How To Be A Restaurant Critic

[SobaAddict70]

Thank you for being with us this week, Mrs. Reichl.

I've always wondered if you had any particular methodology when it came to reviewing restaurants. Some critics give equal weight to food, service and decor. Others seem to concentrate solely on the food, granting proportionally less weight to its companion elements.

As a tangent to this question, is there any advice that you would give to the Times critic, either now or in the future?

[Ruth Reichl]

Thank you for being with us this week, Mrs. Reichl.

I've always wondered if you had any particular methodology when it came to reviewing restaurants.  Some critics give equal weight to food, service and decor.  Others seem to concentrate solely on the food, granting proportionally less weight to its companion elements.

As a tangent to this question, is there any advice that you would give to the Times critic, either now or in the future?

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I wouldn't dream of offering advice to the Times critic. It would not be appreciated.

Methodology: Go a lot of times, try to eat all the food, try to be as fair as possible, try to give your readers a sense of what they'll experience when they go there. Most importantly, try to make it a great read. That's pretty much it. The restaurant itself dictates how much weight you need to give to the various elements. Sometimes it's all about the food; most times it's not. My basic theory is that very few people go out just to eat: Most go for the theater of dining, and I always tried to take that into consideration.