Salt

[Carlson1105]

What's the deal with Salt on 20th St ? Sign says on vacation, but I'm hearing it closed.

[KatieLoeb]

What's the deal with Salt on 20th St ? Sign says on vacation, but I'm hearing it closed.

It's done.

Way I heard it, the owner didn't even have the backbone to tell the staff they were all unemployed himself. Left that job to the chef after he handed him his last paycheck.

From all accounts it had gone precipitously downhill after the owner fired the chef that made the place a destination. Apparently over some sort of silly disagreement about a typo on the menu.

Some people are their own worst enemies.

[cdh]

Sad to hear. Where did Vernon Morales land after leaving there?

[Carlson1105]

Vernon is in San Francisco, apparently trying to get his own place going. Heard the same thing about the closing, too chicken to face the employees he was getting rid of himself.

[cdh]

Dammit. I liked his food.

[Andrew Fenton]

Yeah, it's a shame. The restaurant had problems (the ridiculously bad service that Sara experienced, for one) but the food there was absolutely first-rate.

(edit to add: at least under the ancien regime. I never went there after their chef shuffle...)

Edited August 20, 2004 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[Greg Salisbury]

This is a tough, tough business, and my first instinct is to always rush to the defense of a brother in arms. And so I agonized for a long time about whether or not to post re: David Fields and his actions, but after reading this thread, I hope that I am just one of many to take him to task. Anyone who would continue to write restaurant reviews for one of the two most influential publications in the region - under a pseudonymn - and after he knew he was going to open a restaurant that would be in direct competition with restaurants he would have the power to break through his reviews (to a certain extent; we know all too well the power of a negative review) is not someone I consider to be part of our band of brothers and sisters. Fields has shown a pattern of stunningly bad judgment, from his decision not to recuse himself from restaurant reviews *and yes, he did bestow a less-than-stellar review upon Rx after work was begun on Salt), to his decision to provide a customer caste system environment within his restaurant, to sending out a misdirection press release that Michael Klein, in good faith, published this week, to locking out his employees.

I don't want to come off sounding holier than thou. I have been involved in both foodservice and publishing for a number of years, and it is basicbasicbasic to either recuse yourself or announce full disclosure if there is anything going on that could compromise your ability to turn in the most unbiased piece possible. I have had numerous - not a few, numerous - comments from people who ate at Salt and remarked upon the radically different forms of customer service.

There are always a few sides to the story, and I invite Mr. Fields to give his. If I am wrong about anything I have posted, I will only be too happy to apologize.

Edited August 22, 2004 by Greg Salisbury (log)

[KatieLoeb]

This is a tough, tough business, and my first instinct is to always rush to the defense of a brother in arms. And so I agonized for a long time about whether or not to post re: David Fields and his actions, but after reading this thread, I hope that I am just one of many to take him to task. Anyone who would continue to write restaurant reviews for one of the two most influential publications in the region - under a pseudonymn - and after he knew he was going to open a restaurant that would be in direct competition with restaurants he would have the power to break through his reviews (to a certain extent; we know all too well the power of a negative review) is not someone I consider to be part of our band of brothers and sisters. Fields has shown a pattern of stunningly bad judgment, from his decision not to recuse himself from restaurant reviews *and yes, he did bestow a less-than-stellar review upon Rx after work was begun on Salt), to his decision to provide a customer caste system environment within his restaurant, to sending out a misdirection press release that Michael Klein, in good faith, published this week, to locking out his employees.

I don't want to come off sounding holier than thou.  I have been involved in both foodservice and publishing for a number of years, and it is basicbasicbasic to either recuse yourself or announce full disclosure if there is anything going on that could compromise your ability to turn in the most unbiased piece possible. I have had numerous - not a few, numerous - comments from people who ate at Salt and remarked upon the radically different forms of customer service.

There are always a few sides to the story, and I invite Mr. Fields to give his. If I am wrong about anything I have posted, I will only be too happy to apologize.

Greg:

I didn't even want to get into any of that other stuff (I did know about the restaurant reviews under the pseudonym before), but you GO brother! You're right. No one should be allowed to hide behind their ego that way, even if there's a lot of room to do it. It's wrong on too many levels.

[mrbigjas]

this is all kinda depressing. mainly because of the chef bailing from philadelphia entirely. the food i had there the one time i went was first rate. the service was great (one of our party of four was over 20 minutes late, and they held our table without making us sit down or even a hint of annoyance). oh well, i guess some things are just a bad idea from the start.

[sara]

Sad to see Morales go. Not sad at all to see Fields go. Man, can that guy cop an attitude!

[stephenc]

Obviously, the owner of the restaurant didn't quite know his salt!

[gabe]

Perhaps I am the only one not in on the secret -- under what name and in what publication did (does) David Fields review restaurants?

[KatieLoeb]

Perhaps I am the only one not in on the secret -- under what name and in what publication did (does) David Fields review restaurants?

Any reviews that appeared in Philadelphia Magazine from December 2001-May 2002 under the pseudonym of Daniel Bergman were by David Fields.

My understanding at this point from a reliable source, is that Mr. Fields left the magazine in March of 2002. A few more reviews may have appeared under the pseudonym after that time as many things are deadlined a few months in advance. Salt opened sometime in the summer of 2002, AFTER he had left his post as reviewer.

My apologies to Mr. Fields for my error in that regard.

[Carlson1105]

From what I hear, there was a list of people who wanted to be called when Fields was not going to be at the restaurant, so they could enjoy the food without his ego and attitude.

[herbacidal]

From what I hear, there was a list of people who wanted to be called when Fields was not going to be at the restaurant, so they could enjoy the food without his ego and attitude.

Really? That's interesting.

I wonder how that info was kept from Fields, assuming it was.