Overused restaurant reviewer words & metaphors

[Fat Guy]

My nomination for most overused restaurant reviewer word:

Perfect (and variants: Perfectly, Perfection)

My nomination for most overused restaurant reviewer metaphor:

Proust's Madeleines (especially by those who have never read Proust and would be too dumb to understand Proust if they did)

[tommy]

"sublime"

come on.

[Andy Lynes]

Restaurant interiors are all too aften likened to a 1930's ocean liner.

In the UK Fay Maschler and Matthew Fort like to use the word "bosky" a lot which I think is a horrible word and sticks out like a sore thumb in their reviews when deployed.

[Liza]

Unique.

(as if)

[tommy]

what's Proust?

[Wilfrid]

Tommy, "Proust" is a way to fill in your spare time for approximately nine months.

Another horrible English reviewer word - "plumped".  As in "my dining companion plumped for the squab."  Also, I don't mind Jonathan Meades describing a dish as "great gear", but no-one else is allowed to.

[cabrales]

Wilfrid -- My favorite Proust passage was the one on the madelaines, until I recently read the asparagus description. That's good too.  Do other members have a view on whether the Senderens book interpreting recipes relating to Proust is any good? I'll try to post the asparagus excerpt by next week in "Food Memories" under "General", which, for members' ease of reference, already offers the madelaine passage.

[Bux]

Thank you all. I'm adding these words to my thesaurus so I will have a larger vocabularly with which to post.

[Wilfrid]

Cabrales, I read and thoroughly enjoyed Dining with Proust, although I think of it as Anne Borrell's book rather than Senderens', as Borrell wrote the text.  Love that kind of food (although I can't say I tested any of the recipes), and its nicely illustrated.

[Liza]

I didn't know humans could be plumped. I know they can be plump. And hotdogs can plump, when you cook 'em.

"My dining companion plumped for the squab" sounds as if the dining companion performed a sexual act for the bird. In my humble, and filthy-minded opinion.

[jhlurie]

A very scary occurance:  I got to the point of actually having typed the single word reply "sublime" into this post before I went back and read tommy's contribution.  

The fact that we had the same thought is very frightening.

Also, now that I think of it, some other qualifiers are:

"extraordinary"

"top notch" (when the reviewer is trying to appear informal)

"homestyle"

"sublime"

"sublime"

"sublime"

"sublime"

[cabrales]

Cabrales, I read and thoroughly enjoyed Dining with Proust, although I think of it as Anne Borrell's book rather than Senderens', as Borrell wrote the text.  Love that kind of food (although I can't say I tested any of the recipes), and its nicely illustrated.

Wilfrid -- The French version "PROUST, la cuisine retrouvée" (1993) has Senderens listed as an author, together with Borrel and Naudin.  I wonder if the contents of the French and English versions are the same. In the English version, are the recipes by Senderens?

[mamster]

I'm sure I can think of some.  "Redolent" is a pet peeve--I'm sure someone can catch me using it, but I wish I wouldn't.  "Greaseless" in reference to something fried.

Clearly there is a continental divide:  I've never seen a restaurant likened to an ocean liner, nor the words "bosky" or "plumped."  But I can assure you that in my next review I will be plumping for some bosky madeleines.

You know, it occurs to me that Proust's madeleines are to food writing what Plato's cave is to all other writing:  the all-purpose metaphor.

[Wilfrid]

No, Cabrales, same authors for both versions.  It was just that I think Senderens wrote the recipes, and I was giving Ms Borrell credit for the text.  I didn't thinkof it as Senderens' book, that's all.

[Liza]

Dynamic.

Sharply etched flavors. And I'm with you on redolent.

[Mebutter]

Don't forget the holy trinity of "tasty" "crispy" "crunchy." I also hate it when reviewers refer to their guests as "my companion," "my other," or - gasp - "my lady."

Cute names used ad nauseum sends me off, too.

[Fat Guy]

Mamster, I was hoping someone would come up with greaseless. That was second on my list.

I think for terms to be world-class bad, they need to be both inaccurate and irritating. One or the other isn't enough. That's why "perfect" (which is pretty much never true, doesn't really say anything, and usually sounds sycophantic) and "greaseless" (which by definition cannot be true of fried food, which implies that grease is somehow bad, and which carries with it all the baggage of the food-neurotic diet movement) are at the head of my list. At least a term like "sublime" can sometimes be true. It may indicate laziness (and that can be forgiven on occasion in an otherwise non-lazy and talented writer), but it's not out of the question.

Gosh I hope nobody runs a search on my site and catches me in a "perfect" or "greaseless" violation. Yikes.

[Rachel Perlow]

Just out of curiousity, how would you describe something that is fried perfectly and doesn't have that soggy greasy look that poorly fried foods can have, without calling it greaseless?

Also, please give me another word besides sublime to describe that feeling I get when eating something really, really good? Let me describe how I react when taking the first bite of something that good: I close my eyes, imagining I'm getting this dreamy look on my face, kind of smiling while chewing. And, if my dining companion (usually husband) is talking, I generally hold up my hand in such a way that indicates "please be quiet for a moment, I'm concentrating." This only happens a few times a year (if I'm lucky) and if that's not sublime, I don't know what is.

[tommy]

Also, please give me another word besides sublime to describe that feeling I get when eating something really, really good? Let me describe how I react when taking the first bite of something that good: I close my eyes, imagining I'm getting this dreamy look on my face, kind of smiling while chewing. And, if my dining companion (usually husband) is talking, I generally hold up my hand in such a way that indicates "please be quiet for a moment, I'm concentrating." This only happens a few times a year (if I'm lucky) and if that's not sublime, I don't know what is.

that's sublime.  and that's also a much more interesting way of stating as much, which is part of my point.

[Fat Guy]

In general, adjectives are crutches. We can't write without them, but their use should be minimized in heavily edited professional writing.

In your second example, in any basic professional-writing clinic, what you'd be told is that your actual description -- "I close my eyes, imagining I'm getting this dreamy look on my face, kind of smiling while chewing. And, if my dining companion (usually husband) is talking, I generally hold up my hand in such a way that indicates 'please be quiet for a moment, I'm concentrating.' This only happens a few times a year (if I'm lucky)" -- is superior to using the copout word "sublime." If you have to worry about a word count, you use sublime, fine, because it's more efficient. But if you use sublime when you had space to describe what really made the dish sublime, you're just being lazy.

Likewise, instead of saying "greaseless," it's better to say something like, "The great irony of deep-fat frying is that, when done right, it hardly seems as though your food was completely submerged in scalding, bubbling grease just a few moments ago."

Take a look at any example of excellent writing, and what you'll likely see is most of the adjectives missing, replaced by evocative descriptions. You'll also see far fewer adverbs than I use in my writing (and certianly in my posts here).

[tommy]

Take a look at any example of excellent writing, and what you'll likely see is most of the adjectives missing, replaced by evocative descriptions. You'll also see far fewer adverbs than I use in my writing (and certianly in my posts here).

what are your thoughts on gerunds?

[Rachel Perlow]

So, the idea is, instead of using a word like sublime, to use your reasons as a definition of the word and skip the actual adjective? I'll have to practice that. Of course, most of my "reviews" are really long already.

PS - I need another word for review. I think of that word as reserved for people who get paid for professionally published restaurant evaluations. What should we call our amateur eGullet reviews of restaurants? Do you think "evaluation" is acceptable? It seems to fit the bill but I don't really care for it.

[Mebutter]

Call them reviews. People know what the word means.

Also, I loved RPerlow's substitution for sublime. I could visualize it in my mind. It would make a good lede.

[tommy]

PS - I need another word for review. I think of that word as reserved for people who get paid for professionally published restaurant evaluations. What should we call our amateur eGullet reviews of restaurants? Do you think "evaluation" is acceptable? It seems to fit the bill but I don't really care for it.

i wouldn't be concerned about it.  look at steven shaw.  he uses the word "review" all the time, and he's hardly professional.

[Fat Guy]

You could say, "Review, but not a real review. More like something Tommy would write."

I usually refer to what I write in message-board posts as "reports" rather than reviews.