The Record Restaurant Reviews

[ngatti]

The Angry Chef Rides Again

I try to refrain. I try to restrain, but like Dr. Strangelove, the hand sometimes has a life of its own, particularly after reading Maria Rabat’s review of Ruga (the link is posted in the prior post). This time, no numerous line by line quotes.

Many of you have told me that “it’s pointless”, that it’s “only the Record. What do you expect? Why do you waste your time?” To this I say that, Yes, it may be pointless. After all I am not one of this newspapers editorial powers that be. But I know that some people at the Record read this site. The Record is also making an effort to solicit reader mail inviting comment on the restaurant reviews that it publishes.

I don’t buy comments such as “It’s only the Record.” I think, as with most fields of endeavor, that the Record and its writers strive for excellence. As an audience, it is up to us to let them know whether or not they’ve achieved it, and if not why we feel so. As far as “what’s the point” is concerned, I must say that as a chef who admittedly doesn’t get out much to local places (many where friends either work, run kitchens or own), I take a real interest in who’s getting reviewed and what their ratings are. What local trends are starting to be developed? Where are people eating and what restaurants are they talking about? Who are the chefs and what are they cooking? Most important, who is benefiting, or being hurt by the reviews in question? However if, due to sloppy writing, hack writing, plain ignorance, or an amateurish approach, they lose credibility with the savvy food conscious dining public, then I feel I’ve lost a valuable resource. I also take offense, for this, after all, is my local paper. If I told you that NYC envy doesn’t enter into the equation I’d be lying. I don’t see any reason why the Record’s food writing can’t be as well respected as any other big city papers’ food writing.

Having said all that I’ll say that there is plenty to criticize about the writing in this review. Criticism can be leveled about specific food knowledge as it comes across in the writing of this review. There is no mention of wine or wine service. One can certainly find fault with some of the style and structure. Better I leave the discussion of the specific failings or successes of the review to the rest of the folks here on eGullet. I invite your discussion. However there is one troubling aspect that I noticed and I’d like to mention it.

Ruga is considered by many food savvy diners and professionals to be one of the top tier restaurants in the region (Bergen/Passaic/Southern Rockland). You will find it mentioned in the same breath as Xavier’s, America Bar and Grill, Esty Street, Café Panache, Saddle River Inn, etc…To give it a mediocre review and only 2 and ½ stars is fine. But this is major culinary news in this neighborhood. To ignore this on the printed page, omitting all reference to its prior reputation and achievement within the context of this well known restaurants history is, in my view, negligent and implies ignorance of the local culinary scene.

Thanks for listening

Nick

[tommy]

if you care that much about the record, can i suggest that you write a letter to the editor? that's the general procedure for bitching and moaning as far as i know.

[Double 0]

Nick; I generally agree with you about the record, but don't pop a blood vessel. Remember the kids have to go to college By the way when are we going to Korean?

[ngatti]

Nick; I generally agree with you about the record, but don't pop a blood vessel. Remember the kids have to go to college By the way when are we going to Korean?

Sounds like the cue for a New jersey eGullet pissup. You're the Korean expert 00. I have noticed that Namaskaar in Paramus has a room that goes largely empty on Monday nights. A couple of more weeks and I may be able to take on the responsibility of organizing something here.

I'm not that upset. It's just my quirk. I'm the self appointed "Bergen Record Restaurant Review Basher" . I just think that alittle turnabout is fair play. I'll get onto the Baumgart's piece later on. When I'm finished with today's golf outing.

Interesting you should mention Korean. Today's outing is for the Korea Society and I'm off to buy some Kim Chee for tonights apres golf buffet.

Nick

[tommy]

Interesting you should mention Korean.  Today's outing is for the Korea Society and I'm off to buy some Kim Chee for tonights apres golf buffet.   

Nick

i'd be up for a korean outing. where's this place in paramus, nick? i can check it out beforehand.

i'd just as soon not go to any place in pal park or whatever town is over there, as those people don't seem to like non-koreans very much. (this is an opinion based only on 2 places, but from what i've heard from others as well.)

[ngatti]

Sorry Tommy, Namaskaar is indian.

Nick

[ngatti]

Marge Perry likes the place, I can't stand it. For whatever reason (actually plenty if you read the review), the place speaks to her. That's okay. Different strokes...

However the review was well written. A good description, no silly axes to grind. It does what it's supposed to do. If The Record would use critics that stick to this format, fine.

One quibble...No mention of the signature Chicken Salad Sandwich?

Others and myself truly can't stand this place. That's okay. All we do is disagree with the writer (and a significant percentage of the local population as this is a very popular place), much as we disagree with each other here on eGullet. I find that this piece flows much better. The sub themes of eclecticism and Ice Cream flow much more smoothly as a quiet unifying theme. Dislikes and likes are noted and the writer moves on to the next topic.

Seems to me that between Marge Perry and Jeffrey Schwartz, we may have a pretty decent tag team. Now if only the feature eds could get their budgets increased so we can see more of these two.

Nick

[Double 0]

Nick and Tommy I'm going to start a new thread on the Korean thing.

[dodge621]

[be up for a korean outing. where's this place in paramus, nick? ]

- Koreana was in Paramus but moved out several years ago. if you were thinking about Koreana they are now in Fort Lee. I do not know of any other Korean restaurants in Paramus.

[ngatti]

Links to both reviews: Medina and Wild Ginger

I've never eaten at Wild Ginger, Marge liked it.

As far as Medina: I don't think I'm going to argue with the review of a Morroccan restaurant written by somebody with the last name "Rabat".

edit: The above links no longer exist.

Nick

[Rosie]

More postings about Medina are here.

Medina

[ngatti]

The links seem to have been scrubbed. here are some new ones.

Medina in Rutherford

Wild Ginger in Englewood

Nick

[Liza]

"Black cod, aka sable, is an exceptionally rich fish, and the meager portion is enough for two hedonistic souls. "

[ngatti]

"Black cod, aka sable, is an exceptionally rich fish, and the meager portion is enough for two hedonistic souls. "

You noticed that also. I'm sure she'd like that one back

I thought it was overall pretty good, though.

Nick

[ngatti]

Click Here

Nick

[ngatti]

Here they are folks. Quite a good one from David Bonom on America in Tenafly and Jeffrey Schwartz with a well written piece about Mela in Ridgewood.

Links to this weeks restaurant criticism in The Record

No complaints this week

Nick

[Rachel Perlow]

Actually, I have an issue with the review of America. I was looking to see which dishes he is recommending and I couldn't tell if he liked the food or not. For example, read the descriptions of the pumpkin gnocci* and the duck breast. He describes the food fully without giving his opinion. He mentions several dishes have a sweet component without indicating if that is a good or bad thing. He describes the duck, but did he like it? Shouldn't these things be part of the review, or am I missing the point?

* I am also tired of seeing gnocci described as "pillow-like dumplings." I'm pretty sure in this day and age, people reading food reviews know what gnocci are.

[tommy]

* I am also tired of seeing gnocci described as "pillow-like dumplings." I'm pretty sure in this day and age, people reading food reviews know what gnocci are.

not the people who read the bergen record.

[pnapoli]

Shouldn't these things be part of the review, or am I missing the point?

They should. You're not.

[msp]

Think how boring writing would be if each dish were accompanied by "I liked this dish because" rather than language that draws a real image of the appeal of the dish, such as "intensely sweet...pulled togther by salty..."

Also, I believe in this instance "pillow-like" was a description of the lightness of the gnocci, not of gnocci in general...

Having said all that, it is certainly up to any given reader whether they enjoy a certain writer's style. Some people prefer very plain,unembellished language, some prefer subtly in description, some like verbose language, and some pine for irreverence.

OK, well I'm off to teach a writing class (did I really just manage to so smoothly slip that in there?), so I'll leave this to all of you to continue...

[dodge621]

[shouldn't these things be part of the review, or am I missing the point?]

yes they should.

[Think how boring writing would be if each dish were accompanied by "I liked this dish because" rather than language that draws a real image of the appeal of the dish, such as "intensely sweet...pulled togther by salty..."]

yank

[Rachel Perlow]

Think how boring writing would be if each dish were accompanied by "I liked this dish because" rather than language that draws a real image of the appeal of the dish, such as "intensely sweet...pulled togther by salty..."

Well, of course that would get repetitive. However, would including the word "enjoyed" (or not) every once in a while be so hard? Here are two paragraphs from the review in question which I feel could benifit from some subjectivity:

Sweet seemed to be a recurring component in a number of dishes we tried. The pumpkin gnocchi ($12), new to the continually changing menu, was a mélange of English peas and sautéed chanterelle, black trumpet, shiitake, and cremini mushrooms with pillow-like dumplings in an intensely sweet American port reduction. The sauce, finished with a touch of demi-glace, has no added sugar, but was pulled together by the salty chards of shaved New State Parmesan. A pile of white sweet potato chips offered a textural contrast.

Pan-seared duck breast ($27) with its pomegranate-orange glaze has a similar, though not as intensely sweet, component. Organic Long Island duck was sautéed and served sliced and artfully presented with a small tangle of braised, gingered baby bok choy, white sweet potatoes, and blood orange segments.

Here are the same two paragraphs, with my possible edits in brackets (please note, these do not reflect my actual opinions of the dishes in question):

Sweet seemed to be a [(un)welcome?] recurring component in a number of dishes we tried. The pumpkin gnocchi ($12), new to the continually changing menu, was a mélange of English peas and sautéed chanterelle, black trumpet, shiitake, and cremini mushrooms with pillow-like [weightless? etherial? light? - I think 'pillow-like' is overused.] dumplings in an intensely [(in)appropriately?] sweet American port reduction. The sauce, finished with a touch of demi-glace, has no added sugar, but was pulled together by the salty chards of shaved New State Parmesan. A pile of white sweet potato chips offered a textural contrast.

Pan-seared duck breast ($27) with its pomegranate-orange glaze has a similar, though not as intensely sweet, component [which I enjoyed?]. Organic Long Island duck was sautéed and served sliced and artfully presented with a small tangle of braised, gingered baby bok choy, white sweet potatoes, and blood orange segments. These components worked/did not work well together.]

[tommy]

it does read more like a technical analysis than someone's opinion.

[ngatti]

Christ what's happening to me? I'm not finding very much to bitch at this week.

I appreciate all the criticisms made of Mr. Bonom's review, and note that most here are in agreement about the specifics (or rather specific, as it seems to be one thing). It is something that, for a couple of reasons, I didn't notice.

First: I thought that he liked the dishes in question because they were descriptive without any criticism attached. Note that he makes clear the dishes he didn't like. So by implication, I assume he liked those dishes that Rachel and others have noted. This may be a chef thing (or my thing). As he didn't have anything bad to say, and what he did say was detailed description, I figure why waste time describing in such detail, a dish that he didn't like. YMMV

Secondly: I was so thrilled to notice a change in Mr. Bonom's writing (and others, I'd like to add). I'm aware that The Record reviewers in the past few weeks seem to making note of Chef's name in the reviews. As a chef, I welcome this and am glad to see it. I also note that a fair amount of space was devoted to wine and wine service. Klc has raised this point and he's right. It seems that this aspect of a meal gets short shrift in general. Not so in this case.

Thirdly: Well..It's personal. I know James Ferrara (owner) and Kenneth Collins (chef), pretty well, and am thrilled that they recieved three and a half stars. Gonna give this place a nice pop and keep it humming for a while. I'm very happy for them.

Having said all that, I think I kind of agree with most here. the writing in the instances that you have criticized could have been made a little clearer.

But IMO, I think it's minor.

Jeffrey Schwartz? I'm a fan. But having eaten in Mela several times, I wonder if we eat in the same place? Oh well. Since I like this guy's writng, I'm just going to have to try it one more time. Maybe I'm ordering wrong. Maybe I'm hitting it on off nights. Maybe I don't get it (that'll be enough out of you Tommy).

One last thing: It appears that The record is tightening up on review staff.

It appears that there are not quite as many as there once were. In fact we've got two in a row from Mr. Bonom.

I hope it's a trend.

Thanx for listening

Nick

[Rachel Perlow]

Thirdly:  Well..It's personal.  I know James Ferrara (owner) and Kenneth Collins (chef), pretty well, and am thrilled that they recieved three and a half stars.  Gonna give this place a nice pop and keep it humming for a while.  I'm very happy for them.

While I don't know them personally, I'm happy for them too. Despite my critique of a couple items, we really enjoy this restaurant. We always seem to go for special occasions and say "we should come here more often."