NYT Articles on Food, Drink, Cooking, and Culinary Culture (2002–2005)

[rgruby]

I have not read the impugned review.

I'll be interested to hear your comments once you have read it.

Finally got around to reading it. The opinions I expressed above remain unchanged. I think Ms. Burros approach to the anchovies is the least I expect from a resto reviewer. You don't have to like everything, but you've got to be at least prepared to taste everything and note whether the dish in question is adequately prepared. The one area I would make an exception to this rule is for food that could actually harm you. I don't think I'd want to eat chicken or ground beef so undercooked that nasties could still be living there. So, not eating the calves brains is perhaps defensible in my books. (I say this as a Canadian - where ALL the mad cows come from. )

And, I think Grimes would've eaten the tripe. Might've even liked it.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[ruthcooks]

I agree with Fat Guy about critics being allowed their likes and dislikes. Still, whether I liked a food or not, I would be willing to taste most anything with the possible exception of spiders. Perhaps "tastes" were not available...or perhaps Ms Burros has tasted these foods several times before, knows she can't stand them and would never recommend them no matter how good the preparation. What would be the point?

We ate some strange parts of animals back on the farm. My brother and I fought over the lay poke and unlaid eggs of the slain laying hen. My dad had all-male mountain oyster parties after they cut the pigs (I will never forgive him for not letting me have a taste.) My mother cooked chicken feet for soup. Not only have I eaten headcheese, I have made it.

The only time I care about what you like is when you're sitting at my table.

[Jinmyo]

Mmmmm. Spiders...

[Cynthia G]

You don't have to like everything, but you've got to be at least prepared to taste everything and note whether the dish in question is adequately prepared.

I'm not sure that someone who has already admitted to not liking something is a good judge of whether it is "adequately prepared" or not.

[Exotic Mushroom]

I think it's fine for a food critic to have likes and dislikes. If she doesn't like anchovies, she doesn't like anchovies. There are very few people out there (and none I've met personally) who don't have any food/flavors that they just plain dislike. For my part, I can't stand olives. I've eaten olives over and over again just to try to learn to like them, but I'm starting to think it's just never gonna happen. Some things you just can't help.

However, I agree that as a critic, you need to be willing to try pretty much everything, especially dishes that are important to the menu. To refuse to eat tripe because - why? it's gross? is just completely unprofessional. Any serious food critic needs to be a lot more open to pushing their boundaries than that. After reading that review, I find it nearly impossible to take Ms. Burros seriously.

[rgruby]

You don't have to like everything, but you've got to be at least prepared to taste everything and note whether the dish in question is adequately prepared.

I'm not sure that someone who has already admitted to not liking something is a good judge of whether it is "adequately prepared" or not.

Surely, even if you don't like something, you can at least tell if it is under/over coked or under or oversalted, etc. And, even if you don't like a particular flavour, you can taste something and say, yup, they've nailed it - this is exactly the flavour I dislike, cooked perfectly.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[tanabutler]

they've nailed it - this is exactly the flavour I dislike, cooked perfectly.

Respectfully disagree, Geoff. There is a particular food I loathe. I loathe the smell, the taste, and the texture, no matter how "well" (or badly) it's prepared. If I had a dollar for every person who said, "Oh, but you'd like it the way I make it," I could open my own restaurant. (Where it would not be on the menu.) I wouldn't know if it were perfectly prepared, or otherwise, because it tastes and feels awful in my mouth, no matter what.

[Mayhaw Man]

Respectfully disagree, Geoff. There is a particular food I loathe. I loathe the smell, the taste, and the texture, no matter how "well" (or badly) it's prepared. If I had a dollar for every person who said, "Oh, but you'd like it the way I make it," I could open my own restaurant. (Where it would not be on the menu.) I wouldn't know if it were perfectly prepared, or otherwise, because it tastes and feels awful in my mouth, no matter what.

Well, we are waiting........what is this food you loathe so? Inquiring minds want to know, otherwise we cannot start the ridicule correctly.

[marlena spieler]

At a recent conference I attended, Marion Burros made an emphatic statement that Britain had no advertising for Childrens foods (ie aimed at children, high fat, high sugar, chains, etc) (not sure if it was just for television or other media too that the claim was made).

This is emphatically NOT TRUE. Britain has a problem with junk food aimed at kids too, and childrens diets in britain is not something to emulate. Regardless, I can't stand really slopping reporting. I did cry out and say it was wrong--involuntarily, I just can't abide by false statements and claims--but was told not to interrupt, that questions and answers would come later. Of course my question was never answered.

I thought: how could she base a whole talk with this being a goodly part of the premise if she didn't even bother to check it out. I don't like junk food adverts for kids either, but don't pretend that it doesn't exist outside of America and don't make statements that are blantantly wrong.

[rgruby]

Respectfully disagree,  Geoff. There is a particular food I loathe. I loathe the smell, the taste, and the texture, no matter how "well" (or badly) it's prepared. If I had a dollar for every person who said, "Oh, but you'd like it the way I make it," I could open my own restaurant. (Where it would not be on the menu.) I wouldn't know if it were perfectly prepared, or otherwise, because it tastes and feels awful in my mouth, no matter what.

Well, we are waiting........what is this food you loathe so? Inquiring minds want to know, otherwise we cannot start the ridicule correctly.

Yeah, fess up!

There's a lot of stuff I plain dislike, and I suppose there may be a few foods that I would have a hard time choking down - including some innards. But I'm working on my dislikes, and, I'm not a restaurant reviewer.

I still think you've got to be willing to try pretty much everything in that line of work, and have some idea whether it is prepared correctly. If you have such extreme dislikes that you're not willing to try everything, then I'm not so sure restaurant reviewing should be your job.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[Tess]

In The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten writes about systematically eradicating all his food aversions as preparation for becoming a food writer. I thought that was really great. IMO, if you are going to become a restaurant reviewer, and you have a significant number of aversions, you can mention them in the interests of honesty, but if you aren't doing anything about overcoming them it will compromise you as a reviewer. I don't know how many things MB doesn't like, or whether she is planning to become a regular reviewer, so I don't know how much this applies to her.

[tanabutler]

I ain't sayin' nothin' about the revolting item. I've done my best to like it, and it didn't work, so I live with the burden of my genetic deficiency.

Carry on.

[Mayhaw Man]

I ain't sayin' nothin' about the revolting item. I've done my best to like it, and it didn't work, so I live with the burden of my genetic deficiency.

Carry on.

If you don't like it I'm not having any of it either. I hate it more than you do. Yuck.

Now that we have so much in common-what do we hate?

[robyn]

What is "calves head"? Does it include the brain? Robyn

[Jinmyo]

The brains and tongue are usually included in tete de veau and bolitto misto.

[Mayhaw Man]

I am kind of crazy about Barbacoa as it is cooked in South Texas. THat cheek meat is unbelievably delicious.

I grew up eating brains and eggs, headcheese, etc. The odd bits are delicious.

[robyn]

The brains and tongue are usually included in tete de veau and bolitto misto.

I'm not sure whether this was a response to my question. Which was basically - did the reviewer refuse to eat brains? If so - I really can't fault her. My husband and I used to eat lots of offal - for years. Then there was "mad cow". And then a neurologist friend of ours who does dementia research completed some studies which linked the consumption of brains - especially squirrel brains - in Kentucky - to irreversible dementia/death. Of course - there's also the research (don't know how valid it is) which indicates that there may be a link between eating monkey brains - and what is now AIDS. To make a long story short - we no longer eat brains. If it were a question of getting a tummy ache after - we'd probably still eat brains. But since you're basically talking about a death sentence after eating an infected brain - I'll say thanks but no thanks.

Wouldn't surprise me if selling this kind of stuff was outlawed in the near future - or if restaurants stopped serving it because of insurance requirements - just like you can't get a rare burger in any Florida restaurant these days. Robyn

P.S. Does anyone know if Marion Burros is Jewish? If so - even if she isn't religious - it would explain her inability to consume blatant "trefe".

Edited February 2, 2004 by robyn (log)

[Louisa Chu]

I'm going to whip up some spinal column stew in silent protest.

[Jinmyo]

The brains and tongue are usually included in tete de veau and bolitto misto.

I'm not sure whether this was a response to my question. Which was basically - did the reviewer refuse to eat brains?

Ah. My apologies for not divining what unspoken intention and meaning your question had.

Does anyone know what Casa Mono actually serves? Bourdain?

[bourdain]

The dish in question is NOT a brain dish.

[Jinmyo]

Just good ol' face meat then.

[kendrabail]

I've got agree with those who expect a critic to, at the very least, try the food they plan on mentioning in a review. I have been doing restaurant reviews for a publication in the Richmond, Virginia area for about 6 months (so I am little green) but I will eat anything at least once. I may not clean my plate with gusto every time, but I will put the darn stuff in my mouth, even if it's just for second.

For example, I think tiny whole squids or calamari with the legs on them resemble spiders (and I've got that spider phobia thing), so I cringe at the thought of popping one whole into my mouth. However, on a recent visit to a restaurant who had barbecued baby squid on the menu (as a signature dish) I ate them anyway. With my mother's voice resounding in the back of my brain in a, "How do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it" kind of way, I stuffed one down. And guess what? It wasn't all bad. I don't need therapy because of the experience. At least not on this subject.

Now if I were to review this place, I could in complete fairness. I tried it. I KNOW what it taste like, and I can now offer my opinion based on this experience. It's just plain unfair to the chef's that design these dishes and execute them nightly not give the food a try. In the future, the NYT's should assign adventurous eaters to adventurous establishments. It would save both the writer, who has to choke down the food, and the chef's, who have to read that their prized dishes were never even tasted, a lot of headache.

[Lesley C]

As a restaurant critic I've learned that in a terrific restaurant I'll eat anything.

I would eat anything Mario Batali would put on my plate. But in a shitty restaurant, forget it.

I ate lamb testicles in a seriously bad restaurant in Nice last year and I almost puked. I was more turned off by the stale breading and greasy taste than the spongy texture of the balls. But if Mario Batali prepared lamb testicles, I'd trust him enough to eat them.

I don't think it's so much about what you're eating, but who did the cooking and -- especially -- the selecting.

[Chad]

Dunno if y'all have noticed, but Marian Burros, the subject of this conversation, is doing an eGullet Q&A right now. If you have questions about her review of Casa Mono or her other food writings, jump in.

Chad

[Marian Burros]

I guess I better defend myself. No, I don't eat brains and haven't for many years. I used to liike them very much .Maybe a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and I worry about calves brains and other parts of their tete in this day and age. When people started eating calves brains, tete de veau, etc, etc., we didn't have something called mad cow disease. I make no apologies.

As for the other items, I've eaten all of them at one time or another, decided I don't really care for them and saw no reason to eat something I don't like to begin with. What good could I say about it. As it is I ate the anchovies even though they are not a favorite of mine, wondering if the rendition would make me like them more.

Please lighten up Mr. Bourdain and, if you get a chance, take a look to see how my name is spelled.