Feedback on the 2004 Digest:

[John Talbott]

I would like to thank everyone who’s written me by whatever means to comment on the Digest. Year’s end is traditionally a time of appraisal and I would welcome any feedback on the Digest on this thread or if you wish on a PM or email.

Recall that I set several parameters on my contributions when I started:

Digester’s Note: This is the first of a series of weekly digests of news about restaurants, largely serving French or fusion food, predominately new, in Paris. I have included French and Anglo-Saxon sources, originally written in both French and English, most of whose content is accessible on the Internet. I have not included detailed descriptions of individual dishes, both because it is my belief that good restaurants change their menus regularly and because, except for places like Chez René or Rouge Tomate, I don’t want to go somewhere where only one dish or ingredient can be trusted. I welcome feedback on content, sources I’ve missed, level of detail or anything else for that matter. JAT

Do you have any comments about:

1. Publications covered? At the suggestion of readers, I’ve added Where + A Nous Paris.

2. Information provided? I give the restaurants’ coordinates at the first mention or if they’ve been out of the limelight for a while, but usually not those in guidebooks or food guides. And I give prices and closing days.

3. Level of detail? For instance, not giving every dish mentioned in reviews.

4. Length: too long, too short, just right?

5. Keeping my own opinions to a minimum and then indicated with {}’s? Rather, I’ve tried putting them in my new restaurant threads.

6. Coverage? Largely new, French restaurants, mainly in Paris, or notable oldies.

7. Links to sources? They often go dead or are updated to make finding original articles useless months later.

Thank you.

I and the Digest wish you the happiest of seasons and hope for a delicious New Year.

[pierre45]

I would like to thank everyone who’s written me by whatever means to comment on the Digest.  Year’s end is traditionally a time of appraisal and I would welcome any feedback on the Digest on this thread or if you wish on a PM or email.

Your digest has been very helpful to me. At a glance it has made me aware of new restaurants and what's happening in paris.Invariably i have followed up on them ,since i make a point of visiting worthy new restaurants.

I should add that i seem to aggree with your comments after you had an opportunity to eat there as well.also i have found myself in disagreement with the reporters from figaro.Sometimes i am under the impression as if th're promoting the place.Keep the good work.you're doing a wonderful job.

[John Talbott]

also i have found myself in disagreement with the reporters from figaro.Sometimes i am under the impression as if th're promoting the place.

←

Pierre - Thanks and you raise an interesting point. Colette and I are especially baffled by the Figaro group's differentiation between a 2 and 3 heart rating and have liked many 2 hearts and hated some 3 hearts. I'm more in accord with their 1 and 4 heart reviews.

As for promotion, both Simon and Pudlowski's books and my conversation with another Parisian food writer make me think that to some extent one of the French food critics' goals is to encourage folks to eat out, experiment and seek new horizons (fusion, Asian, Italian food and New World wines), especially those younger ones whom we see more and more take shorter and shorter lunches, eat sandwiches on the Metro and otherwise demonstrate less devotion to the food standards and habits of yore.

[Bux]

I'm not sure that anyone who writes about food with enthusiasm can help but sound as if they are encouraging others to eat out when they write about restaurants. Even when I read a negative review of a restaurant, I'm reminded that the reviewer has higher standards precisely because there are restaurants that cater to those standards. Then again, I suppose I wouldn't be reading restaurant reviews at all, if I didn't already dine out with some enthusiasm.

The only negative thing I can think of saying about your digest is that it's ability to allow me to stay au courant with openings and closing in Paris, just reminds me how far away I am from Paris most of the time and that it's only a virtual currency I have.

I suppose one can never have too much information, yet you run the risk of losing some readers if each post gets too long. I think the links are important. Naturally they'd be better if they stayed live, or if you went back and updated them. Come to think of it, you could go back and update old posts as well, but at this point I think you've already gone beyond what we could hope to get.

For readers who live in Paris and read this regularly, it must be an almost perfect digest. For those who visit and start reading in anticipation of a forthcoming trip, I'd recommend starting at the end and working backwards to the beginning while being careful to remember the latest information about a restaurant. For more details of any resto, one should search on the name of a particular restaurant and see what members may have posted about it.

[John Talbott]

I suppose one can never have too much information, yet you run the risk of losing some readers if each post gets too long. I think the links are important. Naturally they'd be better if they stayed live, or if you went back and updated them.

←

Good point. I'll keep brevity in mind.

The link issue is interesting. Just recently I tried a Figaro link from a while ago and it had been recycled, eg the link took me to a more recent review rather than the original. Also, Le Monde puts stuff into its archives fairly rapidly, at which point one must pay to see it.

[Poppy Quince]

I've found your digest very useful, and have added a number of the restaurants mentioned to my "try to visit" list. I realize it's a bit of a pain to give the address and phone number each time a place is mentioned, but sometimes I won't bother to copy the information to my ongoing list until the resto has been mentioned a couple of times, and I've found myself scrolling back and forth trying to find the original citation. I would love to have the coordinates repeated if possible.

On the other hand, anything that might make it too much work or tempt you to stop compiling the digest is to be avoided, so ignore me if that's a danger.

[John Talbott]

I realize it's a bit of a pain to give the address and phone number each time a place is mentioned, but sometimes I won't bother to copy the information to my ongoing list until the resto has been mentioned a couple of times, and I've found myself scrolling back and forth trying to find the original citation.  I would love to have the coordinates repeated if possible.

←

Fair enough. Will do.