Operators vs. the Critics: Tempest in a Few Teapots
Recent high profile disputes between restaurateurs and their critics are the exception, not the rule. Blogs and community Web sites dilute the power of a critic and offer an opportunity for restaurateurs to start a dialog.
By Kate Leahy, Associate Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, June 26, 2007
 Chodorow  Donna  Gand |
February and March proved to be volatile months for some restaurant critics and their subjects.
Jeffrey Chodorow, principal of New York City-based China Grill Management, was so enraged by New York Times Restaurant Critic Frank Bruni’s February review of his restaurant Kobe Club that he bought a full-page newspaper ad in the same paper to counter Bruni’s comments with his side of the story. Then he started a blog, writing in his initial post:
“This blog was born partly out of my love for food and for great restaurants (from neighborhood joints to the world's finest) and partly in response to an increasingly negative, downright nasty climate that has surfaced in the world of restaurant journalism.”
Earlier this year, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s restaurant critic Craig LaBan whipped off three quick sentences about a meal he’d had at Chops Restaurant & Bar in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. A few weeks later he was served with a 16-page libel lawsuit claiming that LaBan did not eat a skirt steak but rather a steak sandwich without the bread. The suit said that by incorrectly representing the steak, the Philadelphia Inquirer had libeled the restaurant. The restaurant is still pursuing the case, though it now agrees that LaBan ate a skirt steak. Meanwhile, with his videotaped deposition, LaBan risks losing his anonymity, an important tool of the trade for restaurant critics.
And in March, Washington, D.C. Chef Roberto Donna rebuked city magazine The Washingtonian after it published a negative review of his newest restaurant, Bebo Trattoria in Arlington, Va. It wasn’t the negative review so much as alleged factual errors that Donna took to task. In response, he not only started a blog in April but also gave bumper stickers to customers and chefs stating: “Don’t believe The Washingtonian.”
While the relationship between chefs and restaurant reviewers has never been an easy one, one could draw the conclusion that animosity between the two groups is reaching fever pitch. This is probably not the case, though. As Mimi Sheraton explains in a February column on Slate.com, restaurateurs and critics—who can be the most felicitous of allies when the praise is positive—long have sparred over negative reviews. Today, however, with the proliferation of Web sites such as Yelp.com, Chowhound.com and Citysearch.com as well as personal blogs, a critic’s word is rarely the only one read. Just as too many chefs spoil the soup, too many critics diffuse the criticism.
“It is my humble opinion that as a critic I cannot really hurt a restaurant,” Chicago Sun Times Restaurant Critic Pat Bruno says. “Restaurants put themselves out of business by serving poor food, having bad service and copping an attitude.”
Bruno recalls a recent incident in which he wrote about a dry chocolate “soufflé” at Tramonto Steak & Seafood in Wheeling, Ill. Soon after, he received an e-mail from Executive Pastry Chef Gale Gand, who said he was correct and that she was reworking the recipe. “I think savvy restaurateurs are aware that a critic can be their best friend,” he explains.
It also isn’t easy for operators to take legal action to defend their names. While libel suits can be built on false statements of fact, it’s hard to prove this in a courtroom, as Adam Liptak reports in The New York Times. Still, restaurateurs seek outlets to rebuke negative or inaccurate reviews. For many, this means joining the Internet dialog, by turning to the blogoshere, either starting their own or posting comments to other blogs, including those established by the restaurant critics themselves. This could be a more practical direction than a self-made blog, as neither Chodorow nor Donna update theirs with any regularity (though Donna’s spokeswoman, Elizabeth Scott, says posts will resume on his blog when technical difficulties are worked out). Meanwhile, Chodorow’s most recent post—posted on May 24--remarks: “I didn't realize how much work would be involved in writing a blog in the way I wanted to do it--thoughtfully.”)
For Chef Gordon Naccarato, the desire to set restaurant misconceptions straight led him to post comments on Ed’s Diner, a blog started by Tacoma, Wash. -based The News Tribune’s restaurant critic, Ed Murrieta. “I noticed that several contributors to the blog were saying crazy things about other people’s restaurants. I felt compelled to give the other side of the story,” says Naccarato, who owns Pacific Grill in Tacoma.
In past posts, he has explained why restaurants mark up wines and he has defended competitor restaurants from negative comments posted on the blog. Now Naccarato admits that he checks the blog frequently, even receiving gentle ribbing from fellow contributors who tell him that he needs to spend more time in his kitchen.
According to Murrieta, this was an unintentional, though welcome, result of the blog. “Gordon has become one of the regular posters on the blog. He’s even championed other chefs in town. That’s what I think has been a remarkable outcome. He is signing his name. He is offering his advice and experience. He’s not out there ranting and raving,” Murrieta says. For Murrieta, Naccarato and other contributors also ground him in another way. “The word community– it always has bothered me. Now I’m almost flipped the other way. It’s hard to work without it.&rdquo
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