Restaurant critic outed by restaurant

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.

Dick move. Sounds like someone wants to be one of those "bad boy" chefs.

**** her.

I agree with the restauranteurs.

Just what EXACTLY qualifies one of these douches' as a "restaurant critic" anyway?

Originally Posted by lee_44106

Click to expand...

**** her.

I agree with the restauranteurs.

Just what EXACTLY qualifies one of these douches' as a "restaurant critic" anyway?

What qualifies anyone to critique anything?

Those who can't, critique.

So many frustrated artists, so much hostility.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

Click to expand...

What qualifies anyone to critique anything?

um, how about co-equals?

How about people who are also chefs, to use restaurant critics as an example.


The ultimate critic is the consumer.

As much as Olive Garden is highly dismissed around this part, where everyone seem to only dine at 3-starred establishments, I've never seen an Olive Garden restaurant that's not constantly packed.

Completely unprofessional behaviour by the restaurant. This is on par with John Daly tweeting the cell phone number of a writer with whom he was upset.

Originally Posted by lee_44106

Click to expand...

um, how about co-equals? How about people who are also chefs, to use restaurant critics as an example. The ultimate critic is the consumer. As much as Olive Garden is highly dismissed around this part, where everyone seem to only dine at 3-starred establishments, I've never seen an Olive Garden restaurant that's not constantly packed.
Yes, and Kenneth Cole sells a **** load of shoes. That doesn't mean anything about the quality of Kenneth Cole as a consumer good. It's always funny to read this kind of thing on sites like StyleForvm.

I have nothing to say in this thread.

This will be a great dinner topic to discuss in between the complicated photo shoots of each of my courses and my tedious note taking for the followup yelp and egullet reviews.

Originally Posted by lee_44106

Click to expand...

As much as Olive Garden is highly dismissed around this part, where everyone seem to only dine at 3-starred establishments, I've never seen an Olive Garden restaurant that's not constantly packed.

And Hitler was elected. Just because people like something doesn't mean ****. People here like reading my poasts.

I think she's a great food critic (LA is lucky to have a few), and the restauranteur looks like douchebag.

Restaurant critics are one of the few reasons I actually still like getting the newspaper (along with film critics). The good ones absolutely bring a valuable opinion and, since I usually can't make 5 trips to a restaurant to really assess it for myself, they effectively edit down the hoard of restaurants in the cities I visit.

This was such a dick move by the restaurant and really serves no purpose other than to screw up this woman's career and to notify the world of their douchieness. If I lived in L.A., I wouldn't eat there. Not only because they seem like dicks, but also because it certainly appears that they're not all that confident in their product. Why else would they go to drastic lengths to avoid having their food professionally reviewed?

The Yelp backlash: http://www.yelp.com/biz/red-medicine...t_by=date_desc

not really shocking considering it was Adam Fleishman from Umami. I like the burger there, but stopped going because the service/waiting at the restaurant is horrible. Sounds like they're douchebags on the institutional level.