The best restaurant reviewer you've never heard of

[Fat Guy]

Since 2004, Paul Adams has quietly been writing restaurant reviews for the New York Sun newspaper. At first, he barely registered on my radar, and he is still a rather obscure figure, but over the years I've come to regard him as not only the best restaurant reviewer in New York but also the best restaurant reviewer working in America today.

I don't know anything about Paul Adams other than what he says in his reviews, have never met him and don't read the New York Sun for anything other than the restaurant reviews and the occasional other arts piece. (The New York Sun is known, like the Wall Street Journal, for a politically conservative editorial slant and, some say, a news slant as well. However, also like the Wall Street Journal, the paper's arts coverage does not reflect any agenda as far as I can tell.) Purely by virtue of what he writes, he has won me over.

All of Paul Adams's restaurant reviews can be found in an archive on the New York Sun website. There are about 200 reviews in the archive, however there are a few that aren't by Paul Adams. Another writer named Paul, Paul Lukas, occasionally substitutes. But most are by Adams.

Why do I think Paul Adams is the best restaurant reviewer working in America today? For three reasons: he writes well, he knows a lot and he puts food first. It's a simple formula, but most restaurant reviewers working today struggle to get one of the three right -- and most of the elite reviewers fail on at least one of those three points. There are plenty of reviewers at, for example, the small alternative newsweeklies around America, who write quite well but don't know very much. There are plenty of reviewers who have decent knowledge of their local markets but can't write. And in the major markets the reviewers have for the most part lost sight of the food -- they're operating in a pseudo-celebrity culture where form triumphs over substance and personal digressions are more important than the subject matter.

In an era when restaurant reviewing has become a form of non-serious, self-referential, commercialized entertainment, Paul Adams goes against the grain: he puts his head down and, week in week out, writes about restaurants without distraction. His reviews don't even award stars or scores of any kind. He just writes.

Adams is forthright about his preconceptions, and is open to having them challenged. In his recent review of Crave Ceviche Bar, he writes:

The line between inventiveness and gimmickry can be a fine one. When a new restaurant specializing in ceviche opened in Midtown East, I thought it would be a palace of the latter — a thin, uninteresting collection of citrus-cured seafoods with various Latin American frills.

But Todd Mitgang's ceviche bar, Crave, is deeper and less earthbound than I feared.

He has broad knowledge and even gives cocktails their due. In his review of Tailor, he notes:

The real treasure at Tailor is the selection of cocktails that emanate from the downstairs bar. The handsome, dim basement is decorated in sconces and wallpaper, like a tribute to some imagined heyday of the cocktail — as if we weren't living in one already! Created by Eben Freeman, another WD-50 alumnus, the drinks list is built from weird infusions and recherché liquors. Scotch is flavored with raisin bread, gin with hops, and the humble bourbon and Coke is improved with smoky wood essence. The $12-$15 cocktails also include the dessert-like Crumble, made with brown butter, cider, and rum; and the Agua Verde, a superb mixture of tomatillo and tequila.

I find his descriptions of food to be consistently more useful than those of most any other reviewer. From his review of A Voce:

Coarse lamb bolognese ($24) pulls off a similar finesse: Despite itself, the hearty, savory meat sauce thrills with lightness born of abundant fresh mint and cool ricotta. The housemade pappardelle, wide and toothsome, with appealingly pinked edges, provides an excellent foundation, even as it drowns in a deluge of the terrific ragu.

In one recent review, Adams was confronted with fried grasshoppers at the new Mexican restaurant Toloache. Here, he allows himself a bit of fun, but he keeps his eye on the ball and gives a solid description of the dish:

Then come the grasshoppers. There's no pretending they're not there: The tacos arrive flopped open, showing their succulently verminous contents to the world. They don't look like little shrimps or nuts or anything but what they are: insects in your food. In each taco, a tart green salsa enfolds a couple of dozen little deep-brown specimens; there's lime on the side to squeeze on top. The dried chapulines remind me most of crisp-surfaced raisins, with a distinct lemony-fruity flavor that's backed with a toasty, almost singed taste.

So, now you've heard of Paul Adams, my favorite restaurant reviewer.

[SundaySous]

You're above mainstream right?

[Chris Amirault]

What a great sentence: "The housemade pappardelle, wide and toothsome, with appealingly pinked edges, provides an excellent foundation, even as it drowns in a deluge of the terrific ragu." So much nuanced information in a little package (unlike the overflowing the pappardelle dish).

I wish I had a reviewer to add to this list. Now, the worst reviewer you've never heard of... that one I've got covered.

[TAPrice]

Thanks for the tip.

A little internet sleuthing reveals this about Mr. Adams:

In 2000 he was reviewing for the SF Weekly: click. This means that, no matter his initial qualifications, he has at least seven years of experience (maybe more).

[LPShanet]

Since 2004, Paul Adams has quietly been writing restaurant reviews for the New York Sun newspaper. At first, he barely registered on my radar, and he is still a rather obscure figure, but over the years I've come to regard him as not only the best restaurant reviewer in New York but also the best restaurant reviewer working in America today.

I don't know anything about Paul Adams other than what he says in his reviews, have never met him and don't read the New York Sun for anything other than the restaurant reviews and the occasional other arts piece. (The New York Sun is known, like the Wall Street Journal, for a politically conservative editorial slant and, some say, a news slant as well. However, also like the Wall Street Journal, the paper's arts coverage does not reflect any agenda as far as I can tell.) Purely by virtue of what he writes, he has won me over.

All of Paul Adams's restaurant reviews can be found in an archive on the New York Sun website. There are about 200 reviews in the archive, however there are a few that aren't by Paul Adams. Another writer named Paul, Paul Lukas, occasionally substitutes. But most are by Adams.

Why do I think Paul Adams is the best restaurant reviewer working in America today? For three reasons: he writes well, he knows a lot and he puts food first. It's a simple formula, but most restaurant reviewers working today struggle to get one of the three right -- and most of the elite reviewers fail on at least one of those three points. There are plenty of reviewers at, for example, the small alternative newsweeklies around America, who write quite well but don't know very much. There are plenty of reviewers who have decent knowledge of their local markets but can't write. And in the major markets the reviewers have for the most part lost sight of the food -- they're operating in a pseudo-celebrity culture where form triumphs over substance and personal digressions are more important than the subject matter.

In an era when restaurant reviewing has become a form of non-serious, self-referential, commercialized entertainment, Paul Adams goes against the grain: he puts his head down and, week in week out, writes about restaurants without distraction. His reviews don't even award stars or scores of any kind. He just writes.

Adams is forthright about his preconceptions, and is open to having them challenged. In his recent review of Crave Ceviche Bar, he writes:

The line between inventiveness and gimmickry can be a fine one. When a new restaurant specializing in ceviche opened in Midtown East, I thought it would be a palace of the latter — a thin, uninteresting collection of citrus-cured seafoods with various Latin American frills.

But Todd Mitgang's ceviche bar, Crave, is deeper and less earthbound than I feared.

He has broad knowledge and even gives cocktails their due. In his review of Tailor, he notes:

The real treasure at Tailor is the selection of cocktails that emanate from the downstairs bar. The handsome, dim basement is decorated in sconces and wallpaper, like a tribute to some imagined heyday of the cocktail — as if we weren't living in one already! Created by Eben Freeman, another WD-50 alumnus, the drinks list is built from weird infusions and recherché liquors. Scotch is flavored with raisin bread, gin with hops, and the humble bourbon and Coke is improved with smoky wood essence. The $12-$15 cocktails also include the dessert-like Crumble, made with brown butter, cider, and rum; and the Agua Verde, a superb mixture of tomatillo and tequila.

I find his descriptions of food to be consistently more useful than those of most any other reviewer. From his review of A Voce:

Coarse lamb bolognese ($24) pulls off a similar finesse: Despite itself, the hearty, savory meat sauce thrills with lightness born of abundant fresh mint and cool ricotta. The housemade pappardelle, wide and toothsome, with appealingly pinked edges, provides an excellent foundation, even as it drowns in a deluge of the terrific ragu.

In one recent review, Adams was confronted with fried grasshoppers at the new Mexican restaurant Toloache. Here, he allows himself a bit of fun, but he keeps his eye on the ball and gives a solid description of the dish:

Then come the grasshoppers. There's no pretending they're not there: The tacos arrive flopped open, showing their succulently verminous contents to the world. They don't look like little shrimps or nuts or anything but what they are: insects in your food. In each taco, a tart green salsa enfolds a couple of dozen little deep-brown specimens; there's lime on the side to squeeze on top. The dried chapulines remind me most of crisp-surfaced raisins, with a distinct lemony-fruity flavor that's backed with a toasty, almost singed taste.

So, now you've heard of Paul Adams, my favorite restaurant reviewer.

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Great find, FG. Many thanks for the tip. It's a little sad that one of the world's best food cities has such a dearth of great food criticism and writing, so this is a little light in a dark category.

[Fat Guy]

Sadly, we won't be seeing Paul Adams's reviews in the New York Sun anymore. The paper is going out of business today.