esquire.
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2004
- Messages
- 1,290
- Reaction score
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The whole restaurant critic anonymity thing is a bit of a charade that the restaurants and critics both play, but Sherry Irene Virbila, the the LA Times restaurant critic, must have thought it was important as she managed to keep her picture out of the public eye for quite a number of years here in LA. In this new world order of food bloggers and cellphones, she must have resigned herself that someday her picture would eventually get leaked by some blogger. But, I don't think anybody expected that a restaurant would be the one to do it. But, then this new restaurant opened up in Beverly Hills just a few weeks ago- its one of those white people doing Asian food restaurants that serve food that only white people would eat. You can see some pics of their dishes here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/1...1.html#s204826 And, although its a bit early, she and her party stopped by for the first in a series of outings at this restaurant before she can write a review of the place. But, the restaurateurs of this place recognized her and then proceeded to keep her waiting 40 minutes when they had no intention of serving her before they kicked Sherry and her party out. And, as a final humiliation, the restaurant snapped a picture of her that she did not consent to so they could plaster it on tumblr and their website to snatch away from her something she had worked so hard to protect over the years. They also published a manifesto alongside her picture where they justified their actions by basically calling her out as a unqualified beatch whose past reviews hurt their feelings. (Apparently, when she reviewed XIV, she was very harsh about the pastry chef who is the chef/partner of this new restaurant). By publicizing her picture, they called upon other restaurants to use the picture as a tool to recognize her so those other restaurants could also refuse to serve her as well. Maybe, this restaurant believes that all publicity is good. But, to me, it just comes across like the restaurant is desperately trying to hide something. This way, if they get nailed with bad restaurant reviews, they can always claim that those bad reviews were payback by critics who rallied around one of their own and not necessarily a reflection of the food itself. But, by denying themselves the opportunity for a restaurant review, they shot themselves in the foot. When I hear Bevery Hills, Asian food, confusion fusion, and white people cooking asian food about a restaurant, I get pretty skeptical about that restaurant. This restaurant is already behind the count, and news like this just confirms my suspicions. Whereas, if I had read a good restaurant review about the place, I might have given them a fair shot and tried the place.