everyday).
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Maybe I am projecting, but I think Tristan is just saying that he trusts "us" more than he trusts "them" (at least for the everyday).
Click to expand...

Could well be. Though I see this bored as the evolution from earlier BBS, such Stewart Brand's "The Well," rather than having much to do with extant social media giants fb and ig.
 
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Maybe I am projecting, but I think Tristan is just saying that he trusts "us" more than he trusts "them" (at least for the everyday).
Click to expand...

Could well be. Though I see this bored as the evolution from earlier BBS, such Stewart Brand's "The Well," rather than having much to do with extant social media giants fb and ig.
Click to expand...

Not sure those distinctions matter. The key to social media (or discussion boards or offline relationships) is engaging with thoughtful people. That's been my tactic and I have been able to avoid the social media 'toxicity' you hear so much about.
 
But on the original topic, while the evolution of journalism is clearly a big part of the story, I wonder if another element is changes in the dining scene itself. I am guessing that in major cities there are many more ambitious and interesting restaurants today than in the second half of the 20th century when the restaurant critics were at their height. That makes it much harder for any one person to cover 'the scene'. So newspapers could expand out (unlikely), or think about other ways to write about food, as mentioned in the article.
 
originally posted by mark e:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Maybe I am projecting, but I think Tristan is just saying that he trusts "us" more than he trusts "them" (at least for the everyday).
Click to expand...

Could well be. Though I see this bored as the evolution from earlier BBS, such Stewart Brand's "The Well," rather than having much to do with extant social media giants fb and ig.
Click to expand...
Those giants are also descendants of the BBS's - actually kind of frustrating to realize that basically any '80s or '90s BBSer had all the concepts at hand to have become a social media zillionaire.
 
I go back and forth on critics of any kind. They tend to distort yet they also inform.
But the line that stood out in the article was, “But the belief that a newspaper’s critic has the power to open and close restaurants hasn’t been true for a long time.”
Good, I say. It shouldn’t be up to them.

I like to eat. I am remarkably fortunate to live with a great cook - moreover, she likes cooking.
And we both enjoy eating out.
But neither of us has any desire to attend Michelin Star restaurants or the latest and greatest. Our preference is always local, simple, tasty. BYOB is nice or a good list at reasonable prices.
The French Laundry is the antithesis of our tastes (and priced beyond justification).

When we travel, we do listen to the reviews of friends. But critics, guide books and Yelp reviews are not consulted We have done pretty well by walking in to a new place and looking over its menu. And I don’t think either of us thinks we’re missing anything.

If you like critics, good for you.
I can do just fine without them.
Best, Jim
 
It's not my experience that food critics only or even mostly write about haute cuisine restaurants. I am limited to critics in the papers I read, the Washington Post and the NY Times, neither of whom have critics with reputations for seeking out the recondite or unknown, either in terms of food truck reviews or of finding the artisinal restaurant no one knows exists. In both papers, one finds reviews of restaurants at all levels of cuisine ambition.

I also find that food critics don't have the problem of wine critics in falling into ersatz intellectualisation. They tend, straightforwardly, to review preparation, presentation, service and ambience. This doesn't make them uniquely dependable, but it does make them entirely unexasperating to me.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:

When we travel, we do listen to the reviews of friends. But critics, guide books and Yelp reviews are not consulted...

If you like critics, good for you.

I can do just fine without them.

Best, Jim
Click to expand...

To be fair, it sounds like you do use critics: your friends.

Friends can be ideal sources of information, if only for the back-and-forth exchange that is possible. But most people need some sort of input and it's not always practical to rely on friends for all locations or all types of cuisines. Most people don't have friends who are that well-experienced.

But I agree, guidebooks and Yelp are often not very helpful.
 
i forget if it is yelp or tripadvisor that flatly states that they are the source for "totally unbiased reviews" by its users, but of course this is absolute bullshit as they have absolutely idea of the biases or lack of biases of their reviewers. they should not be allowed to make such clearly baseless statements. and the fact that the reviewer can be anonymous is a sin against the place being reviewed.

that being said, if there are a goodly number of reviews of a bunch of similar restaurants, you can be pretty much gaurenteed a better dining experience in place that overages 4.5 stars over a place that averages 2.5 stars. when i am in a place where i have nothing else to go on, i have found yelp/tripadvosir to be useful.
 
@robert ames... Yes, in a pinch, the Abraham Lincoln rule works.

@Jonathan Loesberg and many others... Please, the correct spelling is "artisanal"; it is derived from the word "artisan", as you might expect. There is no such a thing as an artisin. (Varietal, artisanal, is it something about the suffix?)

@Florida Jim... I have eaten once at French Laundry. The memory is vivid. That's why.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top