Philadelphia restaurant critics

[sara]

Hi,

A thread began at CH this morning regarding Phillly Weekly critic Robin Rinaldi that reads:

"SALT REVIEW....ROBIN RINALDI.(PHILLY WEEKLY)

Name: Jack

Posted: February 05, 2003 at 10:34:36

Message:

I have always suspected from reading Robin Rinaldi's reviews that she is a complete Twit who needs access to a word processor as much as terrorists need access to US passport making machines.

I frankly dont understand why the philadelphia weekly continues to hire idiots who know nothing about food or wine to write food reviews on restaurants. I have always thought Salt's menu was imaginative and different and actually had an excellent meal there last night. Hanger steak was tasty and proper temp, my dining companion's Cod was subtle but tasty.

She sounds like a wine snob who know's nothing about wine . She calls cured fish flavourless but when she reviews asian restaurants, it's tasty and "mellow". what a complete hypocrite.

I particularly find it very funny that she calls the food "too demanding for the average diner "

The point of restaurants like Django and Salt is to do things that are different not the same old BS that all restaurants in philadelphia serve.......balsamic reduction, xxx (fill in the blank) crusted tuna, wasabi soy ginger and all that pathetic latin food called nuevo latino.

I suupose she is perfectly happy washing down her frozen lobster mashed potatoes with a chocolate martini at the continental.

What a freaking joke of a food critic. "

I too have found Rinaldi's writing, as well as that of Elisa Ludwig, to be quite subpar, and often wondered how they got (and kept) their jobs past the first couple of reviews. On the other hand, I like Laban, and even Maxine Keyser occasionally. It's detailed, sophisticated, and I nearly always agree with their assessments.

I'd like to hear others thoughts on this...I've always wondered, when a place like the Weekly loses a critic, whether a real foodie,and good writer, would ever replace her.

Sara

[Steve Klc]

Sara--we've discussed Robin on this site before--have you read over those threads? Here was one:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...obin+rinaldi&s=

In that thread, which was awhile ago, I wrote:

"My read after this first column is that Robin is a decent writer looking for an edge, trying to establish a strong voice or an identifiable shtick in order to get noticed and attract readers.  No more, no less. Personally, I think it might be fun to follow Robin a bit despite her misguided and probably faux-populist sensibilities. It isn't unusual for a free city paper or weekly to focus on the lower end of dining and food as its readership is young.  Occasionally a writer for a paper like this--like Brett Anderson did while at Washington DC's  City Paper--demonstrates a deft hand reviewing and appreciating high and low.  Brett went on to contribute pieces to Gourmet and landed a job as a mainstream newspaper restaurant critic in New Orleans. We just might end up liking Robin."

Find Robin here:

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives....asp?AuthID=103

Perhaps, Sara, you could reference a few examples of her work which you think disappoints--and state why? I've come around to "like" her and am prepared to take up a sword in her defense, though I admit to not being completely current of her archive. So swing away. In that previous thread, Holly Moore noted that Robin was not a full-time restaurant critic but a food writer with a general beat--a beat which just happened to include reviewing restaurants sometimes. Have you noticed an evolution in her columns--trying to compete more directly as critic, as more of an alternative to LaBan--who is the full time mainstream newspaper restaurant critic in town?

I've followed LaBan and always read him before visiting Philly. He seems the consummate professional critic and a very good writer.

Generally, to your larger point, I don't think it is uncommon for a "Weekly" type paper to hire "voice" before avowed food knowledge--in essence, hire a spunky writer with a style that might appeal to their target audience first--with the hope that the writer can pick up the beat and the specific food knowledge as he/she goes along. Even on a higher media plane--like the Washington Post and other newspapers--editors have a habit of hiring writers, of hiring voice--first. It's seen in those circles as an advantage.

And a parting shot for you--is the best assessment of a critic how often one agrees with them?

Edited February 5, 2003 by Steve Klc (log)

[bjcohan]

I too have found Rinaldi's writing, as well as that of Elisa Ludwig, to be quite subpar, and often wondered how they got (and kept) their jobs past the first couple of reviews.

Sara, I was delighted to read your post.

Elisa Ludwig wrote a review of Paloma some time back and it was so poorly written that we couldn't even tell whether she liked it or not. Many of our friends and a number of my coworkers, unprompted, called me to ask what in blazes she was trying to say. Since we couldn't figure out what she was writing in her "review," we just posted it so that others could join us in laughing at it. The most frequent comment was "what the @#$%"?

I went onto the Phila. Weekly website to read her other reviews, wondering if just maybe I had put a little too much tequila in the tequila-lime sorbet. Nope. The woman cannot write and knows nothing about food.

After that, I stopped reading their restaurant reviews altogether.

It's a free paper. I guess you get what you pay for.

Barb

[Holly Moore]

And a parting shot for you--is the best assessment of a critic how often one agrees with them?

Probably not, but back in my column-writing days I always considered how often a reader agreeds with me as the best assesment of my readers.

[Steve Klc]

But Barb--what about Robin, not Elisa? What's not to like about this from July:

"Speaking of love, I spotted Avenue's celeb-owner Neil Stein this morning at La Colombe Torrefaction (130 S. 19th St.), sipping coffee with sweetheart Hope Cohen--at least I think it was Hope--at the next table while I pretended to be fully engrossed in The Sexual Life of Catherine M. Head shorn and Armani-suited, Stein emitted so much moneyed ease that I began to feel shabby, until I looked down and saw that Hope and I were wearing the exact same sandals! Yes, they are $49 Aerosoles instead of Jimmy Choos, but this just goes to show that Hope is a practical gal like me and that, more importantly, deep down inside, I'm the kind of woman Neil Stein could love. But could I love him back? Could I put aside my knee-jerk alterna-cynicism and give in to the ministrations of a man who takes capitalism by the balls instead of writing poems about it? I'm thinking it over."

Or this from her very positive review of Bella and Ali Waks in November:

"What's it really all about, this food thing? Why do you go to restaurants and read restaurant reviews, and why do I write them?

Certainly, on the surface of it, you read to find out if a place is worth your hard-earned time and money, and I write to make money. Then there are subtler reasons. I want to impress you with what I perceive to be my cleverness, so that I might assuage my own self-doubts--a pathetic trait many writers share. Some of you may want to form your own judgments of restaurants and of the reviews themselves in order to feel smarter than other people, including me.

Hogwash and illusion! For deep down, none of us are that petty. Restaurateurs cook, we eat, I describe it and you read it, and that, in a word, is joy. Beneath the pretense and the ratings, that's what it's all about."

And finally, I submit to "Nigella Bites it Big" here:

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives....asp?ArtID=2428

I'm not familiar with Elisa's work at all, but she sure seemed get Django just fine by saying "not just anyone can run a restaurant where every dish tastes this good. For that, Django is indeed a rarity."

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives....asp?ArtID=2499

Her review appeared before Laban's.

Edited February 7, 2003 by Steve Klc (log)

[joiei]

I used to read LaBans columns when he dispensed beans writing for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Rumor has it he was railroaded out of town by Ella Brennan when he gave one of her restaurants a bum review. I kind of liked his writing. What a nightmare of a job, food critic.