The Record Restaurant Reviews

[ngatti]

This past Friday's 'GO!' section of the 'Bergen Record' carried a review of the 'Park Steakhouse' in Park Ridge by David Bonom.

The following points are in contention:

A quick kitchen poll of 4 cooks and chefs found questions over the number of stars handed out (3). With explanations for the questions raised focusing upon the general tone of the review. The consensus was that the piece read as if it were a 2 star review. Given my disdain for the quality of 'The Record's' reviews, I found myself in bemused disagreement. My own opinion was, that based on the review, 'The Park' warranted its 3 stars. Careful reading of the review shows that Mr. Bonom found much to like. It is his 'sturm und drang' criticism of dishes (which seem to only mildly disappoint) that tend to make people feel that the criticisms are much worse than they actually are.

My main criticsms of the review have less to do with food and more to do with Mr. Bonom's constant and wrongheaded kvetching about prices.

His crabmeat cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce, an appetizer special, was a classic but a bit pricey at $14.95 for a measly 4-ounce portion of pristine jumbo lump crab.

(emphasis mine)

Mr. Bonom is perfectly within his rights to opine that a $14.95 appetizer is pricey. He is entitled to his view and will get no argument from me over expressing it. BUT...the use of the word measly? A quarter pound of jumbo lump crabmeat with accoutrement is considered a measly portion? A gavonische attitude (to say the least!). I'll be sure to use this the next time someone needs an example of a good oxymoron.

The fact is that Fresh Maryland Jumbo Lump Crabmeat wholesales for $28.00 per pound and pasteurized Thai/Malaysian Jumbo Lump Crabmeat wholesales for $21.00-$24.00 per pound. That puts the food cost with incidentals for this particular dish (I'm assuming some type of plate garnish AND the cocktail sauce and lemon), excluding labor and overhead, between 45% and 60% depending on the type of crab used.

Pricey?...Yes! Particularly from the Chefs point of view!

The 14-ounce New York strip ($24.50) was classic steakhouse fare. The prime meat was dry-aged for 21 days... Again, the drawback to this dish was an accompaniment - the awful, out of the bag, frozen, thin-cut french fries. At these prices, I would expect nothing less than hand-cut fries.

What prices are Mr. Bonom talking about?!? This a dry- aged PRIME new York strip with a minimum 21 days on the hook. At these prices I'll take TWO, and hold the damn fries! Suffice to say that Mr. Bonom betrays a huge ignorance about the wholesale price of beef and how it relates to a restaurants pricing structure. He'd be much better off limiting his criticism to the food.

Handcut fresh fries vs. frozen? I've had plenty of horrible frozen french fries. I've eaten more horrible hand cut so-called fresh french fries. YMMV. Clearly he didn't like these.

The accompanying sides were a disappointment and a distraction. Spaghetti squash, which showed up on every entree we ordered, was salty, mundane, and suffered from too much garlic.

Is spaghetti squash served as a side now considered mundane? Or was it the salt and garlic which made it so. The specific food criticism I can figure out, but can anyone help me with the mundane aspect. It's quite unclear to me as is the use of the word mundane between two food terms. Someone get this guy a style handbook.

The steak melted in my mouth as it tantalized my taste buds with a rich beef flavor.

If he uses the word 'toothsome' I'm gonna barf. Mawkish, nuff said.

Finally as a piece of restaurant criticism and as a piece of sophisticated food description I give you the last line. This is the quality of 'The Record's' restaurant reportage. I offer it as an example of what the 'The Record' Dining Out reviews have to offer the dining public and the professional Restaurant community!

The white and dark chocolate cake ($7), made by a local Swiss baker, was yummy and tasted like a grown-up version of a Devil Dog.

YMMV

All opinions expressed are my own

Nick

[dodge621]

I was surprised after reading all the negatives that it got 3 stars

[dodge621]

Here we go again.

today we are given a review from Orangeburg, NY

from the review

- Tuna tartare - oil obscured flavor of the fish

- potatoes pecuilar taste didn't work

- servers not knowledgeable about food and unable to offer guidance

- crab and shrimp cigars missed the mark

- goat chees flan starter pecuilar

- deserts uniformly disappointing

favorably reviewed were the mussels, onion rings, rib eye and chicken

lobster we are just told it was enormous (no comment on good or bad)

rating by Marge 3 stars

[Rail Paul]

- Tuna tartare - oil obscured flavor of the fish

- potatoes pecuilar taste didn't work

- servers not knowledgeable about food and unable to offer guidance

- crab and shrimp cigars missed the mark

- goat chees flan starter pecuilar

- deserts uniformly disappointing

favorably reviewed were the mussels, onion rings, rib eye and chicken

lobster we are just told it was enormous (no comment on good or bad)

rating by Marge 3 stars

Good onion rings? OK, three stars sounds about right. How big were the burgers? Dancing car-hops might make it four stars...

Dodge, you've again reminded us why reviews don't mean horsefeathers, which is why I rarely pay much attention to them.

In fairness to Marge, she probably knows more about food than 99% of the servers and 50% of the chefs.

[ngatti]

My biggest gripe was no mention of the Chef/owner. You get Three stars you should get some credit, nu?

I thought there was much criticism within the review. Hence I was again surprised at the number of stars given. Xaviers Garrison was given 3 & 1/2 stars and received a much more glowing review. What gives? Does the 1/2 star make that much diference?

It may have indeed been a three star restaurant, but the review reads more like 2 star. A consistent problem with the Record. Perhaps the most consistent thing about the food writing at the Record is it's inherent inconsistency. Ten food critics, Im not surprised. The dining public shoudn't be either.

Nick

[Lord Baltimore]

I've been visiting e-gullet for several weeks now and I must say that there are some bitter and angry people that post to this site. It amazes me how they have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioners for validating or invalidating the thoughts of others. The great thing about this country is that we have the right to agree or disagree under our 1st amendment protections, the sad part is that some people just abuse that right.

What I am getting at is that, to quote ngatti's shorthand, "IMHO" restaurant reviews are the expressions of what a person experienced while having several meals at an establishment. Granted, we as readers, may be annoyed or enthralled by what the reviewer had to say but it's just an opinion. How many times have you gone to a movie that got great reviews and you've walked out scratching your head wondering what someone else saw because you thought it sucked. OR the opposite where a movie got god awful reviews but you loved it. The same applies to restaurant reviews. They are merely a service or as some on this site like to think of them, a disservice. Never the less, I read the Pastel's review and don't get what the problem is. Dodge, mr happy happy joy joy boy do I need to get laid, probably sat waiting on his computer until the record posted the latest review sometime in the middle of the night so he could pounce and with his already jaundiced view, point out everything wrong in Ms. Perry's review. Dodge old boy, haven't you ever gone to a restaurant and had a few disappointing minor things but loved the overall feel of the place? I doubt it since it doesn't seem that you like anything. My understanding of 3 stars is that the place is not perfect but it's better than good, if Ms. Perry felt that the place was better than good, so be it. YOu should go there and eat and see if you agree. KNowing you, I'll bet you won't just like it or go for that matter so you can have more negative vibes to put out there. Why don't you take the angry chef Ngatti with you. Another one who sits by the monitor waiting to pounce. THe record has toooooooo many reviewers. Puhleeeze pal. It's a small paper, do you think they could afford a full-timer? I doubt it, but then again that is to qoute you "IMHO". Ngatti, it is clear from your posts that you obviously despies restaurant reviewers from anywhere. You have the typical, lowlevel wanna be a bigtime chef mentality of "they are out to get me". Do you really believe that? I don't, what good would it do for a reviewer or newspaper to hurt restaurants? I have one question for you, when you were reviewed, did you get a bad one? Did you think your "chicken parmagiano ala ngatti" rated a 4 and you got a 2? Should your grilled sirloin with truffled barolo reduction have warranted a 4 star because you decided to finish the sauce with truffle butter? I loved your line "no mention of the chef/owner". Why? Is it that you weren't mentioned in your review? YOur one shot at infamy?

Cheers to rail paul who at least has the sense enough to look with clear eyes and make the decision for himself that reviews are just what they are nothing more nothing less.

In the immortal words of Stan Lee: "Nuff said!"

[Lord Baltimore]

By the way dodge, I noticed you pointed out the location of the restaurant. Since it was in NY does that mean it shouldn't have been reviewed in your humble opinion?

In case you don't know how to read a map, Orangeburg is just over the new york state border. That means it is adjacent to BERGEN COUNTY and the town of OLD TAPPAN(NJ). I DON'T THINK PEOPLE NEED A PASSPORT TO CROSS THE BORDER BUT BE A GOOD CHAP AND FIND OUT FOR US, WON'T YOU?

[ngatti]

Ruby??...Flynn???

Is that you?

Nick

[dodge621]

[in case you don't know how to read a map, Orangeburg is just over the new york state border. ]

[i've been visiting e-gullet for several weeks now and I must say that there are some bitter and angry people that post to this site. ]

Are you venting your anger at me? LOL

[Hank]

To Lord Baltimore. From your posts I take you for an ABSOLUTELY pompous ass. Though the members of e-gullet don't always see eye to eye on everything no one in my memory has ever been as insulting and condescending in their remarks as you have and as far as I personally am concerned there is no room for the likes of you on this site and I believe you would do all of us a big favor and go ACROSS THE BORDER. As far as the review of this restaurant is concerned I have been there twice in the past 6 months and was quite surprised that it received 3 stars. IMHO, (though you seem to hate other peoples opinions) this is a 2 star at most, if that high. The reviewer was much too kind in her rating and in her own words she did not like enough dishes to warrent her high rating.

[201]

I'd just like to abuse my first ammendment rights for a moment in order to invalidate Lord Baltimore's thoughts which invalidate Dodge621's thoughts which invalidate the thoughts of Bergen Record's restaurant reviewers which invalidate the thoughts of restaurant owners who thought they deserved a better rating.

Of course, I'm not sure my opinion here is actually valid enough to do that.

edit: It's a ridiculous run-on of a sentence and I was sure to mess up somewhere.

[Jinmyo]

I've been visiting e-gullet for several weeks now and I must say that there are some bitter and angry people that post to this site. It amazes me how they have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioners for validating or invalidating the thoughts of others. The great thing about this country is that we have the right to agree or disagree under our 1st amendment protections, the sad part is that some people just abuse that right.

What I am getting at is that, to quote ngatti's shorthand, "IMHO" restaurant reviews are the expressions of what a person experienced while having several meals at an establishment. Granted, we as readers, may be annoyed or enthralled by what the reviewer had to say but it's just an opinion. How many times have you gone to a movie that got great reviews and you've walked out scratching your head wondering what someone else saw because you thought it sucked. OR the opposite where a movie got god awful reviews but you loved it. The same applies to restaurant reviews. They are merely a service or as some on this site like to think of them, a disservice. Never the less, I read the Pastel's review and don't get what the problem is. Dodge, mr happy happy joy joy boy do I need to get laid, probably sat waiting on his computer until the record posted the latest review sometime in the middle of the night so he could pounce and with his already jaundiced view, point out everything wrong in Ms. Perry's review. Dodge old boy, haven't you ever gone to a restaurant and had a few disappointing minor things but loved the overall feel of the place? I doubt it since it doesn't seem that you like anything.  My understanding of 3 stars is that the place is not perfect but it's better than good, if Ms. Perry felt that the place was better than good, so be it. YOu should go there and eat and see if you agree. KNowing you, I'll bet you won't just like it or go for that matter so you can have more negative vibes to put out there. Why don't you take the angry chef Ngatti with you. Another one who sits by the monitor waiting to pounce. THe record has toooooooo many reviewers. Puhleeeze pal. It's a small paper, do you think they could afford a full-timer? I doubt it, but then again that is to qoute you "IMHO". Ngatti, it is clear from your posts that you obviously despies restaurant reviewers from anywhere. You have the typical, lowlevel wanna be a bigtime chef mentality of "they are out to get me". Do you really believe that? I don't, what good would it do for a reviewer or newspaper to hurt restaurants? I have one question for you, when you were reviewed, did you get a bad one? Did you think your "chicken parmagiano ala ngatti" rated a 4 and you got a 2? Should your grilled sirloin with truffled barolo reduction have warranted a 4 star because you decided to finish the sauce with truffle butter? I loved your line "no mention of the chef/owner". Why? Is it that you weren't mentioned in  your review? YOur one shot at infamy?

Cheers to rail paul who at least has the sense enough to look with clear eyes and make the decision for himself that reviews are just what they are nothing more nothing less.

In the immortal words of Stan Lee: "Nuff said!"

[Rail Paul]

I would like to point out that Lord Baltimore managed to hit three distinct hot buttons which have been discussed here, maybe even ad nauseam:

1) The Bergen Record and its many reviewers who aren't always consistent with each other in what they describe, and the stars they award. Ms Perry herself alluded to this in her comments on an earlier thread.

2) The NY Times NJ section's interest in reviewing NY state restaurants, which some NJ residents see as condescending. Orangeburg is within sptting distance of the line on a good day, but Cold Spring, etc are 20 miles away.

3) The ongoing thread of whether a chef or pastry chef deserves recognition by name. Several food professionals believe they should, and the NYT was taken to task on it when one chef alleged they botched the interview in the review.

That said, I'd like to welcome you, Lord Baltimore, to eGullet, and invite you to send over some crabs we can hammer and consume. BTW, please assure us you aren't Flynn, talented one, etc...

[ngatti]

Of course, I'm not sure my opinion here is actually valid enough to do that.  

Your opinion is plenty valid . I enjoy readin' ya. As I'm sure many others do.

Nick

[201]

Of course, I'm not sure my opinion here is actually valid enough to do that.  

Your opinion is plenty valid . I enjoy readin' ya. As I'm sure many others do.

Nick

Muchas gracias, Nick. I just still feel like a newbie, mostly because... well, I'm still a newbie. Though I have inkling suspicion that will all change with time.

edit : decided on a different emoticon

[ngatti]

I've been visiting e-gullet for several weeks now and I must say that there are some bitter and angry people that post to this site. It amazes me how they have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioners for validating or invalidating the thoughts of others. The great thing about this country is that we have the right to agree or disagree under our 1st amendment protections, the sad part is that some people just abuse that right.

What I am getting at is that, to quote ngatti's shorthand, "IMHO" restaurant reviews are the expressions of what a person experienced while having several meals at an establishment. Granted, we as readers, may be annoyed or enthralled by what the reviewer had to say but it's just an opinion. How many times have you gone to a movie that got great reviews and you've walked out scratching your head wondering what someone else saw because you thought it sucked. OR the opposite where a movie got god awful reviews but you loved it. The same applies to restaurant reviews. They are merely a service or as some on this site like to think of them, a disservice. Never the less, I read the Pastel's review and don't get what the problem is. Dodge, mr happy happy joy joy boy do I need to get laid, probably sat waiting on his computer until the record posted the latest review sometime in the middle of the night so he could pounce and with his already jaundiced view, point out everything wrong in Ms. Perry's review. Dodge old boy, haven't you ever gone to a restaurant and had a few disappointing minor things but loved the overall feel of the place? I doubt it since it doesn't seem that you like anything.  My understanding of 3 stars is that the place is not perfect but it's better than good, if Ms. Perry felt that the place was better than good, so be it. YOu should go there and eat and see if you agree. KNowing you, I'll bet you won't just like it or go for that matter so you can have more negative vibes to put out there. Why don't you take the angry chef Ngatti with you. Another one who sits by the monitor waiting to pounce. THe record has toooooooo many reviewers. Puhleeeze pal. It's a small paper, do you think they could afford a full-timer? I doubt it, but then again that is to qoute you "IMHO". Ngatti, it is clear from your posts that you obviously despies restaurant reviewers from anywhere. You have the typical, lowlevel wanna be a bigtime chef mentality of "they are out to get me". Do you really believe that? I don't, what good would it do for a reviewer or newspaper to hurt restaurants? I have one question for you, when you were reviewed, did you get a bad one? Did you think your "chicken parmagiano ala ngatti" rated a 4 and you got a 2? Should your grilled sirloin with truffled barolo reduction have warranted a 4 star because you decided to finish the sauce with truffle butter? I loved your line "no mention of the chef/owner". Why? Is it that you weren't mentioned in  your review? YOur one shot at infamy?

Cheers to rail paul who at least has the sense enough to look with clear eyes and make the decision for himself that reviews are just what they are nothing more nothing less.

In the immortal words of Stan Lee: "Nuff said!"

Lord Baltimore,

I PM'd you and kindly asked you not to judge me from two posts (The last from June 24th!).

I told you that I would then post a response.

My response: Proverbs 26:4

Nick

[tommy]

Ruby??...Flynn???

Is that you?

Nick

actually i thought it was me.

[ngatti]

actually i thought it was me.  :wacko

Nick

[ngatti]

Uno mas.

Saigon Republic as reviewed in The Record

Nick

[Rachel Perlow]

For those not reading the paper version, which we read at Saigon Republic tonight, they received 3 Stars!

The timing of this review is unfortunate, however, as they are going to be closed for a week for a well deserved vacation. They are reopening on Tuesday, August 27th.

[tommy]

i found it odd that pad thai would be a popular dish there.

[Rachel Perlow]

Katie also thinks its odd that it's so popular, but it is a pretty good version of Pad Thai.

[jhlurie]

Take a look how hard the Record review has to work to avoid saying that the place is insanely busy because of a great New York Times review. If you read it with that fact in mind it takes on a whole different (and humorous) complexion.

That aside, its a fairly accurate review. It even conveys KT's personality reasonably accurately.

[Rachel Perlow]

I noticed that too. When was the last time the plates were the big draw at any restaurant?

Here's a picture of the plate in question:

[ngatti]

Baumgart's cafe

Ruga

Here are the two "Record" restaurant reviews from this past Friday's "Go" section. I just thought I'd start a specific thread.

I thought the Baumgart's piece was smooth and straightforward. While the Ruga piece was choppy, a little pedantic and twitty, with a bit of silliness sprinkled throughout.

Nick