I recently heard a wonderful talk by the relatively new restaurant critic for the Baltimore Sun, Richard Gorelick, that prompted me to think over several interesting similarities and differences in American and Parisian restaurants and reviews. In no particular order they were the following:
1. He, like my good friend Randy de Paris who considers the food to be just part of the ”total experience,” judges places he visits on food, service and surroundings. While I think I tend to rate the food as overridingly important over the latter two factors, except for a place like the now-deserted Konfidential or the funky La Crypte Polska, both in basements, I would prefer to eat good food in pleasant surroundings with attentive servers and good timing of food delivery over their absence.
2. He, like most of us in Paris, eats once in a place and judges it from that experience, viewing his experience, like Francois Simon does, as what the average customer gets when going unheralded. With print media budgets under assault and bloggers resources not unlimited, I think the Frank Bruni-type multi-visit review is going to be a thing of the distant past quickly.
3. I’m not sure whether the number of people one eats with differs from country to country or reviewer to reviewer. For instance, it is my understanding that the New York Times’ crew sometimes all eat together which must be like a high school canteen table whereas folks like Gorelick eat in foursomes, Simon seems (from his Hache menu bills) to eat with one other person, and I have written about the merits of eating alone, where one can concentrate on the food without having to be polite of answer deep philosophical questions. Of course this limits one’s ability to discuss more than a few dishes, an interesting trade-off.
4. Anonymity remains an issue of importance to people like him, Francois Simon and the master of disguises, Gael Greene, and even small fish, like me - whereas for others, like Pudlo, it’s a non-issue and for farther out others not only are they not anonymous, they announce they’re from a publication (apparently British is the most common) and want to be and expect to be comp’d the entire meal.
5. Does one write up all experiences or only the good ones? I have publically declared ad nauseum that I think all experiences should be noted as negative feedback is just as important and valid as positive results. Obviously, others, sensitive to advertising pressure, unwillingness to trigger a restaurant’s demise or just plain cowardice, disagree.
6. Does one evaluate the wine? Gorelick, like the Old Talbott, does not; however due to friendly pressure from two loyal readers, I have moved 180 degrees around and now try to include some mention of it, going so far as to photograph the bottle and wine as it sits in the glass.
7. Does one focus on the noise level? I recall a “Dossier” in Figaroscope, in April 2010, to a range of Parisian places and the results were wide-ranging from 50 dB at 1, place Vendome to 73 dB at La Villa. However, compared to the US, restaurants in France are islands of peace and relative quiet. We dined at an American place and Colette called to ask to be seated in a quiet spot and was answered “There are none, we’re an active restaurant.” Gorelick says that at least in his head he judges whether one can talk & be heard easily or must shout as a factor in his assessment. Colette is famously intolerant of places where the latter is the case, memorable experiences include the now thankfully demised Le Totem in the Trocadero and she will not go back to anyplace where Maria Sharapova’s utterances stifle polite discourse.
8. A related issue is comfort, that is, height of chairs/stools, tables and their sitting-ability-ness. Again, Colette won’t tolerate such which makes places like Le Dauphin, Passage 53 or the new Bakkus out of the question. I don’t like the trend, but it’s considered very hip apparently.
9. Considering trends, Gorelick noted the reduction of “fine dining” experiences, increase in “casual dining” ones, small plates and smaller portions versus supersize ones in some places, locavore/farm-to-table/producer-identified menus and increased use of photos and note-taking by not only reviewers by food-interested customers. More about these in another essay, but in general I think these are global trends found in the US and France.
10. Another issue related to “locavore/farm-to-table/producer-identified menus” is serving food out of season. In some cases, such as serving game out of game season or serving hot-house tomatoes when fresh-farm-ones are in the market is just plain obnoxious but as Gorelick pointed out, there are times when he craves a banana which is hardly grown within 50 miles of anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere or I have a yen for an avocado which is clearly marked from Israel.
11. Finally, Gorelick asked the audience what was needed in Baltimore and in a multilogue covered: a good bistro, a good fish restaurant and good vegetarian/vegan places. If I answered that question for Paris I’d note our need for a fresh look at a high-level brasserie such as the Brasserie Lorraine in its heyday, a return to a high-level bistro such as the Bistro d’Hubert in its heyday, high-level “cheap eats” places such as Dix Vins and Le Pre-Verre and a high-level made-to-order Chinese take-out place such as Les Delices de Shandong should be, in every quarter.
